Shareable URLs are only available to TimeZest customers on the Professional Plan.
Shareable URLs are URLs which you can distribute, and which allow anyone to schedule an appointment (subject to configurable restrictions). When a client, end-user, or prospect uses a shareable URL to schedule an appointment, TimeZest can create either a service ticket and schedule entry or an activity/to-do.
The difference between shareable URLs and URL-based scheduling
TimeZest already has URL-based scheduling, which allows the generation of ticket-specific URLs that can be used to allow a client to schedule an appointment for a particular ticket. These URLs look something like this:
They require that a ticket already exists and that its number is included in the URL. The primary use case for these sort of URLs is inclusion in an email template sent by a workflow in your PSA system.
Shareable URLs don't require an existing ticket, and they will look something like this:
These can be freely distributed - on web pages or in email signatures, for example - to allow appointments to be scheduled.
Configuring Shareable URLs
Shareable URLs are configured on a per-appointment type basis and are configured in the Appointment Types configuration screen in TimeZest.
To configure an appointment type to be available for scheduling with Shareable URLs, give the appointment type a URL slug (if it doesn't have one), and select one of the last 2 options for Shareable URLs. By default, shareable URLs are disabled for appointment types to ensure you have control over when clients can create tickets and activities.
(A URL Slug is simply a name for the appointment type which can be used in URLs, so it can only contain letters, numbers, and hyphens. URL slugs must be unique for each appointment type in your account.)
New Contact Handling
When a client or prospect uses a shareable URL to schedule an appointment, TimeZest will ask for their name, email address, company name and (optionally) their contact phone number.
TimeZest will require the first 3 fields to be filled out and will display an error message to end users if they leave them blank.
The Contact Handling section of the appointment type configures how TimeZest will handle new contacts - if the email address given by the end-user matches an existing contact in your PSA, then TimeZest will always use that contact and its associated company to create the ticket or activity.
There are 4 possible ways that TimeZest can handle the situation where the end-user who is scheduling supplies an email address that isn't recognized.
TimeZest can create a new company and new contact in your PSA, based on the information the end-user supplies. Important: if you select this option, the new company will be created with the default Company Status in your PSA. This status must allow tickets to be created, otherwise, TimeZest will be prevented from creating a ticket and appointment.
Important: There must also be a default Company Type in your PSA instance, otherwise TimeZest will be unable to create new companies.TimeZest can create a new contact but in a pre-existing catch-all company. This keeps your company database cleaner but requires manual clean-up later. Important: Again, the Company Status of the catch-all company must permit tickets to be saved.
TimeZest can look for companies that have the same email domain (i.e. the part after the '@' symbol) as the end user's email address. If one is found, TimeZest will create a new contact in that company. If one isn't found, TimeZest will reject the appointment, and display a message saying that to the user. Common free email domains, like Gmail and Hotmail are excluded from this check, and will never match with an existing email domain.
TimeZest can look for contacts that match the entire email address supplied by the end-user. If one is found, TimeZest will use that contact and its associated company for the ticket or activity it creates. If no matching email address is found, TimeZest will reject the appointment, and display a message to the end-user. In other words, this option only limits scheduling to only existing contacts in your PSA instance.
Creating Service Tickets
When the "Allow clients to schedule via Shareable URL, and create a service ticket" option is selected, TimeZest will display an additional field that controls the details of the created ticket:
The ticket will be created with the specified values and will use the contact and company that was created or found from the contact handling step. TimeZest will send confirmation emails to the client and technician (if configured).
If Require the client to provide a description for their issue is selected, TimeZest will add an additional field to the appointment confirmation screen, and require the client to enter a value there, which will be used as the ticket summary. This field is limited to 100 characters.
If Use a specific value for the service ticket description is selected, that value will be used for the ticket summary, but you can use the variables {{ client.name }} and {{ company.name }}, which will be replaced with the values given by the client.
Creating Activities
When the "Allow clients to schedule via Shareable URL, and create an activity/to-do" option is selected, TimeZest will display an additional field that controls the details of the created ticket:
The activity /to-do will be created with the specified values, and with the contact and company that was created or found from the contact handling step. TimeZest will send confirmation emails to the client and technician if configured.
The same options for the summary of the created activity are available for service tickets.
Generating Shareable URLs for scheduling
Once you have your Appointment type setup for using Shareable URLs, the URLs will be available on the front page of Appointment Types.
To use the tool, simply select the resource or team, TimeZest will then display the URL beneath the Appointment type. Click the icon next to the URL to copy it to the clipboard.