Fine-Tuning Acuity Scheduling for Voka AI

Check your plan only for the features that need it

Booking itself works on Standard — Voka connects by OAuth, not the per-account API key that Acuity gates to Premium. What is genuinely plan-dependent is narrower: packages, memberships and gift certificates start at Standard, Acuity’s own text reminders start at Standard and never send during a trial, and your calendar count is capped by tier.

Do this

• 1
  In AcuityAccount›Billing

  Note your tier. Starter gives you one calendar, Standard six, Premium thirty-six. Calendars are how Acuity models both staff and locations, so count the people and places a caller might choose between.

• 2
  In AcuityAccount›Billing

  Only move up a tier if you actually want packages, memberships or Acuity text reminders. You do not need Premium for Voka to book.

Name appointment types the way your clients say them

Voka matches what a caller asks for against your live appointment types by name. Names full of internal shorthand, or several types whose names begin with the same word, are what turn a straightforward request into "we don’t offer that". Durations and padding matter just as much: Acuity computes availability from them, so they decide what times a caller is offered.

Do this

• 1
  In AcuityAppointment Types›Types

  Read each name out loud. Rename anything you would not say to a client. Keep codes and internal detail in the description.

• 2
  In AcuityAppointment Types›Types›each type

  Check the duration and the padding before and after. Padding is real time on your calendar — Voka only offers slots where the whole thing fits.

• 3
  In AcuityAppointment Types›Types›each type

  Anything marked Private stays off the phone as well as off your booking page. That is usually what you want — just know it is why.

Decide whether calendars mean people or places

Acuity has no separate location object. A calendar is either a staff member or a location, and the location is a free-text field on the calendar. That means a caller choosing a person and a caller choosing a shop are the same choice as far as Acuity is concerned, and you cannot cleanly model both dimensions at once.

Do this

• 1
  In AcuityAvailability›Calendars

  Create one calendar per staff member if clients pick a person, or one per location if they pick a place. Pick the one your callers actually ask by.

• 2
  In AcuityAvailability›Calendars›each calendar

  Fill in the calendar’s location field with something a caller would recognise — the neighbourhood or the street, not "Calendar 2".

Worth knowing

One practitioner who works at two sites is handled properly: Voka checks both of their calendars together and offers every time that person is genuinely free.

Answer the intake questions that do not change

Every required intake question is another thing the assistant has to ask out loud. A three-question form turns a forty-second booking into a much longer call, and every extra question is another chance for something to go wrong. Voka can carry a saved answer for questions whose answer never varies, and submit it for every caller instead of asking.

Do this

• 1
  In VokaIntegrations›Acuity Scheduling›Intake form answers

  Open the "Worth fixing when you have a minute" panel at the top. It names the exact questions costing you call time and links straight to where you answer them.

• 2
  In AcuityIntake Form Questions

  Make genuinely optional questions optional. Anything that must be asked on every call should earn its place.

• 3
  In AcuityIntake Form Questions

  Check for required file-upload questions. Acuity’s API cannot accept a file from a phone booking, so a required one makes that appointment type unbookable by phone.

Group a long service list into categories

If your menu is too long to read out, the alternative to a sample of eight services is your own categories: "massage, facials, injectables, or something else — which sounds closest?" Voka then moves to services once the caller picks a direction. It uses your real Acuity categories, and it will refuse to speak them if your account uses the category field as a second name field rather than as real groupings.

Do this

• 1
  In AcuityAppointment Types›Types

  Group your types into categories that a caller would recognise as directions, not as service names.

• 2
  In VokaIntegrations›Acuity Scheduling›Long service lists

  Turn it on. It is off by default, and Voka shows you how many services and categories it can see.

Let callers use and buy packages and memberships

If you sell class packs, memberships or gift certificates, Voka can recognise the caller, apply what they already hold automatically at booking, read the remaining balance back and skip the payment prompt when the pack covers the visit. It can also text a link to buy one. When someone holds both a pack and a membership, it spends whichever expires first.

Do this

• 1
  In VokaIntegrations›Acuity Scheduling›Selling packages & memberships

  Turn it on and confirm how many sellable items Voka can see. It is opt-in per account.

• 2
  In AcuityPackages, Gifts & Subscriptions

  Check that what you sell is set up here and priced. This needs Acuity Standard or above.

Choose which add-ons the assistant may offer

Voka offers your Acuity add-ons once, after the caller has picked their service, and Acuity extends the appointment length automatically. Nothing is offered until you approve it — the assistant will not upsell something you did not choose.

Do this

• 1
  In VokaIntegrations›Acuity Scheduling›Add-ons

  Turn it on and pick which add-ons may be offered on a call.

• 2
  In AcuityAppointment Types›Add-ons

  Make sure the add-ons you want offered exist and are attached to the right appointment types.

Switch on text reminders and call notes

Someone who books on your Acuity page gets a text reminder. Someone who books by phone historically did not. Voka can ask each caller once, before booking, whether they want reminders and opt them in on a yes — Acuity sends them from its own number. Separately, call notes save what a caller volunteers onto the appointment: the gate code, the parking, that they may run ten minutes late.

Do this

• 1
  In VokaIntegrations›Acuity Scheduling›Text reminders

  Turn it on so phone bookings get the same reminders as online ones. Needs Acuity Standard or above, and reminders do not send on a trial account.

• 2
  In VokaIntegrations›Acuity Scheduling›Call notes

  Turn it on if you want what callers mention written onto the appointment, in their own words. It is not a call summary and nothing is read back to the caller.