In today’s technologically oriented world, online appointment booking is vital for businesses that depend on appointments. Clients book appointments from their devices because it’s insanely convenient.

An online booking form provides a direct way to make an appointment and, best of all, it is available 24/7. It engages more potential customers and increases revenue.

Are you looking for a WordPress appointment plugin so that your clients can complete the booking process online?

This tutorial will show you how to add an online booking form to your WordPress site using the Amelia plugin.

Choosing an Appointment Plugin

Amelia is a powerful WordPress booking plugin that works flawlessly with WordPress sites of all kinds. It has a minimal, yet powerful appointment booking interface designed to ease your workflow, automate repetitive tasks, avoid double booking, and make appointment booking a breeze for your customers.

You can even have email notifications and SMS notifications so that nobody forgets about their appointment bookings.

In order to book an appointment, the complete user interaction takes a few clicks with this WordPress plugin. Moreover, with it, you can accept payments via PayPal and Stripe, perfect for those who want to pay in advance on the appointment form.

As a business owner, you can monitor KPIs in the WordPress dashboard and analyze other important data to keep a pulse on your business. Amelia is a straightforward, no-nonsense booking calendar plugin and an amazing option for those who want an around-the-clock solution for their WordPress site.

Amelia also has an Events Calendar module integrated within its features.

You can now automate your event bookings as well. To be more precise, it means that you will be able to schedule a single day, a multi-day, and also recurring events with Amelia.

Did we mention that you can manage multiple locations and that you have Google Calendar integration?

All of these and much more are under only one license, no add-ons are needed.

To test things for yourself, I’d suggest checking out the demos and seeing how things look on the front end as well as in the back end.

This tutorial explains how to create a booking form template for the best results.

Getting Started

You will need a domain name and a web hosting service to set up a booking appointment website. A domain name is the website’s address, such as https://wpamelia.com/. A web hosting service stores website content files.

After you have set up your website, you can install your booking form plugin. Amelia offers three pricing plans: basic, pro, and developer.

• the basic plan supports one domain
• the pro version supports three domains
• the developer plan supports an unlimited number of domains

Install Amelia

Installing the Amelia booking plugin is straightforward. The installation will be a breeze if you have any experience with WordPress. That’s because it follows the same basic steps as all WordPress plugins.

After purchasing Amelia, download the .zip file from the “downloads” page. If you bought the plugin from the Amelia website, follow the TMS Store links. If you purchased it from CodeCanyon, use the links from CodeCanyon.

Activate the Plugin

In the WordPress admin panel, go to Plugins. Click on Amelia, then press Activate. Now the plugin is installed and activated.

Amelia works right out of the box. It doesn’t require users to adjust every little detail before launching it. And it looks good with every theme.

Customization and technical knowledge are not required to install Amelia. Clients can easily book appointments with a booking form, and you can manage them from the backend.

How to Create a Booking Form With Amelia

Once Amelia is installed and activated, you can create your first booking form through the wizard which is something like a form builder, if you like. All you need to create a booking form is to input one employee and one service.

This tutorial will explain the easiest way to configure and set up a booking form. It won’t go into detail but will give you a good feel of how the plugin works. You can get additional help through the plugin’s documentation.

Enter Company Information

First on your to-do list in this form builder is to enter your company information. Insert your company logo, company name, website address, and phone number. Then click Save.

Add an Employee

Next, start adding employees in the form builder. Employees can each offer different services and display their own work schedules. They can also personalize their settings.

If you are a solopreneur, simply add yourself as an employee. If you have several employees offering different services, add them to the plugin to receive booking requests.

Go to the WordPress admin panel, click on Amelia, and select Employees to add an employee. Click the Add Employee button on the top right corner of the page.

The first tab asks for the following personal details about the employee:

• Picture
• First and last name
• Email
• Location (if there are multiple locations)
• WordPress user name (this is necessary if you want employees to manage their own bookings)
• Phone number
• Notes

The second tab from the booking form builder allows you to choose your employees’ services and the prices. Go to this tab and check the services. If you have not entered the services yet, you can complete this step later.

