The online spay & neuter scheduler allows public clients to create appointments for any kind of appointment that your clinic offers. This gives you a clear picture of what’s ahead and allows you to open the line of communication with your client before they step into your clinic.
To preview your clinic’s online appointment scheduler in HQ, follow these steps:
- Go to the Settings tab in HQ.
- Scroll down to the Scheduling section.
- Click on E-Appointments.
- By default, spay/neuter is the primary appointment type. If it’s not enabled you may need to click the enable button to turn it on.
Learn how to add this link to your website here.
Note: Your clinic will have different appointments than are displayed in this image.
From here:
- Each clinic is automatically assigned a link when setting up Clinic HQ. This is the link you will use on your website to direct clients to book appointments.
- To view your active scheduler link, click Preview in New Tab. This will open a new tab where you can see the scheduler from the client’s perspective based on the types of appointments you have customized for your clinic.
Using the Scheduler
- Select Appointment Type:
- The client will start by selecting the appointment type they wish to book (e.g., spay/neuter, dental, vaccines). Then, they will provide basic information about the animal, such as species, size, and sex.
- View Available Appointments:
- Based on the information the client has provided, HQ will show open appointments that match their needs based on your clinic’s availability.
- How days are offered:
The E appointment form will take into consideration two key elements for offering available dates. First the individual days max capacity must not be filled. The day’s total number of appointments must be less than the max capacity.
Second, the feature uses the individual tiles your clinic created to see if the selected species/sex chosen by the client can fit within the available day.
Only days where the capacity has not been met and there is room on the individual animal type/species/sex tile will be listed online.
- Enter Contact Information:
- After selecting an appointment, the client will need to enter their contact details, including phone number, email and physical address.
Note: If the address does not auto-populate, there will be an option to select Enter Custom Address to manually input it.
- Enter Detailed Animal Information:
The client will then be prompted to provide more detailed information about the animal.
Confirming Appointment Details:
- Service Selection and Payment:
- Before requesting the appointment, the client will have the opportunity to select any Packages or Individual Services your clinic offers (e.g., vaccines, packages, nail trims, etc.). This step allows the client to make selections in advance, streamlining the appointment process and saving you time.
- The prices and services will be displayed, and clients will have the option to pay a deposit. You can also include custom questions that are not part of HQ’s standard options, allowing you to gather additional information as needed. Clients will be required to check a box confirming they have read and understood your clinic’s deposit policy.
- Request Appointment and Pending Status:
- Once all selections are made, the client will click Request Appointment. They will receive a notification that their spot is pending, with an email confirmation sent once your clinic approves the booking. If a client is making multiple appointment requests, they can continue on the same page and the system will autofill most of the information to streamline the process.
Can the Appointment Request Received email be customized?
The email notice sent to clients for “Appointment Request Received” cannot be customized. This basic automated email is intended to simply let clients know the request was successful, it is pending review, and if a deposit was taken.
Timing Of E-Appointments
When the clock strikes midnight in your time zone, appointments are no longer available for online requests. For example, if today is February 1st, clients can request an e-appointment for the next day, February 2nd, up until midnight on February 1st.
Same-day appointment requests cannot be made. The e-appointment form will only show future date availability. Same-day scheduling must be done internally.
Managing the E-Appointment Request
As soon as the client makes the appointment online, the appointment is pulled off of your calendar. However, it’s important to not duplicate the client and animal, so there must be a screening process first to determine if the client is already in your database. To do this, follow the following steps:
Click Online Appointments in the left hand navigation menu, or the green E-Apps button if on the calendar.
Confirming the Request
- Click the green Confirm button.
- Review the list of owners/animals who have similar details. If a client has previously been to your clinic, you must select their record.
- Select the corresponding confirmation button. If you selected both the same owner and animal, click Owner and animal selected. If you selected the same owner, but this is a new animal, click Owner selected, but start new animal record. If this client has not been to your clinic at all, click New owner and animal.
Note: When confirming the request, you can also choose to reschedule to a different date. Select the date picker and choose the new appointment date to be confirmed.
Editing the Request
If you need to make changes to the owner or animal info, click the blue Edit button.
If you need to adjust the selected services, click the pencil icon next to Services. For example, if an owner add a rabies vaccine for a puppy that is too young for a rabies shot, you can remove the item. Or, if they don’t add a vaccine but indicate in the notes field that they want a vaccine, you can add vaccines on the e-appointments approval screen.
Declining the Request
To decline an appointment request, click the red Cancel button. A pop up will appear allowing you to notify the client the request was canceled and why. If you choose to skip sending a reason, the client will not receive any notification that the request was not approved.
If the client had an online deposit associated with the e-appointment request, the system will automatically refund the deposit back to the client.
What happens to the client/animal information collected from the e-app request when it is canceled from the E-app queue?
Clinic HQ currently only adds e-appointments that have been confirmed to the scheduler log. The declined request would not be part of the scheduler log since it was never officially scheduled by staff. There would not be any profile or record of these client/animal details. Minimal information is retained under the Audit Log as a deleted appointment.
The online deposit payment and refund are recorded in the Reconciliation and Financial Export. The client and animal name will also appear on the Audit Log as a deleted appointment.
Note: Appointment details are not retained in HQ if an appointment request is cancelled.
Can clients overbook us?
Our powerful scheduling engine will only provide dates and times to users where you have availability, so there’s zero chance you can be overbooked. How does this work? It’s important to understand a fundamental concept of HQ’s scheduling. The moment the user requests the appointment online, it is immediately removed from your calendar, even if you haven’t “confirmed” it yet. This ensures there’s no chance of overbooking.
This flow ensures that the client provides all necessary information, allowing for an efficient and accurate booking process.
For a detailed video on this process, please see HQ University.
