Help & FAQ

Besmi is an all-in-one booking platform built for independent beauty professionals: lash artists, nail techs, estheticians, hairstylists, and more. You get one custom branded link that handles bookings, client management, payments, reminders, and an AI receptionist. Think of it as your entire front desk in one link.

Solo beauty professionals and small 1-3 person teams. Besmi was built by a lash artist, trainer, and supplier alongside a software developer and AI architect, both business owners who saw firsthand how the existing tools are either too expensive, too confusing, or built for big salons with front desks. If you're running your business from your phone and your DMs, this is for you.

Sign up at besmi.com. It takes about 5 minutes. Create your account, add your services with prices and durations, set your working hours, customize your booking page, and share your link. That's it. Your clients can start booking immediately.

You can use Besmi entirely from your phone's browser at besmi.com. We also have native iOS and Android apps available that add push notifications and Tap to Pay (NFC) for in-person card payments directly on your phone.

Yes! Clients don't need to sign up or download anything. They visit your link, pick a service, choose a time, and enter their name and email or phone number. That's it. They can verify with a quick email or SMS code.

Yes. The Artist plan is free forever ($0): your branded booking link, calendar and scheduling, card payments and Tap to Pay, custom branding, email reminders, retail and basic discounts, and unlimited bookings. On top of that, every new account gets every premium feature free for the first 30 days, no credit card required. When the trial ends you stay on the free Artist plan unless you upgrade to Pro ($15/mo) or Icon ($25/mo). Nothing is ever charged until you choose a paid plan.

Pro ($15/mo) adds everything in Artist plus SMS reminders, the AI receptionist, intake forms, aftercare cards, reviews, team members, Google Calendar sync, and removing the Besmi badge. Icon ($25/mo) adds everything in Pro plus editable SMS templates, owner SMS alerts, and priority support. Extra team seats are $5/mo each on Pro or Icon (your owner seat is free).

For online card payments you pay only the standard processing rate of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, the same rate Stripe charges, with no Besmi fee on top, so you keep 100% of every booking. On a $100 online service the processing fee is $3.20, so you'd receive $96.80. Tap to Pay (in person, where your phone is the card reader) uses Stripe's lower in-person rate of 2.7% + $0.15 per transaction, also with no Besmi markup. Cash, Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle payments have zero fees.

No surprises. Online card payments cost only the standard Stripe rate (2.9% + $0.30) with no Besmi markup, and in-person Tap to Pay uses Stripe's lower in-person rate (2.7% + $0.15), also with no Besmi markup. Your plan is free unless you upgrade past the Artist tier. A few things are optional add-ons only if you want them: extra team seats ($5/mo each on Pro or Icon), a dedicated business phone number ($4.99/mo), and marketing text packs (from $5). No per-booking fees, no monthly minimums.

Card payments (credit/debit via Stripe), Tap to Pay (NFC, your phone becomes a card reader), Cash App, Venmo, Zelle, and cash. For card payments, you'll connect your own Stripe account so money goes directly to you.

Your phone becomes a payment terminal. Open the Besmi app, tap "Checkout" on an appointment, select Tap to Pay, and have your client hold their card, phone, or watch near the back of your device. Works with physical cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and NFC-enabled devices. No extra hardware needed. Tap to Pay uses Stripe's standard in-person rate (2.7% + $0.15), with no Besmi markup. Available on iPhone XS+ (iOS 16.4+) and NFC-capable Android devices.

You can require deposits as a flat amount (e.g., $25) or a percentage (e.g., 50%) of the service price. When a client books, they pay the deposit up front to secure the appointment. The deposit goes to your Stripe account, and at checkout you just charge the remaining balance. Deposits are shown as a line item so everything is transparent.