The third tab lets employees register their work schedules. The fourth tab lists days off, and the fifth tab notes special days.

After configuring all employee settings, click Save. Employees should now appear in the employee list.

Add a Service

Next, add services. Simply go to the administrative panel, and click on Services.

On the services page, you can add categories. Click on Add Category, then enter a category name and click the Apply button.

For example, a beauty salon can add a category for”Hair Stylist.” Or a cleaning company can add a category for”Rental House Cleaning.”

After adding a category, you can then add a service. Select the Add Service button in the top right corner of the screen.

After adding a new service, it will prompt you to fill out the following information:

• Picture: select an image that represents the service
• Name: give the service a name such as “Men’s Hair Cuts”
• Category: select the category that this service belongs to
• Duration: how long a session lasts
• Price: the price for one session
• Buffer times: set buffer times before and after the session so that you are never overbooked
• Maximum and minimum capacity

• Employees: select which employees offer this service
• Description

You can also enable or disable recurring appointments. After filling out the information, click Save. Now the service should appear in the service list.

Add a Step-By-Step Booking Wizard to Your Website’s Front-End

You want to add an online form to the website’s front-end to allow visitors to book appointments. Amelia provides three different booking form viewing options.

They are:

• Step-by-step booking wizard
• Services catalog
• Booking search view

This tutorial will discuss the step-by-step booking wizard. If you prefer to use a different viewing option, you can read how in the documentation pages.

The first step in setting up the booking wizard is creating a new WordPress post or page. In the WordPress admin panel, click on Pages or Posts. Then select Add New. Enter the name of the new post or page.

Select the Amelia icon in the editor toolbar. A pop-up will appear with a drop-down menu. Select Booking, then press OK.

The shortcode will appear in the textbox. Alternatively, you can manually enter the shortcode by typing: [ameliabooking].

Next, click Publish. Preview the page on the front end to see how the booking form template appears. If you set the plugin up with multiple options, clients can choose a service, location, and employee.

Then viewers will see a calendar (that can sync with Google Calendar, don’t forget) and can choose the available date and time that is convenient. The third step in the process allows viewers to enter contact information, such as their name and phone number.

The result isn’t one of those classic booking forms that are bland and look like an absolute chore to complete. This appointment form looks modern and has provides a great user experience to those who use it.

Booking Appointments

Now that your website has a booking form, clients can book appointments online in two different ways.

The first is through the front end of the website. Clients visiting your company’s website can use the booking form to schedule an appointment. They can also reschedule the appointment, cancel it, or request a different employee.

The second method is through the WordPress dashboard. Administrators and managers are the only ones that are managing booking requests this way. This feature is ideal for clients who prefer using the old-fashioned way of booking an appointment, and not through online forms.

For example, there are a lot of people who hate going through a trip registration form and filling in form fields and would rather talk over the phone with a manager.

Thus, this option gives companies greater flexibility to schedule more appointments. It gives you the ability to book appointments in person, by phone, and by text message.

For more information on booking appointments through the back end, go to the Amelia Users and Roles documentation page.

Some FAQ about booking forms and booking form templates

What is a booking form?

A booking form is a form used to book appointments, classes, holidays, accommodation, and more.

How do I create an online booking form?

Can you use Google Forms as a booking system?

Conclusion on creating a booking form

As you can see, Amelia is not complicated at all. You can effortlessly create a booking request form, schedule appointments, and accept payments online.

Amelia is one of the best booking plugins for those with little technical experience because it is easy to use and set up. On the other hand, it offers advanced booking options and is completely customizable for developers.

Some of its many advanced features include:

• group appointments
• multiple locations
• individual employee breaks
• service extras, and more

Obviously, if you want to go through a lot of pain in setting up old-style booking forms, there are plenty of booking form templates online.

If you enjoyed reading this article on creating a booking form, you should check out this one about the best group scheduling apps.

We also wrote about a few related subjects like important features that an appointment booking app should have, photography booking apps, double booking appointments, best appointment scheduling software, top appointment reminder apps, WordPress booking theme examples, and team booking.