Setmore Booking Page Guide: Setup, Branding, Sharing and Payments

What the Booking Page is, and what it costs

The Booking Page is Setmore's public face. It shows your services, availability, team and prices, customers book around the clock, and each appointment lands in your calendar at once. It can work as your whole website or sit behind a button on the site you already have. For a small business without a website, it does most of a website's job. Customers can book and pay without a phone call.

It is free on every account ^[1]. The page, its custom URL, the QR code, the branded app and Book Now buttons cost nothing on any plan. Pro adds a short list of extras on top: removing Setmore branding, hiding whole categories, deposits, promo codes and per-service availability ^[2]. So you can build, test and share the page before paying for anything. For the plan-by-plan math, see our Setmore pricing guide.

Pick the address before you print anything

Your URL, and why changing it hurts

Each page has a unique setmore.com address whose first part you choose ^[3]. Pick something short that matches your business name, because the address travels everywhere. The mobile app can share it as a QR code, a copied link or through other apps. A custom domain is not among the features we found, so the address stays on setmore.com.

Changing the URL later has real side effects. Downloaded QR codes stop working, and the branded app stops opening for customers who installed it with the old address. Change it before you print anything. If a change cannot be avoided, plan it like a move. Update every Book Now button and link, reprint the QR codes, and send regular customers the new address, because those who installed the branded app will otherwise find that it no longer opens.

Search visibility and pausing bookings

Booking Pages are discoverable on Google by default. Turning visibility off adds a no-index tag, though removal can take days or weeks, and existing direct links keep working. Support can ask Google to remove the page faster. Pausing is a different switch. You can pause online booking temporarily or permanently without losing appointments, which suits a holiday closure better than blocking every slot. It cannot be done from the mobile app. Use the web.

Make it look like your business

Brand settings and image sizes

The Your brand section gathers logo, banner, colors, buttons, theme, gallery and links in one place, and Setmore lists logo, brand color, images and reviews as the main ways to make the page yours. Set them before you share the link. Logos should be 200 by 200 pixels and up to 2 MB, and banners 1,200 by 400 pixels and up to 5 MB, in PNG or JPEG. An older banner article gives 1,200 by 460, but the newer Your brand page says 1,200 by 400. Use 1,200 by 400. You also set the brand color by hex code, a button shape and a light, dark or system theme. A dark theme suits a barber shop.

Gallery, Instagram and social links

The gallery takes images up to 10 MB each, ten per upload and 150 in total, enough for a tattoo artist's full portfolio. Instagram photos from a business or creator account can also stream in, filtered by hashtag. On Free the hashtag is fixed to #bookwithsetmore; Pro lets you pick your own. Social links to your website, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, LinkedIn or a custom address turn the page into a hub. Free keeps the Setmore name on the page, and removing it needs Pro, in the branded app too. Preview in mobile view first. Most customers book from a phone.

Thirty-two languages from one page

The page can be shown in 32 languages, from Arabic to Ukrainian, and in the customer's preferred language. A two-letter code at the end of the URL shares a specific language version. So a clinic serving both English and Spanish speakers can print two QR codes, one for each language version of the same page, and patients land in their own language without hunting for a switch.

Decide what customers see

Prices, sections and labels

You can hide service prices, durations and business hours. Hiding prices suits services quoted after a consultation, while for fixed-price services showing the price usually speeds up booking. Sections such as About Us and Services can be shown or hidden too, and a one-service tutor may hide everything but the booking flow. Keep it short. Booking steps cannot be removed, but their labels can be renamed under Customization, Labels, for example from Provider to Consultant. Use your industry's words: Therapist, Attorney, Coach.

Services, categories and private links

Each service shows its price, duration and location, and each has its own link you can copy, email or share in DMs and posts. You order services on the web or desktop. Categories organize a long menu, and an accordion view makes them collapsible, so group the menu into a handful of categories and customers find their service in two taps.

Hidden services are one of the page's quieter strengths. Switch off Show on Booking Page, then share the service's direct link with chosen customers for VIP packages, members-only appointments or special rates. A massage therapist can keep a members-only rate off the public menu and send the link only to regulars. Staff can still book it from the calendar, and anyone with the link can book it. Hiding a whole category is a Pro feature, and it does not hide the services inside it automatically. Check each one. Classes, finally, appear once they are added to the calendar, with a set number of seats and a fee per seat, and booking closes when the seats are gone.

How customers pick a person and a time

Choosing a person, or not

Each team member can show a headshot, specialist services and a bio, and each has a personal Booking Page that loyal clients can bookmark. The Any Team Member option goes the other way. Customers skip choosing a person and see every open slot for the service, and the assigned provider then appears at the contact step and in emails. For a busy salon with many providers, it fills gaps.

Skip Team Members goes further and removes the staff step entirely; Setmore assigns whoever is first available in your staff ranking. Avoid combining it with First Available Appointment, which can slow the page badly. Because assignment always starts from the top of the ranking, the first person on the list will collect most new bookings, so reorder it from time to time.

Direct links and multiple services

Direct links pre-select one service and one team member, and customers see real-time availability from hours, bookings and connected calendars. Use them in ads, so a click lands on the exact service you promoted. Customers can also add several services to a cart and book them back to back. It works for appointments only, cannot be combined with skipping staff, and sends a separate email for each service, which Setmore has not fixed yet. A client booking a cut, a color and a blow-dry will receive three confirmations. Say so on the confirmation screen.

