Getting started: from signup to your first booking

Your booking page is live the moment you finish signup. We set Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 as your hours and give you a starter menu of common services at typical prices, so customers could book from your link straight away. What’s left is making the page yours, putting the link where customers will find it, and watching the first booking land. Most workshops do all of it in an afternoon.

1. Sign up and name your page

Create your account, then fill in your workshop details: the workshop name, your booking page URL (the link customers will use, like workshopbook.com.au/book/your-workshop), your timezone, and a contact phone and email. You can change the URL later — the old link keeps working and redirects to the new one, so nothing you’ve printed or posted breaks.

You then land in the setup wizard: Services → Opening hours → Booking rules → Go live. Progress is saved as you go, and the banner on your dashboard brings you back to anything you skipped.

2. Make the menu yours

The starter menu is a basic, standard and major service, a fault code scan, a pre-purchase inspection and a labour rate. The prices are typical, not yours, so open Services in the left menu (or Settings → Pricing) and:

• Rename, reprice or remove anything that isn’t how you’d quote it.
• Set your hourly labour rate on the repairs line — it starts blank.
• Add the jobs you actually want booked online: brakes, tyres, air con, roadworthy, whatever fills your week.
• Check the durations. They decide how much calendar space each job takes, so honest durations keep the diary realistic.

Prices can be fixed, a range, “from”, or hourly — see setting up services and pricing. Start with your five most common jobs; you can add the rest later.

3. Check your hours

Head to Settings → Hours & closures and replace the default 9 to 5 with your real week — Saturdays, an early finish on Fridays, a lunch break, whatever you run. The calendar only offers customers slots inside these hours. Public holidays and one-off closures live on the same page, so a closed day never gets booked.

4. Set your booking rules

Settings → Booking rules is where you decide how the calendar behaves. The defaults suit most workshops, but it’s worth a look:

• Auto-accept — on by default, so bookings confirm instantly. Turn it off if you’d rather approve each request first; customers then get a “request received” email, and a confirmation once you accept.
• Bay capacity — how many cars you can have in at once. This is what stops the page double-booking you.
• Online reserve — how many of those bays online bookings may fill, so there’s always room for phone and walk-in work.
• Booking window and minimum notice — how far ahead customers can book, and how much warning you want before a job.
• Booking toggle — pauses online bookings without taking the page down, handy for holidays.

More detail in booking rules, bay capacity and closures.

5. Make the page look like you

• Settings → Workshop details — your logo, accent colour, a short description, and your business details. There’s also a spot for your own words in the booking emails customers receive.
• Settings → Reviews — connect your Google rating and it shows on the page. We find your listing from your name and address; if we pick the wrong one, paste your Google Place ID. Press Connect & preview and you’ll see the rating immediately.
• Settings → Listing & embed — whether your page appears in WorkshopBook search, and the code to embed the booking form on your own website.

6. Put the link where customers already are

A booking page only works if people can find it. Promote in the left menu has your link with a copy button and a printable QR poster for the counter. In order of impact:

• Google Business Profile — most new customers find you here. Add the link under Edit profile → Contact → Appointment links and it appears as a Book button next to your phone number.
• Your website — a “Book online” button on every page, or embed the booking form so customers never leave your site.
• Facebook and Instagram — the “Book now” button and the bio link.
• The counter — print the QR poster. Customers scan it to book their next service before they’ve left.
• Email signature, invoices and voicemail — “or book online at …” turns missed calls into bookings.

Full list in sharing your booking page.

7. Take a test booking

Before you share the link, book something yourself from your phone. You’ll see exactly what a customer sees, get the confirmation email they get, and watch the booking appear on your dashboard and calendar. Then cancel it from the calendar — the cancellation email goes to the address you used, so nobody else notices.

What happens when a real booking lands

• The customer picks a service (or several), a day and a time from your live availability, and enters their details and their car.
• With auto-accept on, the booking is confirmed on the spot. They get a confirmation email with the details and a link to reschedule or cancel; you’re emailed if they do either.
• You get an email the moment it lands (switch that on or off under Settings → Notifications, where you can also turn on a daily digest), and it’s on your dashboard and calendar straight away.
• The customer gets a reminder before the appointment — by text as well, if SMS is switched on for your workshop.
• Phone and walk-in jobs go into the same calendar from the New booking button, so you’re never running two diaries. See creating bookings yourself.

The manager side of the booking lifecycle — pending requests, completing jobs, no-shows — is covered in managing bookings.

Your free trial

You’re on a 30-day free trial and no card is needed to start. After that it’s $79 a month including GST, cancel anytime. Before day 30 we’ll email you to add a card if you want the page to stay live; if there’s no card when the trial ends, the page pauses until you add one. Nothing is deleted either way. Details in how your free trial works.

Need a hand?

Reply to any email we’ve sent you, or write to hello@workshopbook.com.au. A real person answers, usually the same day, and we’re happy to set the menu up with you over the phone.