3. Create booking pages for different guests
Back to step 2. Identify your audiences for custom booking flows
Basics of creating your booking pages
Once you have selected the various groups of visitors it’s time to start creating the booking pages.
There are a couple important steps to take a little time on. These include:
Customising the copy for each flow
Setting the availability
Deciding on the page visibility (Invite only, Private, or Public)
Setting the internal page name (Eg VIP Preview day and Pass)
Customising the copy on your booking pages
Copy is one of the most important aspects of configuring each booking flow. Finding the right balance of information and keeping the booking flow simple is crucial to give the best booking experience.
Certain customisable copy fields should be kept short so the guest can focus on the main task of booking. Sometimes it is helpful to link to additional info that is already on your website. This also saves time as if certain info needs updating you don't need to update it on multiple booking pages - simply update the webpage on your website.
In the booking confirmation and reminder emails you can also add custom copy. This is the best place to put all the info that may be helpful for a guest who is attending the fair. It’s worth including the following:
Opening times
Details of what the guest should expect on arrival. Eg you name will be on the guest-list or you can show your QR code to one of the front of house team.
Location, Directions, parking etc
Covid-19 guidelines. (Eg all guests will be asked to prove full vaccination or show a negative covid test taken with 72 hours of attendance)
Re-entry policy
Contact details for special enquiries
Personalising copy with variables.
It is also possible to use variables to personalise the booking experience. This improves the booking experience as it makes it feel personal.
A simple way to personalise the experience is to us the {{ name }} variable in the visitor info custom copy.
In the above example if you have used invites and added the name to each invite the {{ name }} will be replaced with their name. If you didn’t add their name to the invite it will use the fallback text (invited guest).
For further information on how to personalise the booking experience click here.
Booking page settings
Each booking page can be configured to manage to booking experience for the corresponding audience.
From the Edit tab you can:
Decide how many additional guests a invited guests can bring
Choose if a booking experience is public private or invite only - this affects who can book (With most fairs all pages are set to invite only except the public ticketing page)
Decide if QR codes are sent with the booking confirmation
Ask guests to opt into your mailing list (not required if they already are)
Choose when the reminder email is sent (default is 24hrs)
Decide if you show remaining spaces per time slot
Booking page availability
On each booking page you can set the available time slots that are book able. This likely to differ for different audiences. For example VIPs can normally book for the preview or public days and press may have special hours.
When configuring availability you set your opening hours and the frequency of slots you want to let people book at. You also set how many guests can be booked per slot (N.B. This is the number of guests not the number of bookings)
Some clients also have access to advance availability which allows them to have different availability for each slot. This can be viewed in real time and adjusted as bookings are being made. This can be helpful for increasing footfall at the start of the day to make the fair fill up quickly.
When configuring the availability it is important to take into account the following:
Capacity of the venue
Average time a guests will stay at the fair
Flow rate (how many guests can you check in per hour)
Next to step 4. Using collections to manage all bookings
Basics of creating your booking pages
Once you have selected the various groups of visitors it’s time to start creating the booking pages.
There are a couple important steps to take a little time on. These include:
Customising the copy for each flow
Setting the availability
Deciding on the page visibility (Invite only, Private, or Public)
Setting the internal page name (Eg VIP Preview day and Pass)
Customising the copy on your booking pages
Copy is one of the most important aspects of configuring each booking flow. Finding the right balance of information and keeping the booking flow simple is crucial to give the best booking experience.
Certain customisable copy fields should be kept short so the guest can focus on the main task of booking. Sometimes it is helpful to link to additional info that is already on your website. This also saves time as if certain info needs updating you don't need to update it on multiple booking pages - simply update the webpage on your website.
In the booking confirmation and reminder emails you can also add custom copy. This is the best place to put all the info that may be helpful for a guest who is attending the fair. It’s worth including the following:
Opening times
Details of what the guest should expect on arrival. Eg you name will be on the guest-list or you can show your QR code to one of the front of house team.
Location, Directions, parking etc
Covid-19 guidelines. (Eg all guests will be asked to prove full vaccination or show a negative covid test taken with 72 hours of attendance)
Re-entry policy
Contact details for special enquiries
Personalising copy with variables.
It is also possible to use variables to personalise the booking experience. This improves the booking experience as it makes it feel personal.
A simple way to personalise the experience is to us the {{ name }} variable in the visitor info custom copy.
Eg.Dear {{name | invited guest}},Please book your complimentary ticket to the fair by selecting a time below.In the above example if you have used invites and added the name to each invite the {{ name }} will be replaced with their name. If you didn’t add their name to the invite it will use the fallback text (invited guest).
For further information on how to personalise the booking experience click here.
Booking page settings
Each booking page can be configured to manage to booking experience for the corresponding audience.
From the Edit tab you can:
Decide how many additional guests a invited guests can bring
Choose if a booking experience is public private or invite only - this affects who can book (With most fairs all pages are set to invite only except the public ticketing page)
Decide if QR codes are sent with the booking confirmation
Ask guests to opt into your mailing list (not required if they already are)
Choose when the reminder email is sent (default is 24hrs)
Decide if you show remaining spaces per time slot
Booking page availability
On each booking page you can set the available time slots that are book able. This likely to differ for different audiences. For example VIPs can normally book for the preview or public days and press may have special hours.
When configuring availability you set your opening hours and the frequency of slots you want to let people book at. You also set how many guests can be booked per slot (N.B. This is the number of guests not the number of bookings)
Some clients also have access to advance availability which allows them to have different availability for each slot. This can be viewed in real time and adjusted as bookings are being made. This can be helpful for increasing footfall at the start of the day to make the fair fill up quickly.
When configuring the availability it is important to take into account the following:
Capacity of the venue
Average time a guests will stay at the fair
Flow rate (how many guests can you check in per hour)
Next to step 4. Using collections to manage all bookings
Updated on: 27/10/2022
Thank you!