How to set up online booking for your salon
Setting up online booking involves adding your services with accurate durations, configuring your team's availability, setting booking rules (minimum notice, cancellation policy), and sharing your booking link. Most salon software makes this achievable in a few hours.
Before you start
Gather this information:
- List of services you offer
- How long each service takes
- Your working hours (and any team member variations)
- Whether you want to require deposits
- Your cancellation policy
Step-by-step setup
1. Add your services
For each service, you'll need: Name (what clients will see, e.g., "Women's Cut & Blow Dry"), Duration (be realistic—include buffer time), Price (can be hidden if you prefer), and Description (optional details about what's included). Start with your most popular services. You can add more later.
2. Set your availability
Configure when clients can book: your working days and hours, any regular days off, lunch breaks or blocked time, and public holidays. If you have team members, each person can have different availability.
3. Configure booking rules
Decide on: Minimum notice (how far in advance must clients book?), Maximum booking window (how far in advance can they book?), Cancellation policy (how much notice is required?), and Deposits (will you require prepayment?).
4. Customise your booking page
Most software lets you personalise: your business name and logo, a banner image or gallery, a welcome message or description, and colour scheme (on some platforms). This is what clients see, so make it reflect your brand.
5. Test it yourself
Before going live: Open your booking page as if you were a client, book a test appointment, check that you receive the notification, verify the appointment appears on your calendar, and test cancelling or rescheduling.
6. Share your booking link
Add your booking link to: your website (booking button or embedded calendar), Instagram bio and posts, Facebook page, Google Business Profile, email signatures, and business cards.
Common setup mistakes
Inaccurate service durations
If your "30-minute" service actually takes 45 minutes, you'll end up with scheduling conflicts. Be honest about how long things take.
No buffer time between appointments
Back-to-back bookings leave no time for cleanup or running late. Build in realistic gaps.
Overly restrictive rules
Requiring 72 hours notice for all bookings might reduce no-shows but also reduces bookings. Find the balance.
Test the full booking flow yourself before going live. You don't want clients finding bugs.
After launch
Monitor and adjust
Watch for: Are clients actually using online booking? Are there timing issues with certain services? Do you need to adjust notice requirements?
Promote it
Remind clients they can book online. Many won't know until you tell them—repeatedly.
Ask for feedback
If clients have trouble booking, you want to know so you can fix it.
Related features
Ready to try Bella Booking?
Start your free trial today. No credit card required.
Australian-owned business. Sydney-based support team.