Appointment booking form
Four questions about when somebody would like to come in.
What it is for
A business with a diary and a telephone. Somebody says what they want, roughly when, and how to reach them, and the request is there when you next look. For a clinic, a garage or a salon that books people in by hand, that is the whole of what a form on the website has to do.
What a visitor is actually doing
Asking, not booking. It takes a preferred day and a part of the day rather than a time, because offering half past nine implies somebody knows half past nine is free. The last line says a confirmation is coming and that nothing is held until it arrives, and it is there to stop a person walking away believing they have an appointment.
When not to use one
It does not hold the slot. There is no calendar behind it, no view of what is free, nothing to stop two people asking for Thursday morning and no reminder the day before. If you need any of that then you need a scheduling tool, and this is not one wearing a disguise. What it is for is the business already answering these by hand, that only wants them to arrive somewhere better than a voicemail.
Questions
- Does it know when I am free?
- No. It has no calendar and no sight of yours, so every request is a question you answer rather than a slot that quietly closes.
- Can two people ask for the same time?
- Yes, and both requests will arrive. Choosing between them is yours to do, exactly as it is when two people telephone within a minute of each other.
- Does the person get a confirmation?
- Not automatically. The widget says one is coming and you are the one who sends it, which is the honest arrangement while nothing here knows your diary.
- Can I ask for a telephone number?
- Yes. Add a field for one, or take the address out entirely. The questions are yours, and the only rule is that every field carries a label.