Instagram DMs to online booking: a 7-day plan

Evening, phone in hand: "Anything on Thursday after 5?", "And Friday?", "OK, Saturday at 12 then." Three messages, a calendar in another app, and in the morning it turns out Saturday at 12 was already taken. Instagram brings clients, but it cannot book them: it does not see your schedule, sends no reminders and takes no deposit. You do that work, after hours, for free.

Moving bookings to a booking page does not mean leaving Instagram. It means a week: one day for the page, two for the profile, three for the clients, one to take stock. Below is the plan day by day, with what Instagram gives you by itself (and where it draws the line), ready-made message texts, and one place where a competitor is ahead of us.

We checked Instagram's features on 26 September 2026 in the Instagram Help Center and on the Instagram blog; Slotsy is described as in the help centre. Booksy's Instagram integration is taken from the Booksy Biz blog.

Short answer. In a week you change four things: the booking link in your bio (Instagram allows several links; booking goes first), the link sticker in Stories (available to every account since 2021), up to 4 FAQ questions in Direct with an automated reply and the link, and one message to your regulars. The booking page does the rest: shows free slots, confirms by email, reminds 24 hours and 1 hour before the visit, and lets the client cancel or reschedule without messaging you. There is no native "Book" button on the profile for Slotsy: Instagram gives it only to Meta partners, Booksy among them; with us it is a link. A Free account costs 0 zł.

Start with the page: create a Free account, enter your services and hours; the rest of the week is Instagram.

What Instagram will not do, and a booking page will

Before you start, name what exactly you are moving. Not the clients: they stay on Instagram. You are moving the handling of the booking.

DMs stay for conversation: "will this colour work on my hair", "is there parking". Anything that needs a calendar gets the link.

The seven-day plan

Day 1: a page that needs no explaining

A client from Instagram will tap the link once. If they see an empty page or a service without a price, they go back to DMs.

1. Create an account: business name; the booking page address is made from the name and can be changed. Described in Registration.
2. Enter services named the way you name them in posts, with price and duration. "Gel manicure 150 zł, 75 min", not "service 1". Service Management.
3. Set working hours and, if there are two of you, add a second staff member. The Free plan has one.
4. Cancellation rules: the minimum notice (24 h by default) and your own wording, which the client sees before confirming. Cancellation Rules.
5. Make a test booking from your phone, as a client: pick a service and a time, enter an email. Check that the confirmation email arrived and that its link opens the visit.

If the page is not ready for the public yet, hide it from the Slotsy catalogue for now under Catalogue Visibility; the link works regardless.

Day 2: a profile that answers by itself

1. A professional account. Without it there is no FAQ in Direct and no insights. Switch it in the account settings.
2. Link in bio. Instagram lets you add several links to a profile; booking goes first, labelled "Book online". Copy the link with the Share button in the Slotsy panel header: to the whole page or to one service, so the booking opens straight on it (Share your booking page).
3. The action button. Under contact options there is "Add action button": "Book now". Instagram gives it only to Meta partners from its list: Booksy is there, Slotsy is not. A profile shows one such button. Do not try to paste a Slotsy link there: it will not work. Bookings go through the bio link and stickers.
4. FAQ in Direct. A business account can set up to four questions the client sees when opening a chat with you; each has an automated reply. Four that do the work:
   • "I want to book" → "Free slots and booking: [link]. Confirmation comes by email."
   • "How much is…?" → "Current price list with durations: [link]."
   • "How do I cancel or reschedule?" → "From the link in the confirmation email, up to 24 h before."
   • "Where are you and how do I get there?" → address, parking, floor.
5. Saved replies. For questions outside the FAQ, prepare two or three ready messages with a shortcut, so you send the link with one tap.

Day 3: Stories, a highlight, a pinned post

1. A Story with the link sticker. Record 15 seconds: the booking screen on your phone, a finger picking a time, tapping "Confirm". The link sticker is available to every account regardless of follower count.
2. A "Book" highlight. Save that Story to a highlight at the top of your profile. A new follower sees it before they write.
3. A pinned post. Three frames: "1. Link in bio → 2. Pick a time → 3. Confirmation by email". In the caption: why (free slots visible at once, a reminder before the visit, rescheduling without messaging).

