The purpose of this article is to help you learn:
- What pricing parameters are
- How to add a variable category
- How to add a new variable
- How to create an exclusion parameter
- How to reorder your pricing parameters
- How to edit, duplicate, archive/unarchive and delete pricing parameters
What are pricing parameters?
Pricing Parameters are the different variables your customer can select to customize their service. This section is used inside forms 1 and 4.
Individual parameters are referred to as Variables in BookingKoala. If you use multiple variables to determine the price of your services, you can create multiple Variable Categories.
For example, the home cleaning industry often bases pricing on the total number of bedrooms and bathrooms in the home. In this case, the variable categories would be "bedrooms" and "bathrooms". The variables would be the number of bedrooms or bathrooms, options like "1", "2", "3", "4," etc.
Add a New Variable Category:
To begin setting up your pricing parameters, you will first need to create a Variable Category. Go to:
Settings > Industries > [Industry name] > Form [#] > Pricing Parameter
Click on the orange "Manage Variables" button at the top-right corner of the page.
You will be redirected to the new page. Click on the blue "Add New" button to create a variable category.
Add a Variable Category (Form 1)
If you are using form 1, you can have as many variable categories as you'd like. For example, if you use the total number of bedrooms and bathrooms to price your services, you would have two variable categories: "Bedrooms" and "Bathrooms".
Type in the variable category's name, then click the blue "Save" button.
Continue to add new categories by clicking the "Add New" button at the top of this page. Once you are finished, you can proceed back to the main Pricing Parameter section of the form to begin adding your variables.
Add a Variable Category (Form 4)
If you are using form 4, your variable category will be your unit of measurement. For example, if you use square footage to price your services, your variable category may be called "Square Feet".
Type in the unit's name into the box then click the blue "Save" button. You can proceed back to the main Pricing Parameter section of the form to begin adding your variables.
Add a New Variable
Back to the main Pricing Parameters page, you can begin to add your variables. Click the blue "Add New" button at the top of the page
You will be redirected to an "Add Variable" page.
Name
First, add a Name for the 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 your reference but "1" for the customer's end.
Another example: If you are using form 4 and use "square feet" as your category, you may enter "Square Feet (Residential)" for the back-end and "Square Feet" for the front-end.
Description
Below, there is a box for entering a Description of the variable. This will only be seen by you or other admins when viewing this page. This may be helpful, especially if you have multiple variables with the same name.
Variable Category
Next, you will choose which variable category to list the variable under. Click the Variable Category drop-down menu to make your selection. 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.
Explanation
If you would like to add an explanation to the variable that the customer can see, check the box next to where it says "Show explanation icon on form". This will add an icon next to the variable name. When the customer hovers over the icon with their curser, the explanation will be displayed.
Enable Pop-Up
If you would like to display a pop-up message when the customer selects the variable, check the box next to "Enable popup on selection" and type in the message you would like to display.
You can also customize when the pop-up will display:
Display
Below the popup section, select where you would like to display this variable. Under "Display", select one of the following options:
- Customer frontend, backend & admin - The variable can be selected by new customers, existing customers, and the admin/staff for booking.
- Admin only - The variable can only be used by admin or staff when making bookings.
Price & Time
Towards the bottom of the page, you can set up the Price and Time for the variable. If your industry uses service areas, you will see "S.A." labeled just above these boxes.
If you have a storefront or office, you will see "M.L." (merchant location) instead.
If your business uses both service areas and merchant locations, you will see both sections. This gives you the option to set different prices depending on where the service is happening.
Price
For the variable Price, enter how much it costs to service just this one variable.
For example, let's say a home cleaning business uses form 1. They charge $20 if the home has one bathroom. Thus, the variable "1" would have $20 listed for its price. If the business charges $30 for having two total bathrooms, a second variable called "2" would be created and the price would be set to $30.
Let's say the same business charges $40 per one-bedroom, $60 for two bedrooms, and $80 for 3 bedrooms. If the customer selects "2" for bedrooms and "1" for bathrooms, the system will add both prices together to come up with a service total of $80 ($60 per 2 bedrooms, $20 per one bathroom).
In another example, let's say a cleaning business uses form 4 and offers rates based on the total number of square feet. They charge $0.18 per square foot for residential services. Thus, the variable "Square Feet" would have a price of $0.18 per single square foot.
If a customer enters "1000" into the box for the variable "Square feet", they will get a quote of $180.00.
Time
The variable Time can be used if you would like the system to calculate how long the service will take. If you would like your scheduling to be based on provider availability, we highly suggest you set times for each variable. This helps when it comes time to schedule so the booking is not assigned to someone who does not have enough time to complete it.
For example, let's use the variable "bathrooms" in form 1. It takes about 15 minutes to clean the average bedroom. When the customer selects "1" under the bathrooms category, the booking length will have 15 minutes added to it.
