Online booking for therapists: benefits and how it works

What is an online booking system?

It is a web page where a client sees the times you have open and books one, without contacting you first. Behind the page is your calendar, with rules about when you work, how long sessions are and how much notice you need.

For a practitioner it replaces the diary, the reminder you would have sent, and the conversation needed to find a time.

How does an online booking system work?

1. 1You set your availability: working hours, breaks, locations and time off.
2. 2You define your appointment types, with their length and fee.
3. 3You share the booking page as a link, a QR code or a button on your website.
4. 4The client picks a service, a date and a time from what is open.
5. 5The booking lands in your calendar, either confirmed or waiting for your approval.
6. 6The client receives a confirmation, and later a reminder.

The page only ever offers times that are free, because it reads your calendar. If your diary is connected to Google Calendar, a personal appointment blocks that slot too, without the client seeing what it is.

The benefits for a therapy practice

The second-last point is specific to this work. For someone anxious about starting counselling, choosing a time from a page asks less of them than a phone call does.

What a therapy practice needs that a salon doesn’t

Generic booking tools are built for hairdressers and gyms. A practice has extra requirements:

• Approval for new clients. You may want to screen a new enquiry before confirming it, while regular clients book straight in.
• Intake and consent on booking. A new client should receive their forms automatically. See intake and consent forms.
• Recurring sessions. Most clients come weekly or fortnightly at the same time.
• Online and in-person options. With the video link sent only for online sessions.
• Privacy. Clients must never see who else is booked, or what your other appointments are.
• A gap between sessions. Time to write notes.
• South African public holidays kept off the page.

Rescheduling and cancelling

A client reschedule or cancel link in the appointment email is one of the most useful parts of the system. It lets a client move a session themselves, up to a cut-off you set.

That link turns many would-be no-shows into moved appointments, and frees the original slot for someone else. It works best alongside a clear cancellation policy, so the cut-off in the system matches the notice period clients have agreed to. Our guide to reducing no-shows goes into this.

How much does an online booking system cost?

Stand-alone booking tools are usually priced per month and per calendar. Many have a free tier with limits, and charge more for reminders, branding or integrations. Most are priced in dollars, so the rand cost moves with the exchange rate.

The larger cost is often what the tool doesn’t do. If bookings live in one system, forms in another and invoices in a third, you are the link between them.

Booking can also come as part of practice software. Wholistic includes online booking, intake forms, notes and invoicing for R68 a month at the founders price, after 1 month free.

An online booking system with payment

Some booking systems take a card payment or a deposit when the client books. That suits businesses selling a fixed-price service to people paying their own way.

It fits a therapy practice less well. Many clients pay through medical aid, the amount depends on codes and benefits, and an invoice has to follow the session and not precede it. For most practices the better arrangement is booking first and invoicing from the session afterwards, with automatic payment reminders for accounts that aren’t settled.

If you do want payment up front, for workshops or assessments for example, check whether the system supports it before you commit.