Objective

Enable and configure Client View to provide your clients with an efficient and hassle-free online booking experience that reflects your organization’s personalized approach to service.

To see the online booking process from a client's perspective, skip to the Sample Setup section.

Steps

Enable Client View

From the navigation menu, click Settings
Click Client View
From Status, confirm the setting is toggled to The client view is enabled

Once enabled, you can configure Client View settings to reflect your organization’s needs.

A note on time zones and the online booking experience

A common question about the online booking experience is how time zones are determined for clients/members when booking. Time zones are determined based on the following:

Meeting Method	Time Zone Used
Location	Location's time zone*
Virtual	Booker's time zone
Phone	Booker's time zone

* If the location is changed during the booking process to one that is in a different time zone, the time zone displayed is that of the originally selected location

Configure Client View settings

NOTE: Additional settings may display in your environment, depending on what additional features are part of your Coconut package.

Layout

Select whether your Client View will use the classic or modern layout
- NOTE: Coconut recommends selecting the modern layout option

General Settings

Select the default language that will be used to display all information to clients as they complete their online bookings
- NOTE: By default, English will be the only language unless additional languages are part of your Coconut package
- Hot Tip! The time format displayed to clients when using Client View is determined by their browser settings
From Which step should be displayed first?, select whether clients will select a service or a location as the first step in their booking experience
From How are services displayed?, select whether services will display with each category of services on its own page or on one page separated by category headers
- - Services can be displayed with each category on a separate page OR
- - Services can be displayed segmented by category
Set the desired search radius distance; if a customer searches for a location during the online booking process, locations within this search radius will display
Select when, if at all, clients can select a specific staff member as part of the online booking process
From Can clients select to be serviced in a specific language?, select whether clients can choose to have their appointment in another language and select that language as part of the online booking process
From Can clients select to be serviced in a language other than English, French, Spanish, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, or Chinese (simplified)?, select whether clients can have an appointment in a language other than Coconut's in-app supported languages; available languages are determined by the language settings in a staff's profile
From How are staff lists sorted?, select how staff will display to clients during their booking experience:
- Manually: Staff will display in the order they appear in the Sortable staff list in the Staff area of Coconut
- Alphabetically: Staff who are assigned to the service selected by the client during booking display in alphabetical order
Select whether appointments will be assigned at random or by having the system determine the most available staff member on that day and assigning them to the appointment
- NOTE: Most available is determined based on unbooked time/working time for that day
From, How are available times determined?, select whether the time slots that display to clients when booking will be displayed based on service duration or will be pre-set time increments
- Hot Tip! Coconut recommends using service length for an optimal client experience

Cancellation Reasons

If you want clients to provide a reason when cancelling their appointment, toggle this setting to Cancellation reasons are enabled
Modify the Client Prompt, if desired
Enter a reason option and click ADD
Repeat for as many reasons as is required

Booking Policies

Booking policies impact how near to an appointment a client can cancel and how soon to an appointment's start time a client can book.

To update the booking policies for cancelling an appointment

From General, click the dropdown and select your desired timeframe

Alternatively, to set a different cancellation policy for a specific service:

Click Set for a specific service
From the Select Service dropdown, select a service
From the No additional time dropdown, select how much time in addition to the general cancellation policy you want to add for this service

If you want a cancellation policy message that reflects your organization’s tone and communication strategy with clients, you can enable a custom cancellation policy message:

Toggle Custom Cancellation Policy Message on
Enter the details of your message in the text editor

To update the booking policies for rescheduling an appointment

From General, click the dropdown and select your desired timeframe

Alternatively, to set a different rescheduling policy for a specific service:

Click Set for a specific service
From the Select Service dropdown, select a service
From the No additional time dropdown, select how much time in addition to the general rescheduling policy you want to add for this service

If you want a rescheduling policy message that reflects your organization’s tone and communication strategy with clients, you can enable a custom rescheduling policy message:

Toggle Custom Rescheduling Policy Message on
Enter the details of your message in the text editor

To update the booking policies for how far into the future a client can book an appointment

From General, click the dropdown and select your desired timeframe

Alternatively, to set for a specific service:

Click Set for a specific service
From the Select Service dropdown, select a service
From the No limit dropdown, select how much time in addition to the general policy you want to add for this service

To update the booking policies for how much lead time is needed

From Individual Appointment>General, click the dropdown and select your desired timeframe

Alternatively, to set a different lead time for a specific service:

Click Set for a specific service
From the Select Service dropdown, select a service
From the No additional time dropdown, select how much time in addition to the general policy you want to add for this service

Hot Tip!

