Ask your own questions
Ask each service its own questions, flag or block on the answers, and collect ID securely.
The booking form's details step always collects the same five things: first name, last name, email, phone and an optional note. Anything else — a date of birth, a weight, a consent tick, a photo of a passport — is asked by the service, not by the form. Here is where to build those questions, how to make the answers change what happens, and where the answers land.
Where custom questions live
Custom questions are not in the booking form designer. They sit on each service: Services › open a service › the Questions tab, on a card headed Appointment questions. So they are per service, not per form: a travel consultation can ask ten screening questions while a flu jab asks none, and every full booking form on your site behaves the same way (short forms are the exception, below).
Nothing appears until you switch on Ask questions for this service — and the switch alone is not enough: without at least one question or the document upload, customers see no extra step.
What you ask before they book, and the rules that decide who can.
Asked right after the service is picked. Safest for questions that can block a booking — nobody holds a slot they turn out not to be eligible for.
The Questions tab on the Yellow fever vaccination service, asking before a time is picked.
- 1The tabs — questions are built on the service, on its Questions tab, the last of six. There is nothing to add under Booking form.
- 2Build with AI — describe the service and who is eligible, and it drafts the questions and rules for you to check before you save.
- 3Ask questions for this service — the master switch. Off reads “Off. The booking form goes straight to their details.”
- 4When are they asked? — during the booking, by a secure link afterwards, or staff only.
- 5Where in the booking? — only for During the online booking. Click + Ask here above a step to ask just before it; the line underneath explains the choice.
Each question is a card:
- The basics. The wording, its Type, Help text (optional) and a Required tick. Choice types get an Options list with + Option.
- Order. Add question adds another card at the bottom; each card has Move up and Move down arrows and a bin. Your plan may cap how many questions one service can ask, and the card tells you when you reach it.
- When to ask it. “Asked every time.” until you press + Only ask it sometimes: then the question appears only if an earlier answer is, is not, or is answered at all. Otherwise it is skipped — not shown, not required, nothing saved.
- Rules for this answer. Flag or block a booking on an answer (below). Rules and “only ask it sometimes” are on the Pro plan and above; on other plans the card says so instead.
Build the questions
- Fill in Section title and Intro / instructionsThe title heads the step; the box suggests “Before your appointment”. Leave it empty and the step gets no heading.
- Press Add question and type the wordingWrite it as you would say it over the counter. A question left blank is dropped when you save.
- Choose a TypeSix types, listed below. Single choice and Multiple choice need + Option pressed once per answer.
- Add Help text (optional) where it earns its placeSmall grey text under the question — good for units or examples.
- Untick Required where you can live without an answerNew questions arrive with Required already ticked. A required question shows a red asterisk and holds the customer on the step.
- Press Save serviceNothing is live until you save. Then book a test appointment yourself.
| Type | What the customer gets | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Yes / No | Two tappable pills | "Are you pregnant or breastfeeding?" |
| Single choice | A drop-down of your options | "Which country are you travelling to?" |
| Multiple choice | Tick boxes — any number | "Tick anything that applies to you" |
| Number | A number box | "Your weight in kg" |
| Text | A small two-line writing box | "Which medicines are you taking?" |
| Date | A date picker | "Date of your last dose" |
Decide when the questions are asked
When are they asked? has three answers, and it changes the shape of the whole booking.
- During the online booking — the questions become a step of their own, shown as Questions in the step list, at the point you pick under Where in the booking? (below).
- Secure link after booking — the booking goes through first, then the confirmation screen offers an Answer a few questions button that opens a private web page for the questions and any uploads.
- Staff / admin only — the questions are saved but never shown anywhere. No step, no link, and no admin screen for your team to type answers into, so nothing is collected at all.
Besides the button on the confirmation screen, Booked sends the Questions still to answer message (email, and a text if you use Booked SMS) a day after booking if they have not answered and the appointment is still to come. Edit it under Messages. Staff can resend it with Send the link again on the booking, customers with an account see it there, and you can add the {intake_link} tag to any other message (see merge tags). The confirmation email does not carry it unless you add that tag.
A booking form of the Short form type — and the [get_booked_short] shortcode — has no questions step, and no group bookings or add-ons either. If the service has a required question or a required upload, the booking is refused at the end (“Please answer all the required questions.”, or a request to upload documents) and the customer has no way to answer. If nothing is required, it goes through unscreened. Keep screened services off short forms, or ask by secure link.
Choosing exactly where they are asked
The Where in the booking? control draws your booking journey as a row of steps; click + Ask here above the step the questions should come before. It matters more than it looks:
| Ask here above… | What happens |
|---|---|
| Choose a service | Meant to ask first of all, but the questions belong to a service, so they cannot come before it is chosen. In the current version they are skipped, and a required question then stops the booking at the last step. Do not use it for now. |
| Pick a time | The default. Asked right after the service is picked, so nobody holds a slot they turn out not to be eligible for. |
| Choose who with | When the answer decides who is qualified to see them. Only works if the team step comes after the service in your form’s step order. |
| Add-ons | After the time is chosen, before anything extra is offered. |
| Their details | Its own screen straight before Your details. Fewer people drop out, but a refused booking will have briefly held a time. |
| Pay | Meant to be the last thing asked, but in the current version it lands after the details step, which books straight away, so the questions are never shown. Do not use it for now. |
| Booked | Asked on the confirmation screen once the booking is made and paid, with Send my answers and I will do this later. Best completion, and the secure link and reminder work as above — but a blocking rule here cannot stop a booking that already exists, so keep blocking rules out. |
The further down you ask, the more people finish and the later you find out. Anything that can refuse a booking belongs near the top.