Rules, forms and customer logins

Lead time, the booking window and cancelations

Lead time sets the notice you need before an online booking, and the scheduling window limits how far ahead customers can book. Set both early. Two hours of lead time and a three-month window suit most salons. Customers can reschedule or cancel from the Booking Page or an email button, and the cancelation policy can run up to one week; Anytime allows cancelation until the start, and Never blocks it. Add a booking policy for cancelations, deposits and arrival times, with a terms checkbox customers must tick and a pop-up for your full terms. Keep it short enough to read on a phone.

What the form collects

Booking-form contact details save automatically in your contacts, and Name is always required. Customers need an email address to receive confirmations and reminders, so make phone required too if you plan to send texts on Pro. Custom fields cover whatever you need to know before the visit, but never use them for bank or card details. Longer intake forms can run through Jotform.

Customer login lets clients sign in with email, Google or Facebook and a one-time code, see past and upcoming appointments and edit their details, so returning customers skip retyping. Show Local Time, on by default, converts times on the page, in confirmations and in reminders to the customer's time zone. Online coaches with clients abroad should leave it on.

Taking money at booking

Processors, required payment and the timer

The page can request full or partial payment upfront, apply discounts and add charges such as taxes ^[4]. Connect Square, Stripe, PayPal or LawPay first. Customers can pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo through PayPal and Cash App through Square. Payment can be optional or mandatory for each service. With Require Upfront Payment the booking is not confirmed until the customer pays; if payment is optional, customers can skip ahead.

Customers get five minutes to complete payment before the slot is released, and with multiple services they pay the total at checkout. That stops phantom bookings. On a $150 color service paid online through Stripe, the processor keeps $4.65 at 2.9% plus 30 cents in the US, by our arithmetic. That is usually far less than the cost of an empty chair.

Deposits, charges and promo codes

Deposits are Pro only. They are a fixed amount or a percentage applied to every service on the page, and customers see the full price but pay only the deposit upfront. On a $150 service a 20% deposit collects $30 at booking, by our arithmetic, enough to deter most no-shows. Setmore does not refund deposits automatically after a cancelation, so decide in advance which cancelations earn a refund and write that rule into your policy.

Charges add a cost such as a travel fee, and reductions apply a discount; both need Square, Stripe or PayPal. Promo codes are Pro only, work only on Booking Page bookings, allow one code per booking and cannot be tied to a single service or customer. Stripe unlocks the rest. Customers can save a card for faster checkout, stored by Stripe rather than Setmore, and the page can offer Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay with the business paid in full upfront.

After the booking: confirmations, sources and reviews

Admins can add a Book Another Appointment button or a redirect link to the confirmation screen, and customers and staff receive confirmation emails in real time. A redirect to preparation instructions saves phone calls. The read-only Booked via field shows where each booking came from. After a month, a salon knows whether Instagram, Google or its website widget deserves more of its marketing time.

Reviews sit on the page too. Setmore reviews, with star ratings and written comments, appear there; newer accounts auto-publish them, and owners can unpublish offensive ones. Google reviews from your Business Profile can show alongside them and sync in real time, but they cannot be moderated inside Setmore, and Pro adds automatic Google review requests after each appointment. Google Analytics and Tag Manager both work on the page. One catch: an embedded widget does not report events, because its iframe is third-party.

Getting the link in front of customers

Links, QR codes and the branded app

Share the link in email signatures, DMs, posts and ads, or share individual service and class links. The QR code is free on every account, with no limits, customers need no extra app to scan it, and it downloads from the web as a PNG. Setmore suggests waiting rooms and brochures for clinics and business cards for photographers. Every account also gets a branded customer app, a progressive web app that customers add to their home screen after booking; it opens your page and lets them log in to see bookings.

Your website

Book Now buttons are free on any number of pages and can link to the whole page, a service or a team member. There are no built-in style options, but you can swap the button image URL in the code. The page can also be embedded as an iframe that opens in a pop-up, from a button in one spot or floating on every page; the iframe code changes if payments are on. Setmore has instructions for WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Weebly, Drupal, Joomla, Squarespace and Square Online.

Google, Facebook, Instagram and Gmail

Reserve with Google adds a Book button to your Google Business Profile in Search and Maps, in more than 80 countries, on both plans. It cannot be connected from Android, and retail businesses are not eligible. For walk-in businesses this is often the busiest channel. Facebook takes a Book Now button on a business page, with confirmations through Messenger. An Instagram business account linked to a Facebook business page can add a booking action button. In Gmail, a Book Now image in your signature links to the page, and an add-on books appointments from the inbox with details prefilled.

Clinics on Setmore Health

HIPAA accounts change the page. Setmore Health accounts turn off classes and customer reviews, shorten notifications to exclude personal details and remove cancel and reschedule links. A clinic's page will therefore look simpler than a salon's, and multiple locations are not supported for HIPAA accounts. Because the cancel and reschedule links are gone, patients have to call or use the Booking Page to change an appointment, so clinics should add their phone number and rescheduling rules to the page. Our Setmore for healthcare guide covers the rest of the clinic setup.

Test before you share

Setmore's help center describes a booking test, and it is worth running before the link goes anywhere. It walks the same path a customer will, so a gap in your required fields, payment rules or emails shows up before a real customer finds it. Do it once. Then share.

• Pick a service and a time, enter test details and check the required fields.
• Confirm the booking.
• Reschedule and then cancel from the email.
• Check the page on a phone before sharing the link.

The bottom line

The Setmore Booking Page gives a small service business a free, branded booking site with payments, reviews, Google and social booking and a customer app. Pro adds deposits, promo codes, hidden categories and branding removal on top. Pick the URL first, brand the page, set your policies and payments, then test it on a phone. After that, share it everywhere your customers already look, from your Google listing to your business cards.