Booking from flows

The Book an appointment step in a flow lets the customer book on their own: the flow offers the free days, then the free times on the day they pick, and books the appointment in the calendar without anyone on your team stepping in.

Before you start

• Your plan needs both flows and appointments; the Growth and Business plans include both.
• You need at least one appointment type that is active and has working hours. See Appointments: the calendar and appointment types.

Add the booking step

1. In the sidebar, open Flows, then open a flow from the list, or select New flow.
2. In the editor, select Add a step where you want it, for example after a "Book an appointment" option in a menu.
3. From the Actions group, choose Book an appointment (1).
4. Under Appointment type (2), choose the type to book.
5. Write the day question in Text, such as "Choose a day for your appointment:".
6. Change the other three fields (3) if you like; each has a ready-made text when left empty:
   • Time prompt: the question before the list of times.
   • After booking: the message that confirms the booking. You can insert {{ vars.appointment.date }} and {{ vars.appointment.time }}.
   • When nothing is free: what the customer is told when there is no free time.

The step's two branches

Under the booking step there are two branches:

• Succeeded: what happens after the booking, such as a thank-you message or End the conversation.
• Failed: what happens when nothing is free, or the customer's choice is still not understood after the retries. Left empty, the conversation goes to your team.

Publish and try it

1. Select Try it to rehearse the conversation. The trial runs on your saved draft; nothing is sent and nothing is booked.
2. Select Save, then Publish. You see "Flow published and live".

What the customer sees

1. A message with up to 10 free days, as buttons or a list depending on the channel.
2. After choosing a day, up to 10 free times on it.
3. After choosing a time, the appointment is booked and they get the After booking message, then the confirmation you wrote on the appointment type, and later the reminder.

If someone takes the same time a moment earlier, the flow apologises and offers the times again. The days and times offered follow the type's working hours, Earliest booking after (hours), Furthest booking (days) and Bookings per slot.

Note: the appointment appears in the Calendar linked to the conversation, and the agent responsible is notified of the new booking. If the customer cancels by replying to the reminder, its status changes to Cancelled.