How to take bookings online for your trade business

An online booking page works 24/7, so a customer who finds you at 9pm can lock in a job there and then instead of leaving a voicemail you might miss. It stops the endless phone tag, makes you look professional, and beats slower competitors to the work.

Just as importantly, every request lands in one place, with the details already filled in, instead of scattered across texts, calls and notes on the dash.

Ask enough to quote the job, but not so much that people give up halfway. The essentials are their name and contact, a description of the job (photos help a lot), and the address.

Useful extras include the type of customer, how urgent it is, and a preferred time. The trick is to keep it short: every extra field costs you a few drop-offs.

Put it everywhere a customer might find you: your website, your Google Business Profile, your social media bios, and your email signature. A QR code on the ute or on your quotes works a treat too.

If you have your own website, embedding the booking form directly on it means customers never have to leave your site to book.

Get notified the second a booking comes in, and reply fast, the first tradie to respond usually wins the work. From there, turn the booking straight into a job or a quote without retyping anything.

For bigger jobs, you can ask for a deposit by card when they book, so the job is locked in and you are covered for materials before you start.

Your booking page should look like your business, not like the software behind it. Your logo, your colours and your name build trust and keep the experience yours.

ONARA Ops gives you a branded booking page and an embeddable form where you choose exactly which fields to ask. Every booking lands ready to become a job.