If the team step or the add-ons step never appears — staff choice switched off, or nothing to add — questions placed there would never be asked. Booked moves them to just before Your details instead.
Rules that flag or block a booking
Under each question is a Rules for this answer area. Press + Rule for a sentence to complete — If answer … then … — with two possible outcomes:
- Flag for review. The booking is allowed, and staff see it marked for a second look.
- Block booking. The customer cannot continue. Write the wording in the Message shown to the customer box; they see a pop-up headed Not suitable to book with your message and a Change my answers button. Leave it empty and Booked falls back to “Based on your answers, this service isn't suitable to book online. Please contact us.”
The comparison offered depends on the type. Yes / No and Single choice compare with is; Number gets <, ≤, >, ≥ and =; Multiple choice uses includes; Text and Date offer is answered, equals and contains. A question with no rules reads No rules — any answer is fine. Changing a question's Type clears the rules you wrote for it.
The rules never leave your site. The form is sent your questions but not the pass or fail logic, so it asks your server as the answers come in — which is why the pop-up can appear before the customer reaches the bottom of the step — and everything is checked again when they book.
Even if Auto-approve new bookings is on under Settings › Booking rules, a booking with a flagged answer is held as Pending until someone confirms it. Check your Bookings list daily if you use flags.
Consent, terms and ID uploads
Whatever you type into Consent statement (optional) becomes a tick box at the bottom of the step, and the customer cannot continue without ticking it. It accepts basic HTML, so this is where a link to your terms or privacy policy belongs. On its own it will not create the step — you need a question or the upload as well.
Switch on Require secure ID or document upload to ask for a passport photo or a repeat prescription. List each document you need (Add a document), ticking Required on the ones you insist on. Customers see a single upload box headed “Upload identification / documents” and must add at least one file per required document, however you named them — so say in Intro / instructions exactly what to upload. Images and PDFs are accepted, up to 12 MB each. The files are encrypted, kept out of your website's media library, and opened only by staff who are allowed to see them. If a red Secure uploads aren't ready yet warning sits at the top of the card, your site cannot lock files: collect no ID until it clears.
There is no site-wide terms tick box. For small print under every form, put your sentence in Footer HTML on the Code tab of Booking form — but that is a line of text, not a tick. For recorded consent, use the consent statement.
Travel health screening
The same questions as the customer meets them, between Service and Time.
- 1Section title and intro — your wording from the service, heading the step. The step list calls it Questions.
- 2A required question — the red asterisk marks it. Miss one and the form says “Please answer all required questions and complete any uploads before continuing.”
- 3Secure upload — one box for every document, with Booked’s own reassurance line and Choose file(s). Your document names are not shown here.
- 4Consent tick — your consent statement, terms link inside it. Continue will not pass the step until it is ticked.
Where the answers end up
On the booking. Open Bookings, click the appointment, and open the Questions & secure documents section. It shows a verdict, then every question with its answer, then any uploaded files. While a secure link is outstanding it reads “Still waiting on the customer.” with a Send the link again button. Answers to your routing questions appear here too, under Answered before booking.
Questions & secure documents
Flagged for review| Are you pregnant or breastfeeding? | No |
| Which country are you travelling to? | Ghana |
| Are you taking any regular medicines? | Methotrexate |
| Date of your last yellow fever dose | — |
The same booking after it was made, on Bookings › the appointment.
- 1The verdict — Eligible, Flagged for review, Ineligible, or Not answered yet while a secure link is outstanding. Flagged here, which is why the booking sits at Pending.
- 2The answers — every question with what was given. An unanswered optional question shows a dash; one skipped by “only ask it sometimes” reads “Not asked”.
- 3Secure documents — the panel reads “Encrypted at rest · staff-only · every view is logged.” Each view is written to the booking’s Activity log. Your team can add files here with Upload.
On the person. The same answers are kept against the customer, under What they have told you on their record: the latest answer to each question and when they gave it (“told you …”). Earlier answers are kept rather than overwritten, and this is what date-timed follow-ups read. The answers are not repeated in the confirmation email.
Keeping the form short
Every question stands between a customer and a booked appointment, so be ruthless.
- Ask only what changes what you do. Anything you can look up, or ask in the room, does not belong on the form.
- Keep Required for genuine blockers. Optional questions still get answered by most people and trap nobody.
- Move long questionnaires after booking. Secure link after booking holds the slot while they fill it in, and Booked chases them if they do not.
- Screen on the service that needs it. Questions on a five-minute flu jab slow down every booking you take.
If the questions are about health
A cycle date, a diagnosis, a medication, an allergy — these are special category data and need explicit, recorded consent. Switch on These are health or personal questions on the same card and Booked handles the recording: the box becomes Consent statement (required), every answer is stored with the exact words the customer agreed to, the date and the address it came from, and the permission can be withdrawn from their record.
The full explanation is on Asking health questions lawfully — worth reading before you collect any.
Consent you cannot reproduce later proves nothing, so an empty statement would only produce records that look like proof.