Client Management

How to Manage Initial vs Follow-Up Appointments Automatically

Bella Booking's service variants with client eligibility automatically show initial consultations to first-time clients and follow-up sessions to returning clients. You set different durations, prices, and forms for each — the system handles the rest without manual intervention.

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The problem with manual appointment type management

Most health practitioners charge differently for initial assessments and follow-up sessions — typically a longer, higher-priced first appointment and shorter, lower-priced subsequent visits. Managing this manually creates problems:

Clients book the wrong appointment type online (follow-up when they're new, or initial when they're returning)
Reception staff need to check every booking against client history
Pricing errors when the wrong service type is applied
Intake forms sent to returning clients who've already completed them
Longer initial assessments accidentally booked into follow-up time slots

Service variants with client eligibility eliminate these problems by making the system responsible for showing the correct option based on the client's history — no human decision required.

How service variants with client eligibility work

You create a single service (e.g., "Chiropractic") with multiple variants. Each variant has its own duration, price, and eligibility rule:

Setting	Initial Assessment variant	Follow-up Session variant
Duration	45-60 minutes	20-30 minutes
Price	$110-150	$65-85
Eligibility	First-time clients only	Returning clients only
Intake form	Full intake + consent	None (or brief update form)
Deposit	Required ($30-50)	Optional

When a client books online, the system checks whether they've had a previous appointment. First-time clients see only the initial assessment variant. Clients with booking history see only the follow-up variant. The correct duration, price, and form are applied automatically.

Setting up service variants — step by step

1Go to Services and create or edit your service (e.g., "Physiotherapy")
2Enable service variants for this service
3Create your first variant: "Initial Assessment" — set the duration (e.g., 60 min), price (e.g., $120), and eligibility to "First-time clients"
4Create your second variant: "Follow-up Session" — set the duration (e.g., 30 min), price (e.g., $75), and eligibility to "Returning clients"
5Optionally attach your intake form to the initial assessment variant only
6Configure deposit requirements (typically higher for initial assessments)
7Save and test by viewing your booking page as both a new and existing client

You can create more than two variants if needed. For example, some practitioners have "Initial Assessment", "Standard Follow-up", and "Extended Follow-up" with different durations and prices.

How eligibility is determined

Client eligibility is based on whether the client has a previous appointment (completed or upcoming) for that specific service. This means:

A client who has booked physiotherapy before is "returning" for physiotherapy — but could still be "first-time" for a different service like massage
Eligibility is checked at the time of booking — the system looks at the client's history in real time
If you manually add a client record (e.g., migrating from another system), you can mark them as existing to skip the initial assessment
Cancelled appointments don't count toward eligibility — only completed or confirmed bookings

Practical examples by profession

Physiotherapy

Initial assessment: 60 minutes, $120 — includes subjective history, objective assessment, diagnosis, and treatment plan discussion. Follow-up: 30 minutes, $75 — hands-on treatment and exercise review. Attach full intake form (medical history, consent) to initial only.

Chiropractic

New patient consultation: 45 minutes, $110 — includes history, examination, and first adjustment. Return visit: 20 minutes, $65 — adjustment and progress check. Attach new patient questionnaire and consent to initial variant.

Osteopathy

Initial consultation: 60 minutes, $130 — full case history, structural assessment, and first treatment. Follow-up treatment: 40 minutes, $90 — reassessment and treatment. Some osteos also offer a "brief follow-up" variant at 20 minutes for quick check-ins.

Acupuncture

Initial session: 75 minutes, $100 — includes TCM diagnosis, tongue/pulse assessment, and first treatment. Return session: 45 minutes, $80 — treatment with brief reassessment. Attach health history and consent form to initial variant.

Overriding eligibility when needed

Sometimes you need to override the automatic eligibility — for example, booking a returning client into an initial assessment because they're presenting with a new condition, or booking a client referred from another practitioner as a follow-up because they've already been assessed.

When you book appointments manually from the calendar (rather than through online booking), you can select any variant regardless of eligibility. The automatic rules only apply to the client-facing online booking page.

For practices that re-assess returning clients annually, some practitioners create a third variant: "Re-assessment" — longer than a follow-up but positioned as returning-client-eligible. This lets you schedule comprehensive reviews without forcing clients through the full intake process again.