Waitlist, never lose a customer when you're full

When you're booked solid, customers normally bounce. The waitlist gives them a path to wait their turn, and tells them automatically the moment something opens up. You don't lose the booking, they get the time they wanted.

Two ways customers join the waitlist

From your online booking page

When the customer picks a service and a date, if no slots are available, an option appears: "Add me to the waitlist for this date". They fill in their email and phone, click join, and they're queued.

From you, manually

On the calendar, click the Waitlist sidebar (the clock icon on the right of the header). Click "Add to waitlist", pick the customer, the service, and a preferred date range. Useful for phone bookings when you tell the customer "We're full Wednesday, but I'll let you know if anything opens up".

What happens automatically

When you cancel an appointment that frees up a slot:

• Bookinda checks the waitlist for entries that match the freed slot's service and date.
• It emails the matching customer(s) right away with a "Click here to book that slot" link.
• The first one to click and confirm gets the spot.

This is the waitlist auto-notify feature, and it's the difference between a lost booking and a saved booking.

The hourly gap killer

Every hour, Bookinda also runs a background check called the gap killer. It scans for short gaps between existing bookings (e.g., a 30-minute opening between two appointments) and matches them to waitlist customers who'd fit. Those customers get an email too.

This catches the small openings you'd otherwise miss, and turns them into revenue.

Managing the waitlist

The Waitlist sidebar on the calendar shows everyone currently waiting:

• Customer name
• Service they want
• Date range they're willing to take
• When they joined the waitlist

You can manually convert an entry into a booking by clicking it (e.g., "I have an opening, let me book Anna in for Tuesday 2pm"). The customer gets a confirmation email.

Settings

Under Settings → Online Booking → Waitlist:

• Enable waitlist on/off.
• Auto-notify on cancellation: send the email automatically when a slot frees up.
• Gap killer: enable the hourly background scan.
• Notify text: customize the email customers receive.

Tips

• Always keep the waitlist on. Even if you're not full, a customer occasionally asks for a specific time you can't fit, the waitlist catches them.
• For high-demand services (last-minute Friday haircuts, peak holiday weekends), waitlist conversion is huge.
• Don't keep stale waitlist entries. The sidebar lets you remove old entries (a customer who joined 2 months ago probably found someone else).