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Online Quoting Setup

Online quoting lets customers get a price and book a cleaning from your website without calling your office. This page covers where each part is set up.

Which ZIP codes can get an online quote?​

Customers can only get a price if their ZIP code is in one of your home zones. To add a ZIP code, go to Settings > Home zones and add it to the zone that serves that area.

Where do I change online quoting settings for a service?​

Go to Settings > Scope of Work, find the scope group (for example, Standard Cleaning), and click the pencil icon to open Edit Scope Group Settings. Open the Online Quoting Settings section to set:

SettingWhat it does
Marketing TextText shown on the online quoting page
Terms & ConditionsTerms the customer sees during online booking
Booking Cutoff (Days)How many days out the earliest online booking is
Booking Cutoff (Time)The time of day online booking stops
Redirect URL (After Booking)The page customers land on after they book

Each scope group is its own online form, so set these for every service you offer online.

Example: Booking Cutoff is set to 2 days and 5:00 PM. After 5:00 PM, customers can't book online. Before then, a customer booking on a Thursday can only pick Saturday or later, because that is 2 days out.

There is no latest date. On Book It, customers can click the next-month arrow to any month ahead, and each month shows its own open days.

Can I pause online booking?​

There is no pause setting. To stop customers booking for a while, use the Booking Cutoff settings above, or turn the scope group off with its Active switch. Inactive groups are hidden.

Is the service address required?​

Yes. A customer has to enter their service address to get an online quote.

How do I put the quote form on my website?​

Use the Add a form to your website card in Settings > Quoting & Scopes > Form Builder:

  1. Go to Settings > Quoting & Scopes > Form Builder.
  2. Under What should visitors see?, pick Online quote (the built-in quote, which uses your Scopes & Questions) or Custom form (one you built and published, then picked from the Form list). Custom form shows only when building your own forms is turned on for your company.
  3. Click Copy next to Link to put the quote on a Get a Quote button, in an email or on social media. Preview opens it in a new tab.
  4. To show the quote inside a page of your website, open Embed code on your website, click Copy, and paste the code into the page.

If you moved from MaidCentral V2, your existing V2 quote embeds and links keep working: they open the built-in online quote, or your published form for that service when building your own forms is turned on.

To put the MaidSense chat on your website instead, go to Settings > MaidSense, turn on the Web Widget channel, open View widget embed code, pick a Service type (or All services) and copy the code.

To collect only a name, email, phone and ZIP, see Website Lead Form.

How do I choose which services the online quote starts on?​

Go to Settings > Quoting & Scopes > Form Builder, and under Add a form to your website pick Online quote. For example, to make your website quote open on Residential with Standard Clean picked:

  1. In Default scope group, pick Residential. The quote then opens on Residential, with no "Choose one" step.
  2. Under Default services (optional), check Standard Clean. Checked services are selected when the quote opens.
  3. Click Save.
  4. Copy the Link, or the code under Embed code on your website, and put it on your website. Preview opens the link in a new tab.
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The Link, the embed code and Preview use only what you saved. A pick you haven't saved changes nothing you copy; the card says "Save to use these in your link and embed code." until you click Save.

A link saved with no service checked follows the scope group's default services when it opens, so a later change to them applies to it, as in MaidCentral V2. Pick None and Save to go back to letting the customer choose the service type.

Prefill from your own page shows the names that fill in the form: FirstName, LastName, Email, Phone and PostalCode. Add them to the link, for example &FirstName=Ann. On the page your embed code is on, the same names in that page's address (plus DiscountCode) are passed into the quote too. So are the V2 names sstgId (service type) and sstIds (services) when your embed code doesn't already set them, as in MaidCentral V2. Add SmsConsentTransactional=true or SmsConsentMarketing=true to the link, or to the page your embed code is on, to check that text message consent box when the quote opens, as in MaidCentral V2. Any other value leaves the box as it is.

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Every checked service is selected when the quote opens, as in MaidCentral V2. A service that is required online is always selected too. A link that names its own services, or a link that reopens a saved quote, uses those instead.

Can a customer pick more than one service on the online quote?​

Yes. On Get Started the customer ticks every service they want; a service that is required online stays ticked. On Pricing each service has its own section with its own frequency and add-ons, and a Remove link while more than one is picked. The Summary shows a section for each service.

When they book, each service becomes its own service with its own first job, booked the way the office books more than one service. One Time and On Demand services come first, then the others in the order they are listed on the quote. The first service's first job is on the date they picked. Each service after it starts one of its own intervals after the service before it (Weekly a week later, Every Two Weeks two weeks later, Every Three Weeks three weeks later, Monthly four weeks later, and a second One Time or On Demand service the next day). With a single service, the first job is on the date they picked. (Pulse reference D-76)

The booking confirmation email lists every service they booked, sorted by service type and then by frequency, so its order can differ from the booking order above. Its job date and frequency are those of the first service it lists.

