Customizing invitee questions

This guide explains how to add custom questions for your invitees for a specific appointment type. The numbered steps below will help you navigate to the Questions Page of your desired appointment type.

1. Log in to your account on AppointmentThing.com 
2. Click 'My appointments' at the top of the home page 
3. Click the 'Appointment Types' link in the menu on the left side of the page to navigate to your Appointment Types Page
4. From here, click on the white tile of the appointment type you want to customize invitee questions for. This will take you to the Appointment Editing Flow for that appointment type
   
5. Click the 'Questions' header to expand the Questions section of the Appointment Editing Flow

Invitee Questions are the perfect way to gather information from people who are booking an appointment with you before your appointment takes place. This information can help you learn more about your attendees and better prepare for your appointment with them. 

Your attendees will be asked these questions as part of the process of booking an appointment time with you. Once they select an available appointment time slot from your scheduling page, they will be taken to the second step of the appointment booking process where they will be prompted to enter their details. The questions you decide to ask your contacts will be shown on this second page. An example of what this page might look like is shown in the image below. 

Customizing Your Questions

The Questions Page (see image below) makes it quick and easy for you to add and customize questions that you'd like to ask your contacts during the appointment booking process.

Think of your invitee questions as a data collection form. Each question is a unique input field where you can prompt your attendee to enter data that you would like to collect.

Note: the "Name" and "Email" fields are mandatory and are added by default to each appointment type

• Adding a Question
  You can add an unlimited number of questions (a.k.a. "custom input fields") to your form. We recommend you keep these short and to the point. To add a custom field, follow the steps below:

1. Click the blue 'Add custom field' link at the bottom of the Invitee Questions page. A white pop-up form will appear
2. In the gray box that says "Field Text", enter the name of this custom field. This text will be shown to your users and will let them know what data they should enter in this field, so make sure it is descriptive of the data you wish them to enter
3. To select a field type, click on the second gray box with a downward arrow, then choose a field type from the drop-down menu that appears. The 'field type' designates the type of data your attendees will be able to enter in this field. For more information on specific field types, please see the 'Different Field Types' section below
4. When you've finished naming this custom field and selecting the field type, click the blue 'Save' button to save this custom field

• Editing an Existing Question
  To edit an existing question, follow the steps below:

1. Click the pencil icon to the right of the question you wish to edit. This will cause a white pop-up form for this custom field to appear
2. To edit the name of the field, edit the text in the first gray box. This text will be shown to your users and will let them know what data they should enter in this field
3. To edit the field type, click on the second gray box with a downward arrow, then choose a field type from the drop-down menu that appears. The 'field type' designates the type of data your attendees will be able to enter in this field. For more information on specific field types, please see the 'Different Field Types' section below
4. When you've finished editing this question, click the blue 'Save' button to save your changes

• Deleting a Question
  To delete a question, click the trash can icon to the right of the question, then click 'OK' on the confirmation popup that appears. Please note that this action cannot be undone. 

• Rearranging Question Order
  To rearrange the order of your questions, click and hold the square icon to the right of the trashcan icon for one of the questions, then drag it up or down to move the question up or down in the list

• Different Field Types
  As mentioned above, the 'field type' designates the type of data your attendees will be able to enter into a custom field. Below is a list of the different field types that you can choose from, along with information about why and how to use each field.

• Name: this is a mandatory field and is added by default to all appointment types
• Email: this field allows your attendees to enter their email address. Any email entered in an email field will be validated by our system so you can be sure it is a valid email. If it is an invalid email, your attendee will be notified and prompted to enter a different, valid email. Your attendee will be unable to schedule an appointment with you until they enter a valid email. This is a mandatory field and is added by default to all appointment types
• Send text reminder: this field type allows your attendees to enter their phone number in order to have AppointmentThing send them a text reminder before their appointment with you. You can customize the reminder content and timing on the Notifications & Reminders page as discussed in the next Help Article.  Please note: this functionality is only available with Pro and Enterprise plans, so this field will only appear to your attendees if you are on one of those plans. If you have a Pro or Enterprise plan, this will be a mandatory field and will be added by default to all appointment types
• Text: this field type allows your attendees to type a single row of text in response to your question. For questions that require your attendees to respond with multiple rows of text, use the Description (multiple-line text field)
• Number: this field type allows your attendees to enter only a number response to your question. It also includes a pre-formatted number-selector that your attendees can use to select a number
• Multiple options (select box - can only select one): this field type allows your attendees to choose from a drop-down menu of pre-set options. You define what these options are when choosing this field type, and you can edit these at any time. You can define up to 15 options for your attendees to choose from, but they can only select one option from the list
• Multiple options (radio buttons - can only select one): this field type also allows your attendees to choose from pre-set options, but instead of the options being presented in a drop-down list, they are presented in the form of buttons that your users can click to choose. You define what these options are when choosing this field type, and you can edit these at any time. You can define up to 15 options for your attendees to choose from, but they can only select one option from the available buttons
• Description (multiple-line text field): this field type allows your attendees to type multiple rows of text in response to your question. For questions that only require your attendees to respond with a single row of text, use the Text field
• Phone number: this field type allows your attendees to enter their phone number into a pre-formatted phone number form. This form also offers a drop-down menu from which attendees can select their phone number country code
• Add Guests (button): this field type is actually a button that you can insert to allow your attendees to invite additional guests to the appointment they are scheduling with you

• If your attendee clicks this button to add additional guests to their appointment with you, the button will transform into a text box into which your attendees can enter the email addresses of the guests they wish to invite. Email addresses must be separated by commas
• When you insert an Add Guests button, you'll be able to edit the button text (text on the actual button), field text (text shown in the box that appears - think of this as the header that tells users what to enter in the box), and footer text (text shown beneath the box that appears - useful for giving your attendee instructions)

• Country: this field type provides a pre-built drop-down menu of every country from which your attendee's can choose a country
• US States: this field type provides a pre-built drop-down menu of every US state from which your attendee's can choose a state
• Checkbox (marketing consent): this field type provides your users with a marketing-consent checkbox that they can check to give you permission to market to them. When you add this field type, you'll be able to enter the specific consent text you wish to use. Example consent text and general guidelines for consent text are provided. Please note: this is simply a tool for you to use - if you choose to collect marketing consent from your attendees, it is your responsibility, not AppointmentThings', to collect this consent in compliance with all laws and regulations. 
• Custom HTML: this field allows you to enter custom HTML in order to insert custom spaces between fields and add custom text

• Since you save your individual invitee questions as you add or edit them, you do not need to further save the Invitee Questions page before you leave it.

• To continue with the next step of the Appointment Editing Flow when your questions are how you want them, click on the 'Notifications' header to customize when to send your attendees appointment notifications and reminders.
• To go back to the Appointment Types page, click the back button at the top of the page.

Next Article: Customizing notifications & reminders