Setting up pricing parameters for Form 1

The purpose of this article is to help you understand:

What Variables, variable categories, and exclude parameters are
How to set up pricing for Form 1
How to add, modify, and change the order of variable categories
How to add, modify, and change the order of variables
How to add, modify, and change the order of exclude parameters

What are "pricing parameters"?

Pricing Parameters are the variables used to calculate the price (or estimate) for your services.

In Form 1, pricing parameters come in the form of variables and variable categories. Variable categories are a topic or subject that contains a list of options called variables. Variables can be set up to have a specific cost and/or length of time.

Form 1 can have more than one variable category. In this case, the booking total is calculated by adding the price and/or length of time associated with each selection together.

For example, the form pictured above has three variable categories: "Bedrooms", "Bathrooms", and "Sq Ft" (square footage).

The variables for "Bedrooms" are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
The variables for "Bathrooms" are 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7, and 7.5.
The options for "Sq Ft" are not depicted but the default selection is "1 - 999 Sw Ft".

Form 1 also allows you to add "exclude parameters", or variables designed to credit the customer when they remove a service from their order. Exclude parameters work similarly to variables except they subtract the variable's pricing and/or timing data from the booking total.

In this example, the default exclusion parameter section for the home cleaning industry reads "This Is A Partial Cleaning Only". Once the box is checked, icons representing each parameter are revealed. In this case, customers can exclude bedrooms, full bathrooms, half bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms, or the basement from the booking.

Variables, variable categories, and exclude parameters can be added to your form at any time. Any variables that came with your industry's default booking form can be edited, archived, re-activated, or deleted.

How to Add and Modify Variable Categories

The first step in setting up your form's pricing parameters will be to create a new variable category or edit the existing variable category. To begin, go to:

Settings > Industries > [Industry name] > Form 1 > Pricing Parameter

Click on the orange "Manage Variables" button on the top right corner of the page.

Add a New Variable Category

Click on the blue "Add New" button to add a new variable category.

Type in the variable category's name, then click the blue "Save" button. A green system alert will appear in the top right corner confirming the category has been saved.

Repeat these steps to add other variable categories to your form.

Edit a Variable Category

To edit an existing variable category, click "Options" and select "Edit". Enter the new category name into the box and then click the blue "Save" button.

A green system notification will appear in the top-right corner of the page, letting you know the variable category has been updated successfully.

Reordering the Variable Categories

You can change the order of the variable categories on your booking form.

Go to the Pricing Parameters section (Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form 1 > Pricing Parameters).
Click on the orange "Manage Variables" button.
Click and hold anywhere on the category's row to drag it into a new position in the list.
Once you are satisfied with the order, click the blue "Update Priority" button at the bottom of the page.
A green system notification will appear in the top-right corner of the page, letting you know the priority has been updated successfully.

Delete a Variable Category

If you'd like to delete a variable category, click on "Options" and select "Delete". A pop-up window will ask if you are sure you want to delete this variable. Click "Yes" to proceed.

A green system notification will appear in the top-right corner of the page, letting you know the pricing parameter category has been updated successfully.

How to Add and Modify Variables

Once you are finished setting up your variable categories, you can proceed back to the main Pricing Parameter section to begin adding your variables. Please go to:

Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form 1 > Pricing Parameter

Add a Variable: Details Tab

Click the blue "Add New" button at the top of the page.

You will be redirected to the "Details" tab on the"Add Variable" page.

First, add a Name for the new variable. This will be displayed on both the admin side and the customer side of the software.

If you would like for a different name to display on the customer's end, check the box next to "Different on customer end" and enter the name in the box below. If you used this option, the admin will see the top-most name, while the customer will see the name that you put in the "Different on customer end" box.

For example, if you are using form 1 and use bathrooms as one of your variable categories, you may enter "1 bathroom" for the admin/staff end but just want to display "1" on the customer's end.

Below the name(s), there is a place to enter a Description of the variable. This is only seen by the admin/staff with permission to edit the variable.

Next, select which variable category you would like to list this variable under. Click the variable category drop-down menu to select an existing category. If you only have one variable category, it will be selected by default.

You can also add a new variable category directly from inside this page by clicking the blue "Add Variable Category" link.

Check the box next to "Show explanation icon on form" if you would like to add an explanation icon next to the variable on the form. The explanation is displayed when the user hovers over the icon with their cursor.

If you would like to display a pop-up message when the customer selects the variable, check the box next to "Enable pop-up on selection" and type in the message you would like to display.

You can also customize when the pop-up will display. The options are:

Customer frontend, backend & admin - The pop-up will display for both customers and admin/staff on the front-end and back-end of the site.
Customer backend & admin - The pop-up will only display for the admin or when the customer is logged into their dashboard.
Customer only (frontend & backend) - The pop-up will display for the customer only: on the front-end of the site as well as when they are logged in.
Admin only - The pop-up will only display for admin and staff members.

