Managing enquiries and appointments

Book an agreed phone or walk-in visit straight into the calendar, or start with an enquiry when the work still needs discussing. An enquiry, a saved quote and a payment are separate from a confirmed appointment. For a shorter starting point, use the first booking checklist.

Book a phone or walk-in appointment

1. Open Appointments and choose + Appointment, select a free time, or drag a range within one day. A filtered artist carries across. On the month view, choose the date and then enter a time. An all-artists calendar asks you to choose the artist.
2. Enter Client name and Session. Choose an optional service, check the artist and record Booked via as Phone, Walk-in or Other. For an immediate walk-in, Start now when I confirm uses the actual save time and your chosen duration.
3. Check the date, start and end. Changing the date moves both times; changing the start retains the session length. Each visit finishes on one date. Book further dates as separate sessions; they do not yet share a booking total or deposit.
4. If your studio tracks stations, choose Any suitable station or a named station. A gap in the station calendar carries its station into the drawer. The availability message is a preview; saving checks the artist, buffers, holds and studio space again. Solo artists can book without setting up stations.
5. Add contact details, an agreed price or internal notes if useful. Neither email, phone nor price is required. A blank price means Price not set, rather than zero or paid.
6. Choose Book appointment. With an email address, you can explicitly turn on Email booking updates, review the recipient and choose Book and email client. This option starts off. It covers the confirmation, enabled reminders/follow-ups and future time/cancellation updates. Without it, contact the client yourself. A phone number does not enable SMS.

The saved appointment reserves the artist and eligible studio space. It does not take money, record a receipt or establish consent to tattooing. Open the booking for Change time or station, Cancel booking, preparation and waivers. Owners and admins can set the agreed price and deposit in Payments, share reviewed booking terms and request online payment when collection is ready. A client without email can use the private terms and waiver links through your normal in-studio process. Keep those links private.

In Payments, owners and admins can prepare a deposit, full payment or outstanding balance against this appointment. Share a private link without requiring email, or explicitly send a reviewed payment email when available. Confirmed receipts and refunds stay with the booking. Keep external arrangements if you prefer; outside payments do not appear automatically. See Phone and walk-in payments. Never create a duplicate enquiry to request payment. Book again copies an authorised booking's contact and session details into a new draft; it does not copy payments, agreement, email permission or dates, or merge client identities.

Choose Block time for drawing, lunch or other non-client work. It blocks the artist's bookable time and has its own neutral calendar appearance. It does not create a client appointment or release a whole-shift station reservation. If bookings or holds overlap, resolve the listed work in the drawer before saving. Open a saved block to edit or remove it. The new-block toast offers Undo only while that same block is unchanged. See Time off and schedule exceptions.

Start with the queue

Open Requests. Start with Needs attention for new enquiries, follow-ups and bookings that need checking. Awaiting client holds enquiries waiting for a response, including quotes and payment requests.

Booked contains enquiries with a linked appointment and an Open appointment link. Closed contains declined or expired enquiries. Archived and Spam have separate history views.

An accepted enquiry without an appointment appears as Check booking in Needs attention. Check the calendar and history before promising a reserved time. A Booked label does not mean the client has paid or the tattoo is complete.

Search by name, email, brief, placement or style notes. Sort by priority, age, quote value or budget. Quoted values describe proposed work, not profit or collected income.

New public enquiries receive a customer acknowledgement with an enquiry reference and summary. Your studio receives a notification linking to the request in Studio. Uploaded images remain private in the request; the emails show reference counts. Notifications go to the studio contact email, or its confirmed owner address when no contact email is configured. Archiving or marking an enquiry as Spam cancels unsent acknowledgements and notifications.

Review and quote

Start with what the client is hoping for. References and rough measurements help the discussion, but you may still need to ask about the style, scale or parts of an image they like before quoting.

Open the enquiry to see one Booking workspace. Start in Overview to review the brief and recommended next action. Assign an enquiry owner for client follow-up and a tattoo artist for the session.

Reference previews stay hidden until you choose Load reference. Opening an external reference contacts that website. Keep ID and medical documents in your studio's existing intake process. See Client privacy and artwork.

Open Images to review the client's private screenshot or artwork uploads alongside reference links. Check the stated body area and rough size first. The optional placement guide supplements the brief; clients can send an enquiry using the normal area and size fields without opening 3D.

For a sleeve guide, check the wearer's left or right arm or leg and the start and end boundaries. Choose Open 3D placement to rotate the saved coverage. This is an approximate placement guide, not final artwork, a body measurement or a stencil. Refine it with the client.