Let's also assume the business has set the length for 1 bathroom to 20 minutes. If the customer selected "1" for bedrooms and "1" for bathrooms, the booking length will be 35 minutes total.
If you are using form 4, remember to enter the time for one unit. When the customer types in the number of units they have, the time length you enter here will be multiplied by that number.
For example, let's say it takes "4 seconds" per square foot for residential cleaning services. If the client enters 1000 square feet, the service length estimate will be approximately 1 hour, 6 minutes.
Default
At the very bottom of the page, you can choose to set this variable as the Default option for customers and admin (that is, it will be automatically selected when they first land on the booking form).
Once you have finished entering the details, click the blue "Save" button on the bottom of the page.
Repeat this step until you have set up all of your variables.
Add a New Exclusion Parameter (Form 1)
This option is available if you are using form 1.
If you'd like, you can make a service a "partial" service by adding in "Exclude Parameters". These work similarly to variables except that they subtract the parameter's price and time from the total.
To set up exclusion parameters, scroll down to the bottom of the pricing parameters page where it says "Exclude Parameters" and click the blue "Add New" button.
You will be redirected to an "Add Exclude Parameter" page.
Name
First, add a Name for the parameter. 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.
Description
Below, there is a box for entering a Description of the parameter. This will only be seen by you or other admins when viewing this page.
If you would like to add an explanation to the parameter that the customer can see, check the box next to where it says "Show explanation icon on form". This will add an icon next to the parameter name. When the customer hovers over the icon with their curser, the explanation will be displayed.
Display
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.
- Admin only - The parameter can only be used by admin or staff when making bookings.
Enable Pop-Up
If you would like to display a pop-up message when the customer selects the exclusion parameter, check the box next to "Enable popup on selection" and type in the message you would like to display.
You can also customize when the pop-up will display:
Price & Time
Next, you will set up the Price and Time for the parameter under where it says "S.A." (service area) and/or "M.L." (merchant location).
Price
For the parameter's Price, enter how much the service total will be reduced by when this parameter is selected.
For example, if the exclusion parameter for "bedrooms" is set to $20, the customer's rate will be lowered by $20 when they select this parameter. If the customer's initial total was $100, it will now be updated to $80.
Time
For the parameter's Time, enter how much time will be deducted from the total length estimate.
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 selects this option. If the initial service length was 55 minutes, it will now be updated to 40 minutes.
If you do not want the extra to add any time, set the minutes box to "0".
Quantity Based
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.
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.
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.
Icon
Exclusion parameters are represented by icons in the booking form. Under "Select icon", click the icon image to pick an icon from the system, or click "Browse" to select a file from 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.
Apply To
At the bottom of the page, select one of the following options:
- 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.
This will set the default behavior for this exclusion parameter. You can change the behavior on a case-by-case basis at any time from inside the booking form.
Once you have finished entering your preference, click the blue "Save" button at the bottom of the page. Repeat this step until you have set up all of your exclusion parameters.
Changing the Variable Order
Once you have added multiple variables, you can update the order in which they are displayed on your booking form. Go to:
Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form [#] > Pricing Parameter
To change the order, click and hold a variable to drag and drop 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.
How to Modify Pricing Parameters
If you ever want to make further adjustments to your pricing parameters, you can always go to:
Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Form [#] > Pricing Parameter
Edit a Variable
To edit a variable, click on "Options" and select "Edit".
You will be brought to the Edit Variable page where you can modify any of the settings you'd like. Just be sure to 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.
Edit a Variable Category
To edit a variable category, click on the orange "Manage Variables" button. Click on "Options" and select "Edit".
You will be brought to the Edit Variable Category page where you can modify the name. Just be sure to 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 category has been updated successfully.
Duplicate a Variable
To make a copy of an existing variable, click on "Options" and select "Edit". A pop-up window will ask if you are sure you want to duplicate this variable. Click "Yes" to proceed.
The phrase "-Copy" will be added to the name of the new variable so you can tell it apart from the original. If you change the name, be sure to pick something different from the original name.
Once you have finished making your adjustments, click the blue "Save" 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 variable has been duplicated successfully.
Delete a Variable
If you want to permanently delete a variable from its 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 variable has been deleted successfully.
Delete a Variable Category
To delete a variable category, click on the orange "Manage Variables" button. 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.
Archive or Unarchive a Variable
If you would prefer to keep a variable but not use it for our form right now, you can instead choose to Archive it. Once a variable has been archived, neither the customer nor the admin can select it in the booking form.
To archive a variable, click on "Options" and 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.
If you would ever like to start using an archived variable again, you can easily "unarchive it". Click on the drop-down menu at the top of the page and select "Archived".
Click on "Options" and select "Unarchive" next to the variable you would like to resume. 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 will now be able to use the variable in your booking form again.
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