Embedding Acuity on a Coaching Website Without Slowing It

#What Acuity gives you

Acuity Scheduling gives a coach or therapist appointment types with their own durations, prices and intake forms; a scheduling page on Acuity's domain; an embeddable version of that page; direct links to a single appointment type; payment through Stripe, Square or PayPal; packages, gift certificates and subscriptions; Zoom, Google Meet and Teams links sent automatically; and email and SMS reminders. For a solo practice it does almost everything the booking side needs.

The performance question is where the embed goes. The answer: on one page, and never on every page.

#The rule

Nothing from Acuity loads until the client is on the Book a session page. Who-I-work-with pages, How it works, Prices and About are for reading, and for ranking; they link to booking. One page carries the embed.

#The Book page

/book, with three things: one line saying what the first step is ("A free 30-minute call, online, to see if we are a fit"), the Acuity embed, and your email or phone for anyone who would rather ask first. Nothing else. No gallery, no reviews widget, no newsletter box.

Reserve the embed's height so the page does not jump when Acuity loads, and tell the browser about Acuity's domain early:

<link rel="preconnect" href="https://app.acuityscheduling.com">

<div class="booking" style="min-height: 720px">
  <iframe
    src="https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=XXXXXXX&appointmentType=YYYYYYY"
    title="Book a session"
    width="100%"
    height="800"
    loading="lazy"
    frameborder="0"></iframe>
</div>

Acuity's inline embed code adds a small script that resizes the frame to its content; use it if you prefer, but keep the reserved minimum height either way. Replace the owner and appointment type IDs with yours from the Acuity embed settings.

#Deep links from every other page

Each who-I-work-with page ends in a Book button that opens /book with that appointment type selected. Acuity supports this with the appointmentType parameter on the scheduling link; pass it through to the embed's src, or generate the button from your appointment-type record. The client who has read the anxiety page sees the initial consultation for anxiety, not a menu of everything you offer.

The same for Prices: under each session or package, a Book button to the right appointment type or package. Packages sell through Acuity's package links; put the link on the Prices page and let Acuity handle the checkout.

#Configure Acuity first

• Appointment types with accurate durations, prices, and the intake questions for each (three to five at booking).
• Availability with buffers between sessions and a minimum notice period.
• Payment connected, with deposits or full payment set per type.
• Video conferencing connected so the link is in every confirmation.
• Confirmation and reminder emails rewritten in your voice, with the cancellation policy and what to prepare.
• Time zone set to detect the client's, if you work online across regions.
• Redirect after booking to a thank-you page on your own domain.

Book yourself for each type from a phone before wiring the site.

#The thank-you page

Acuity can redirect the client to a URL after booking. Point it at /book/thanks on your site, where the client reads what happens next and where your analytics records the completion. Without it, bookings finish on Acuity's domain and your site never knows.

#In-app browsers

A lot of coaching traffic arrives from Instagram and Facebook links. Test the embed inside those in-app browsers on iOS and Android; iframes with payment steps occasionally misbehave there. If they do, make the Book button in your Instagram bio open Acuity's hosted scheduling page directly, and keep the embed for visitors arriving by normal browser.

#Tracking

• A booking_click event on every Book button, with the page and appointment type as parameters.
• A booking_complete event on the thank-you page.
• Acuity's own reports for bookings by type.
• Monthly: bookings by the page the client came from, so you know which who-I-work-with pages produce clients.

#Monthly check

From the home page and one who-I-work-with page, on a phone: tap Book, complete a booking for each appointment type, confirm the confirmation and video link arrive, the payment goes through, the calendar blocks the slot, and the thank-you page loads. Acuity updates its embed; find out before a client does. It is on the care plan for every Acuity site we look after.

#Common mistakes

• The Acuity embed in the footer or sidebar of every page.
• A generic scheduling page with eight appointment types and no pre-selection.
• Prices in Acuity that differ from the Prices page.
• No redirect after booking, so nothing is counted.
• Intake questions that ask the full history at booking.
• The hosted Acuity page as the only booking route, with no way back to the site.

#Where this sits

Acuity is one of the tools we wire into a coaching practice website most often, and this setup, one Book page with a reserved-height embed, deep links per appointment type from every who-I-work-with page and the Prices page, a thank-you page on your own domain, and tracking on all of it, is the version that keeps the site fast and the bookings counted. Acuity runs the calendar; the site gets the right client to it in one tap.