Before changing booking software, account for the appointments already agreed and decide where each one will be managed. Switching the website’s booking button changes how new customers arrive; it does not establish that existing confirmations, reminders or cancellation links have moved with them.
For a small business, a manageable route may be to take new appointments in the new system while finishing existing bookings in the old one. That arrangement needs an accurate shared view of occupied time and a named person handling changes. If it cannot prevent conflicts, pause the switch until you have a safer plan.
This guide covers the changeover brief for a service-business website. It does not assume that one provider can import another provider’s live booking records or preserve the links customers already received.
Make a record of the future appointments first
Start with bookings that have not yet taken place, including telephone arrangements, recurring appointments and anything awaiting confirmation. Use the supported export or reporting facilities where available, then reconcile the record against the diary staff actually use.
Keep the working record in an appropriate business location with access limited to the people who need it. Include the appointment reference, date and time zone, service, host, current status and the system in which it was created. Record any payment or refund work that needs checking without copying full payment details into a spreadsheet.
You also need to know what the customer already holds: an appointment confirmation, a joining link, preparation instructions and a route for changes. A calendar export alone may not carry all that behaviour. Ask the supplier what its export and any supported import include, then verify the answer against representative records.
Do not close the old account or remove administrator access while it remains responsible for future appointments. Agree any overlapping subscription or support arrangements directly from the current provider terms before relying on continued access.
Choose which system owns each booking
Write one rule staff can follow. For example: appointments created before the switch stay managed in the old system; appointments made through the new route are managed in the new one. This is an illustrative arrangement, suitable only if both sets of commitments reliably block the time offered to customers.
| Booking group | Record the owner | Verify before switching |
|---|---|---|
| Existing confirmed appointments | Application and staff member handling changes | Current time, host, customer instructions and reminders |
| New online appointments | New scheduler and destination diary | Availability, confirmation and cancellation behaviour |
| Telephone bookings | Where staff enter the commitment | Time is removed from the public booking choices |
| Requests awaiting approval | Person reviewing the request | No request disappears between inboxes or becomes falsely confirmed |
Copying an appointment into a second calendar can help someone see it, but may leave two editable records and two notification routes. Label the working arrangement and decide which record is authoritative. Ask the provider before recreating appointments if doing so could send new confirmations or change an agreed payment workflow.
If the existing system cannot remain usable, ask about a supported migration and reconcile the imported appointments before release. Give unresolved records an owner and a follow-up action rather than assuming they were included.
Rehearse conflict checking across the overlap
Set up the new route in a private or test facility where available, without directing customers to it yet. Use your own details and controlled appointments; avoid real customer messages or charges.
Check an existing commitment, a newly created appointment, a phone booking, preparation time and a staff absence. For each, inspect the customer-facing availability as well as the internal diary. A successful calendar connection alone does not prove that it checks the calendars containing your old bookings.
Calendly separates the calendars checked for conflicts from the destination for new events. Google also lets eligible accounts select calendars used for availability checks. Map the actual settings to your appointment record before accepting bookings in both systems.
Where the two systems cannot maintain a reliable conflict view, use a controlled alternative. That might mean moving the appointments through a supported process or temporarily taking requests manually while a named person checks the diary. Explain the request status to customers and agree who confirms them.
Keep existing change links and messages usable
Inspect what happens when a customer follows an old confirmation. Does it still open the correct appointment? Can the customer change it? Which staff member receives the notification, and does the new booking route then offer the correct availability?
Google documents a useful distinction: deleting an appointment schedule leaves booked appointments in the calendars but stops shared booking-page links working. Do not assume removing the page and cancelling individual appointments have the same effect.
For Calendly bookings, use the supported rescheduling route and check any optional synchronisation with Google Calendar. For Microsoft Bookings, its FAQ says appointments are edited in the Bookings portal rather than Outlook. Make the staff instruction specific to the system managing that booking.
Check reminder settings in both old and new systems. If appointments are recreated, determine which reminders remain active before enabling another set. Where a customer needs revised instructions, agree who will send them and check that the message identifies the correct appointment. An internal copy of a diary entry does not notify the customer.
Find every place customers can start a booking
The main website button may be only one route. Check service pages, embedded calendars, confirmation templates, email signatures, profile links, QR codes and any printed material still in use. Record the old destination, intended replacement and person responsible for changing it.
Separate links for new appointments from links managing an existing appointment. Replace the new-booking routes at the agreed switch. Leave an existing appointment’s supported management route intact for as long as it is needed.
For a website, inspect the saved public page after updating each button or embed. Follow the clean booking page as a customer would, without submitting a real appointment. Check that the service name, location and host match the page they came from. An old embedded calendar can remain visible even after a separate button has been changed.
If an old route must be retired, agree an appropriate replacement or explanation through the facilities you control. A QR code printed on a leaflet cannot be edited on the paper; establish whether its destination is under your control and what happens when someone still uses it.
Switch with a fallback and reconcile the first bookings
- Before release: save the current website content and booking destinations; record who can restore the previous route.
- Complete the rehearsal: confirm an available slot, a blocked slot and a change or cancellation with your own details.
- Update the agreed routes: check the actual public website on a phone and desktop, including any fallback contact method.
- Inspect the first genuine bookings: compare customer confirmation, staff diary and the authoritative booking record.
- Resolve exceptions: assign missing messages, conflicting times and old-link enquiries to a named person.
If the new route fails, stop offering unverified availability and restore the agreed working route or a clearly labelled request method. Record bookings made since the switch before reverting anything, so they are included in the fallback diary.
Retire the old system only after its remaining commitments, change routes, required records and account obligations have been resolved. Keep the ownership and recovery details with your website handover record.
Bring the appointment map to your website brief
If the replacement is still undecided, our booking-system selection guide compares the arrangements that suit different service businesses. Choose the system before commissioning a fixed integration around features it may not have.
For a Formby, Freshfield or L37 business planning the website side of a booking change, contact Formby Web Design with the current provider, proposed replacement, appointment types and links that need changing. Describe the scale of the existing diary without sending private customer records or passwords.
