Setting Up Your First Services

Category: Getting Started Reading time: 5 min

Services are what your clients book. Every appointment on your calendar is tied to a service — with a name, a price, and a duration. This guide shows you how to add your services, structure them well, and make sure they appear correctly on your public storefront.

Where to Find the Services Section

Services are managed from your Bookings section or directly through your Business Settings, depending on your dashboard layout.

1. Log in as an owner
2. Go to Bookings in the sidebar
3. Look for a Services tab or Manage Services button
4. This is where you add, edit, and remove services

Step 1 — Add Your First Service

Click Add Service (or + New Service) to open the service form.

You'll fill in:

Fill in each field and click Save.

Step 2 — Structure Your Services the Right Way

How you name and structure your services affects what clients see and how easy it is to manage your calendar. Here's what works well in practice.

Use clear, client-friendly names

Your clients are pet owners, not grooming professionals. Name services the way a client thinks, not the way a groomer talks.

Add-ons vs. standalone services

You have two approaches for add-ons like teeth cleaning, nail filing, or conditioning treatments:

Option A — List them as separate bookable services. Clients can add them to their booking explicitly. Best if you want clients to choose add-ons upfront.

Option B — Offer them as in-person upsells. Keep your service menu simple with a few core services, and let your specialists recommend add-ons during the appointment. Best if your specialists handle upselling well.

Most shops use a mix: a few core services plus one or two high-demand add-ons listed separately.

Set realistic durations

Durations control how your calendar blocks time. If a full groom takes 2 hours but you set 1 hour, you'll end up double-booked or running late.

Build in a small buffer — if a groom takes 90 minutes, set 100–110 minutes to account for client check-in, cleanup, and note-taking. You can always adjust as you see real data.

Step 3 — Assign Services to Specialists

Each service should be assigned to the specialists who perform it. This is how Groomera knows which specialist to show as available when a client picks a service.

To assign:

1. In the service form, find the Assign to Specialists field
2. Select all specialists who offer this service
3. Save

💡 Tip: If only one specialist does a specialty service (like Asian Fusion styling or show-quality hand-stripping), assign it only to them. This prevents clients from booking a service with a specialist who isn't trained for it.

A specialist who isn't assigned to a service won't appear as a booking option for that service — even if they're available at that time. This is by design.

Step 4 — Set Pricing Correctly

A few things to know about pricing in Groomera:

Price is per appointment. The price you set is what the client pays for one booking of that service. It doesn't change based on pet size or duration — if you need size-based pricing, create separate services (e.g., "Small Breed Full Groom — $55" and "Large Breed Full Groom — $80").

Stripe handles the payment. When a client books and pays through your storefront, funds go directly to your connected Stripe account. Make sure your Stripe Connect account is set up before accepting paid bookings.

Free services are valid. If you offer a complimentary consultation or a free first nail trim promotion, set the price to $0. It'll still appear as a bookable service.

Step 5 — Preview How Services Look to Clients

After saving your services, visit your public storefront:

groomera.com/[zipcode]/[username]

You should see your services listed with names, descriptions, and prices. Clients will click a service, choose a specialist and time, and complete their booking.

Check that:

• Service names are clear and readable
• Prices are correct
• The right specialists appear as options under each service
• Booking slots are available based on the hours you set in your profile

Managing Services Over Time

To edit a service: Go to your Services list, click the service, update the fields, and save. Changes apply immediately to future bookings — existing confirmed bookings are not affected.

To remove a service: You can deactivate or delete a service from your list. Deactivating hides it from the storefront without deleting any booking history. Use this for seasonal services you might bring back.

To reorder services: The order services appear on your storefront can typically be adjusted by dragging them in the services list. Put your most popular service first.

Recommended Service List to Start With

If you're unsure where to begin, here's a simple starting lineup that works for most grooming shops:

For pet groomers:

• Bath & Brush — $40 — 60 min
• Full Groom (Small Breed) — $55 — 90 min
• Full Groom (Large Breed) — $80 — 120 min
• Nail Trim — $15 — 20 min
• Teeth Brushing — $12 — 15 min
• De-shedding Treatment — $25 — 30 min (add-on)

For hair salons/barbershops:

• Men's Haircut — $35 — 45 min
• Women's Cut & Style — $65 — 75 min
• Beard Trim — $20 — 25 min
• Color Treatment — $90 — 120 min
• Kids' Cut — $25 — 30 min

Start with your core services. You can always add more later — don't let a long service menu delay your launch.

Next Step

Services are live. Now you need someone to actually perform them.

Next: How to Invite Your First Specialist →