A tattoo booking form is the studio's first conversation with a client, and most of them ask too little: a name, a phone number and a preferred date, which leaves the artist to chase the design, the placement and the size by message for a week. This page sets out what the form should ask when a studio takes tattoo booking online, what the confirmation owes the client in return, and how the form feeds the reminder that decides whether the sitting happens. The free reminder template on this site sizes the reminder load from your own diary.
What the tattoo booking form should ask
The form should collect what the artist needs to quote and to prepare: the design or a description of it, reference images, the placement on the body, the approximate size, whether it is a cover-up or a fresh piece, the client's date of birth for the age check, and the days and times they can sit. It should state the deposit and the cancellation window before the submit button, not after. A form that asks all of this once saves the message thread that otherwise runs for days, and gives the studio a booking it can put in the diary with a duration attached.
What the confirmation owes the client back
When the studio accepts a tattoo booking online, the confirmation should restate the date, the duration, the artist, the deposit taken, the cancellation window and what to bring, and it should carry the consent form for signing before the day. Dantas et al. 2018 found prior no-show history and lead time to be the two main determinants of a no-show across 105 studies; a confirmation that restates the terms is the first defence against a long lead time, because it is the last time the client reads the window before they forget it.
The form feeds the reminder
The booking form is also where the reminder is set up: the phone number and the consent to text, the date, and the studio's lead time. The Cochrane 2013 review found mobile text reminders raised attendance from about 67.8% to 78.6%, risk ratio 1.14, and Kheirkhah et al. 2016 put the average cost of a missed appointment at $196 in the clinics they studied, so the reminder is worth more than any other line on the form. Recallvia Pro is $20 a month to send that reminder under the studio name at the lead time you chose and to record who confirmed, from the bookings the form produces.
Questions people ask about tattoo booking form
Should the tattoo booking form take the deposit?
Yes, if the studio can take card payments online. A booking with no deposit is an enquiry, and the artist should treat it as one until the deposit is in.
Can I use a generic online form for tattoo booking online?
You can, provided it asks for the design, placement, size and available dates and states the deposit and window. Most generic forms ask for a name and a date and leave the rest to a message thread.
Does the consent form go with the booking form?
It should follow the confirmation, not sit inside the booking form, because the client has not yet been accepted when they book. Send it signed-before-the-day with the confirmation.
Does Recallvia provide a tattoo booking form?
No. It sends the reminders and records the confirmations from the bookings your form produces; the form and the deposit stay with your booking page.
Sources
- Dantas et al., No-shows in appointment scheduling, a systematic literature review, Health Policy 2018
- Gurol-Urganci et al., Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013
- Kheirkhah et al., Prevalence, predictors and economic consequences of no-shows, BMC Health Services Research 2016