Photo mini sessions

Mini sessions are very popular with Bookedin appointment scheduling! We have so many talented photographers using our system to schedule these fun and seasonal photography sessions.

Here's a sample mini-session booking page. This is what your clients will see:

Now here are the steps to set this up! If you get stuck, just contact our support team, we'd love to help. 

1. Create a Bookedin account

Create a new Bookedin business account or log in to your existing one. 

2. Create your mini session service

This will let people book and pay for mini session appointments online via your Bookedin online booking webpage. 

• Go to Settings > Services in the menu
  
• Tap Add New Service to create your mini sessions, or Edit on your existing mini sessions service.
  

• Now adjust the following settings for your mini session (example below) 

  • Service Name
  • Description
  • Duration: ex 15 minutes
  • Break time: optional but handy because this adds extra time/padding after each session
  • Price
  • Add ons: handy for offering options like prints
  • Payment options: select "Pay up front" and "full payment" so your clients are forced to pay when they book online. This is optional, but very popular with photographers as it helps you save time chasing down payments and it drastically reduces no-shows. Clients can pay via credit card, debit or PayPal.
    

  Here's a sample of the required deposit payment and what clients see when booking: 
  

3. Create a mini session specific calendar

Now that your session info is set up, it's time to set your mini's availability. To do this you need to create a mini-session-only calendar. Creating a special calendar is important because you probably only offer minis on specific dates of the year (as opposed to every day of the week).

• Go to Settings > Calendars in the menu
  
• Tap Add New Calendar. This new calendar will handle only mini sessions, since they're only offered intermittently throughout the year.
  
• Now adjust the following settings for your mini session calendar:
  • Short name: "Minis" (this is only visible to you).
  • Services provided: Only select the mini session service.
    
  • Business hours: Remove all weekly availability.
    
  • Booking interval: Set this to match your mini's service duration plus the break time (if you added one). Ex a 15 minute mini photo session with a 5 minute break needs a 20 minute "booking interval". 
    

4. Remove minis from regular calendar

If you have other services you offer all the time, such as studio shoots, family portraits, etc, these should be kept on a separate calendar. That way you can set your availability for the week without offering mini sessions every single day. 

• Go to Settings > Calendars in the menu
• Click or tap on your non-mini sessions calendar
• Select Available services then remove all mini session services
  

5. Set mini session availability & dates

Go to your Calendar then follow these video instructions to open up specific dates for your mini sessions: 

Web app instructions: 

Mobile instructions:

6. Promote your minis! 

Now you're all set to share and promote your mini session dates! 

• Follow these steps to share on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc
• If you want to share a link the specific date, follow these steps.
• Note: your mini session link will look something like this: https://bookedin.com/book/your-business-name-here?date=2019-06-25
• You can share this link with your clients on Facebook, Instagram, via Email or anywhere you like.