Customer Data Fields

Gather the customer information you need, in the format you want.

By Boyan Tanchev

Updated 17 August, 2023

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How this article is structured:

1. What are data fields? An overview

2. How to add a data field

3. Data field settings explained

4. Tips and helpful things to know

5. FAQs.

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1. What are data fields? An overview

Would you like to get certain information from your customers upfront, before their appointment? And store it in their customer file, or in the booking file? Data like an insurance number, a suit size, or other important information - such as a food allergy?

Well, you can do just that - by writing your own data fields. You can apply the fields to your services and group services, and have them the data fields display in your booking widget and/or in your calendar whenever that services gets booked.

What's more, you can make them optional to complete, or mandatory - that's to say, the booking will only get saved if all the required data fields get completed.

Let's look at an example. Here's how data fields display to your customers in the booking widget, after a customer clicks on a service with a custom field:

…and here's how they display when you add the service or group in your calendar. Note: they appear after you select the service and the customer:

2. How to add a data field

Before you can add a data field, you need to add a new category. Go to the top of the data fields window and click on the "new category" button:

We named our category "Family portrait preferences" and added three data fields. You add data fields by clicking on the red "+" button:

►Tip: the first 42 characters of a data field display in the booking window in the calendar, and 80 characters in the booking widget. For that reason, we suggest keeping your data field length as short as possible.

When you add a data field, there are certain options you need to choose from:

Select field type

You'll notice when you go to add a field, there's a drop-down with many options.

You can choose between the following field types:

Address, Email, Phone: single data capture fields
Date: a date must be selected from a dropdown calendar
Checkbox: a checkbox appears, and must be selected (ticked). Use this field if you want the customer to confirm that they agree with what's in the field. The booking can only be made if the text box is checked.
Multiple entries' dropdown: you can enter multiple data options for the user to choose from. Only one option may be selected. Below is an example of how you can add options…

And here's how the field appears in the booking widget…as you can see, the user can only choose one option.

Text field (single or multiple line): select multiple line if you want to allow for a few sentences to be written; single line limits the text allowance
Time zone: a time zone can be selected

►Tip: make sure to choose the right data field type before you hit save! You cannot edit a data field type once you save it. You can only delete the data field, and make a new one with the right data field type.

3. Data field settings explained

Activate as a unique identifier

This setting prevents multiple files from being created for the same customer. The system will check the entry given for this field against any existing entries. If the same data is found in an existing customer file, the booking will be allocated to the customer file with that same email.

►Tip: we suggest that you activate "first name", "last name", "email" and "phone" as unique identifiers, and make them mandatory files. It means the system will automatically find the correct customer file and allocate all bookings to that same file. For more information on this setting, check out our article on the unique identifier field.

Activate field for online booking:

The field will only display if you tick this option. Once activated, it will automatically appear for calendar bookings. Completing it will remain "optional" unless you select "Make mandatory: field must be completed to save the booking".
Note: you can come back and de-activate the field anytime.

You then have the option of whether it should display in your booking widget: "Activate field for online booking". If you go ahead and select this, you have an option to have the data field display before or after the customer selects the service.

Tip: most users prefer the fields to display after, as it stops the booking widget from getting too cluttered with text.

4. Tips and helpful things to know

Data field display in the web app:

Do you notice in the image above, how the email field has a yellow strip, the first name field a green strip, and the landline field is greyed out? Green signifies that the field is activated for online booking via the widget and for calendar use; yellow that the field is activated for calendar use only, and greyed out shows that the field is currently de-activated.

5. FAQs

Q. What happens to my data if l delete a data field?

All your data will get lost. That's why we strongly recommend that you deactivate fields rather than delete them. All your data gets saved and you can still access it; plus if you change your mind, you can always re-activate the field.