Example: a customer ticks Move Out Clean and Standard Clean, picks One Time and Weekly, and books Monday the 10th. The Move Out Clean is on the 10th and the first weekly Standard Clean on the 17th. With Weekly and Monthly instead, the first weekly clean is on the 10th and the first monthly clean four weeks after the 10th.

The Link, the embed code and Preview always use the defaults you saved, so what you copy is what your website gets. MaidCentral V2's iFrames page built a new code from any pick without saving it. To get a link for a second service type, for example Commercial, pick it, click Save and copy the link, then pick your usual default and click Save again. A copied link keeps the service type it names. (Pulse reference D-51)

How do I show my testimonials on my website?​

You can put your customer testimonials on your website with a small piece of code:

  1. Mark the responses you want to show with Mark as Testimonial in the Scorecard Results report.
  2. Go to Settings > Quoting & Scopes > Form Builder. Under Add a form to your website, pick Online quote.
  3. Open Testimonials on your website, click Copy next to Testimonial embed code, and paste the code into a page of your website. Preview opens the testimonials page in a new tab.

The code uses the default scope group you saved for the online quote. Only that scope group's testimonials show, or every scope group's when the default is None. Testimonials show newest first, each with its stars, the comments, the customer's first name and last initial, and the date of the response.

The scope group's Testimonial Settings (in Settings > Quoting & Scopes > Scopes of Work, click the pencil, Edit group settings, next to the scope group) set how many show (Maximum Results, 9 when blank) and in how many Columns (3 when blank). To change them for one page, add &maxResults= or &cols= to the address in the code, for example &cols=1. With no default scope group, the page always shows up to 9 testimonials in 3 columns, as in MaidCentral V2.

If you moved from MaidCentral V2, your existing V2 testimonial embeds keep working.

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A customer with no last name shows by first name only; MaidCentral V2's page failed to load. A negative maxResults shows no testimonials instead of failing. (Pulse reference D-57)

Do I have to build a quote form?​

No. Every company has the built-in online quote: Online quote under Add a form to your website in Settings > Quoting & Scopes > Form Builder. It uses your scopes, frequencies, add-ons and online quote questions, in four steps: Get Started, Pricing, Book It and Confirmation.

  • Preview opens it in a new tab.
  • Link gives you a link to the quote, with the default service type and services you saved.
  • Embed code on your website gives you the code for your website.
  • Make a custom copy makes a copy you can edit, listed under Custom forms. The copy asks the same online quote questions, and you can publish it. The built-in quote itself can't be edited, published, archived or deleted. Make a custom copy shows only when building your own forms is turned on for your company; submit a ticket (see Contact Support) to ask for it.

Old V2 quote links open it automatically, unless building your own forms is turned on and the branch has a published form of its own for that service.

What does a customer see on the online quote?​

On the online quote, a customer chooses a service type and one or more services, then picks a frequency for each on Pricing. The price shows in the Summary on the right, with an Initial Clean Total and a recurring total such as Every Two Weeks Total. If your company hides prices until the customer clicks Get Price, the Summary shows the price after Get Price. The customer searches for their address, or opens Show Address Details to type it, and can pick add-ons for the First Job only or for Every Job. On Book It, the customer picks a date and books (see the next sections). If the customer leaves and opens their quote link again, the quote reopens with their answers, address and price filled in.

Why doesn't my online quote ask for square footage?​

The online quote asks only the questions turned on for online quoting for the service the customer picked, so a square footage question that isn't turned on for that service doesn't show, and a service priced by square feet then prices at its minimum. For a service priced by square feet whose Sq. Foot Input is Select List (how a new scope starts), the square footage question lists that service's own square-foot ranges (for example "0 to 2,000 sq. ft."), so the online price matches the office quote for the same range.

Why can't I create, edit or publish a quote form?​

The Custom forms card, Create form and Make a custom copy show only when building your own forms is turned on for your company, and Create form and Make a custom copy also need permission to create quote forms; submit a ticket (see Contact Support) to ask for it. Without it, Form Builder shows Add a form to your website with the Online quote and Lead form choices only.

Editing a quote form needs permission to update quoting forms, and publishing needs permission to publish them. Without permission to update, a form opens read-only: its card's button says View instead of Edit, nothing on the form can be changed, and the builder shows no Save or Preview. With permission to update but not to publish, you can save and preview your changes, but Publish doesn't show. Ask an administrator to change your role's permissions if you need them.

