How to Create Service Menus for Calendars

Modified on: Mon, 19 Aug, 2024 at 1:04 PM

What is a Service Menu?

The Service Menu is a centralized page to list all your services in one streamlined scheduling link. Imagine neatly categorized services, making navigation a breeze. What's more, your clients can access this menu to seamlessly book multiple services for themselves or even for their guests, all through a single booking widget.

The Service Menu displays the chosen Service Calendars. A Service Calendar is a tailored calendar type created for service-based businesses. In this calendar type, users can create different services, assign staff, group them together by categories, and display all of them in one single scheduling link - the Service Menu.

For example, a salon can have Hair services like ‘Hair Cut, Hair Spa, and Hair Coloring’ under the category Hair, whereas Skin services like ‘Facial, Clean Up, and Bleaching’ under the category Skin. The clients can then choose the services they want and schedule their appointments seamlessly.

What can you do with the Service Menu?

With a Service Menu, you have the tools to optimize your service-based business like never before. Here's what you can achieve:

1. Create Calendars for Each Service:

Easily set up a dedicated calendar for each service you offer
Assign staff members to these service-specific calendars

2. Organize Calendars into Categories:

Group your calendars into categories, simplifying navigation
Choose which groups / services to display on the scheduling page
Create a centralized booking widget for all your services. No more navigating through different calendars and becoming overwhelmed

3. Streamline Booking for Clients:

Clients can easily book multiple services or schedule appointments for multiple people from one booking
They can also select their preferred staff member while booking an appointment
Clients get important information related to the duration, cost and assigned staff member for each appointment

Who Can Use It?

The Service Menu is perfect for a range of businesses offering services. This includes but is not limited to:

Salons and Hairdressers
Spas and Wellness Centers
Massage and Therapy Clinics
Fitness Studios and Trainers
Healthcare Providers
Event Planners
Pet Groomers
And many more!

If you're in the business of providing services and want to enhance the booking experience for your clients, the Service Menu is your ideal solution.

Getting Started: Prerequisites

1. First, create a Group: Think of a group as a category for your services. Any calendars added to a group will appear under that category tab on the appointment widget. To create a new group, simply head to Calendar settings > Create Group.

For Example: You can create the Group “Hair Care” for your hair related services like Hair Cut, Hair Spa, Hair Coloring etc.

2. Then, create a Service Calendar: Design a dedicated calendar for each service you offer and assign the calendar to its respective group. Click here to know more about creating a Service Calendar

For Example: You can create different calendars for your Hair Care services. Here you will have four service calendars, one for each service - Hair Cut (Male), Hair Cut (Female), Hair Spa, Hair Coloring.

3. Finally, create a Service Page Menu: Decide which service calendars and groups you want to display on the appointment widget and give your clients a single place to make bookings.

For Example: Your service menu can have two categories “Hair Care” and “Skin Care” with different services listed under them.

By following the above steps, you'll be able to efficiently schedule your appointments.

How to create Service Menu?

Guide on how to create a Service Menu

Step 1: Enable Service Menu
Step 2: Prepare your Service Calendars
Step 3: Create your Service Menu
Step 4: Select & Arrange your Services

Step 1: Enable Service Menu

Go to Calendar Settings.
Click on "Preferences."
Under "In-App Preferences," toggle the "Service Menu" option to turn it on.
You will now see a "Service Menu" tab under "Calendar Settings" > "Calendars.

Step 2: Prepare your Service Calendars

Before you create a service menu, ensure that you have created your service calendars and added them to groups. Here's how:

Create your service calendars in the "Calendar Settings."
Add these calendars to relevant groups.

Step 3: Create your Service Menu

Head to the "Service Menu" tab.
Click on "Create Service Menu."
Fill in the following details for your menu:
- Name: Provide a name for your service menu.
- Description: Add a brief description of your services.
- URL/Slug: Customize the URL for your service menu.
You can also:
- Toggle the consent checkbox on/off.
- Customize the consent message.
- Choose to show a thank you message after booking or redirect users to an external URL.
- Enable/disable bookers from adding additional guests, limit bookers to booking only one service instead of multiple, and determine whether bookers can select their preferred staff member.
- Insert Custom Code to customize the look and feel of the service menu.
Once you've filled in the details, move to the next step - “Select Services"

Step 4: Select & Arrange your Services

1. In the Select services tab, select the groups or individual services that you want to display in the menu.

Note: If you haven't created service calendars or added them to groups, you'll need to do so before they appear in this list

2. After selecting the services, arrange them in the order you want them to appear on the service menu..

3. You can decide the sequence in which the groups are displayed from here.

4. Once you're satisfied with the arrangement, click "Save."

If you wish to change the order of services within groups:

Go to the Groups Tab.
Click the three dots next to your chosen group.
Select "Rearrange Calendars."
Adjust the sequence and click "Save."

Voila, your service menu is now ready to be used. You can use the scheduling link provided to direct your clients to the service menu.

How to Disable Service Menu?

To disable Service Menu, follow these steps:

Go to Calendar Settings.
Click on "Preferences."
Under "In-App Preferences," toggle the "Service Menu" option to turn it off.
After turning off the "Service Menu" option, note that the "Service Menu" tab under "Calendar Settings" > "Calendars" will no longer be accessible.