Let customers schedule themselves: picking from the best moments

How does self‑scheduling work in stipt?

stipt is software for customer management and planning. Jobs and requests live in the system as records, each with an address, products and a status. In stipt, self‑scheduling is called smart planning and it is part of the Agenda module.

Self‑scheduling works through a booking link. You, or an automatic rule, send the customer a link. That page shows a handful of options that fit your schedule, the right employee and the route. The customer picks one and confirms.

The customer picks a time slot, not an exact time. For example between 09:00 and 11:00. When booking, stipt checks the slot again, so double bookings cannot happen.

How do you set up an appointment type?

You manage appointment types under Settings > Agenda. An appointment type is a kind of appointment, for example a survey or an installation. Per type you set the name, the record types and the default duration.

Then switch on the type on the Smart planning tab. That makes the type bookable through a link. Click the type and choose in the side panel what the customer picks: a time slot or only a day. Also set from when and how far ahead the customer can book, and the booking page title.

Per agenda you set a travel preference, so trips get clustered. The colour and text of the booking page are also set per agenda. At the top of the Smart planning page, stipt tells you what is still missing, such as the email with the booking link or lanes without a working week.

How do skills and work areas work?

In each team member's planning profile you record which skills they have. On the appointment type, Assignment tab, switch on Required skills. stipt then only suggests employees who can do the work of that job.

The work area is also set per team member. Switch on Postcode work area on the appointment type. Only employees whose work area covers the customer's address then qualify. Per member you can also limit which appointment types they do and on which days customers may book them through smart planning.

Availability counts too. Every team member has a standard week and can block time for holidays or absence, or open up extra time, for example a Saturday. On top of that, the Smart planning page holds planning rules, such as installations only in the morning or Friday reserved for snag visits.

How do you send the booking link?

There are two routes. Manual: open the customer's record, click the plus in the appointments block and choose Let the customer choose for the appointment type. You first see whether there are options for the customer; only then do you send the link.

Automatic: in the type's side panel on the Smart planning page, under Invitation, pick the status at which the link goes out by itself. As soon as a record reaches that status, for example after a quote is accepted, stipt creates the invitation.

The message itself is a rule in Studio. Create a rule with the Smart planning: invite trigger and the Send email or Send WhatsApp action, with a template that inserts the booking link. You build the rule yourself or let dot, the built‑in assistant, propose it; you confirm. If the customer does not book, a rule with the Smart planning: invite still unbooked trigger sends a reminder after a few days.

If stipt finds no suitable time at all, no empty link goes out. The planner gets a notification to schedule manually, and stipt says why nothing fits.

What does the customer see?

The customer opens a simple page with your logo, your own colour and a short intro you can edit. No login or account is needed.

The page shows a handful of options, each with a date and a time slot, for example between 09:00 and 11:00. If the customer only picks a day, the time slot follows later. The options are always current, and stipt can mark the most favourable ones with a label.

Can the customer only make it after a certain date? Then they filter with a date picker. The page is available in Dutch and English through a language toggle.

After choosing, the customer confirms with one button. If the time was just taken, the page asks for a new choice.

What happens after booking?

The appointment lands straight in the chosen employee's agenda. The record moves to the status you configured on the appointment type, and the same automations fire as for a manually planned appointment.

The customer sees a confirmation screen right away and can add the appointment to their own calendar with one button. For a confirmation email, attach an email template to the Appointment scheduled trigger; you do that under the template's triggers in Studio. A reminder works the same way, with the Before an appointment trigger, for example one day ahead. How templates and triggers work is covered in the guide on email templates.

A work order can be ready as well. In stipt a work order is a form the employee fills in on site. On the appointment type's Automation tab, pick the form for the technician; it is then ready for the employee who gets the appointment. You can read more in the guide on work orders.

How do you plan follow‑up appointments in the same link?

Some jobs take several visits, for example a survey first and the installation after. For that you link appointment types together.

You set this on the Smart planning page, in the Follow‑up appointment block. You pick which appointment follows which, how much time has to sit in between and whether the same technician comes back.

With Continue in the same booking link the customer plans both appointments in one go. As soon as the first appointment is booked, the same screen immediately shows the times for the follow‑up.

How do you reschedule or cancel an appointment?

You reschedule in the agenda: click the move button on the appointment block, or open the appointment and choose Move. The appointment then hangs on your cursor and you click a free slot, also on another day or in another week. You decide along the way whether the customer gets an email. A prepared work order also moves along to the employee who takes over the appointment.

Cancelling goes through Actions > Cancel appointment inside the appointment. You choose whether the customer gets an email, or you cancel without an email, for example for a booking the customer never saw. A short reason is required, so you can later see why the appointment did not go ahead.

The customer cannot reschedule through the booking link; after booking it only shows the confirmation. If the customer wants another time, they contact you and you move the appointment.