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Acuity (now Squarespace Scheduling) is the most common reason service businesses pick Squarespace. The integration is solid; the configuration is where most owners trip — services too generic, intake forms too long, payment timing wrong.
Who this is forService businesses on Squarespace: therapists, coaches, consultants, photographers, hair salons, fitness studios. Anyone selling time-based appointments who needs online booking.
What you'll need
Step 1
Acuity is owned by Squarespace but billed separately. Sign up, then connect via the Squarespace block.
Go to acuityscheduling.com → 'Get Started Free' → 14-day trial. Three tiers: Emerging ($20/mo, 1 calendar), Growing ($34/mo, up to 6 calendars), Powerhouse ($65/mo, up to 36 calendars).
Most solo service providers: Emerging. Small teams: Growing.
Set up account: business name, time zone, business hours.
Connect to Squarespace: in Squarespace Admin → Page editor → add 'Acuity Scheduling' block (under 'More' section). Enter your Acuity URL or embed code.
The Acuity scheduler now embeds in your Squarespace page — visitors book without leaving your site.
Step 2
Acuity → Appointment Types. Each service is a type with duration, price, color, and a description.
Acuity Admin → Appointment Types → 'Add new type.'
Name: clear and specific. 'Initial Consultation — 30 min,' not 'Consultation.'
Duration: 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 minute slots are typical. Be honest about how long sessions actually take.
Price: full price for upfront-pay model, $0 for pay-after model. Acuity accepts payment via Stripe, Square, PayPal.
Description: 100-200 words. What's included, what to expect, what to prepare. Reduces no-show + reduces 'is this right for me?' question emails.
Color: assign a distinct color per service type. Makes your calendar visually scannable.
Buffer time: add a 10-15 min buffer after each appointment (cleanup, notes, transition). Prevents back-to-back scheduling.
Create 3-5 service types: short consult (free or low-cost intro), main service (paid full session), package or follow-up (returning client).
Step 3
Acuity → Availability. Set weekly hours per service type. Block holidays and time off.
Availability → click each appointment type → Set availability hours.
Format: per day, set hours when you accept bookings (e.g., Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat 10am-2pm, Sun off).
Per service: some services may have different hours (e.g., 'Initial Consult' only Mon-Wed afternoons).
Buffer between days: minimum scheduling notice (e.g., 'No bookings within 4 hours of appointment time'). Prevents last-minute bookings you can't prepare for.
Maximum days in advance: set how far out customers can book (e.g., '60 days' — prevents people booking 6 months out).
Block specific dates: Availability → Block off time → add holidays, vacation, sick days. The booker won't see these slots.
Step 4
Acuity → Payment Settings → connect Stripe (recommended). Decide: pay-on-booking or pay-after-appointment, cancellation policy.
Payment Settings → Connect with Stripe. Same as Squarespace Commerce — KYC + bank account → approved in 24-48h.
Per service: 'Charge full amount when scheduling' (recommended for paid services), 'Don't take payment now' (for free consults), 'Take deposit' (50% upfront, 50% on day).
Cancellation policy: 'Allow cancellations up to 24 hours before' (typical). Within 24h = customer charged or asks for refund.
No-show policy: charge full amount automatically. Set this explicitly — Acuity has the toggle.
Tax: if your service is taxable, configure tax rate. Acuity supports per-state tax but it's manual.
Test the payment flow: book a test appointment with a real card, verify charge appears in Stripe + Acuity admin, refund yourself, verify refund completes.
Step 5
Acuity → Intake Form Questions. Add questions you need answered before the appointment — but keep it short.
Intake Form Questions → 'Add new form.'
Common questions: 'What\'s your main goal for this session?,' 'Have we worked together before?,' 'Anything I should know?,' 'Phone number,' 'How did you hear about us?'
Keep it to 3-5 questions max. 10+ questions = booking abandonment rate spikes 30-50%.
Question types: Short text, Long text, Dropdown, Checkbox, Date, Phone. Pick the right type — dropdowns convert better than open text for closed-ended questions.
Per appointment type: you can use different intake forms. A free consult might have 2 questions; a paid session might have 5.
Required vs optional: mark only truly essential as Required. Optional questions get answered when relevant, skipped when not.
Step 6
Reminders cut no-show rate from 20-30% to 5-10%. Configure email + SMS reminders at the right intervals.
Acuity Admin → Email & SMS → Confirmation email. Customize: thank-you + appointment details + how to prepare + reschedule/cancel link.
Reminder email: send 24 hours before. Include: appointment time (with time zone), location (or video link), what to bring/prepare.
SMS reminder: send 1-2 hours before. Acuity supports SMS for ~$0.04/message. Worth it — SMS is opened 95%+ vs email 25%.
