This article will take you through the whole process of setting up Video Consultations.
In This Article
Create a Video Consultation Category
We recommend creating a dedicated Video Consultation service category to assign your services and offer video consultations online.
First, create a new Video Consultation category by going to Manager > Categories > Service Categories and creating a dedicated Video Consultation category like the image below.
Create a Video Consultation Service
Next, go to Manager > Services > Add, and add your new Video Consultation service.
Give it a name like Hair Video Consultation or Facial Video Consultation, and assign it to your new Video Consultations Category.
Set the Price and Duration, then scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click the Online Video Consultations toggle switch to Yes.
Next, go to the Online & App section, add some Information about the video consultation service, like how long it takes and what it entails, and then make sure the service is available online.
Multiple Locations in Phorest?
If you have multiple locations in your Phorest system, go to the Branches tab, and select any location you want to offer this service from.
Qualify Staff to Provide Video Consultations
Qualifying your team to carry out Video Consultations depends on whether your salon is open or closed.
Depending on your business operating situation, scroll down to either:
- Offer Video Consultations While Your Business is Open
- Offer Video Consultations While Your Business is Closed
1. Offer Video Consultations While Your Business is Open
If your salon is open for business as usual, you can qualify your team to carry out this service with Staff Members.
As you would with any other service, click into a staff profile and go to their Services tab.
If your new Video Consultations category is not on the list, scroll down and click Add Category. From the pop-out window, tick the Video Consultations checkbox.
Next, click into the category and ensure the relevant video services are enabled, then click Save.
Head back to the staff member's General tab. From there, click the Video Calls tab at the bottom of the screen.
This is where you will include a unique Video Consultation link for each staff member.
You can copy and paste your meeting ID from Zoom, Google Meet/Hangout, Skype, or similar video providers here.
For security reasons, each staff member offering Video Consultations should have a unique meeting ID. Please be sure to familiarize yourself with your chosen video conferencing provider's price plans and security features.
To finish, click Save.
2. Offer Video Consultations While Your Business is Closed
If your business is closed, we recommend you do two things:
- Block your team's rosters out so they cannot be booked for your regular services.
- Create a new staff profile for each staff member qualified to carry out a Video Consultation.
Step 1: Block your team's rosters out so they cannot be booked for your regular services.
Step 2: Create a new staff profile for each staff member qualified to carry out a Video Consultation
Once you've blocked out your team's staff rosters, identify who is qualified to carry out your new Video Consultation services.
We recommend creating a new Staff Member account for the specified staff but for online services only.
Create their profile as normal but include 'Video' in their name, as shown below, to distinguish between the profiles.
Note: You may need to create a new System Pin and Phorest Go Password for the Video Consultation profiles.
Click Save, then move down to the Video Calls tab at the bottom of the screen.
This is where you will include a unique Video Consultation link for each staff member.
You can copy and paste your meeting ID from Zoom, Google Meet/Hangout, Skype, or similar video providers here.
Click Save when you are done.
For security reasons, each staff member offering Video Consultations should have a unique meeting ID. Please be sure to familiarize yourself with your chosen video conferencing provider's price plans and security features.
Click into the Services tab to qualify this staff member for Video Consultations.
Click Set Services, and from the pop-out window, tick the Video Consultations checkbox.
Click Done and make sure the right Video Consultation services are enabled for this staff member.
Click Save to finish.
Don't forget to go back to the Staff Rosters screen to schedule working hours for your Video Staff Profiles so clients can make bookings.
Video Consultation Notifications
There are two ways for your clients to receive the Video Consultation meeting ID: through an SMS reminder or via email, but only if they book online.
1. SMS Reminder & Video Link
The Video Consultations SMS will go out to your clients 1-2 hours before their appointment and will only send for services marked as Online Video Consultations. The SMS will include the meeting ID for the specific staff member.
The SMS will be sent to clients who booked either online or in-house.
By default, this SMS is disabled and must be turned on.
To activate the Video Consultations SMS, go to Manager > Settings > Online > Video Consultations, and set the toggle to Yes to send Video Consultation links via SMS.
While you can Preview the SMS, you cannot edit the message at this time.
When you're done, click Save.
2. Online Booking Confirmation Email & Video Link
If a client books a Video Consultation online, they will receive a booking confirmation email similar to any other service, but this time with the staff member's meeting ID.
Clients who book in-house will not receive this email.
The email will contain a message similar to the following:
"To attend your Video Consultation appointment, you will need to click this link 5 minutes before your appointment. Please ensure you are in a quiet space with your device sufficiently charged before joining."
This should help in two cases:
- The client doesn't receive the SMS (wrong number, etc)
- An appointment is booked less than two hours in advance - we won't have time to send the automated SMS in that case, but the client will receive the link in their Booking Confirmation.
Host a Video Consultation
To host your Video Consultation, log into your video conferencing account (like Zoom, Google Meet/Hangout or Skype) and start the session.