Customers type in a postcode in a text box and immediately get displayed a travel fee?

Hello,

I run a business where it is possible to visit clients in their homes. I'm trying to figure out how to automate as much as possible the booking and management of this. The constant email back and forth with clients is tiring and also there is no commitment on their part so they just don't get back to me sometimes.

My idea is to sell the service with a deposit so that the client is committed and also calculate a variable travel fee. The fee needs to be variable of course due to different travel times to different locations. 

Is there a way for me to display a text box on the page so that clients can type in their post code and immediately get displayed the additional fee that they will have to pay on top of the standard appointment? I'm assuming that somehow I will need to have a Google sheets connected through Zapier with postcodes in one column and prices in the next.

Are there any other apps that can integrate with Squarespace that will maybe do this task more professionally and precisely instead of my homemade workaround solution (i.e. calculate a more accurate travel time, postcode is pretty imprecise)?

1 hour ago, Oliveoil said:

My idea is to calculate a variable travel fee. The fee needs to be variable of course due to different travel times to different locations. 

Is there a way for me to display a text box on the page so that clients can type in their post code and immediately get displayed the additional fee? 

Are there any other apps that can integrate with Squarespace that will maybe do this task more professionally and precisely?

It's something that can be coded in JavaScript.

If you submit the origin and destination to a mapping API (such as ArcGIS or Distance Matrix) you'll be able to get the estimated travel time.

For example, the Distance Matrix API (part of the Google Maps platform) can return travel time information as JSON which you can then use to calculate costs, for example:

{
  "status": "OK",
  "duration": {
  "value": 14388,
  "text": "4 hours 0 minutes"
  }

Hi thanks for your answer. I'm surprised there's no off the shelf products that perform this function. There are so many massage therapists and other types of therapists that do home visits and so much of their time could be saved by software arranging their routes. I'm sure it wouldn't be that complicated to create, maybe there's a new product opportunity for someone here. 

Is there any links that you could share that I could read to begin educating myself in how to make a patchwork solution as far as possible so that as much planning gets taken off my hands? I don't have programming experience so I would be looking to get ready made code snippets and to try to apply them to my requirements.

Another issue after calculating the travel time would be to somehow integrate it into the Acuity software so that it displays correctly the possible available booking slots. For example, if my calendar is blocked until 1pm at the point of origin and the travel time to possible home visit is 1hr, then Acuity needs to show 2pm to that client as available. If the journey is 2hrs, then Acuity needs to show only 3pm as available. Furthermore, the tail end of the appointment needs to get blocked off for the same 1hr or 2hr duration after the appointment gets booked so that someone can book at the point of origin when I'm free again.

Is this all a bit overcomplicated? Maybe I'm asking too much from our poor overworked AI overlords?

42 minutes ago, Oliveoil said:

I'm surprised there's no off the shelf products that perform this function.

As you asked this question in the 'Coding and Customization' section, I thought that you wanted guidance on coding solutions 🙂.

However, if you are looking at Scheduling solutions, take a look at TimeTap. This is more flexible than Acuity, as it uses the API that I mentioned to calculate the commute between your appointments and adjusts your availability automatically to accommodate for the travel time needed to get from A to B.

Acuity allows you to set a buffer between appointments, but it does not adjust per appointment or take the location into account.

  If this helps you, please click "Like" below  ⬇️

I too am looking for a solution to this - Not dissimilar to a pre-paid taxi calculator.

I provide an in-home service that clients prepay for.  There is no extra charge for clients within 25km, then a $1/km travel fee thereafter.  There is currently no way to integrate this fee into the ecommerce store.

Any suggestions?  🙂