Booking Links
Booking links are a great tool for automating your booking process. A booking link is a generic link that will show available time slots for consultations, etc. based on your availability and any other specifications for the appointment. You can then easily use this link on your website or even share it using an email template.
To create a booking link you must first create your appointment types. Learn more about appointment types here.
It is also important to note the difference between appointments and events in Lawmatics. Appointments are booked with one individual matter, whereas events contain a mass number of registrants.
Default Duration
In order to create a custom booking link for an appointment type, you must first have a default duration for that appointment type. You can add default durations by simply clicking the pencil edit icon next to the desired appointment type on the appointment settings page.
Creating the Link
Once you have your appointment types created along with a default duration, you will see a share icon on the right side of the appointment type. This icon is highlighted in the image below.
Simply click on that button for the appointment type you wish to create a booking link for. Upon doing so, you will see the following options, explained below.
Choose the firm attendees who this appointment will be for. This indicates whose calendar will be pulled in for availability. You can also select more than one firm user. In that situation, we will combine the calendars and only offer times that both users are available.
- Choose the location for this appointment. This is helpful if you need to create different links for different office locations. The link you generate will be specific to the location and the firm users that are specified in this form. If you select more than one location, as shown above, then the person will be able to select which location they prefer.
- The booking link will require the person to enter their first name, last name, and email address before they can book. If you would like to include additional fields like phone number or address, select them here.
- This is the unique link that will be linked the specified firm users and location. Copy this link and feel free to place it anywhere you like. You do not need to generate a new link, unless you need to make changes to your selections in items 1-3. As long as those specifications stay the same, you can continue using this static link.
Using the Link
When someone clicks on the link to book an appointment on your calendar, they will see a calendar image, shown below. As they click on each available date, in green, they will see the available time slots for that day on the right side.
Once they have selected a day and time, then they will first be prompted to enter their first name, last name, email address, and any additional fields that you have selected (#3 from descriptions above).
If that person already exists in your Lawmatics database based on the email address, the new appointment will be booked directly to their existing matter. If there are no matters in the system with their email address, then a new matter will be created with the appointment booked on it.
Any automations that you may have triggering on the particular appointment type used in your booking link will trigger just like normal.
In addition to booking links, you can also use booking forms to perform a similar function. Click here to learn more.