Open Payments and save the quoted price and deposit requirement under Quote & deposit. Saving does not take money or email the client. Choose Draft reply with saved quote, review it in Conversation and send when ready. A quote message is not a payable invoice.

Use Message client for questions or updates. The enquiry owner sends messages in the private conversation. Clients receive a link to read and reply without an account. Their replies appear against the enquiry and unread replies enter Needs attention, including after booking. Existing emails remain in Email history. Where email reply capture is enabled, text replies sent from the client's original email address join this same thread; otherwise clients use the private reply page. Client conversations covers sending, unread replies and managing access.

Agree the studio booking terms

Where Booking terms is available, owners and admins open it in Overview after saving the quote. Prepare terms saves the wording, provider details, amounts and cancellation policy for that booking. It does not send anything or record agreement.

Choose Review & share terms and check Saved terms & quote. Share the private link only with that client, or send the terms email when available. The client reads the version, checks the agreement box and submits it. They can download a text copy. Opening the link does not agree to the terms, charge the client or book a session.

For an external process, choose Record external agreement after checking the original evidence. Enter the document or version reference and keep the actual document in your studio's system. The booking records Recorded externally.

If the quote or relevant booking details change, review the agreement again. Older versions remain unchanged. Terms can be agreed without a deposit. Booking agreement does not replace health review, age checks or consent to tattooing.

Check enquiry progress

Overview keeps the brief and next action together. Session contains the proposal and calendar before booking, then the current appointment and its controls. Payments contains the quote, payment requests and recorded balance. On smaller screens, use More details for References, Client, Team and Activity.

Owners and admins can see confirmed receipts and the remaining balance. Unavailable means the status needs checking; it does not mean nothing has been paid. Payments taken outside InkWell do not appear automatically.

A proposed time is not reserved. Where calendar holds are available, a hold protects the time until its deadline. A hold is not an appointment. A saved quote, queued email and confirmed payment are also separate from the client's agreement to a session.

Follow up with the client

A follow-up can help someone make their next decision. Read the conversation first and be clear about what you need from them, such as a preferred date or a detail about the design.

Business managers can configure manual or round-robin enquiry routing and workload controls in Settings → Automations on every plan, including during private setup. Public enquiries require a live studio. Routing assigns responsibility for the enquiry; it does not choose or book the tattoo artist. See Reminders, follow-ups and routing.

Review quotes due for follow-up and enquiries whose preferred dates have passed. Offer alternatives or ask for new dates.

Quote review defaults to seven days and can be changed in Settings → Automations. These reminders prompt your team; they do not send automatic client emails or expire requests. Public questions are configured separately in Settings → Booking setup → Enquiry form.

Plan or book a session

In Session, choose Choose on calendar to compare the artist's schedule with the client's preferred dates. A preferred-date button opens that day. Tap a free time, adjust the duration and choose Use this time. The dashed Proposed · not booked entry changes only your draft.

Use Tattoo artist & service to change those details, or Enter a time manually for direct date entry. Studio calendar opens the wider schedule.

Selecting an appointment or active hold opens its quick view without leaving the calendar. Check the client, artist, studio time and status. Owners and admins also see the deposit and remaining balance. Open booking opens the complete workspace. Closing the view keeps your calendar position and does not change your proposal.

For a private proposal, choose Plan first under Next step. Save plan keeps the proposal but does not reserve time or email the client. Offer time to client opens a conversation draft for review.

Where holds are available, choose Hold time & arrange deposit, select 24, 48 or 72 hours and choose Hold this time. InkWell checks availability and shows the hold on the shared calendar. A hold does not send an email, create a payment request or confirm an appointment. Use Manage hold → Release hold to change time before choosing a different artist or slot.

Once the client agrees the artist, service, time and price, choose Ready to book, enter the agreed price and confirm their agreement. For a held session, choose Confirm session. Book agreed time creates the appointment. Staff can book an agreement reached by phone, email or in person. A paid deposit does not supply that agreement.

Booking checks working hours, blocked time and clashes again. Check the saved appointment and the displayed email outcome before confirming its details to the client. Queued email does not confirm inbox delivery.

Arrange and check payment

When online collection is enabled, owners and admins can request a deposit, full payment or remaining balance in Payments. Prepare and preview the request before sharing its link or sending the email. Follow Client payments for the steps and fees.

If collection is switched off, keep your existing arrangements. Confirmed payment records and available refund controls remain accessible. Choose Open payment settings & Stripe access to check the connected account.

If a payment has started against a hold, the time remains protected until you check the payment and confirm or safely release the session. Follow any status warning before changing, archiving or removing the held enquiry. Releasing a hold does not refund a payment or withdraw its request.

