In this article, we'll walk you through the ins and outs of using ScheduleNow, a scheduler that lets customers conveniently book appointments with your company through various channels, such as your website, social media, email, or text. With ScheduleNow, you can ensure seamless and efficient scheduling for your services.
Request Appointment is the scheduling functionality that was available prior to ScheduleNow. It is no longer receiving updates and is not available to newer customers. For inspectors with Request Appointment still enabled, switching to Schedule Now will remove Request Appointments.
Enable Schedule Now
To get started with ScheduleNow, follow these steps:
Login to your Inspector Dashboard
Click Appointments > ScheduleNow Settings
Select Enable ScheduleNow
Scroll down and click Save Settings
Follow the below steps to configure Schedule Now to your business needs
Setup ScheduleNow Time Slots
Efficient scheduling begins with properly configuring your availability. Here's how:
Scroll down to the Scheduling Configuration section
Set your scheduling limits to define the availability window
Click on Configure appointment slots, and a new tab will open to Inspector Settings for Appointments. You can create up to three inspection times, known as "Time Slots," per day.
To make a time slot available for scheduling, specify the start and end times for the week. Leave the time slot blank if you want to keep it unavailable.
Scroll to the bottom and click Save Public Scheduling Time Slots
Click on the previous tab to go back to the ScheduleNow Settings page
Scroll down and click Save Settings
Block Time Slot
In the Block Time Slot section, choose whether appointments should block the time slot automatically before inspector approval.
On: When the toggle is blue, it means the feature is turned on. This removes the timeslot from the scheduler when someone books an appointment. This reduces double booking.
Off: When the toggle is grey, it means the feature is turned off. The timeslot is only removed from the scheduler once the appointment is approved by you. This may be ideal when you want to have control over scheduling appointments. However, you can be double booked for a time slot.
Scroll down and click Save Settings
Making Services Public
For customers to select services during scheduling, ensure that the desired services are public. You can see how many services are public.
Scroll to Services
Toggle on or off if you want customers and agents to select services
Toggle on or off if you want customers and agents to see the fees for the services
Click Edit Your Company Services to open a new tab for Inspection Services. To learn how to make your services public, please visit Inspector Dashboard: Setup and Manage Inspection Services
Click on the previous tab to go back to the Schedule Now Settings page
Scroll down and click Save Settings
Additional Property Details
Additional property details include the year built, square footage, bedrooms, full bathrooms, half bathrooms, MLS#, and utility information. You can choose to collect additional property details or not display them in the scheduler.
Scroll to Additional Property Details
Turn it on or off depending on if you want to allow customers and agents to provide additional property details
Scroll down and click Save Settings
If you want custom fields to gather information during the scheduling process, you can create them.
To learn how to create custom property fields, check out Inspector Dashboard: ScheduleNow Customize Property Details
Company Notification Email
To send appointment notifications to specific recipients, enter the email addresses below (separate by commas if more than one).
Scroll to Company Notification Email
Enter email
Click Save Settings
Customer Email Notifications
Click Customize Email Notifications under Company Notification Email to open a new tab for Appointment Notification Templates
Click the drop-down selector for Notification Type and
choose Public Appointment Scheduled for blocked time slots, or
choose Public Appointment Requested for unblocked time slots.
Update the email Subject and Body to your preference for each Recipient type
Test Your Configuration
Curious about what your customers or Realtors will experience when booking an appointment? Test out the configuration of your scheduler.
On your ScheduleNow Settings page, scroll down.
Find your link by clicking on Test Your Configuration
Copy the link below
Open the link in a different browser or log out and use this browser
Follow the instructions to make an appointment
Sharing your Public Appointment Link
To make scheduling accessible, share your unique scheduler link with customers and REPs:
On your ScheduleNow Settings page, scroll down.
Find your link by clicking on Add Apt. To Your Site
Share the link via email, text, social media, or your website.
Here are a few ways we recommend sharing the schedule link:
Email: Paste the link into emails you send to customers and REPs for scheduling
Text: Text your link to interested customers and REPs, and they can schedule from their phone
Social Media: Place this link on your company's Facebook page (or other social media) so customers and REPs can schedule with you
Website: Share the link on your company's website as a clickable link or a button
If your website is hosted with HomeGauge, you can email your link to webteam@homegauge.com, along with a request to put it on your website
Finalizing Public Appointments
Once appointments are scheduled, manage them effectively:
ScheduleNow appointments will appear on the Inspector Dashboard's calendar view
For unblocked time slots, act on the appointment by accepting the proposed time or selecting a new slot
Follow the steps outlined in Inspector Dashboard: Creating and Managing Appointments to edit and add agreements, then schedule the appointment
Appointment Status
On the Appointment Calendar, appointments booked through Schedule now will have a status showing if it is pending, requested, or not.
Pending
If you have set up ScheduleNow to block your time slot automatically, the appointment does not require an approval. We recommend you review them, make any adjustments that may be necessary, and send the appropriate agreements and notifications. While looking at your calendar, blocked appointments will be 'Pending' until the appointment is confirmed scheduled by an inspector.
Requested
If you have set up ScheduleNow to leave the time slot unblocked, you will need to act on the appointment to either accept the proposed time or select a new time slot. While looking at your calendar, unblocked appointments will be 'Requested'. Finalizing the appointment will block your public time slot and notify the requestor that the appointment is accepted.