How Wexly works
Everything you need to know to get your bot fully set up and running. Click any section in the sidebar or read top to bottom.
🤖 How Wexly works
Wexly gives your business a dedicated SMS number. When customers text it, an AI assistant responds — booking appointments, answering questions, sending reminders, and managing your schedule. You stay in control from your dashboard or by texting your own number.
The basic flow
1
Customer texts your Wexly number — they find it on your website, Google Business, QR code, or you share it directly.
2
Bot responds instantly — greets them, checks availability, books the appointment, collects their name and email.
3
You get notified — email and/or SMS alert the moment a booking is made.
4
Bot handles the rest — sends reminders, follows up after visits, recovers cancellations, and more.
Example conversation
Customer
Hi! Do you have anything open Saturday afternoon?
Your bot
Hey! 👋 We have Saturday at 2pm and 3:30pm open. Which works better for you?
Your bot
Perfect — what's your name? I'll get you locked in ✓
💬 Setup interview
When you sign up, Wexly texts you 7 questions via SMS so your bot understands your business before your first customer texts. It takes about 2 minutes.
The 7 questions
1
Business description — what you do and who you serve
2
Vibe & tone — upscale, casual, warm, professional, etc.
3
What makes you stand out — your unique selling point
4
Location & access — physical location, online, or mobile? Parking, floor, entrance?
5
Busiest times — so the bot can nudge customers to book early
6
Things to never say — hard rules the bot must follow
7
Common questions — FAQs your customers ask all the time
💡 Reply SKIP to any question you're not sure about. You can always update these answers from Bot Settings → Personality or FAQs in the dashboard.
Re-running the interview
Go to Bot Settings → Personality & tone and click Re-run interview. The bot will text you the 7 questions again and overwrite your previous answers.
📋 Services
Services are the appointment types your bot can book. Every service needs a name and duration — price and deposit are optional.
How to set up
1
Go to Bot Settings → Services
2
Click + Add service and enter the name, duration, and price
3
Set a deposit amount if you want customers to pay upfront to hold the slot (requires Stripe)
4
Set capacity if multiple staff can serve the same service simultaneously
💡 The bot uses service durations to calculate available slots. If a haircut is 45 minutes, the bot won't offer a slot that's already too close to the next booking.
Multi-service booking
Customers can book multiple services in one conversation — "I want a haircut and a color." The bot adds up the durations and prices automatically and books the combined time slot.
🕐 Hours & schedule
Your hours tell the bot when slots are available. Without hours set, the bot can't offer any booking times.
How to set up
1
Go to Bot Settings → Hours & schedule
2
Toggle on each day you're open and set your start and end times
3
Set your buffer time — minutes between appointments so you're never back-to-back
💡 Buffer time is added after every appointment. If you set 15 minutes, a 1-hour appointment at 2pm means the next slot won't be offered until 3:15pm.
🎭 Personality & tone
This is where you shape how your bot talks — its name, greeting, tone, and any hard rules it must follow.
Key settings
1
Bot name — give your assistant a name like Aria, Max, or Luna. Add it to your greeting so customers know who they're texting.
2
Greeting — the first message customers see. Keep it warm and on-brand. Include the bot's name.
3
Tone — friendly, professional, casual, or luxe. This shapes every response.
4
Restrictions — things the bot must never say or do. E.g. "Never quote prices over text" or "Always refer complaints to me directly."
5
FAQs — add any question/answer pairs you want the bot to know. These come from your setup interview but you can add more anytime.
Good greeting example
Hey! 👋 I'm Aria from The Cut Studio. I can book you in, check availability, or answer any questions. What can I help you with?
📏 Booking rules
Control how far in advance customers can book, minimum notice required, and max bookings per day.
Settings explained
1
Advance booking limit — how many days ahead customers can book. Default 30 days. Set lower if you don't want bookings too far out.
2
Minimum notice — how many hours ahead a booking must be. Default 2 hours. Prevents last-minute bookings you can't prepare for.
3
Max bookings per day — caps daily appointments. Once hit, the bot tells customers it's fully booked and offers the waitlist.
🚫 Blocked dates
Block out specific dates or time ranges so customers can't book during those periods — vacations, closures, staff training, etc.
How to block a date
1
Go to Bot Settings → Blocked dates
2
Pick a start and end date (same date for a single day)
3
Optionally add a time range to block just part of the day
4
Save — the bot immediately stops offering those slots
💡 You can also block dates by texting your own number: "Block out next Friday" or "I'm on vacation Dec 23-27."
🏢 Business profile
Basic business info the bot uses in conversations — your name, address, location type, website, phone, and owner contact.
Location type — important
1
Physical location — customers come to you. Bot shares your address when asked.
2
Virtual / online — bot never mentions a physical address. Includes your video link (Zoom, Google Meet) in every booking confirmation.
3
Mobile — we travel to you — bot asks for the customer's address at the time of booking.