Follow-up email: send 1-2 days after the appointment. Thank you + ask for a review + offer related service or rebook.
Automation: all four (confirmation, 24h email, 1h SMS, follow-up) should fire automatically per appointment type.
Verify in test: book a real appointment, confirm all 4 emails/SMS arrive at the right intervals.
Step 7
Squarespace page → Acuity block → embed. Test a real booking on mobile + desktop.
Squarespace Admin → page where booking should appear → add 'Acuity Scheduling' block.
Configure block: 'Show all services' or 'Show one specific service.' For a dedicated booking page, show all. For service-specific pages, show just that one.
Save and view live. The Acuity scheduler embeds inline. Customer sees: service selection → date selection → time selection → contact info → payment → confirmation.
Test on mobile: real iPhone or Android, NOT just DevTools emulator. Verify the embed scrolls correctly, all buttons are tappable, payment form works.
Test on desktop: same flow. Booking should take <2 minutes for an experienced user, <5 minutes for first-time.
Friction points to fix: too many service types (simplify to 3-5), intake form too long (cut to 3-5 questions), payment timing wrong (test pay-on-booking vs pay-after).
Common mistakes
Too many service types (10+)
What goes wrong: Bookers see 12 options, paralyze, leave without booking. CR drops 30-50% vs streamlined service menu.
How to avoid: Start with 3-5 core service types. Add more only when customers ask repeatedly. Quality > quantity.
Intake form with 10+ questions
What goes wrong: Booking flow takes 8-12 minutes instead of 2-3. Mobile bookers especially abandon. CR drops 40-60%.
How to avoid: Cut to 3-5 questions max. Use dropdowns instead of open text where possible. Mark only essential as Required.
No automated reminders
What goes wrong: No-show rate at 20-30%. For a paid service business, that's 20-30% revenue lost to forgotten appointments. Goodwill burns when you have to call/email manually to reschedule.
How to avoid: Enable email reminder 24h before AND SMS reminder 1-2h before. Drops no-show to 5-10%. Pays for SMS cost 5-10x over.
Wrong payment timing (pay-after when you should pay-on-booking)
What goes wrong: Customer books, doesn't show, you eat the no-show. With pay-on-booking, you charge upfront and refund on cancellation per policy. No-show = you keep the money. Revenue protection.
How to avoid: For paid services > $50, charge full upfront with 24h cancellation policy. For free consults, pay-after is fine. For services > $200, take a 50% deposit.
No cancellation / no-show policy
What goes wrong: Customer cancels 1 hour before, you can't refill the slot, you've lost the revenue. Without an explicit policy, you can't enforce a fee. Becomes a conflict every time.
How to avoid: Set explicit policy: 24h cancellation = full refund. <24h = 50% charge. No-show = 100% charge. State it in the confirmation email + on the service description. Enforce consistently.
Not testing on mobile
What goes wrong: Booking embed looks fine on desktop, broken on mobile (cut off, payment form unusable, calendar tiny). 60-80% of bookers are on mobile. CR collapses on mobile traffic.
How to avoid: Always test the booking flow on a real iPhone and real Android. Fix every mobile-specific bug before promoting the page.
Recap
Done — what's next
How to set up a Squarespace site from scratch
Read the next tutorial
Hand it off
Acuity is a powerful tool that most service businesses configure at 40% of its capability. The right configuration drops no-shows, lifts CR, and adds 10-20 hours/month of admin time back. A vetted Squarespace + Acuity specialist at $14-16/hr can audit + reconfigure in 4-6 hours — typically $150-300 total — and pay for itself within 30 days from no-show reduction alone.
See specialist rates
Yes. Squarespace acquired Acuity Scheduling in 2019 and rebranded it as 'Squarespace Scheduling' for a while. Most documentation and the URL still use 'Acuity.' Same product, same admin, integrated billing optional.
Yes — Acuity works as a standalone product. You get a hosted booking page (yoursite.acuityscheduling.com). The Squarespace integration just embeds it inline on your site. Many users have Acuity + a WordPress or Wix site.
Acuity Growing or Powerhouse tier supports multiple calendars. Each staff member gets their own calendar with their availability. Customers can pick a specific staff member or 'Anyone available.' Each booking goes to that staff's Google Calendar automatically (if connected).
Yes — when a customer books, they can choose 'Repeat this appointment' weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Recurring rules can be edited or cancelled by the customer. Common for therapy, fitness, cleaning, lawn care.
Yes — Acuity has built-in Zoom integration (and Google Meet, Microsoft Teams). Each booking auto-creates a video link, includes it in the confirmation email. Customer joins via the link at appointment time.
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