If you'd like to provide staff with "next day" lead time and your organization's locations have the same business hours, set the lead time to your organization's business hours + 1. For example, if open from 9:00am to 5:00pm, set the lead time for 9 hours.

Multiple Attendees

To provide clients with the ability to add multiple people to a single appointment:

Toggle the setting to Multiple attendees are enabled
Make your selections based on how your organization wants to handle multiple attendees booking and participating in an appointment

Custom messaging when there is no availability

Provide clients with an alternative option if there are no time slots available on their selected day by enabling a custom message:

Toggle the setting to Custom message is enabled
Add a message heading, message content, and a call to action, based on your organization’s desired strategy

Booking Shortcuts

Shortcuts enable you to create a direct link to yours or another staff member’s calendar that is further refined by service, meeting method, and/or location. This minimizes the number of details a client needs to provide during the appointment scheduling process.

Provide clients with an alternative option if the shortcut they used is no longer available by enabling a custom message:

Toggle the setting to Custom expired message is enabled
Add message content based on your organization’s desired strategy
If your organization wants to allow a client to book without needing a shortcut, ensure Bookings without a shortcut is enabled is on

Staff Details

Select how you want staff members’ names, titles, and photos to display to clients during the booking process.

Client Details

Select the information your organization requires clients to provide as part of the booking process.

NOTE: First name, last name, and email are always required.

NOTE: Only mobile phone number is synced through Microsoft Exchange, regardless of the primary phone settings set in Coconut.

Hot Tip!

To hide the Additional Details text box in the online booking flow, for the Notes option, select Hidden.

Compliance Information

Ensure clients have accepted your organization’s compliance information, such as terms of service or privacy policies, as part of the booking process:

Select Users must actively accept all compliance information
Enter the URL for your privacy policy in the Privacy Policy URL field
Enter the URL for your terms of service in the Terms of Service URL field
Enter any additional details you want to share with clients regarding compliance in the Additional Information text editor

Embed Client View

To embed the client view in your website instead of redirecting clients to a separate page:

Share the contents of the Embed HTML code field with your site administrator
Enter the domains where the client view will be embedded in the Used domains field

Google Tag Manager Configuration

If your organization uses Google Tag Manager and wants to use it in conjunction with the booking process:

Enter the container ID in the Container ID field
Enter the relevant GTM JSON in the JSON field

A note on access and visibility

Admin users can update Client View settings.

Sample Setup

This is an example of the online booking process using the Client View settings noted in the following table.

NOTE: This setup includes an additional languages and a phone & video meetings add-on.

Setting	Selection
Status	Enabled
Layout	Modern
Default Language (Additional Language add-on of French)	English
Which step should be displayed first?	Service
How are services displayed?	On a single page, divided by category
Search radius (km)	50
Include location step for phone and video appointments (Phone and Video Meetings add-on)	No
Can clients select a staff member?	Yes, at all locations
Can clients select to be serviced in a specific language?	Yes
Can clients select to be serviced in a language other than English, French, or Spanish?	No
How are staff lists sorted?	Manually
How are appointments assigned when a client doesn’t select a staff member?	Most Available
How are available times determined?	Service length
Cancellation Reasons	Disabled
Cancellation booking policy	8 hours
Rescheduling booking policy	8 hours
How far in advance can a client book an appointment?	3 weeks
How much lead time is needed for an appointment?	Individual General = 4 hours 3 specific services = +1 day Group General = 1 day
Multiple Attendees	Enabled Limited = 2 Apply first attendee’s answers to all
Custom messaging when there is no availability	Disabled
Booking Shortcuts	Custom expired message is disabled Bookings without a shortcut is enabled
Staff Details	First name and last name Show titles Don’t show staff photos
Client Details	Home phone = Hidden Mobile phone = Required SMS notifications = Optional Work phone = Hidden Address details = Hidden Notes = Optional
Compliance Information	Users must actively accept all compliance info is selected
Embed Client View	n/a
Google Tag Manager Configuration	n/a