You want to optimize Coconut’s services functionality to make online appointment scheduling a breeze at your organization.

Check out the following recommendations for preparing, setting up, and managing services.

Services are the answer to the question, “How can I help you?”, and serve as the purpose of a client or member’s visit. They are selected by clients or members when scheduling an appointment online, and by staff if scheduling an appointment on behalf of a client or member. Services are also an integral part of the staff assignment process. Lastly, your organization can also explore insights and report on metrics related to the different services performed across your organization’s locations.

Coconut suggests using your corporate website as a starting point to determine which services to add to Coconut. Create service categories in Coconut as a way to group like services, and model these categories on those used on your website. This provides a consistent experience for your clients or members.

Another important consideration when selecting and organizing services is who at your organization can perform which services. For example, if the staff facilitating residential mortgage services at your organization are not the same staff who facilitate commercial mortgages, it is important to keep these as distinct Residential Mortgage and Commercial Mortgage services. If they can be facilitated by the same staff, then one mortgage service may suffice.

Coconut recommends using 5-7 categories, with 1-8 services included within each category. This provides selection to your clients or members without overwhelming them with an exhaustive list.

Have more services and want to include them in the online booking experience for clients or members? Consider the following:

Services corresponding to the Business Ownership category display in this example of the online booking process

Creating a quality service consists of having a succinct description, clear instructions, and the appropriate visibility level set for the service.

For steps on how to add a service in Coconut, please refer to this article.

Use service descriptions to clearly and succinctly outline the nature of the service. Descriptions are shared with clients/members as part of the online booking process, so it is important to keep them focused on the intention of the service so that clients/members can accurately and efficiently schedule their desired appointment. Coconut recommends 1-3 sentences for each service description.

Note: If your organization is using Reserve With Google, a service description is required for each service you want available to clients/members for online booking.

Help your clients/members prepare in advance for their appointments by including instructions in your services. Service instructions provide specific details related to that service to a client/member as part of the appointment confirmation process when they book online. Instructions are also included in email notifications to clients/members. Coconut recommends keeping services instructions succinct and to use lists if instructions include items the client/member must bring to the appointment.

Service instructions display at the confirmation stage of the online booking process; they are also shared in email notifications to the client/member

Include a Faster Route message and link for services that do not require an appointment. When a faster route is included, a prompt displays to the client/member during the online booking process redirecting them a self-serve option for that service. Clients/members can always opt to not take the faster route and schedule an appointment instead.

A Faster Route option provides an alternative method for your clients/members to engage with your organization without needing to schedule an appointment

For steps on how to create a Faster Route message and link, please refer to this article.

There are 3 visibility levels for services in Coconut: Public, Private, and Invite-Only.

Public visibility means that the service displays to clients/members as part of the online booking process. It is also available to book in-app by staff members through Schedule or Clients.

Private visibility means that the service is only available to be booked by staff members through Schedule or Clients. Coconut recommends using private visibility for services you may not want to display publicly, such as closing an account.

Invite-Only visibility means that the service is only available to be booked by staff members through Schedule or Clients OR by anyone with access to a booking shortcut link. Coconut recommends using invite-only visibility for events such as webinars or workshops.

For services to display in the online booking flow, they must be assigned to a staff member as part of the assignment process. For steps on how to assign services to a staff member, please refer to this article. For steps on how to import assignments, please refer to this article.

Services can be assigned to each staff individually, through a staff group, or through Coconut’s import/export functionality. Coconut recommends considering the following when determining how to complete assignments:

For steps on how to add a service, please refer to this article.

For information on how to add an additional language to a service, please refer to this article.

For additional details on buffer time for services, please refer to this article.

For additional details on flex time for services, please refer to this article.

For steps on how to assign services to a staff member, please refer to this article.

For steps on how to import/export assignments, please refer to this article.

For additional details on reporting on services and services metrics, please refer to our Reports, Insights, and Advanced Analytics sections.

You can also review this Getting Started article in PDF by accessing the attachment.