Reference
Booking terms, in plain language
The words that come up once you start looking at booking software, explained without the jargon. Written for salon and studio owners rather than for software buyers.
Jump to a term
No-show
A client who books and never arrives.
- A booked appointment where the client neither turns up nor cancels in time for you to fill the slot. Unlike a cancellation, a no-show gives you no warning, so the time is usually lost completely. A reminder sent shortly before the appointment is the most common way to reduce them.
No-show rate
The share of appointments that end in a no-show.
- Your no-shows divided by your total booked appointments over the same period, usually written as a percentage. It is worth looking at per weekday and per service, because a Saturday colour appointment and a Tuesday trim rarely behave the same way.
Booking widget
A booking form embedded in your own website.
- A small piece of software you add to your site so clients can book without leaving it or installing anything. The distinction that matters is whose address bar the client sees: a widget keeps them on your domain, while a booking link sends them to the provider's page.
Double booking
Two appointments claiming the same slot.
- Two clients booked into the same time with the same staff member or chair. It usually happens when bookings arrive through more than one channel — phone, WhatsApp, walk-in, website — and no single calendar is the authority. Preventing it is mostly a matter of having one calendar that every channel writes to.
Buffer time
Protected minutes between appointments.
- Time reserved either side of an appointment for changeover: cleaning down, writing notes, setting up, or simply taking a breath. A system that ignores buffer time will stack appointments back to back and quietly push your whole day late.
Recurring appointment
A standing slot that repeats on an interval.
- An appointment that repeats automatically — every three weeks, every second Tuesday — instead of being booked one at a time. For businesses whose regulars come on a rhythm, this is often the difference between a client who keeps coming back and one who quietly drifts away.
Walk-in
A client who arrives without an appointment.
- Someone who turns up and asks to be seen now. Shops that rely on walk-ins usually block out part of the day for them so the booking system cannot fill every slot in advance. The alternative is turning away the person standing in front of you.
Rebooking rate
How often clients book their next visit.
- The share of clients who book another appointment, either before they leave or shortly after. It is often a better health signal than new-client numbers, because it measures whether the people who already chose you are choosing you again.
WhatsApp Business API
The official route for software to send and receive WhatsApp messages.
- WhatsApp's interface for businesses, distinct from the free WhatsApp Business app. It is what lets a booking assistant reply inside the chat automatically instead of a person typing every answer. Access runs through approved providers rather than being opened to anyone directly.
Marketplace commission
A share of a booking kept by a listing platform.
- The cut a booking marketplace takes when a client finds you through its app or site. That is the trade at the heart of marketplace platforms: they offer reach you do not have, and keep a percentage of what that reach produces. Flat-fee software charges the same whether a booking came from a regular or a stranger.
Less jargon, fewer no-shows
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