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How to set up Automated Consult forms

  • Updated

In this guide you will learn how to set up automated Consult forms in Timely’s in-house consultation app ‘Consult’. This enables you to deliver an important part of your client experience with ease. More than client consultations, Consult’s customisable forms will help you streamline your business, protect your brand, and create an exceptional client experience.

 

 

Important note: you'll need to upgrade your plan to get this feature - you can do this directly from your Timely account or via our Pricing and plans page.

 

 

Step-by-step instructions 

 

1 Timely gives you the ability to automatically send your consultation forms to your clients based on the services that they have booked in for. To create an automated consult form, head to setup and click on automation rules.

 

2 Then click on new rule and you can select the form that you wish to send.

 

3 Then scroll down to select services and in this option you have the ability to select individual services that this treatment goes out for or that.

 

4 Select delivery settings. This is when you want the consultation form to be sent. You have two options here. You can send the consult form directly after the customer has made an online booking or this is available to send through email or through SMS.

 

5 You can also select to send the consultation form with the customer's reminder message. So be sure to have your reminder messages set up. And finally, you also have the option to only send this to your clients that are new.

 

6 Once you've made the selections and you're happy with how this is set-up, simply click the save button.

 

 

Timely tip: after setting up your automated rules, you should test your rule to ensure it works as you expect. See below for our recommendations. 

 

 

How to test your automated consult, when sent right after booking

  • Create a booking for the service you selected in your automation rule.
     
  • Check that you received the Consult email or SMS shortly after the booking was made. P.s sometimes SMS can be delayed due to local SMS carriers, so don't panic if it takes a minute or two! 
     

Timely tip: by default, SMS and email is set to send after a 10 minute delay. You may want to turn this off while you test so you receive your SMS faster. Likewise, double check that you're not testing at a time when you've restricted SMS from sending. You can check both these settings in setup > SMS settings.

 

 

How to test your automated consult, when sent with a reminder message

  • Check the settings for your reminder message. Make sure the "Send Consult form" section is empty - this is a different feature and can interfere with your automated rule.
     
  • Check when your message is set up to be sent. In this example, it is sent 48 hours before an appointment.
     
  • Make a booking that is 5 minutes later than your message settings, so in this example, you would make a booking for 48 hours and 5 minutes in the future.
     
  • Wait for the message to be received.
     
A Example:


 

B Example:



 

 

After testing

If you changed any of your message settings for testing, make sure you put them back to how they were e.g. SMS and email delay.

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