A car service centre, a customer service office, a pet clinic, a dental clinic, a busy hair salon: all of them have the same morning. Some customers booked, some just walked in, one booked for 10:00 but came at 9:30, another is late, and the job before is already fifteen minutes over.
Appointments alone can’t handle a day like that, and a queue alone isn’t enough either. This guide explains how to use both together: book a time ahead, then get a queue ticket on arrival.
Why appointments alone fall short
Online appointments are great for spreading customers across the day. But on the day itself:
- Not everyone arrives on time. Early arrivals sit and wait, and a late arrival pushes the whole schedule back.
- Jobs don’t always take the same time. A car repair or a pet check-up is sometimes quick, sometimes not.
- Walk-ins arrive. Turn a walk-in away and you lose a customer. Squeeze one in and you delay people who booked.
- The desk doesn’t know who’s here. Staff ask each person’s name and look up the booking.
Why a queue alone falls short
A take-a-number queue is fair and easy to understand, but:
- Customers have no idea how long the wait will be. On a busy day, it’s an hour.
- Everyone comes at opening time. The waiting room is packed in the morning and empty after lunch.
- You can’t plan staff, because you don’t know how many people are coming.
Book first, then take a ticket on arrival
What works is giving each part a clear job.
- Appointments spread customers through the day and tell you in advance who’s coming.
- The queue sets the real order on the day, among the people who are actually there.
For the customer:
- 1Book a time onlinesay 10:00 for a cat's check-up
- 2Get a confirmationand a reminder before the day
- 3Check in on arrivaltap I'm here on the booking page, or scan the QR at the door
- 4Get a queue ticketsay B012, in line at the booked time
- 5Follow the line on a web pagewait anywhere, with a LINE alert when it is close
Walk-ins scan the same QR and get a ticket straight away, or staff add one. Everyone is in one line, and a display shows the numbers being called.
Rules for one line of booked customers and walk-ins
The hard part isn’t the technology, it’s the rules. Decide these before you start.
A check-in window
Decide when booked customers can check in. With Tellfox, “I’m here” opens 30 minutes before the booked time unless you set another window, and a customer a few minutes late can still check in. Inside the window, the customer is placed at the booked time. Later than that, the front desk taps “Arrived” and the customer joins the line from that moment.
Who goes first
The easiest rule to understand: customers who check in on time are seen at the booked time, and walk-ins fill the gaps in between. Put up a sign: “Customers with a booking are seen at the booked time.” Walk-ins accept it more easily when it’s clearly one rule for everyone.
Keep room for walk-ins
Don’t open every slot for booking. Keep some capacity for walk-ins and for jobs that run over, especially in busy mornings.
Separate lines for different services
If services are very different, like car drop-off and pick-up, or vaccinations and consultations, give each its own line and letter (A for one, B for the other). Nobody wonders why a later number was called first. With Tellfox, Business and Pro have up to 10 lines per branch, and Starter has one.
Be honest about the wait
People wait much more happily knowing how many are ahead. When the line is long, offer “book a time instead” to anyone who’d rather not wait.
How long to hold a called number
Decide how long you hold a called number. If nobody comes within that time, the number is skipped and the next person goes in.
Privacy on the screen
The calling display should show queue numbers only, not full names or phone numbers. It’s polite, and it keeps you on the right side of PDPA.
Getting ready for day one
- Sort your services: which need a booking, which take walk-ins, which take both.
- Set your bookable hours, and keep the rest for walk-ins.
- Print the QR code for the door, big enough to scan from a metre away, with a short line: “Booked or new? Scan here.”
- Put the calling display on a screen that the waiting area can see.
- Tell booked customers the rules: the check-in window, and what happens on a late arrival.
- Walk your staff through it once before opening: who calls the next number, who helps customers who can’t scan.
- Look at the numbers after the first week: when people waited longest, when it was quiet. Then adjust how many bookings you open.
In the first week, have someone stand near the QR code in the morning. Most customers do it unaided after seeing one other person do it.
No ticket machine needed
None of this needs a kiosk or a ticket printer. All it takes is the customer’s phone, one QR code at the door, and a screen or tablet you already have becomes the calling display. More in you don’t need a ticket machine.
Who it suits
- Service centres and offices: car service, phone repair, customer service counters.
- Clinics: dental, aesthetic and general clinics (see clinic queues).
- Pet clinics and grooming, with booked vaccinations and walk-in cases.
- Larger hair salons that take both bookings and walk-ins.
- Restaurants that take table bookings and have a line at the door. With the Tables add-on, a party with no free table can take a queue number and be seated in one tap when called.
A small business with one person working and almost everything booked only needs online booking.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between an appointment system and a queue system?
An appointment system lets customers book a time ahead. A queue system orders the people who have already arrived that day. They work together: booked customers check in on arrival and get a queue ticket.
Do customers need to download an app?
No. A scan of the QR code with the phone camera opens the ticket as a web page, in LINE or any browser.
What about booked customers who arrive late?
Set a check-in window and say so when customers book. A customer inside the window keeps the booked place. Later than that, the front desk adds the customer to the line from the moment of arrival.
Can any screen be the calling display?
Any screen or tablet that can open a website can show the calling display.
Book, then queue, with Tellfox
The Tellfox online queue is an add-on that works with Tellfox online booking, customers and stamp cards.
- Booked customers tap “I’m here” on the booking page (the link in the confirmation) or scan the door QR, and join the line at the booked time.
- Walk-ins take a ticket from the same QR, or the front desk adds one.
- The ticket is a live web page, with at most two LINE alerts: almost your turn, and you’re called.
- A calling display on any screen or tablet you already have.
- Walk-ins become customers, regulars are recognised on the Live screen, and the stamp card shows on the ticket page.
- A customer who’d rather not wait can book a time from the ticket page instead.
The queue is an add-on per branch on the Starter, Business and Pro plans, and you add it yourself under Plan & add-ons. See the queue prices.
Try it now: send a photo of your price list to Tellfox in LINE and see your own booking page in seconds. Try it
