Client fields help you easily collect, organize, and maintain your client data. Whether you’re collecting intake information from a new lead to create a new client profile or updating a long-time client’s profile, client fields allow you to customize where you see information appear in the app and whether your clients are prompted to submit it.
In this article we’ll cover:
- How to create client fields
- How to update client profiles
- What your client will see
- How to create internal fields.
Before setting up, it’s important to ensure that client fields are right for you. Have information that you collect only with certain services? In that case, you should use Forms rather than Client fields. Likewise, do you collect information only from a select number of clients or that doesn’t need to clutter up your client’s profile? Again, you should use Forms rather than client fields. Generally, client fields should be used for information that applies to most clients and applies to all your services.
First, we’ll start with the basic setup. To begin, head to Settings > Client fields. If you’re an existing Pro, you may have previously created fields appearing here under Settings > Online leads > Questions or Settings > Online booking > Edit checkout > Questions. The new Client fields section of Settings simplifies the setup of fields and provides more options to customize where they appear and when.
Tap the plus button in the upper right corner to create a new client field. Here, you can add the field name or question, field type, labels if a single or multiple choice field, and determine whether the field is required.
Next, tap “Show field” to determine where you can view the field and where clients will be prompted to complete the field.
First, you’ll see “Show field on” which determines where in PocketSuite that you as the Pro (and your team members) will see the completed field. The three options are:
- Client record – When toggled on, the field will appear on the client profile once completed. As the Pro, you can edit this field by heading to a clients profile and tapping Edit > More details. You can complete this field when creating a client profile by tapping on “More details.” Fields on the client record are specific to the client generally and do not change from booking to booking, such as birthday, allergies, or vaccination date. Once completed, the field can be edited but a response will not be needed again. See an example below.
- Booking record – When toggled on, the field will appear on the booking detail screen when you access an appointment, class, or reservation booking from a dashboard or the calendar. As the Pro, you can edit this field by heading to an appointment and tapping Edit > More details. You can also complete this field for the client when you’re scheduling an appointment by tapping “More details” near the bottom of the scheduling screen. Fields on the booking record are specific to one appointment and can change from appointment to appointment, such as what the client wants to work on in their session. Unless client record is also toggled on, the client will need to respond to these fields at each booking if shown (see next section). See an example below.
- Product order record – when toggled on, the field will appear on the order detail screen when you view an order from the Orders dashboard or from the calendar. You can edit this field by heading to an order and tapping Edit > More details. You can complete this field when creating a new order by tapping on “More details” near the bottom of the order screen. Fields on the product order record are specific to one order and can change from order to order, such as whether the order is for a gift. Unless client record is also toggled on, the client will need to respond to these fields at each order if shown (see next section). See an example below.
If you have the sub-accounts feature turned on, you will see an additional option for the sub-account record. Depending on your industry, this will be called the pet, child, property, vehicle, or horse record. When toggled on, the field will appear on the sub-account record. Sub-account record fields function exactly like client record fields, but are specific to one sub-account.
Once you select where the field will appear, you will see a new section called “Show during checkout” where you can determine where your clients will see and complete these fields. Depending on which options you toggled in the previous section, only some “Show during checkout” options may appear. The “Show during checkout” options work as follows:
- Lead checkout: When toggled on, the field will appear on your Online lead form. See an example online lead form below.
- Booking checkout: When toggled on, the client will see and be able to complete this field during online booking. Likewise, when you schedule an appointment, the client will see and be able to complete this field when confirming the appointment. See the example below of how this appears to the client.
- Product order checkout: Similar to booking & confirmation, when toggled on the client will see and be able to complete this field when ordering a product online. Likewise, when you create an order, the client will see and be able to complete this field when paying for the order. See the example below of how this appears to the client.
- Other checkouts: When toggled on, the client will see and be able to complete the field whenever they are purchasing a package, subscription, or gift certificate online, or when they are paying for a package, subscription, gift certificate, invoice, or estimate that you create and send to them for payment.
Pro tip: Leave all checkout options toggled off to create an internal field. Internal fields can be completed by you and your team and will never be seen by the client.
For fields that appear on only the Client and/or Sub-account record, the field will only need to be completed once by the client and they will not see the field again during subsequent checkouts.
For fields that appear only on the Booking and/or Product Order record, the field will need to be completed every time the client creates a booking (service, class, or reservation) or an order online, confirms a booking you create, or pays for an order you create.
Fields that appear in some combination of both, for example appearing on both the client and booking record, will only need to be completed once, but clients will see the completed fields during subsequent online bookings and be able to adjust their response for that particular booking. They will not see the field in subsequent appointment confirmations. Keep in mind that if you complete a field with this setup (Client record, Booking record, and Booking checkout), your clients will be able to see what you wrote.
Whether or not the field is required is also extremely important to where and when the field appears. If the field appears on the booking record, even if in combination with other records, the field will always appear during online booking and appointment confirmation. The same is true for the Product Order Record.
Fields that appear only on the Client and/or Sub-account record however are different. If there’s at least one field that is incomplete and required, the client will see all incomplete (including those not required) in the appropriate checkout flow (depending on your “Show during checkout” setup).
