What are waitlists?
The waitlist feature allows visitors to your booking page to sign up when no suitable time is available. As soon as new availability opens up, they will automatically receive a notification via SMS or email.
When are customers notified?
Customers on the waitlist receive a notification when new availability opens up. This can happen due to:
- New availability – For example, when you add extra working hours to your schedule
- Cancelled appointment – When another customer cancels an appointment, that time becomes available
How notifications work
Notifications are sent one at a time, in order of sign-up. Each customer gets a response window (default: 30 minutes) to book the available slot. If they don't respond in time, the next person on the waitlist is notified.
If the available time doesn't match a customer's day or time preferences, they are skipped and the next matching customer is notified instead.
Customers remain on the waitlist and continue to receive notifications until they book an appointment, unsubscribe from the waitlist, or reach the maximum number of notification attempts.
Enabling waitlists
To activate waitlists for your salon:
- Go to Settings in your dashboard
- Navigate to Workflow
- Open the Waitlist tab
- Enable Activate waitlist
- Save your changes
Advanced settings
In the Workflow settings, you can also configure:
- Response time – How long customers have to respond before the next person is notified (default: 30 minutes)
- Maximum attempts – The maximum number of notifications a customer receives before being removed from the waitlist (default: 3)
- SMS and email templates – Customize the message content using variables such as :name, :treatment, :salon, and :link
How does it work for customers?
When a customer visits your online booking page and cannot find a suitable time for their selected treatment, they can sign up for the waitlist. During sign-up, the customer can specify:
- Notification preference – Email is always available, SMS is an option if they provide a phone number
- Preferred days – Which days of the week they are available (Monday through Sunday)
- Preferred time range – Their preferred time window for appointments
When a matching time becomes available, the customer receives a notification with a link to book directly. They stay on the waitlist and continue to receive notifications for matching slots until they successfully book.
Good to know
- When customers sign up for the waitlist, they are automatically added to your client list
Managing the waitlist
In your Bookura dashboard, you can view and manage the current waitlist. You can see which customers are waiting, for which treatments, and you can manually reach out if needed.