⚠️ Make sure your location type is set correctly. A virtual consultant's bot should never tell customers to "come in."
🔔 Reminders
Automated texts sent before and after appointments to reduce no-shows and keep customers engaged.
What fires automatically
1
Appointment confirmation — sent the moment a booking is made. Always on.
2
Day-before reminder — "Hi Sarah! Just a reminder about your appointment tomorrow at 2pm. Reply YES to confirm or NO to cancel."
3
Post-visit follow-up — sent after the appointment with a review request link.
4
Rebooking reminder — fires X weeks after their last visit to bring them back. You set the interval.
5
Birthday message — texts customers on their birthday with a personal message and optional offer.
⚡ Automation
Set-and-forget automations that run in the background — cancellation recovery, waitlist, running late alerts, and more.
Key automations
1
Cancellation recovery — when a customer cancels, bot texts them 24 hours later offering to rebook.
2
Waitlist — when fully booked, customers join the waitlist. When a slot opens, the first person gets a 30-minute hold to claim it.
3
Running late — text your own number "running 20 minutes late" and bot notifies all of today's customers automatically.
4
No-show recovery — mark a customer as no-show in the dashboard and bot sends a recovery text.
5
Smart cancellation — before cancelling, bot always offers 1-2 alternative times first to save the booking.
📱 Notifications
Control exactly when and how Wexly contacts you — new bookings, cancellations, escalations, and daily digests.
Available notifications
1
New booking — email — email with customer name, service, date, and time every time someone books.
2
New booking — SMS — instant text to your personal cell the moment someone books.
3
Escalation alerts — email + SMS when a customer needs urgent attention. Bot flags it and goes silent until you step in.
4
Daily digest — morning email with today's bookings, cancellations, no-shows, and flagged conversations (Pro plan).
💳 Billing & Stripe
Your Wexly subscription and your Stripe Connect account are both managed from Billing settings.
Connecting Stripe
1
Go to Bot Settings → Billing
2
Click Connect Stripe — you'll be taken to Stripe's OAuth flow
3
Log in or create a free Stripe account — takes 2 minutes
4
You're redirected back to Wexly — Stripe is now connected
💡 Stripe is required for deposit protection and post-visit invoicing with tips. It's free to connect — Stripe charges their standard processing fee (2.9% + 30¢) only when money moves.
Deposit cancellation policy
Once Stripe is connected you can set your deposit policy:
1
Non-refundable (default) — deposit is never returned. Bot tells customers this when they cancel.
2
Transferable — deposit rolls to a future booking if cancelled within your set window.
3
Refundable — customer gets a refund. A priority flag appears in your dashboard with a one-click refund button.
🔒 Deposit protection
Require a deposit to hold appointment slots. The bot sends the payment link automatically — you never chase it.
How it works
1
Set a deposit amount per service in Services settings — flat dollar (e.g. $25) or percentage (e.g. 20%)
2
When a customer books, bot immediately texts them a Stripe payment link
3
At 2 hours — bot sends a reminder if still unpaid
4
At 3 hours — you get an alert to manually confirm or let it auto-cancel
5
At 4 hours — slot auto-cancels and reopens if still unpaid
6
Once paid — appointment instantly confirmed, customer notified
💡 Waive deposits for specific regulars from the Customers page — they book freely, new clients still pay upfront.
🧾 Checkout & invoicing
Send post-visit invoices via text with optional tip collection. Customers pay privately on their phone — no awkward asking.
How to send an invoice
1
Go to Checkout in your dashboard
2
Search for the customer by name or phone
3
Add services and any retail products
4
Apply a discount if needed
5
Hit Send invoice — customer gets a text with a Stripe payment link
Tips
The Stripe checkout page shows the total with tip options — 10%, 15%, 20%, or custom. Customer decides privately. When paid, you're notified and the transaction logs automatically.
💡 No Stripe? Add a manual payment link (Venmo, PayPal, Cash App) in Business Profile and the bot uses that instead.
📦 Products & inventory
Add retail products to your catalog with stock tracking. Qty decrements automatically on every sale — bot alerts you when you're running low.
How to set up
1
Go to Bot Settings → Services → Products
2
Add each product with name, price, and current stock quantity
3
Set an Alert at threshold — bot texts you when qty drops to or below this number
Updating inventory by text
Text your Wexly number from your personal cell to update stock without opening the dashboard:
Owner texts
✅ Updated Olaplex No.3 — stock is now 14 units.
⚡ Pro features
Pro plan adds advanced screening, intake forms, follow-up sequences, SMS groups, and more.