What happens when a customer books online: what rooms, room locations, fees and notes does it set up?​

On Book It, the customer ticks "I have read and agree to the terms and conditions."; the terms shown are the service type's terms, or the service's own when the service has no service type. When online payment is turned on for the branch, they pay by card or bank account (ACH) there; without it, Book It shows no payment form. Online payment may need to be turned on for your company; submit a ticket (see Contact Support).

Pulse turns the quote into a customer in one step, so the booking flows into scheduling and invoicing with no re-entry:

  • It creates the customer with a billing address taken from the service address, their home with the rooms the quote priced, each room's location set to the room name and its fee set to the room's allowed time at the Hourly Rate on its scope (Settings > Scope of Work), a service for each service they picked with its rooms, and an agreement with your terms for each one.
  • It schedules the first cleaning on the date the customer picked, tagged First Time In and Out Of Rotation. When they picked more than one service, each service's first job follows the dates above and only the first one gets these tags. It adds an open note on the customer, one for each service: "Customer booked online using Online Quoting. Verify booking and follow up with the customer if needed."
  • On each service it adds two closed notes: a Base Fee Log note with the price and hours, and a Scheduled jobs note with the first cleaning's date.
  • It marks the quote Booked, with the note "Quote was converted."
  • It converts the lead the same way booking from the office does: the lead's and quote's follow-up campaigns stop (when the Cancel Drip Campaigns On Quote Booked automation is on, or for campaigns brought over from MaidCentral V2), and automations that start on Lead Converted run. For a customer who already has an account, the follow-up campaigns still stop, but Lead Converted automations don't run.
  • It sends the customer the booking confirmation email, which lists every service they booked, and records it in the lead's notes, with its subject and message.
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The billing address is set up the same way as when your office books a quote: the service address, with the country set to US or Canada from the ZIP or postal code. MaidCentral V2 used the card's billing address when the customer saved a card. For a customer who already exists, the new service uses their default billing address. (Pulse reference D-70)

Afterward the customer sees "Thank you for your business" with a link to sign in to the customer portal, or to create a portal account. If the service has a Redirect URL (After Booking), they go to that page instead. If Slack notifications are set up in MaidSense settings, your team gets a message with the lead details and quote value.

On the online quote page (not a form embedded on your website), if the customer reloads the page, the thank-you page shows again. If they open their quote link again later, they see "Oops, this link is no longer valid" and are asked to contact your office.

Do lead follow-up emails stop after a customer books online?​

Yes, when the Cancel Drip Campaigns On Quote Booked automation is on (campaigns brought over from MaidCentral V2 stop on their own). Booking online converts the lead into a customer the same way booking from the office does, so the lead's and quote's follow-up campaigns stop, and automations that start on Lead Converted run. When a customer who already has an account books, the follow-up campaigns stop the same way, but Lead Converted automations don't run.

Why does Create Account open a new page instead of a sign-up form?​

On the thank-you page, Create Account opens the customer portal's account page, where the customer sets their password. MaidCentral V2 shows the email and password boxes right on the thank-you page. Pulse links to the portal's own account page instead, so accounts are created only there. (Pulse reference D-69)

Why did my lead's welcome email arrive late?​

The online quote sends your lead email 10 minutes after the customer finishes Get Started, as MaidCentral V2 does. It goes out even if the customer books within those 10 minutes. The Website Lead Form still sends it right away.

Why did my customer get their quote email late, or not at all?​

The online quote emails the customer their quote 5 minutes after they click Get Price, as MaidCentral V2 does. If they book within those 5 minutes, no quote email is sent; they get the booking confirmation email instead. The email uses the wrapper of its template, or your branch's default wrapper.

Can customers pay by bank account when booking online?​

Yes, when online payment and ACH payments are both turned on for your company. On Book It, customers see US Bank Account (ACH) next to the card option and enter their bank account in the secure form. If ACH isn't set up, only the card option shows.

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Bank account payments may need to be turned on for your company. If you don't see the option, submit a ticket (see Contact Support).

Troubleshooting​

What you seeSolution
A customer can't get a priceCheck that their ZIP code is in a home zone under Settings > Home zones
A Not In Service Area. pop-up says "Your Zip is outside our service area."That ZIP or postal code isn't in a home zone of any of your branches. Add it under Settings > Home zones
The form says it can't loadRefresh the page. If it keeps happening, submit a ticket (see Contact Support)
Customers land on the wrong page after bookingCheck the Redirect URL (After Booking) on the scope group