Next, under the "Display" section, select an option for which users will be able to see this variable on the booking form. The options are:

Customer frontend, backend & admin - The variable can be selected by new customers, existing customers, and the admin/staff for booking.
Customer backend & admin - The variable can only be selected by existing customers or admin/staff and will not display for new customers.
Admin only - The variable can only be used by admin or staff when making bookings.

Near the bottom of the page, set up the price and time for the variable.

If your industry uses service areas, there will be an "S.A." label just above these boxes.

If you have a storefront or office, there will be an "M.L." (merchant location) label instead.

If your business uses both service areas and merchant locations, both options will be provided. This allows you to set different prices for service areas versus store locations.

For the variable's price, enter how much it costs to quote/service just this option.

If a cleaning business charges $20.00 for homes with 1 bathroom, their booking form would have a variable called "1" and the price would be set to $20.00.
If they charge $30.00 for homes with 2 bathrooms, their form would have a second variable called "2" and the price would be set to $30.00.

For the variable's time, enter how much time it takes to complete/service just this option. If you do not want any time associated with the variable, select "0" under the "Seconds" menu.

Adding time lengths to your variables helps with estimating the job length and ensures more accurate scheduling if you check the length against the providers' availability. Click here to learn more about setting up your account's scheduling and availability preferences.

Just like with pricing, the length of each variable is added together to come up with the total estimated job length. If a customer selects variables from each category that equal 20 minutes, 40 minutes, and 30 minutes, the booking's estimated length will be 90 minutes (1.5 hours) long.

At the bottom of the first page, there is a checkbox next to the word "Default ". Check this option if you want a specific variable to be the default choice for its variable category on the booking form.

If no variable is set as the default, the form will display the variables in order of priority as set in the pricing parameters section (covered in an upcoming section).

Once you have finished making your selections, click the blue "Next" button at the bottom of the page.

Add a Variable: Dependencies Tab

The next tab in the "Add Variable Page" is called the "Dependencies" tab.

When you enable dependencies for a variable, you gain the ability to associate that variable with select options on the booking form instead of using the same variable for every location, service category, frequency, etc.

A. Click this link to enable variable dependencies on frequency, service category, and/or location Dependencies must be enabled under the Form Settings section (Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Settings > Form Settings. This box will not display if dependencies are enabled for all possible options.
B. Options for dependencies on exclusion parameters will display here. If you have not added any exclusion parameters yet, click this link to open a new tab and launch the "Add Exclude Parameter" page.
C. Options for dependencies on extras will display here. If you have not added any extras yet, click this link to open a new tab and launch the "Add Extra" page.

Once dependencies are enabled, any options that have been added to each section will be displayed next to a checkbox. If the box is checked, the variable will display as an option for that particular selection. If the box is not checked, the variable will not be displayed for that selection.

Click here to learn how to enable dependencies and other settings for your booking form.

Once you are finished setting up your dependencies, click the blue "Next" button at the bottom of the page.

Add a Variable: Providers Tab

The final tab, called "Providers", is only visible when you add a new variable and cannot be accessed after the variable has been saved. This is because this section is used to block or exclude providers from accepting/being scheduled with bookings that contain this variable.

To use this section, check the box next to the name(s) of the provider(s) you do not want to receive jobs with this variable.

For example, if this variable is called "5", as in "5 bedrooms", you would check off any providers who would not want to service homes with 5 bedrooms.

This section will only display if you have enabled the option for provider availability to be based on the selections made on the booking form. Click here to learn how to enable or disable this option to set provider availability using form parameters like location, frequency, service category, pricing parameters, extras, etc.

At the bottom of the page, click the blue "Save" button to add the new variable to your form.

If your form has more than one variable, repeat these steps until you have added one or more variables for each of your variable categories.

Duplicate a Variable

If you are creating a list of variables that have similar categories, prices, or settings, the duplicate option can be used to make a copy of an existing variable.

Go to the Pricing Parameters section (Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form 1 > Pricing Parameters).
Select "Options" next to the variable you'd like to copy.
Click "Duplicate".
A pop-up window will ask if you are sure you want to duplicate this variable. Click "Yes" to proceed.
The word "-Copy" will be added to the name of the new variable so you can tell it apart from the original.
Once you have finished making any adjustments, click the blue "Save" button at the end of the steps to update the variable.
A green system notification will appear in the top-right corner of the page, letting you know the variable has been duplicated successfully.

Edit a Variable

Go to the Pricing Parameters section (Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form 1 > Pricing Parameters).
Select "Options" next to the variable you'd like to edit.
Click "Edit".
You will be brought to the Edit Variable page where you can modify any of the settings you'd like.
Click the blue "Save" button to save any changes.
A green system notification will appear in the top-right corner of the page, letting you know the variable has been updated successfully.

