Setting up the types of services your practice offers

Services are the appointments your clients can book with you, and they form the foundation of your booking flow. Each service includes key details like duration, location, pricing, and how it can be booked.

You can also create services that are not available for online booking. These are typically services your practice offers, but prefers to manage internally - such as assessments that require a referral, follow-ups that need to be booked by a practitioner, or specialised treatments that aren’t suited to self-booking.

How to create a new service

  1. Go to Settings > Services

  2. Click the + New Service button in the top-right corner

1. Add basic service details

  • Name: Give your service a clear and descriptive name (e.g. Initial Consultation, Dental cleaning)

  • Description: Include key details clients or staff need to know

  • Colour: Assign a colour to visually identify the service in your calendar

2. Attach a booking form

  • Choose an existing form or create a custom form to collect the details you need

  • The default form generally includes contact and appointment information

Keep booking forms short and simple to avoid drop-offs during the booking process. For more detailed information, use a sendable form instead - these can be completed by the client after booking, at a more convenient time.

3. Choose a service location

Specify where the service will take place:

  • At your business location

  • Off-site (e.g. client’s location)

  • Via video call

4. Enable or disable online bookings

  • Toggle Online bookings to On to allow clients to book this service themselves

  • Leave it Off if the service should only be scheduled by your team

Services with online bookings turned off will not appear on your online booking page.

5. Set how bookings are confirmed

Choose how the service should be confirmed when booked online:

  • Automatically confirm

  • Confirm after payment

  • Manually review and confirm

6. Upload a service image (optional)

Add an image to visually represent the service on the booking page.

7. Assign team members or resources

Select the team member(s), groups, or resources who provide this service.

If you assign more than one, choose whether:

  • Only one is required (OR) – the system will book whoever is available

  • More than one is required (AND) – all selected team members or resources must be available at the same time for the booking to go ahead

Use this when a service needs multiple people or resources, such as a practitioner and a specific piece of equipment.

8. Set the service duration

You can set one or more durations for each service, giving clients flexibility when booking.

  • To add multiple durations (e.g. 30 or 60 minutes), click the ‘+’ button next to the duration field

  • You can assign a different price to each duration

  • These options will appear on your online booking page, allowing clients to choose their preferred time

This is helpful when the same service can be delivered in different session lengths - for example, a follow-up consultation that can be 15 or 30 minutes.

9. Set the service price

You can choose between entering a fixed price or using itemised pricing:

  • Fixed price: Enter a static amount (e.g. R600). This price is not linked to your line item list and will remain the same unless you update it manually in the service settings.

  • Itemised price: Select a price from your line item list. This allows for greater flexibility - if you update the price in your line items, the service pricing will automatically update too. This is especially useful if you are generating medical aid compliant invoices, or if your pricing changes over time.

Tip: Use itemised pricing if you want to maintain consistency across services and invoices, and reduce manual updates.

10. Add travel or buffer time (optional)

Click Show more to set up time before or after the appointment for travel, setup, or recovery.

Note:

  • Only add buffers before or after - not both - unless truly necessary. Bookem checks for buffer time plus the full service duration when showing availability.

  • Buffers only affect online bookings and won’t apply when scheduling appointments manually.

Once saved, your new service will be ready to schedule - either by your team or clients, depending on your online booking settings.

Learn more