Getting started
Everything you need to go from sign-up to your first paid booking. Most people finish the first seven steps in about ten minutes.
Create your page
- Go to the sign-up page, enter your business name, pick the kind of work you do, and choose a password.
- Would you rather not do the setup yourself? Tick "Set my page up for me" when you sign up, or press Set it up for me on your Home screen. It is free, and you can skip to step 5.
- You land on your dashboard. Your booking page already exists with starter services and prices for your trade.
- The "Finish setting up" list on your Home screen tracks the steps below.
Set your services and prices
- Open Services and prices.
- Under "How prices vary", choose whether you charge one price for everyone or different prices by size (for example car, SUV, truck, or small, medium, large yard). Rename the options to match how you quote.
- Open each starter service, change the name, what is included, how long it takes and the price. The time matters: it is how the calendar knows when you are free.
- Add-ons are optional extras a customer can tick. Delete any that do not apply.
Set your hours
- Open Settings and tick the days you work, with a start and end time for each.
- "Gap between jobs" is your travel and pack-up time. "Shortest notice" stops people booking you for an hour from now.
- Going away? Add those dates under "Days off" and nobody can book them.
Make your page look good
- Open Your page. Add your phone number, a one-line tagline and a few sentences about you.
- Upload your logo and up to 12 photos. The first photo is the big one at the top, so make it your best before-and-after.
- Pick the color that matches your brand. If you work from a shop, untick "I travel to the customer" and add your address.
- Add a booking policy: how much notice you need for a cancellation and what happens to the deposit. Customers see it before they pay, which protects you if a payment is ever disputed.
Take deposits
- Open Settings and choose Connect Stripe. Stripe asks for your business and bank details; it takes about five minutes.
- Choose your deposit: a set amount or a percentage of the job.
- From then on a customer has to pay the deposit to hold a time. The money goes to your bank through Stripe, usually within a couple of business days.
- No Stripe yet? Customers can still book. They just are not asked for a deposit.
Turn on reviews and repeat bookings
- In your Google Business Profile, choose "Ask for reviews" and copy the link. Paste it into Settings under "Follow-up emails".
- The day after you mark a job finished, the customer gets an email asking for a review. It goes to every customer, which is what Google's rules require.
- Set how many weeks later customers get a "time for another one?" email. Use 0 to switch it off.
- Rebooking emails need a mailing address on your account (under Your page), because US law requires one on marketing email. A PO box works.
Share your link
- Your link is at the top of your Home screen. Copy it.
- Put it in your Instagram and Facebook bio, your Google Business Profile ("Booking link" or "Website"), and on your business cards and flyers.
- When someone messages "how much for...?", reply with the link. It answers the price question and takes the booking.
Day to day
- Your Home screen shows what was booked through your page, deposits collected, review requests sent and repeat work from reminders over the last 30 days. The same summary is emailed to you at the start of each month.
- You get an email for every new booking, and it shows up on your Home screen under "Coming up".
- When you finish a job, open the booking and choose Mark job finished. That is what triggers the review request and the rebooking reminder.
- If they pay you in person, enter the amount under "Payments" so your earnings and "still owed" numbers stay right.
- Need to move a job? Open the booking, choose a new day and time, and the customer is emailed automatically. Cancelling works the same way.
Run discounts and see what sells
- Open Insights and discounts. The top of the page shows your most popular services, which add-ons each type of customer picks, and your busiest days.
- Under "Worth a look" you get suggestions, such as a service that rarely sells or an add-on one group of customers skips. Each has a button that starts a discount for it.
- A discount can be a percent or a dollar amount, for the whole booking or one service or add-on, for everyone or one type of customer, with an optional last day.
- Leave the promo code empty and it applies automatically with a banner on your page. Add a code and only people you give it to can use it.
- One discount applies per booking, whichever saves the customer more.
Bookings you take by phone or text
- Open Bookings and choose Add a booking.
- Enter the customer, the service and the time. If you add their email they get the confirmation and all the follow-ups.
- The time is blocked on your public calendar so nobody else can book it.
See jobs in your phone calendar
- Open Settings and copy the calendar link.
- On iPhone: Settings, Calendar, Accounts, Add Account, Other, Add Subscribed Calendar. On Google Calendar: Other calendars, From URL.
- Your upcoming jobs then appear next to everything else in your life. Keep this link private.
Quote requests
- If some jobs need a custom price, switch on "Let customers ask for a quote" under Your page.
- Requests arrive by email and under Quote requests. Call or email the customer back, then add the booking yourself.
Billing and cancelling
- Open Billing to start your plan, update your card or cancel.
- Plans renew automatically until you cancel. If you cancel, your page stops taking bookings at the end of the paid period. Your customers and history stay saved if you come back.
- To leave completely, use "Close my account" at the bottom of Settings. That deletes your page and all its data and cancels your plan.
Refunds and deleting a customer
- To refund a deposit or card payment, refund it in your Stripe dashboard. It shows up on the booking here by itself. For money you gave back another way, open the booking and use "Record a refund".
- If a customer asks you to erase their information, open them under Customers and use "Delete this customer".
Still stuck?
Email help@simplrserv.com and a real person will help.