Here’s an example:
You have three client record fields, two are required, one is optional, and all are set to appear during booking checkout and other checkouts:
- Height (required)
- Weight (required)
- Allergies (optional)
The first time the client confirms an appointment you create, they see all of these fields because they are all incomplete. Since Height and Weight are required, they enter that information and continue without adding Allergies because it’s optional. The next time they confirm an appointment, they do not see any fields because they’ve completed all of the required fields.
This same logic would apply to package, subscription, gift certificate, invoice, and estimate payments. If you send a new client an invoice, they would see all three fields (because you selected Other checkouts) and be required to complete Height and Weight. If the client does not add any allergies, the next time you send them an invoice they would not see any fields, including the Allergies field, because all required fields have been completed. This is to ensure that once you’ve collected the most important information, your clients can complete subsequent transactions as quickly as possible, preserving the ability for clients to pay via SMS if they’ve stored payment information on file and making sure you get paid as quickly as possible.
Clients will always see these fields and be able to edit their previous responses, but they will only need to complete them the first time. The exception to this are fields which appear on the booking record. Since these are specific to a single appointment, the client will need to complete them with each booking (if set to required).
Here is an example of how a field looks on the Client record – Do you have other pets in the house?
Here is an example of how a field looks on the Booking record – Was your dog a rescue?
Pro tip: You can use client fields to collect images and documents using the “File upload” field type. When these fields appear on the Client and/or Sub-account record, you can track their expiration and set up rules around how the expiration date is set, enabling your clients to update their information as needed. Check out our article on Document Expiration Tracking to learn how to set up expiration tracking.
Here are some common cases of how fields are used and how to set them up:
I have a field I want to be sure is filled out by every client, but I don’t want them to have to complete it every time.
First, be sure the field is set to Required so when the field appears the client will not be able to skip the field. Next, under “Show field on,” toggle “Client record” on. Fields on the client record can be edited, but are used for information that does not change from booking to booking, so once toggled on, the client will not be required to complete the field again. Next, to ensure the field is completed, toggle all “Show during checkout” options on.
With this setup, when a client books you, confirms an appointment you create, purchases a product from you, pays an invoice or estimate you send them, or completes an Online Lead form, they will see the field and be required to complete it. Once completed, they will not see the field again or be required to complete it. You can always edit the field and we’re working on an improvement to allow clients to edit their fields in the client app.
Optionally, if you want to also see this field on booking and order records, you can toggle those options on as well. So long as the client record is toggled on, the client will only be required to complete it once. If you do add it to the Booking or Order records, your clients will see and be able to edit their response for that particular booking when they checkout online or confirm an appointment or order you send them. Likewise, if the field only pertains to clients, but not leads, you can toggle Lead form off to only show the field during checkout and confirmation flows.
I have a field that is specific to each appointment and needs to be filled out with each booking.
Again, be sure the field is set to Required so when the field appears the client will not be able to skip the field. Next, under “Show field on,” toggle “Booking record” on, but leave “Client record” toggled off. Booking fields are specific to each appointment booking and will be required each time so long as “Client record” remains toggled off. Next, under “Show during checkout,” toggle “Booking & confirmation” on so that the client will see the field when booking online or confirming a booking you create.
With this setup, each time the client books or confirms a booking, they will be required to complete this field and it will appear on their booking record.
I have a field that I only want to be filled out by me and my team members, but never seen by my client.
To create an internal custom field, first determine where you want the field to appear under “Show field on.” As previously mentioned, toggling “Client record” on makes the field editable through the client profile and makes the field always appear with the client. If you also select “Booking record” or “Order record,” the field will appear on all booking and order records. If you select only “Booking record” or “Order record”, but do not select “Client record,” the field will only apply to one specific booking or order, and will need to be completed separately on each booking or order.
To ensure the field is internal only, toggle off all “Show during checkout” options. This ensures that the field will not appear during any client checkout or confirmation flows, allowing you to edit the field, but never allowing the client to see what you’ve written or add their own response.
I have a field that I only want to appear when someone fills out my online lead form.
First, under “Show field on,” toggle “Client record” on so the response is stored with the client. Then, under “Show during checkout,” toggle “Lead form” on and toggle all other options off. This will add the field to your online lead form, but not be shown anywhere else.
When should I use a Client record field versus a Booking record field versus a Form?
Typically, Client record fields should be used to collect important information that applies to almost every client and every service you offer and does not change from appointment to appointment. Booking record fields should be used to collect information that also applies to almost every client and service you offer, but changes from appointment to appointment and should be filled out with each booking. Forms are best used to collect information that is specific to a certain service, or that only applies to a few clients –in which case you would attach the form to the transaction you're sending the client, to specific items on your booking site, or would send directly to the client. See the matrix below.
I still don’t understand the difference between Booking checkout, Product order checkout, and Other checkouts. Can you explain again?
Booking checkouts are specific to services, classes, and reservations both during online booking and appointment confirmation (eg. when you create the appointment). Think of bookings as the transactions where an event is being created on your calendar.
Product order checkouts are specific to standalone product orders created during online ordering or order confirmation (eg. when you create the order).
Other checkouts are packages, subscriptions, gift certificates, invoices, and estimates. Fields with Other checkouts toggled on will appear when clients purchase packages, subscriptions, and gift certificates through your online booking site, and when clients complete the payment for a package, subscription, gift certificate, invoice, or estimate. Think of other checkouts as all the things clients pay for which do not create an event on your calendar.
See the matrix below on which checkouts are appropriate for different types of fields.