Important note: If you edit a variable's price or length of time while there are active or pending bookings/booking charges using the variable, those existing bookings will retain the original rate. All new bookings will use the new price and/or time.

To use the new variable for existing bookings, the booking can be edited, and the new variable can be selected instead of the current option, which will say "Archived" next to it.

Archive a Variable

To manually archive a variable, go to the Pricing Parameters section (Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form 1 > Pricing Parameters).
Select "Options" next to the variable you'd like to archive.
Select "Archive".
A pop-up window will ask if you are sure you want to archive this variable. Click "Yes" to proceed.
The variable will now be listed under the "Archived" menu. Once a variable has been archived, neither the customer nor the admin/staff can see it on the booking form unless it was already selected for an existing booking.

Unarchive a Variable

If you would ever like to start using an archived variable again, you can easily "unarchive" it.

Go to the Pricing Parameters section (Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form 1 > Pricing Parameters).
Click on the drop-down menu at the top of the page and select "Archived".
Select "Options" next to the variable you'd like to unarchive.
Select "Unarchive".
A pop-up window will ask if you are sure you want to unarchive this variable. Click "Yes" to proceed.
The variable will be moved back to the "Active" pricing parameter listing. You and your customers will now be able to see and use the variable again on the booking form.

Reordering the Variables

You can change the order of the variables on your booking form.

Go to the Pricing Parameters section (Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form 1 > Pricing Parameters).
Click and hold anywhere on a variable's row to drag it into a new position in the list.
Once you are satisfied with the order, click the blue "Update Priority" button at the bottom of the page.
A green system notification will appear in the top-right corner of the page, letting you know the priority has been updated successfully.

Important note: Please be sure you are clicking the "Update Priority" button below all of your variables, and not the one below the exclude parameters, as this section has its own "Update Priority" option.

How to Add and Modify Exclude Parameters

Once you are finished setting up the variables, you can proceed with setting up your exclude parameters (if your form uses this type of variable). Go to:

Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form 1 > Pricing Parameter

Add an Exclude Parameter: Details Tab

To begin, scroll down to the bottom of the pricing parameters page and locate the "Exclude Parameters" section. Click the blue "Add New" button.

You will be redirected to the "Details" tab on the "Add Exclude Parameter" page.

First, add a Name for the exclude parameter type. This name will be displayed on both the admin side and the customer side of the software.

Below the name(s), there is a place to enter a Description of the excluded parameter. This is only seen by the admin/staff with permission to edit the parameter.

Check the box next to "Show explanation icon on form" if you would like to add an explanation icon next to the exclude parameter on the booking form. The explanation is displayed when the user hovers over the icon with their cursor.

Below the explanation box, select where you would like to display this exclusion parameter. Under "Display", select one of the following options:

Customer frontend, backend & admin - The parameter can be selected by new customers, existing customers, and the admin/staff for booking.
Customer backend & admin - The parameter can only be selected by existing customers or admin/staff and will not display for new customers.
Admin only - The parameter can only be used by admin or staff when making bookings.

If you would like to display a pop-up message when the customer selects the exclude parameter, check the box next to "Enable pop-up on selection" and type in the message you would like to display.

You can also customize when the pop-up will display. The options are:

Customer frontend, backend & admin - The pop-up will display for both customers and admin/staff on the front-end and back-end of the site.
Customer backend & admin - The pop-up will only display for the admin or when the customer is logged into their dashboard.
Customer only (frontend & backend) - The pop-up will display for the customer only: on the front-end of the site as well as when they are logged in.
Admin only - The pop-up will only display for admin and staff members.

Next, under the "Display" section, select an option for which users will be able to see this variable on the booking form. The options are:

Customer frontend, backend & admin - The variable can be selected by new customers, existing customers, and the admin/staff for booking.
Customer backend & admin - The variable can only be selected by existing customers or admin/staff and will not display for new customers.
Admin only - The variable can only be used by admin or staff when making bookings.

Near the bottom of the page, set up the price and time for the exclusion parameter.

If your industry uses service areas, there will be an "S.A." labeled just above these boxes.

If you have a storefront or office, there will be an "M.L." (merchant location) label instead.

If your business uses both service areas and merchant locations, both sections will be provided. This allows you to set different prices for service areas versus store locations.

For the parameter's Price, enter how much the service total will be reduced by the parameter.

For example, if the exclusion parameter for "Bedrooms" is set to $20, the customer's rate will be lowered by $20 when they click on the "Bedrooms" exclude parameter icon. If the original service total was $100, it will now be reduced to $80 total.

For the parameter's Time, enter how much time will be subtracted from the booking's total estimated length of time.

For example, if the exclusion time for "Bedrooms" is set to 15 minutes, the total service length will be shortened by 15 minutes when the customer clicks this exclude parameter's icon. If the initial service length was 60 minutes, it will now be reduced to 45 minutes.

