Online Booking Grace Period

Have you ever wondered why there is a short delay before receiving a confirmation email after booking an appointment? This is due to the built-in booking “grace period”. This guide walks through what this grace period is and how it’s used to help manage online bookings in Jane.

The grace period is a three minute window that begins immediately after the appointment is booked. During this time, Jane will hold off sending a “Thanks for Booking” notification.

The primary purpose of this grace period is to minimize the number of notifications a patient receives. Without this grace period, patients would receive multiple notifications if they decide to reschedule or cancel their appointment at the last minute, which might feel a bit overwhelming all at once.

Any appointments changed during this period are marked as Deleted(Archived) or Cancelled, depending on the stage of the booking process. These distinctions are important for reporting purposes, as cancellations and deletions are treated differently.

Let’s walk through some scenarios for when you’ll see the different appointment states.

Thanks for Booking Pop-Up

During the booking process, if the patient is signed in to their account and selects an appointment from the online booking site, Jane displays the “Thanks for Booking” pop-up.

This confirms the booking details, in addition to the option of booking more appointments, confirming that booking, or hitting Whoops, don’t book that! to cancel the booking.

An image of what the thanks for booking pop up looks like during the booking process

The Deleted(Archived) status appears when the Whoops, don’t do that! button is clicked within the grace period.

Thanks for Booking - My Account

When the patient clicks on I’m Done, they’re redirected to the full Thanks for Booking page. Depending on the clinic’s Cancellation Policy, there are a couple of different ways this page could appear.

Appointments within the Grace Period will provide the option of just cancelling the appointment, regardless of the clinic’s cancellation policy.

An image of what the thanks for booking page looks like during the grace period

Appointments outside of the Grace and Late Cancellation periods will display the option to Reschedule and/or Cancel their appointment.

An image of what the thanks for booking page looks like after the grace period but before the late cancellation period

Appointments outside of the Grace Period, but within the Late Cancellation period will only display the option to Contact to Cancel.

an image of what the appointment looks like outside of both the cancellation and grace periods

Appointments cancelled on either the final Thanks for Booking page or within the Upcoming Appointments area of the patient portal will have a Cancelled status.

Late Cancellations

During the grace period, patients can cancel appointments without being affected by the Late Cancellation Period. They have that three-minute window to change their minds without incurring any late cancellation fees.