Get Started with Square Appointments
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Square Appointments is a flexible scheduling system for your business, and a simple booking tool for your clients. This guide will help you set up, operate and get the most out of your Square Appointments account.
Features and Pricing
When you Sign up for Square Appointments, you gain access to Square’s scheduling tools. New and existing clients can easily find details about your services, view availability and book appointments from your website or from your free Square online booking site.
You can access Square Appointments Free, Plus, or Premium features with a 30-day free trial to see which plan is best suited for your business.
| Appointments Plan | Monthly Cost | Locations | Staff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | £0 per month for a single location. | 1 location only | Unlimited |
| Plus | £29 per month, per location. | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Premium | £69 per month, per location. | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Custom Pricing* | Contact sales | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Learn more about Square payment processing fees and Square Appointments plans and features.
Use Square Appointments
Square Appointments app can be used on compatible iOS devices and Square Register.
If you are using a compatible iPhone or iPad, you can download the Square Appointments app for free from the App Store your iOS mobile device.
Learn more about the Square Appointments iPhone and iPad App.
If you are using a compatible Android device running the most recent version of Android, you can download the Square Appointments app for free from the Google Play Store.
Learn more about the Square Appointments Android App.
- Sign in to Square Register: To get started for the first time with Square Appointments on Square Register, power the Register on and sign in using your email and password. You can create or select an existing profile. Note: Signing in using a device code is not yet supported with Square Appointments.
- If this is your first time using the Square Register and you’ve already completed setup, make sure to check for an update by tapping Settings > Hardware > General > About Register > Software Update.
- If you have already been accepting payments on Square Register using Square Point of Sale, simply sign out of your device. Next, sign in using your email and password and select Square Appointments.
Learn how to get started with Square Appointments on Square Register.
If your business has multiple locations, you can create separate location profiles to help organise your staff and booking information per location.
Learn how to manage multiple locations with Square.
Staff
The first step towards setting up online booking is creating Appointments profiles for you and your staff. On each profile, you’re able to set up hours of availability, services offered and general permissions.
When you create staff members, you can edit access to their calendar, set their availability for booking and manage their notification settings. Allow different levels of access when you create a staff profile and assign staff to a specific permission group. If you have multiple locations, you can assign staff to one, or all locations.
Learn more on how to create staff.
You can set distinct hours for each staff member, independent from the location business hours. Clients can only book an appointment with a staff member during the hours they are available.
Learn more on how to set staff hours.
Create a staff member and assign a passcode to track your staff member’s hours. With Square Timecard Reports, you’ll save time calculating staff member’s hours and running payroll.
Learn more on how to use Timecard Reports.
If you’d like to add or remove a staff member from your online booking site, you can do so from their staff profile. Clients won’t see staff members unless they are enabled for online booking.
Learn more on how to adjust staff visibility.
Offer your staff more ways to earn money. You can assign your staff unique commission rates based on tenure and apply a flat commission rate for all retail items sold. Incentivise your staff by setting up tiered commission rates.
Learn more about commission tracking.
Learn how to manage Square Appointments and create staff members.
Services
The next step to accepting appointments through your Square account is creating bookable services. You can enable services for online booking and choose which staff can offer specific services.
Learn how to create services.
There are a few options for pricing your services. You can choose to either make a service a Fixed Price or a Variable Price to handle pricing on a case-by-case basis. You can also provide a Display Price, which will appear next to the service during online booking.
Once you create services, you can enable or disable visibility for online booking. If you have a seasonal service, or maybe just unavailable for a limited time, you can hide your services without deleting them by disabling Online Booking Visibility.
Learn how to enable services for online booking.
Not all staff members offer the same services. Tailor the service listing for each staff member on their individual profile. The services you enable for a specific staff member will appear when your clients go to your free online booking site.
Learn how to assign services to staff members.
Learn more about creating and editing your services.
Online Booking
Using a unique Appointments online booking site allows your business to go digital. Use the following tools to manage your booking site seamlessly.
You have access to a free online booking site for your clients to schedule appointments with you and your staff. If you have multiple locations, each location will have a unique URL.
Learn how to set up online bookings with Square Appointments.
You can send your clients a digital QR code, or print out your QR code and display it on your shopfront or countertop so customers can scan it and be taken directly to your online booking site to book their own appointments.
Learn how to set up your unique QR code via the Appointments dashboard.
Once you create your services and staff members, it’s helpful to go through and book a test appointment. To get comfortable adding events to your calendar, head to your online Appointments dashboard and create a test appointment. Test appointments are helpful since the process will be the same if you decide to book an appointment for a client on your end, rather than directing them to your booking site.
