Booking appointments without the back and forth on the phone
With the “Booking appointments” workflow, the customer picks a free slot from your calendar, the appointment is entered automatically, and you confirm with one click. bytebrise from Fürstenfeldbruck sets up this online appointment booking for site measurements, consultations and maintenance appointments at small businesses in Upper Bavaria, connected to the calendar you already use.
bytebrise GO is new in our offering and runs in our own business, not yet with customers. The example on this page comes from Martin’s made-up joinery.
How “Booking appointments” works
The customer books on their own, and the calendar stays yours. You only need to do something if you want to check an appointment or reassign it.
| Step | Trigger | What happens on its own | What you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Customer opens the booking link on your website | Free time slots from your calendar are shown. | Set the time slots once in advance |
| 2 | Customer chooses a time | The chosen time appears as a request in your calendar. | Approve with one click, then the customer receives the confirmation |
| 3 | Appointment is coming up | A reminder goes out to the customer. | nothing, once you have set the reminder to automatic |
| 4 | Customer wants to cancel or reschedule | The time slot becomes free again and you get a message. | reassign the slot if needed |
Example: site measurement on Thursday at 2 pm
Suppose a customer of Martin’s joinery (made up) wants a site measurement for a new kitchen. Instead of calling, he opens the booking link on the website at 9 pm, sees three free appointments in the coming week and chooses Thursday at 2 pm. The appointment appears in the workshop’s calendar, and a confirmation email goes to both sides.
During the day the phone at Martin’s joinery often rings while someone is standing at the saw. Anyone who tries again in the evening finds the booking link instead, chooses a free slot for a site measurement and gets a confirmation straight away, with no callback needed the next day.
Ready-made booking tool or a set-up workflow?
A ready-made booking tool such as Calendly or Cal.com can be embedded as a widget with little effort; the cost depends on the plan. A set-up workflow connects your existing calendar, such as Google or Outlook, directly to the website, without you having to set up and maintain an additional tool.
Practices often use industry-specific systems that connect to their practice software; there is a separate comparison for dental practices and one for physiotherapy practices (both in German).
Current prices of the individual providers change frequently and are therefore not listed here; compare the providers’ pricing pages directly before you commit.
Which appointments are suitable for online booking?
Online appointment booking suits plannable, recurring appointments with a fixed time grid: site measurement, initial consultation, maintenance, check-up. For an emergency service called out at night because of a burst pipe, a booking calendar is of little help; what counts there is that someone answers the phone. That case is better served by the workflow Following up on missed calls.
Data protection for online appointments
A booking form only asks for the details needed for the appointment: name, contact method, desired service. At practices, a free-text field for the reason for the visit can contain health data; under Art. 9 GDPR, health data counts as a special category of personal data. This text cannot say what follows from that for your specific booking process; please clarify it with your data protection officer.
For practices with patient data, dedicated industry solutions fit better than a general booking widget. You can find comparisons by industry here (in German):
What you decide
During setup you decide what can be booked and when. In everyday use you only confirm or reschedule.
- which services can be booked and how long each one takes
- which time slots are genuinely kept free, with a buffer
- which calendar is connected (Google, Outlook or another one)
- the text of the confirmation and reminder message
How does appointment booking for tradespeople in Upper Bavaria work?
Free times from the connected calendar are offered for agreed appointment types, such as a site measurement or a consultation. You confirm or reschedule the suggestion with one tap. You can switch the appointment reminder to the customer to automatic once for this workflow. We set this up from Fürstenfeldbruck for businesses in Munich and Upper Bavaria.
What does the “Booking appointments” workflow cost?
The “Booking appointments” workflow runs in bytebrise GO. GO costs €79 per month for one person, €149 for teams of up to five and €399 for businesses of up to 20 people, on request for more than 20. Setup costs a one-off €490, after which GO can be cancelled monthly. Which channels and workflows we set up is agreed before the contract starts. The initial consultation is free.
Whether a ready-made booking tool outside GO costs extra, and whether text message fees for reminders are then included in the monthly price, is stated in your quote before you commit.
All prices are final prices. Under § 19 UStG (the German small-business rule) no VAT is charged. All tiers are on the pricing page.
More about GO: bytebrise GO: automate inquiries, callbacks and appointments. If your business needs a workflow that GO does not cover, we build it as a custom build with its own price.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a new calendar program?
No, the workflow connects to your existing calendar, for example Google or Outlook.
Can the customer cancel or reschedule?
Yes, via a link in the confirmation email. The time slot then becomes free again.
What if an appointment is double-booked?
The workflow only shows time slots that are still free in the calendar, which lowers the risk of a double booking. It cannot be ruled out entirely, for example if someone enters an appointment by hand at the same time.
How do I block days when I am out on a job?
You mark the day as busy in the connected calendar, and the workflow no longer shows any free times for it.
Does a booking tool cost extra?
Possibly, depending on whether an existing tool is integrated or the workflow in bytebrise GO is enough. We clarify that in the initial consultation based on your needs.
Is this already running at other businesses?
GO already runs in our own business, not yet with customers. bytebrise GO is new in our offering, which is why we show a made-up example instead of customer numbers.
Free initial consultation
Free initial consultation, 20 minutes, no obligation. Tell us which appointments you currently arrange by phone, and we will tell you whether a ready-made tool is enough or a workflow is worthwhile. We will get back to you within one business day.
Prefer to reach us directly? Phone +49 8141 5098988, email hello@bytebrise.com, Balduin-Helm-Straße 71b, 82256 Fürstenfeldbruck.