Cliniko gives you a public online bookings page, but it will not appear on your website by itself. Someone has to switch it on, tidy up what patients see, and put the link in front of them. Here is how, in order.
Menu names come from Cliniko’s help centre. If a screen has changed, search Cliniko’s help for the setting name.
Set it up in four steps
1. Show your business location. Go to Settings, then Business information. Click Edit information under the business you want to show, set Display this business in online bookings to On, and click Update business.
2. Show your practitioners. Go to Settings, then Users & practitioners, and open each practitioner’s settings. Tick Show this practitioner in online bookings. You can also add a designation and a description, which patients see when they choose a practitioner. They are optional, but a line about who each person treats helps the right patient pick the right person.
3. Turn online bookings on. Go to Settings, then Online bookings. Tick Allow your patients to book appointments online, then save at the bottom of the page.
4. Choose which appointment types appear. By default, every appointment type is listed. To hide one, go to Settings, then Appointment types, open it, untick Show in online bookings, and click Update appointment type. Hidden types can still be booked by your staff.
Decide what a new patient sees
Step four deserves more thought than it gets. A first-time patient looking at ten appointment types with internal names is likely to pick the wrong one or give up.
- Keep one clear first visit, named the way patients talk: “Initial assessment” or “First visit”.
- Hide types that only make sense for existing patients, such as a short review or a procedure you don’t offer on a first visit, unless you want existing patients to book them online.
- Check that the prices and durations shown are accurate. Cliniko can hide both if you would rather not show them.
Understand how times are shown
Cliniko’s own overview explains that the booking page offers the first available time in each part of the day: morning, afternoon and evening. A patient who needs a different time has to contact you.
That is worth saying out loud. In your online bookings settings you can add extra information that appears on the page. Use it to say what to do if the times shown don’t suit, for example calling or emailing the clinic. Without that, some patients will simply leave.
Put it on your website
There are two ways, and the second needs the right login.
- A link or button. Cliniko gives you an online bookings address. Add a button to your homepage that says Book online and links to it. This is the quickest option and works on any website platform.
- An embed. Cliniko can also embed the booking page inside your site so patients don’t leave it. The code is under Settings, then Online bookings, in the section called Code to embed in your website. Copy it and paste it into your site, or hand it to your web designer. Cliniko says this is available to Administrators only, so a practitioner login won’t show it.
Whichever you choose, place the button where a phone user sees it without scrolling, and repeat it further down the page. Our homepage checklist for new patients covers what else to put around it.
Make links for specific people or services
Cliniko includes a bookings URL builder in the Online bookings settings. It lets you make a link filtered to one business, one practitioner or one appointment type.
This is useful in a few places:
- A page for your pelvic health practitioner that books only her appointment types.
- A sports injury page that links to the matching assessment.
- A Google profile for a second location that books only that location.
Add it to your Google profile
Your Google Business Profile has a field for an appointment link. Paste your Cliniko online bookings address there, so people who find you on Google can book without visiting your website first. The steps are in our guide to adding a booking link to your Google profile.
Turn on reminders while you are in there
Online booking brings new patients. Reminders keep them. Cliniko lets you send appointment reminders by email or SMS using templates, and links the templates to each appointment type. Reminders also need to be switched on for each business location in Business information. If an appointment type has no reminder template, patients booked into it get no reminder, even if reminders are on elsewhere, so check each type. SMS messages use credits, so look at Cliniko’s current pricing before you rely on them.
Test it like a stranger
- Open your online bookings link on your phone in a private browser window.
- Book a first visit with a practitioner you actually want new patients to see.
- Check the confirmation and the reminder arrive, and that the booking looks right in your calendar.
- Cancel it, and check that cancellation works the way you expect.
If a step feels slow or confusing to you, it will feel worse to someone in pain.
Once the button is live, our website grader will tell you whether it can find a booking link on your homepage.
If you would like us to try the path from Google to a booked appointment on your clinic and tell you what we find, claim your marketing audit and we will do it.