What's included in Pro
1
SMS Groups — create groups (VIP Clients, Morning Class) and blast targeted messages to all members at once
2
Pre-qualification screening — bot asks custom questions before showing booking slots. Unqualified leads get declined or flagged automatically
3
Intake forms — bot collects custom info after booking (health history, preferences, consent). Export as PDF
4
Follow-up sequences — automated message chains after appointments, no-shows, or inactive periods
5
Smart per-service rebooking — different rebooking intervals per service (haircut = 6 weeks, color = 8 weeks)
6
Daily digest emails — morning summary of bookings, cancellations, no-shows, and flagged conversations
📍 Locations
Run multiple locations from one login — each with its own bot, SMS number, hours, services, and settings.
How to add a location
1
Go to Bot Settings → Locations
2
Click Add location and enter the address
3
Optionally copy settings from your main location to save time
4
Each location gets its own Wexly SMS number and dedicated bot
💡 Each additional location is billed at your plan rate per location.
✋ Manual mode
Pause the bot for a specific customer conversation and take over yourself. The bot stays silent until you hand it back.
How to use
1
Open the conversation in Conversations
2
Click Take over — bot goes silent for that customer
3
Type your messages directly in the dashboard
4
Click Hand back to bot when done — bot resumes from there
💡 The master bot switch (top of your dashboard) pauses the bot for ALL customers. Your owner commands still work while it's paused — only customer responses are silenced.
📲 Owner commands
Text your Wexly number from your personal cell to manage your business without opening the dashboard.
Adding additional owner numbers
You can give up to 2 additional phone numbers full owner command access — useful for managers or if you have multiple phones.
1
Go to Bot Settings → Business profile
2
Find Additional owner numbers and enter up to 2 phone numbers
3
Save — those numbers can now text your Wexly number to run any owner command
💡 Additional owners get the same command access as you — schedule checks, blocking dates, pausing the bot, running late alerts, and inventory updates.
What you can do by text
1
"What's my schedule tomorrow?" — get a list of tomorrow's appointments
2
"Block out Friday" — block a date so no one can book
3
"I'm sick, reschedule all clients tomorrow" — cancels all appointments and texts each customer to rebook
4
"Running 20 minutes late" — texts all of today's customers your delay
5
"Pause the bot" — stops the bot from responding to customers
6
"Resume the bot" — turns it back on
7
"Added 10 Olaplex No.3" — updates product inventory
8
"Mark Sarah as no-show" — marks an appointment as no-show
💡 Owner commands work even when the bot is paused for customers. You always have a back channel.
📞 Missed call to text
When a customer calls your Wexly number and no one answers, the bot automatically texts them back within seconds.
How to set up
1
Go to Bot Settings → Business profile → Missed call to text
2
Toggle it on and customize the auto-response message if you want
3
Save — from now on every missed call triggers an instant text back
What the customer receives
Hi! Sorry we missed your call 📞 I'm Aria from The Cut Studio. I can help you book an appointment or answer questions — just text back here!
💡 This turns every missed call into a potential booking instead of a lost customer.
👥 Staff members
Add your team so they can receive the daily schedule automatically or you can send it manually. Each staff member can be set to auto-receive or only get it when you manually send.
How to add staff
1
Go to Bot Settings → Business profile → scroll to Staff members
2
Click + Add staff member and enter their name, phone, and email
3
Toggle Auto-send daily schedule on if you want them to get today's appointments automatically at your digest time
Manual send
Go to Appointments and click 📤 Send to team — this sends today's full schedule to all staff members via SMS right now, regardless of their auto-send setting.
💡 Staff management is a Pro feature. Standard plan users see an upgrade prompt instead.
📝 Appointment notes
The bot automatically captures any relevant context from the customer conversation and saves it as notes on the appointment — so your staff knows exactly what the customer mentioned before they arrive.
What gets captured
1
Special requests — "keep it natural", "I want volume on top"
2
Health info — "sensitive scalp", "allergic to bleach"
3
Style references — "like last time", "same as usual"
4
Staff preferences — "I prefer Sarah"
5
Referral source — "my friend Jessica referred me" (if referral tracking is on)
Where notes show up
Notes appear under the customer name in the Appointments table and in the day view when you click a date on the calendar. You can also edit them manually by clicking Edit on any appointment.
Example
Customer
I'd like a balayage but keep it really natural — I have a sensitive scalp so please no bleach near the roots
Your bot
Got it — natural balayage, sensitive scalp, no bleach near roots. I'll note that for your stylist 📝
📊 Daily digest
A morning email summary of today's bookings, cancellations, no-shows, and flagged conversations. Pro plan only.
Setting your digest time
1
Go to Bot Settings → Pro features → Notification controls
2
Make sure Daily digest email is toggled on
3
Set your Digest send time — choose from fixed times (6am–10am) or Smart mode which sends 2 hours before your first appointment of the day
💡 Smart mode is the best default — a 6am business gets the digest at 4am, a 10am business gets it at 8am. Automatically personalized.
What's in the digest
Today's confirmed appointments with times and services, cancellation count, no-show count, and number of flagged conversations needing your attention. Staff members with auto-send enabled also receive a schedule SMS at the same time.