In addition to client appointments, you can add personal events to help keep your schedule centralised. Booking a personal event, like a lunch, will update your status to unavailable for online booking during the length of the event.
Depending on your preference, you can review each requested appointment from your clients before accepting, or automatically accept all appointments when they are requested. Configure your settings via your online Square Dashboard.
Select from three payment options for booking online: No Requirements to Book Appointment, Hold a Card for No-Show Protection and Require Prepayment.
Read more about payment requirements for booking.
Enabling No-Show Protection will require clients enter their card information before the appointment is successfully booked. When you enable No-Show Protection, you can set the minimum amount of time you require for a cancellation and also the amount or percentage to charge if your client cancels outside of your cut-off time.
Edit your business information for a single or multiple locations. The name, location and contact details in your location profile will appear on your booking site, website widget and email communications.
If you already have a website, embed a booking button or widget by inserting your unique HTML code that is generated automatically for each Appointments account. You can also customise the text and colour of your booking button to make sure it fits your website’s design.
Read more about using the booking embed widget.
Every business is different, so being clear about your cancellation policy can help your customers understand your needs for operating your day-to-day. When you set your cancellation policy, choose the amount you’d like to charge your client if they cancel their appointment past your cut-off time.
In addition to the required cancellation policy, write an optional note for further instructions or requirements. The cancellation policy is visible to your client at the time of their booking.
Read more about setting up your cancellation policy.
Your clients can book a single appointment with your business that contains multiple services assigned to different staff members.
Learn more about scheduling appointments with multiple staff members.
Clients
Creating and maintaining a client base is a key part of operating your business. Square Appointments has tools designed to help manage your clients’ contact information and past appointments, and market your services to targeted groups.
If you already have a client list, bulk-import their information directly into your Square account. If you don’t have a client list, you’ll be able to invite clients to your directory or create client profiles manually. Clients will also be automatically added to your directory once they successfully book an appointment.
Read more about importing your client list.
Create clients manually from your online Square Dashboard. When you create a client, you can enter their contact information and assign them to specific groups to help you stay organised.
Grouping clients is also helpful for sending marketing campaigns – communicating upcoming events and discounts to specific groups of customers. Read more about Square Marketing.
With Square Appointments, you can create and send contactless agreements from your online Square Dashboard for free, automatically send them to your customers when an appointment is booked, and get their signatures via email before their next service.
Appointments Communications include customisable email reminders that are sent out automatically. Choose the time frame to send a message leading up to the next appointment.
When you add your customer’s name and email address, they’ll receive your customised message letting them know that you’re providing online booking through Square Appointments. Entering their information will also create a client profile in the Customers tab of your online Square Dashboard.
Ensure your contact list is up to date by deleting clients you haven’t seen for a while. Although you can create and delete customers from the Customers tab in your online Square Dashboard. You’re also able to take bulk actions such as importing, exporting and grouping.
Calendar
Your calendar helps you manage your day, week or month at a glance. Filter your view by time frame, staff and location.
Personalise your calendar by using the filters at the top of the page of your online Square Dashboard. View only your appointments, or you and your staff’s appointments side-by-side. Appointments are colour coded by staff and you can update colour preferences by selecting from the colour grid at the bottom of each individual staff profile.
Import your personal or business Google Calendar with your Square Appointments calendar to manage your schedule in one place. Both you and your staff are able to sync your Google calendars – you can refresh, delete or reset your preferences at any time.
Read more about syncing your personal or business calendar.
Learn more about using your Appointments calendar.
Payments and Reporting
The Square Appointments app lets you view, create, edit and accept appointments. You can also view your client information and charge customers for appointments directly from the app. When your customer is ready to pay, just select Review and Check Out. Services and items will automatically populate from the appointment details.
Read more about checking out with the Appointments app.
Square offers powerful reporting tools to give you insights into how your business is growing. View individual transactions or reports by a weekly, monthly or yearly breakdown. Read more about using Square’s reporting features.
With your Square Appointments subscription, you’ll have the ability to track staff sales once you create a staff profile from your online Square Dashboard. When you complete a transaction, the sale will be associated with the staff member with whom the appointment was booked.
If you process a payment without a booked appointments, the sale will be attributed to the staff member logged in.
Read more about checking out with Square Appointments and Advanced Access.
View your entire appointment history at any time. Appointments history allows you to search by client name, service or staff. You can also have the ability to export this information into a CSV file.
With Square Appointments Plus you also have access to Square Appointments reporting in your online Square Dashboard, which includes a team performance report. Your team performance report shows details on client retention, prebooking rates and rota utilisation by your staff. Learn more about team performance reporting.