Do further Stories with the link for every free hour: "tomorrow 14:00 free, book via the link". In a Story about one service, paste the link to that service, so the client lands straight on the time picker. It is the fastest way to fill a gap.

Day 4: one message to your regulars

Regulars write out of habit. Do not send them to the link without a word; send one message before they start asking for a time.

Template (DM or SMS):

Hi! From this week we book online: [link]. You see all free times at once, get a reminder the day before, and can reschedule yourself from the email. Prices unchanged. If you prefer, I will book you as before, just write.

The last sentence matters: nobody should feel a door closing. Clients who reply "book me" you add manually in Slotsy, Customer Management, and create their visit from the panel. They get the same confirmation email with the link, and next time some of them will tap it themselves.

Day 5: new questions in DMs

From this day one rule applies: every question about a time gets the link, not a time.

• "Anything on Thursday?" → "All free times for Thursday are here: [link]. Pick one, confirmation comes by email."
• The client will not tap → you book them from the panel: New Booking, client, service, time, Notify Customer on. Manage Bookings.
• A client walks in without a booking → Walk-in mode in the same window, so the visit is in their history.

Do not fear losing some people. Those were the ones writing at 11 pm and rarely showing up.

Day 6: rules the page enforces for you

Until now the page took bookings. Now let it keep order.

1. The cancellation window. Set 24 or 48 hours. Inside the window the client cannot cancel alone; they have to write, and you decide.
2. Your own wording and a tick box before payment. Slotsy records which version the client accepted and when.
3. Online payment. Connect Stripe, turn on BLIK and cards; if you want prepayment, turn off pay on site. How it works and what it costs: BLIK and cards without a terminal. What you may keep after a no-show: Deposits and no-shows.
4. SMS. Email reminders are included; if your clients do not read email, buy an SMS package under Add-ons.

Day 7: count

Open the panel. The Upcoming card shows visits for the next 7 days; each booking's history shows when it was created. Count two numbers: how many visits this week clients booked themselves, how many you entered from DMs. Count again in a week. If after a month half the bookings arrive by themselves, your evenings are back.

Where Booksy is ahead

Honestly: Booksy is a Meta partner and since 2019 offers a native "Book" button on the Instagram profile and a price list inside the app, without leaving for a browser. Slotsy has no such button and cannot add one until it is on Instagram's partner list; with us the route runs through the bio link, the sticker and the FAQ. For the client that is one tap more. In return: 0 zł subscription on the Free plan instead of 145 zł net a month, payments into your own Stripe, and a page in three languages. If the native button is decisive for you, work both options out on your own numbers: what Booksy really costs.

Five mistakes we see most often

1. The bio link leads to the salon's home page, not to booking. The client looks for the button, does not find it, goes back to DMs.
2. Services named differently than in posts. On Instagram "gels", on the page "manicure with hybrid polish, variant A". The client is not sure it is the same thing.
3. Answering with a time instead of the link. One exception for a regular, and in two weeks you are booking in DMs again.
4. No cancellation rules from the start. The first Instagram client who does not show up teaches you the same lesson DMs would.
5. A page without the client's language. If they write to you in Ukrainian and the page is Polish only, they go back to messages. Service translations are in settings.

Frequently asked questions

Does a client need an account to book? No. They pick a service and a time and give a name, phone and email. The confirmation and a link to manage the visit come by email; an account is optional.

Can I have a "Book" button on my profile linking to Slotsy? No. Instagram assigns that button only to partners from its own list. You put the Slotsy link in the bio, in a Story sticker and in the FAQ replies.

What about clients who will not tap? You book them from the panel as before. They get a confirmation email with the link, so next time some of them tap it themselves. Nobody has to be forced.

When do reminders arrive? By email 24 hours and 1 hour before the visit. SMS from a purchased package, if you enable that channel.

Can a client reschedule without writing to me? Yes, from the link in the email, within your cancellation window. Later they have to write, and you decide.

How much does it cost? The Free plan: 0 zł, one staff member, one location, 40 bookings a month, a 2% fee only on online payments. More staff from 29 € a month.

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Instagram and Slotsy features checked 26.09.2026. If something has changed, write to us and we will correct it and show the update date.

Day one starts here: create a Free account, enter your services and paste the link into your bio today.