The confirmation window

“Confirmation window” sounds technical, but the idea is simple: how many minutes we give the client to press “yes, I’m coming” after booking online. Don’t press it in time and the slot is automatically freed for someone else.

The setting is optional and off by default. This article explains exactly how it works, what the client sees, the hidden loyalty bonus it unlocks, and why setting it too short is a trap.

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1. Where to find it

The path is: sidebar → Setup → Settings.

1. In the left icon rail open the boards product and pick your board.
2. In the board column click the Setup hub.
3. In the Salon operations group choose the Settings row.
4. The page opens directly. There are no tabs and no left column — you see the board profile and its fields.
5. Find the Confirmation window (minutes) field.

Under the field it reads: “How many minutes the customer has to confirm the booking via the link. 0 = off.”

The change doesn’t save itself

This page is not autosaving. All fields are edited together and committed with one button:

1. Change the number.
2. At the bottom right an Unsaved changes label appears.
3. Press Save changes.
4. A Save board changes? confirmation appears, reading “This updates the board profile shown to your team and to customers on the public booking page.”
5. Confirm.

Close the page without saving and the change is lost.

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2. The field’s limits

Rule	Value
Minimum	0 (off)
Maximum	10080 minutes = 7 days
Step	1 minute

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3. What each value does

0 — off (default)

Public bookings are created immediately with the status Confirmed. The client gets a “Your booking is confirmed” email. The slot is taken from the first second.

This is the behaviour most salons want.

Any number above 0 — on

Public bookings are created with the status Pending:

1. The client gets an email with a confirm button and a deadline shown in the salon’s own clock.
2. The slot is held — nobody else can take it.
3. If the client presses the button in time, the booking becomes Confirmed.
4. If they don’t, the booking is cancelled automatically and the slot is released. The client gets an email saying the slot was freed because the confirmation didn’t arrive.

The cancellation is recorded as done by the system — not by you and not by the client.

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4. The hidden bonus: email verification

Clicking the link does one more thing besides confirming the booking — it proves the email belongs to the client.

That has a concrete benefit: the First-visit discount loyalty rule requires a verified identity. A guest who simply types an email and books does not get it. A guest who confirmed a booking through the link does.

In other words: if you run a first-visit discount and get many guests without accounts, switching the confirmation window on is how you make that discount actually work. See First-visit & birthday.

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5. How to pick the number

Value	Effect
0	No confirmation. Simplest
30–60	Enough for someone booking on their phone who checks mail right away
120–240	More forgiving. Catches people who book at work and read mail later
1440 (24 hours)	Very lenient. The slot is held all day even if the person isn’t serious
10080 (7 days)	Practically pointless — just turn the setting off

Beware of small numbers: 15 minutes is a trap. Someone booking at 23:40 and going to bed will find their appointment cancelled in the morning. If you’re unsure, start at 120.

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6. When it’s worth switching on

Switch it on if:

• you get a lot of bookings nobody turns up for;
• you offer expensive treatments that block a big slot;
• you run group classes with limited seats;
• you want confidence that the email address is real.

Don’t switch it on if:

• your clients are mostly regulars;
• your calendar rarely fills up;
• you don’t want the risk of losing a client to an unread email.

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7. What the confirmation window does NOT do

• It doesn’t apply to staff-entered bookings. Those are created confirmed, and the client is sent nothing.
• It isn’t a reminder. The reminder comes before the appointment; the window is a short deadline right after booking.
• It isn’t prepayment. If the service requires payment, a different mechanism applies — the booking waits for money, not for a click.
• It doesn’t send a second “10 minutes left” message. One email, one deadline.
• It isn’t configurable per service or location. The value is one for the whole board.

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8. If something isn’t working

Symptom	Check
Bookings confirm instantly and I don’t want that	The field is 0, or the change wasn’t saved. Look for Unsaved changes
Bookings cancel themselves	The window is on and clients aren’t making it. Raise the number
The client says they got no link	Spam folder. Also check the booking is public — manual ones send nothing
The booking stays Pending	The client hasn’t clicked the link and the deadline hasn’t passed
I can’t find the field	It’s on Setup → Settings, not on the public-site page

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What’s next

• Client notifications — the map of every notification.
• Confirmations & reminders — what each email contains.
• Booking statuses — what “Pending” means.
• First-visit & birthday — why confirming unlocks the discount.