What clients see: the booking flow

Knowing exactly what your clients experience makes it much easier to answer their questions. Here's the flow at milabook.com/yourname.

The page

Clients land on your page with your branding: your look, bio, portfolio, services with prices, and policies (if enabled). From there they tap to book.

Your hours

Your page shows your weekly hours in an Hours section, in your time zone. They come from your working hours (in the Mila app, Me, then Working hours; on the Mila website dashboard at dashboard.milabook.com, Settings, then Working hours), so there's nothing extra to fill in. Days without hours show as Closed. If you work on set start times, the page lists those times instead.

Full days you've blocked off in the next 30 days show under Coming up, as dates only, for example "Closed Fri, Oct 30 to Mon, Nov 2". The reason you typed for the time off is never shown, and neither are blocks for part of a day.

You choose what shows under What clients see, on the Mila website dashboard under Settings, then Booking page, or in the Mila app under Me, then Booking page. Both switches are on to start.

• Show my hours. Turn it off and your weekly hours leave your page, and Google is not told them either.
• Show my upcoming days off. Turn it off and the days you blocked off stay hidden. Clients still only see times you are free when they book.

Each switch works on its own. With both off, the Hours section is gone from your page.

The same place has the other choices about what clients see: whether your phone number shows, and whether your address shows as just your city and state or in full. The number and the address themselves stay in Business details: on the Mila website dashboard, under Settings; in the Mila app, under Me.

The booking flow

1. Pick a service. Your menu, grouped by category, with prices and durations.
2. Say whether they've booked with you before. "I'm new" carries on as a new client. "I've booked before" asks for their email or mobile number and sends a 6-digit code, with no password to set up. It works for any client you have with that email or number, including clients you added yourself or imported. A client who is already signed in skips this step.
3. Pick add-ons (if the service has any).
4. Pick a time. They see only genuinely available slots, with your hours, existing appointments, buffers, and booking rules already applied. For a signed-in client, the times already include any extra time you set for them. See How availability works.
5. Enter their details. Name, email, phone (if you require it), SMS consent, and, if the appointment allows it, inspiration photos of the look they want.
6. Pay, if applicable. If the service has a deposit, they pay it now by card. If you require a card on file, they save one to finish. With both, they enter one card: the card that pays the deposit is the one saved.
7. Confirmation. The booking lands on your calendar, a client record is created or matched, and confirmation notifications go out per your settings.

Returning clients

A returning client who signs in with a code books straight onto their own client record: they don't retype their details, and the booking never creates a second record for them. Checkout shows their first name and a hidden version of their email and number ("Booking as Ana", j***@gmail.com), with Not you? to sign out. They stay signed in for booking with you for 180 days on that device.

Booking for someone else? books as a new client with the other person's details, so a parent booking for a child doesn't put the visit on the parent's record.

A client who taps "I'm new" or skips signing in is still matched by their email, as before. If their email isn't on file but their mobile number and first name match exactly one of your clients, the booking goes on that client's record, with the note "Matched to this client by phone number." on the appointment. Their record isn't changed. If the number is on file but doesn't match that way, a new client is created with the tag possible-duplicate and a note saying why, so you can check it. If you're only taking returning clients, "I'm new" leads to your waitlist, and returning clients sign in to book. A booking that would create a new client is turned away with your waitlist, including one whose number is on file under a different name. Clients who are signed in, whose email is on file, or whose number and first name match exactly one client can still book.

Clients can also use the client portal to see their appointments, manage cards, and (if you allow it) cancel.

Try it yourself

Open your own booking link in a private browser window and book a test appointment. It's the fastest way to see your page as clients do. You can cancel the test from your Today tab afterward.