Payment status refreshes when the view is idle. Save changes before choosing Refresh status so your draft is kept.

Change or complete a booked session

Plans change. Agree the new arrangement with the client and explain what happens to their appointment and any payment, so they know what to expect before you update the record.

The calendar keeps busy weeks compact with counted + more controls. Select one to open that date in day view; if a day is still crowded, its + more control opens the agenda. The agenda uses compact booking cards, each opening the same appointment drawer.

Once booked, Session shows the current artist and time. Use its controls to confirm, reschedule, cancel or complete the session.

If a client asks for a new date, for example three days before their session, agree the new time first. Choose Change time or station from the calendar’s appointment drawer, a flagged booking in Review studio space, or Session actions in the booking’s Session tab. In the change drawer, choose Session date, check Start time, End time and the station, then choose Review changes. Check the old and new times and client email before choosing Confirm changes and notify client. Moving the date moves both times together. Changing the start time keeps the current session length; edit the end time to change that length. This edits the same appointment, so recorded payments stay attached to the booking. A successful time change queues an email with the previous and new appointment times. A failed save does not queue an email; resolve any conflict and review again. Queued does not confirm inbox delivery. Station-only moves and internal note or title edits do not email the client.

If a station outage affects existing bookings, the bookings stay in place until you confirm a change. Open Review studio space to work through the affected sessions, including setup and cleanup overlaps. You can choose a different eligible station at the same time or agree a different time with the client. InkWell checks availability, published attendance and capacity when you confirm; an unavailable station leaves the original booking unchanged.

A session uses one date. New booking and rescheduling forms reject a range crossing midnight. Several visits need separate dated sessions rather than one continuous reservation. The current enquiry composer supports one active appointment; a linked multi-session booking flow is not yet available.

InkWell does not automatically charge a rescheduling fee or refund payments when you move a session. Explain your notice requirements for date changes in your booking terms and agree any payment changes with the client. If they cancel instead, Cancel booking opens the Cancellation & no-show drawer to review the saved policy and payment decision together.

Record no-show is visible once the session has started, including a scheduled session. The drawer enforces the grace period in the agreed terms and lets you record any longer separately agreed allowance. Record a private reason, review the notice and policy, then preview the client notification. Owners/admins can explicitly decide no further refund, approve a refund or leave a review task; other booking staff leave an owner/admin payment review task on the dashboard. Review cancellations and refunds.

Where an imported booking includes several sessions, choose this session or all remaining sessions before deciding against a shared payment. Completed work stays recorded, and unallocated session payments require manual review. The current composer still supports one active appointment; this protection does not introduce a linked multi-session booking composer.

Review any enabled before-session checklist before starting the tattoo. Keep original health-review, consent and ID documents in your studio's existing system. Cancelling alone does not refund money; refund confirmation remains a separate provider record.

Remove unwanted enquiries

Use More → Archive or Mark as spam. Both state that no client email will be sent and stop pending enquiry follow-ups, customer acknowledgements and studio notifications. An email already being sent cannot be recalled.

Archive keeps history and allows Restore. Spam is excluded from enquiry analytics and can be corrected with Not spam & restore. Neither action cancels appointments or refunds payments.

Read the activity timeline

Open Activity timeline at the bottom of the Booking workspace, or Activity in the detail tabs. Both show the same recorded history, newest first, with studio times and the person responsible where known.

Email queued means waiting to send. Accepted for sending means the email service accepted it; it does not prove the client read it. Payment events come from payment records. Message sent confirms the message was saved in the private conversation. It does not confirm that the client read it. Neither conversation activity nor a paid deposit confirms a session.

Use Show earlier events for more history. The view shows up to 200 recent events and says when older records are not included. Owners and admins can also open Settings → Activity history for studio-wide changes.

Messages and payments handled outside InkWell do not appear automatically. If something is missing or unclear, contact Support.

Check the saved outcome

The calendar drawer changes its main action as the session progresses. Before the session, Change time or station leads. During its scheduled time, Review session leads; this does not record that the client arrived. After the scheduled end, Review session outcome opens the booking so you can check completion, cancellation or no-show. Older time changes remain under Other session actions. Passing the end time never marks a session complete or sends a client message.

For a recorded completed session, owners and admins can open Payments & receipts directly. Message client, when enabled, opens the private conversation for a reviewed follow-up or your studio’s aftercare guidance. It does not automatically send aftercare. Payment requests and receipts are separate from formal client invoices; InkWell does not provide client invoicing here.

Check Overview and Session for the current booking, then Payments for confirmed receipts and the remaining balance. Keep accounting records separately from quotes and calendar entries.