Client-facing Online Booking Tool Monthly View

[TandE]

I am inquiring about the recent change to the Client-facing Online Booking Tool that Square made whereas clients cannot see the calendar for more than one week at a time.  Previously, you could see the full month in advance, which clients and I really liked.  I have already received complaints asking for the old format which allowed one to see at least a month in advance when trying to schedule.  Because I am booked up 4 – 5 months in advance, having only one week at a time is very inconvenient, burdensome, and annoying, as well as confusing to try and find an opening to book.  The way it is now, a client has to click week after week after week to get to within 30 days before a notification pops up allowing one to click to find an opening.

One positive aspect of the recent change is showing a client when the next available opening occurs, although you have to be viewing within 30 days of the opening to have this feature show up.  If it were available at the start, that would definitely be of help.

How can I reset the format to allow clients to be able to view the calendar the way it was before?  The way it is now is not acceptable for my booking needs. I have been satisfied with the Square services so far, but if this feature cannot be changed, I will have to consider another billing/appointment application.

[RobynR · Accepted solution]

Hey @TandE & @TheRealChipA,

I've checked with our Appointments team, and it turns out the new booking flow is the current option available. Unfortunately, there's no way to switch back to the monthly display on the new booking flow.

They've heard your feedback, and we really appreciate your understanding. If you have more questions or need assistance, feel free to let us know!

[CiaoBellaCafe]

Thank you @winniecheng

Just tested from our site, we’ve seen the other comments but we’re perfectly happy with the change as is, it felt intuitive and we like your idea of qualifying the default.

@TandE @kinseyroehm @DreamyPMU @BernadetteA @19ralphstreet

We use an FAQ page to explain to potential customers how to use the booking page to check availability and get estimates, so we’ll update that accordingly by the weekend. We also use automated responses on our Facebook and Instagram pages that point there. For us this helps to reduce calls and more importantly, when people do call we use our site as a primary reference, so our answers are always accurate and consistent.

We haven't found a way to reset the url and top bar reading to our subdomain, but our logo is in the top left corner of the pop-up and our subdomain pointer and website buttons all worked without changing anything. We’re very happy overall.

ADDENDUM: since the monthly view option was added back and we updated our website FAQ our bookings have been stronger than they were prior to the changes.

We posted slides that serve as a guideline for couples who are ready to book online. You can scroll our FAQ page if you're interested in seeing our approach:  ​​​​FAQ

[modernbouquet]

This feature has not been solved for appointment calendars placed on websites.  There's not an option on the booking page for clients nor is there an option on the backend dashboard side?!

[TandE]

Hello @winniecheng 

Thank you so much, Winnie and the team, for getting the month view back… this make me and my clients happy again. I am glad to see you are listening to the responses of Square users like me.
If I may, I would like to add a few items that can still be upgraded which are already well said by @DreamyPMU 
1. Make the monthly calendar the default view instead of the weekly calendar. 
2. Make the available dates more noticeable i.e different color or circled. As it now is, it is hard to distinguish between what dates are available and what dates are not. This is crucial, too!
3. In addition to “No availability within the next 30 days”, include a link to “Next available date” as well.

This is a great start and I am looking forwards to further improvments. 

[TandE]

I completely agree with @DreamyPMU @that the different “book.squareup.com” url page is not nearly as easy to use as it was before. The monthly view with circled dates which are solid on days which are available is so much easier to see and understand and having that view pop-up as the default would work best for me as well.

I have noticed that some businesses have the ability to do this when accessing their site from my cell phone but when I access the same site from my laptop it opens with the weekly view that is much harder to use. What is weird is that this ability is not consistent between phones either.

  I am attaching a screenshot of the view of a business which is available at this time to show what I prefer and what I think many other users would like to see as well. (Note: The url starts with squareup(dot)com)

Here is the view of THE SAME business accessed through their website. Note that this one starts with book.squareup

@winniecheng Is there any way I can do on my part to make my booking site shows like the first screenshot? 

[19ralphstreet]

I agree. Ever since the update i have literally LOST clients. I would see them and tell them how I miss them and they would say “i tried to book but it said you were fully booked so i couldn’t” but they just didn’t understand the new update. This has completely ruined my work flow and now I’m experiencing the repercussions for it! How is it that “it can’t be changed” but it was literally a monthly view before…. why was it even changed in the did place?? I’m beyond frustrated and extremely upset. My business hasn’t been this slow in almost 2 years. I have reached out to all clients and they’re all happy to hear that I am indeed open but I am beyond disappointed in this update. I have been considering returning to my old booking site because of this. 

[CiaoBellaCafe]

@19ralphsreet we’ve been able to adapt and recover by doing a bunch of detailed testing to make sure everything between our website and booking setup is accurate and our logo shows through the whole process, then updating our FAQ page with slides to explain how it all works. Our links are posted in reply when the monthly view option was added back. Hope this helps!