Let your agent book appointments in the chat

With the Book appointments skill, your agent books appointments during the conversation, against the real schedule of the staff member or room that delivers the service. Customers can also ask it to move or cancel an appointment at any hour.

Note

Your agent can book in one of two ways. Choose the one that fits your business and install only that skill:

• Book appointments: the agent reserves the time straight away. This article covers it.
• Request appointments: the agent only collects a preferred time and your team confirms it. See Take appointment requests for your team to confirm.

Before you start

Add at least one active service and link it to at least one active resource with a weekly schedule. See Set up your services and resources.

Install the skill

1. Go to Settings, then under AI click Skills.

2. Click Install from gallery and find Book appointments.

3. Click Install skill. When asked, enter the email address where your team should receive booking alerts.

4. Finish the installation. Your agent can start booking right away.

You can change the alert email later in the skill’s Skill settings.

What your customer experiences

1. The customer asks for a service, for example “Can I book a haircut on Thursday?”. The agent finds the matching service and the staff who provide it.
2. The agent checks live availability and offers open times. It only offers times that are really free.
3. The customer picks a time. The agent books it and replies with the booking reference, for example PP-9JCJ7Q.
4. Later, the customer can ask to reschedule or cancel. The agent finds the booking and makes the change.

The agent only tells the customer an appointment is booked once the booking has really been created. If a booking fails, it says so and offers to involve your team.

Pending or confirmed

A new booking starts as:

• Confirmed, if the service does not need manual confirmation. The customer gets a confirmation right away.
• Pending, if the service has Needs manual confirmation turned on. Your team confirms or rejects it from the bookings board. See Manage bookings in the calendar and pipeline.

A safety net for missed bookings

Shortly after a conversation goes quiet, tkana reviews it. If the customer clearly agreed on a service, date, and time but no booking was created, the booking is created then. If anything is missing or unclear, nothing is booked.

Caution

At the moment, the agent can cancel or reschedule a booking at any time before it starts, even at short notice. If you have a cancellation policy, add it to your agent’s knowledge base so the agent can explain it to customers.