Custom Questions

You can customize the questions which every scheduler needs to answer when they book a meeting with you through your booking link.

To do so, navigate to Booking Links > Manage from the left navigation menu, then find the booking link you want to customize from the list and click on it. Once on the booking link settings, navigate to the Advanced tab and you should see the "Questions" section.

The Email Address and Full Name fields are required by default and unchangeable because they are always needed to create the booking. They are always shown on the booking form and can't be hidden.

Adding a custom Question

To add a new question to your Booking Link, navigate to the Advanced tab of the Booking Link you want to edit, then under the Questions section, you should see a Add Question button.

Provide the following info to add a new question:

1. Question Label (Required) - The label for this question, which will be presented to the scheduler
2. Placeholder (Optional) - Useful for providing a hint or example answer to the scheduler.
3. Type (Required) - What type of question this is. See below for more info regarding each type option and their use-case.
4. Options (Required when applicable) - Some question types, require the scheduler to select from one or more options provided. When that's the case, you will need to enter all the possible options the scheduler can choose from here.
5. Required (Optional) - When enabled, the scheduler will always need to fill in this question before scheduling. When disabled, the scheduler can skip this particular question when booking a meeting.
6. Show on booking form (On by default) - When disabled, the scheduler doesn't see this question, and you fill in its answer through the booking link URL instead. See Hiding a question from the booking form.

Question Types

OneCal currently supports the following question types. More question types may be added in the future. If you have a need for a specific question type not listed below, do not hesitate to reach out.

• Short Text - Single-line, text field. Suitable for things like "Company Name", "Address", "Occupation" etc.
• Long Text - Multi-line text field. Suitable for longer open-ended answers, like "Booking Reason", "Additional Notes" etc.
• Phone Number - Phone number text field. Suitable when you want schedulers to provide a phone number before booking.
• Dropdown - Allows schedulers to select one of the provided options. Suitable when you have a large (5+) list of options you want the schedulers to choose from, for example, a list of venues, "How did you hear about us?", etc.
• Checklist - Allows schedulers to select one or more (no selection is also allowed if the field is not required) options from the provided list of options. Suitable for things like "Which services are you interested in?".
• Radio List - Allows schedulers to select one of the provided options. Suitable for when you have a small (5 or less) options you want the schedulers to choose from. Suitable for things like "Company Size", Yes/No Questions etc.

Hiding a question from the booking form / Tracking

Every custom question on a booking link has a Show on booking form switch, which is on by default. Turn the switch off to hide the custom question from the booking form, so schedulers never see it. You fill in the answer to a hidden question through the booking link URL instead.

Hidden questions are useful for:

• Tracking where a booking came from, for example the campaign, website or newsletter that sent the scheduler to your booking link.
• Passing information you already know about the scheduler, for example a customer ID.

The Email Address and Full Name questions are always shown and can't be hidden.

Where to find the Show on booking form switch

The Show on booking form switch for a custom question is in two places on the Advanced tab of the booking link:

• In the Questions list - each custom question row has a Show on booking form switch next to its 3-dot menu. A hidden question is marked with a Hidden tag.
• In the Add Question and Edit Question modal - the Show on booking form switch sits right below the Required switch, so you can hide a question as you create it. Once the question has a label, the modal also shows an example URL for filling in the question from the booking link URL.

After changing the switch, save the booking link for the change to take effect.

Filling in a hidden question from the URL

Schedulers don't see a hidden question, so OneCal reads its answer from the booking link URL. Add the question id as a URL parameter, followed by the answer:

https://app.onecal.io/b/your-username/your-link?<question-id>=<answer>

The question id is the question label turned into a slug: lowercase, with spaces and special characters replaced by hyphens. For example, a hidden question labeled "Source" has the id source, so this URL records "newsletter" as the answer:

https://app.onecal.io/b/your-username/your-link?source=newsletter

A hidden question labeled "Customer ID" has the id customer-id. To fill in several hidden questions, join them with &, for example ?source=newsletter&customer-id=12345.

You don't have to build the URL by hand. When you add or edit a question, the Show on booking form setting shows an example URL for that question. Click the URL to copy it, then add the answer after the =.

Required hidden questions

A hidden question can still be marked Required, and it stays required. However, a required hidden question never stops a scheduler from booking: if the booking link URL doesn't contain an answer for the hidden question, the scheduler can still book, and the answer is left empty.

Who sees answers to hidden questions

Only hosts see answers to hidden questions. Schedulers never see the answers, either on the booking form or in anything OneCal sends them after booking.

Hosts see answers to hidden questions in:

• Host emails - the booking emails OneCal sends to the hosts.
• The confirmation page - the page for the booking (/booking/...), when it is opened by the owner of the booking or by one of its hosts. For example, when you open the booking from your bookings.

Answers to hidden questions are not added to the description of the calendar event, because schedulers can read that description in their calendar invitation.

Editing or Deleting an existing question

To edit an existing question, click on the 3-dot menu to the right of the question you want to edit, then click on "Edit" to change the settings for the question or "Delete" to remove that question.

Changing the position of a question

When you have 2 or more custom questions (excluding the default "Email" and "Full Name" questions), you will see a button with 2 arrows in between each pair of questions.

Clicking on that button will swap the places of the two questions above and below the button.