Best Practices For Schedule Blocks

In Time To Pet, Schedule Blocks are the time frames clients choose from when making service requests in the Client Portal or Client App. You can create and edit your company’s Schedule Blocks in Settings > Client Settings > Schedule Blocks.

Since Schedule Blocks are what clients see when making service requests, it’s best to keep them simple to avoid causing confusion for your clients and possibly causing them to request service at an incorrect time. Here are our best practices for Schedule Blocks.

Have As Few Schedule Blocks As Possible

More options aren’t necessarily better. Your clients will likely find it much easier to pick the correct Schedule Block for their visits if there are only a few to choose from. Think about the most common times of day your clients schedule visits and create a time block for each. For typical dog walking and pet sitting services, that’s probably the early morning, the middle of the day, dinnertime, and late at night or overnights.

image with screenshot of client request form with fifteen schedule block options with red x that says too many choices for client above screenshot of client request form with five schedule block options with green checkmark that says fewer choices

Minimize Overlaps

Sometimes it’s necessary to have Schedule Blocks that overlap. For example, you might want an “All Day” block for boarding or an “Anytime” block for visits that don’t need to be done at a set time, and these would overlap with the rest of your Schedule Blocks. But it can become confusing for clients when you have several Schedule Blocks that overlap with multiple other Schedule Blocks. If you find you have a lot of overlapping Schedule Blocks, consider combining some of them into larger Schedule Blocks, and letting clients leave a note if they need a more specific time window for their visit.

screenshot of schedule block settings screen with overlapping schedule blocks with red x overlaying the screenshit next to screenshot of schedule blocks settings screen with no overlapping schedule blocks with green check overlaying the screenshot

Give Schedule Blocks Names That Are Easy To Understand

If you have exact times hidden from clients, they’ll only be able to see the names of your Schedule Blocks and not the start and end times, so it’s important to name your Schedule Blocks in a way that makes it clear to clients what time of day they’re booking. Names like “Morning”, “Midday”, or “Evening” can be confusing because they’re somewhat vague. It can be helpful to clients to add the time frame to the Schedule Block’s name or simply make the time frame the Schedule Block’s name. For example, “Morning (6am - 9am)” or just “6am - 9am”.

screenshot of client request form with schedule block options that do not include times with red x and note that there is not enough detail above client request form schedule block options that do have times and green checkmark and note that there are clear arrival times

Best Practices For Schedule Blocks

Have As Few Schedule Blocks As Possible

Minimize Overlaps

Give Schedule Blocks Names That Are Easy To Understand

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