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Waitlists

This guide applies to:

  • Basic Edition
  • Plus Edition
  • Pro Edition
  • Business Edition

Introduction

Everything you need to know about waitlists in Simply Schedule Appointments. In this guide, we’ll walk you through what’s currently available for waitlists and how to set them up via workarounds so customers are notified when a spot opens.

Does SSA have a waitlist feature?

Not yet. SSA doesn’t have a built-in waitlist where customers can register their interest when a time slot is fully booked and automatically get notified when a spot opens up.

It’s a feature we’d like to add, and we know it’s a common request. If you’d like to be notified when it becomes available, please reach out to our support team, and we’ll make a note for you.

In the meantime, there are two workarounds depending on how hands-on you’d like to be.

Workaround 1: Manual waitlist with a contact form

The simplest approach is to place a contact form below your booking calendar. When customers see that a slot is fully booked, they can fill out the form to leave their name and email. You’ll get a notification, and when a cancellation comes in, you can reach out to them directly to update.

Any contact form plugin works for this, like Gravity Forms, Formidable Forms, WPForms, Contact Form 7, or whatever you’re already using on your site.

This approach works well if cancellations are infrequent and you’re comfortable managing the list manually.

Workaround 2: Automated notification with Webhooks

If you have the Professional or Business edition of the SSA Plugin and are comfortable working with automation tools, you can set up an automated waitlist using SSA’s Webhooks feature.

SSA fires a webhook whenever an appointment is **canceled**. You can connect that webhook to an automation service like Zapier or Make to send an email to anyone on your waitlist when a slot opens up.

The general flow looks like this:

  1. You will need to add a manual waitlist contact form under your booking calendar, as shared in the first workaround.
  2. Customer fills out a form to join the waitlist (name, email, preferred date/time).
  3. An automation stores those submitted entries in a spreadsheet or CRM.
  4. When a cancellation comes in, SSA fires a webhook, and you can set up an action based on that trigger. An example action could be for your automation service to send a notification to all waitlisted people on the list (this needs to be set up outside of the SSA plugin).

Setting this up requires some customization in your automation tool of choice. Please note that customization for a setup like this falls outside our support scope, so you’ll need to manage it on your end with a developer or website builder.

Still stuck?

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