Can Customers Book Appointments Through Chat?
Yes. Customers can pick a service, a staff member and a time in the chat, and AeroChat books it in your booking system. It checks real availability, books the slot, sends a deposit link if you take one and confirms the payment automatically. It also sends a reminder before the appointment with an option to reschedule. This works on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, web chat and email, wherever your booking system has a public API.
Why it happens
Stores that sell services as well as products describe the same gaps. A spa owner wants customers to book a specific therapist and get a text reminder. Another store asks how others handle bookings without missed appointments and manual back-and-forth. A third sells services priced differently by time of day and on weekends, and needs bookings to follow those prices.
Booking pages help, but many customers start in a message: “Do you have anything Saturday with Mia?” Someone then checks the calendar, replies with times, waits, and books by hand. Messages that arrive after hours wait until morning, and some customers book elsewhere.
The usual fixes and their limits
- A booking app on your store, such as Appointo, BookThatApp, Sesami, BookX or Cowlendar. These hold the calendar and the booking page. Customers who message you still need someone to answer.
- A scheduling link, such as Calendly or Cal.com. Easy to share. The customer still has to leave the chat, and questions about the service go unanswered.
- Booking by hand over chat. Personal, and slow. It depends on someone being free to check the calendar.
- Reminders by email. Often missed. A message on the channel the customer used is easier to see.
How to handle it in chat with AeroChat
The customer asks in the chat. AeroChat asks which service and, if it matters, which staff member. It checks availability in your booking system, offers a few open slots and books the one they choose. If you take deposits, it sends a payment link and confirms the booking once the payment comes through, without the customer having to say they paid. Before the appointment it sends a reminder with an option to move it. AeroChat does not replace your booking calendar. It books into it.
Customer: Hi, can I book a 60-minute facial with Mia this Saturday? (example)
AeroChat: Mia has Saturday at 10:00, 13:30 or 16:00 (example). Which one suits you?
Customer: 13:30 please.
AeroChat: Great. To hold it, there is a US$20 deposit (example), taken off your final bill. Here is your payment link: [link]
AeroChat: Payment received. You’re booked with Mia on Saturday at 13:30. I’ll remind you the day before.
In your booking system: a 60-minute facial with Mia, Saturday 13:30, marked deposit paid.
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer asks to book a service, follow these steps.
- Ask which service they want and whether they prefer a particular staff member.
- Ask for their preferred day. Check our booking system and offer up to three open slots that fit the service length.
- Use the price for that day and time from our booking system. Never quote a price it does not show.
- Hold the slot they choose and send a US$20 deposit link (example).
- When the payment is confirmed, book the appointment and send the date, time, staff member and our address.
- The day before, send a reminder with the option to reschedule or cancel in the same chat, under our 24-hour policy (example).
If they ask something medical or about a special request we don’t list, hand the conversation to our team. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the deposit, the reminder timing and the cancellation policy to match your business before you paste it.
What to connect
- Your Shopify store. Built in. Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store and connect your store, so AeroChat also answers product and order questions.
- Your booking system. Connected through its API with a key you create in that system. AeroChat reads availability and creates, moves and cancels bookings.
- A payment provider, if you take deposits. Airwallex is built in. Gateways such as Stripe connect through their APIs.
- WhatsApp, for reminders. A reminder sent outside the 24-hour customer service window needs an approved template. See WhatsApp message templates.
Questions
Can customers choose a specific staff member?
Yes, if your booking system stores bookings by staff member. AeroChat offers only that person’s open slots.
Can prices differ by day or time?
AeroChat quotes the price your booking system returns for that slot. Set the pricing rules there, and the chat follows them.
What happens if the customer wants to move the booking?
They ask in the same chat. AeroChat offers new times and moves the booking, inside the cancellation rules you set. See reschedule and cancel on WhatsApp.
Does the customer have to tell you they paid the deposit?
No. AeroChat detects the payment and confirms the booking on its own. See booking deposits and appointment reminders.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
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