Guides · 2026-09-24
Getting started: your first booking in about 20 minutes
A step-by-step setup checklist for a new Booknexo shop — add your services, set your hours, brand your page, and share your link so clients can book.
Before anything else: two things make you bookable
A new shop cannot take a single booking until it has at least one service and some opening hours. Everything else — logo, colours, photos — can wait.
If you only have ten minutes today, do steps 1 and 2 and stop. Your page will be live and taking bookings by the end of them.
1. Add your services (about 5 minutes)
Go to Dashboard → Services → Add service. For each one you need a name, how long it takes, and what it costs.
Be realistic about duration — it is what decides how many slots fit in your day, so padding every appointment by ten minutes quietly costs you bookings.
- Start with your three or four most common services; you can add the rest later
- Set the duration to the time the chair or room is actually occupied
- Prices show on your public page, so put in the real ones
- Optional: require a deposit on services where no-shows hurt most
2. Set when you work (about 5 minutes)
Go to Dashboard → Availability. Set a start and end time for each day you open, and switch off the days you do not.
If you close for lunch, add a second session for that day rather than one long block — otherwise the system will happily book someone into your break.
- Add each staff member under Staff first if you are not working alone
- Availability is set per person, so a part-timer can have their own days
- One-off closures — a holiday, a bank holiday — go in as exceptions, not by editing your normal week
3. Make it look like your business (about 10 minutes)
Dashboard → Branding sets your colours and logo. Dashboard → Homepage controls the text on your public page, and Gallery is where photos of your work go.
This is the part that decides whether a first-time client trusts the page enough to book, so it is worth more than ten minutes eventually — just not before you are bookable.
4. Share your link
Your page is live at yourshop.booknexo.com. Dashboard → QR Code generates a printable code for your counter or window.
The highest-return places to put it are your Instagram or Facebook bio, your Google Business Profile, and a sign where people already stand waiting.
What happens automatically once you are live
Clients get a confirmation email as soon as they book, and a reminder before the appointment. Those come from Booknexo under your shop's name, and replies come to you — there is nothing to set up.
Every client who books is added to your customer list, and they can cancel or move their own appointment through a private link, which saves you the phone call.
Stuck on something?
Email hello@booknexo.com and a real person will answer. If it is quicker to be shown than told, say so and we will walk through your setup with you.
FAQ
Why can nobody book me yet?
Almost always because the shop has no services or no availability set. A booking page with nothing to book and no open hours shows no times. Add one service and one working day and your page becomes bookable immediately.
Do I need to set up email before reminders work?
No. Email confirmations and reminders send from the moment you take your first booking, under your shop's name, with replies coming to you. You can connect your own email provider later if you would rather they came from your own address. Text messages do need your own Twilio or WhatsApp Business account.
Can I take payment or a deposit up front?
Yes, on plans that include payments. Connect Stripe under Dashboard → Payments and set a deposit amount on any service. The money goes to your own Stripe account — Booknexo never holds it and takes no cut.
How do I add other staff?
Dashboard → Staff → Add staff member, then set which services each person performs and their own working hours under Availability. Clients can then pick a specific person or take whoever is free.