If you do not want the extra to add any time, set the minutes box to "0".

After setting the time and price, decide if you would like to make this parameter Quantity Based. This option allows you to give the customers a way to select how many times they want to exclude this parameter.

You can set a maximum of up to 50 units if the parameter is quantity-based. To do so, click the drop-down menu and select the highest number of times a customer can apply this exclusion.

For example: in the home cleaning industry, if a customer has a 3-bedroom home and they do not want 2 of those bedrooms cleaned, the customer can select this parameter and exclude two total bedrooms. Then, their total will be reduced by the parameter's price/time twice. They can also set a maximum of 3, meaning the customer cannot exclude more than three total bedrooms.

Under the "Select icon" section, click the icon to select a default icon from the system, or click "Browse" to pick a file saved on your device.

Please note: The image size should not be more than 300x300 pixels or it will be automatically resized to fit those constraints. The allowed image types are JPEG, JPG, PNG, and GIF.

At the bottom of the tab, select one of the following options for the exclude parameter's default behavior when it comes to recurring bookings. The options are:

Apply to all bookings - This means that if a customer selects this parameter for a recurring service, it will be included in every booking.
Apply only to the first appointment - This means the parameter will only be applied to the first booking in a recurring service.

Please note: You can always change whether the parameter will be included in the recurring service or just the first appointment on a case-by-case basis by editing the booking and using the "View Recurring Items" button located with the rest of the admin booking form buttons.

Once you reach the bottom of the first tab, click the blue "Next" button.

Add an Exclude Parameter: Dependencies Tab

The next tab in the "Add Exclude Parameter" page is called the "Dependencies" tab.

When you enable dependencies for an exclude parameter, you can associate that parameter with specific options in the booking form as opposed to using the same variable for each location, service category, frequency, etc.

If this tab does not appear to have any options, click the blue "Click Here" link to enable variable dependencies on frequency, service category, variables, and/or location.

Dependencies must be enabled under the Form Settings section (Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Settings > Form Settings.
The "Click Here" box will not display if dependencies are enabled for all possible options.

Click here to learn how to enable dependencies and other settings for your booking form.

Once you are finished setting up your dependencies, click the blue "Next" button at the bottom of the page.

Add an Exclude Parameter: Providers Tab

The last tab, called "Providers", is only visible when you are adding a new exclusion parameter and cannot be accessed after the variable has been saved. This is because this section is used to block or exclude providers from accepting/being scheduled with bookings that contain this variable.

To use this section, check the box next to the name(s) of the provider(s) you do not want to receive jobs with this exclusion parameter.

At the bottom of the page, click the blue "Save" button to add the new variable to your form.

If your form has more than one exclusion parameter, repeat these steps until you have added one or more variables for each of your variable categories.

Duplicate an Exclude Parameter

If you are creating multiple exclusion parameters that have similar names, amounts, or settings, the "duplicate" option can be used to make a copy of an existing variable.

Go to the Pricing Parameters section (Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form 1 > Pricing Parameters).
Select "Options" next to the exclude parameter you'd like to copy.
Click "Duplicate".
A pop-up window will ask if you are sure you want to duplicate this parameter. Click "Yes" to proceed.
The word "-Copy" will be added to the name of the new exclude parameter so you can tell it apart from the original.
Once you have finished making any adjustments, click the blue "Save" button at the end of the steps to update the parameter.
A green system notification will appear in the top-right corner of the page, letting you know the exclude parameter has been updated successfully.

Edit an Exclude Parameter

Go to the Pricing Parameters section (Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form 1 > Pricing Parameters).
Select "Options" next to the exclude parameter you'd like to edit.
Click "Edit".
You will be brought to the Edit Exclude Parameter page where you can modify any of the settings you'd like.
Click the blue "Save" button to save any changes.
A green system notification will appear in the top-right corner of the page, letting you know the exclude parameter has been successfully updated.

Important note: If you edit an exclude parameter's price or length of time while there are active or pending bookings/booking charges using the parameter, those existing bookings will retain the original rate. All new bookings will use the new price and/or time.

To use the new parameter for existing bookings, the booking can be edited, and the new parameter can be selected instead of the current option which will say "Archived" next to it.

Archive an Exclude Parameter

To manually archive an exclude parameter, go to the Pricing Parameters section (Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form 1 > Pricing Parameters).
Select "Options" next to the exclude parameter you'd like to archive.
Select "Archive".
A pop-up window will ask if you are sure you want to archive this exclude parameter. Click "Yes" to proceed.
The exclude parameter will now be listed under the "Archived" menu. Once an exclude parameter has been archived, neither the customer nor the admin/staff can see it on the booking form unless it was already selected for an existing booking.

Unarchive an Exclude Parameter