In Settings you can set a Late Cancellation Fee and a No-Show Fee. The late cancellation fee is charged when a client cancels within your cancellation window, and the no-show fee is charged when you mark an appointment as a no-show. Each fee can be a flat dollar amount or a percentage of the appointment, and both are billed automatically to the client's saved card. They only charge when "Require Card on File" is turned on in your online scheduling settings, since there has to be a card to bill. Set a fee to 0 to disable it.

A flat fee charges the same fixed dollar amount no matter which service was booked. A percentage fee charges that percent of the actual service the client booked, so it scales by service automatically. For example, a 100% no-show fee charges $80 on an $80 service and $175 on a $175 service. Percentage fees charge the remaining balance after any deposit already paid, so a client never pays more than the full price of their appointment. On a $175 set with a $50 deposit, a 100% no-show fee charges the remaining $125. The percentage is based on the service price plus any add-ons and minus any discount, before sales tax.

The AI never charges a card on its own. If a client cancels by text within your cancellation window, the AI cancels the appointment to free your slot and flags it for you with the fee left pending. You then open that appointment in your dashboard and either charge the late-cancellation fee to the card on file or waive it, so you stay in control of every charge.

Yes. From the dashboard, open any paid appointment and hit the refund button. You can issue full or partial refunds, and the money goes back to the client's card. The appointment status updates to "refunded" automatically.

Each business connects their own Stripe Express account. Go to Settings, then Payments, then "Connect with Stripe" and complete the onboarding (bank account, identity verification). Stripe handles payouts, tax forms (1099), and transaction history. You can manage everything from your Stripe Express dashboard.

Stripe pays out directly to your bank account. New accounts start on a daily payout schedule with a 7-day hold, a standard fraud-protection window for new sellers, so your first funds arrive about a week after your first payment, then daily after that. You can review your payout schedule anytime from your Stripe Express dashboard.

Clients visit your link (besmi.com/your-name), see your services with prices and durations, pick a time from your available slots, and submit a booking. You can either auto-confirm bookings or require manual approval from your dashboard.

You set your working hours per day (e.g., Mon-Fri 9am-6pm), buffer time between appointments, blocked dates for vacations, and blocked time slots for lunch or personal time. Besmi automatically calculates available slots based on all of this, plus any existing bookings. You can also set minimum lead time (e.g., must book 8+ hours ahead), a max booking window (e.g., 60 days out), or use Custom Slots mode to define exact appointment times instead of auto-generated slots.

Yes. Clients can add multiple services to a single booking and pick one start time, and Besmi blocks the full combined duration on your calendar so the back-to-back services don't get double-booked.

Yes, on Pro and Icon. Connect your Google Calendar from Settings, then Calendar. Once connected, every Besmi appointment automatically creates a matching Google Calendar event with the service name, client info, and times, and Besmi reads your Google Calendar so personal events block out those times too. This keeps you from getting double-booked across calendars.

Day view, 3-day view, week view, 30-day view, and an agenda (list) view. Appointments are color-coded by service category, and you can see status overlays for pending, cancelled, and no-show appointments at a glance.

Yes. Clients can manage their own booking from the link in their confirmation (subject to any reschedule or cancellation windows you set). If you have the AI receptionist enabled, clients can also text to reschedule or cancel (you control whether the AI is allowed to do each). You can always handle reschedules manually from the dashboard.

The AI receptionist is an AI-powered SMS assistant (available on Pro and Icon) that automatically responds to your clients' text messages. It knows your services, pricing, availability, and each client's history. Clients text your dedicated Besmi number and the AI handles bookings, reschedules, answers questions, and sends appointment info, even at 2am. It needs a dedicated Besmi number so clients have somewhere to text.

Book new appointments (checks your real availability), reschedule existing appointments, cancel appointments (always confirms first), share your working hours and service info, answer common questions, and check a client's upcoming appointments. It cannot process payments, share other clients' info, or make health claims.

Yes. You choose a name for your AI (e.g., "Jessica") and pick a personality: Professional (polished and courteous), Bubbly (warm and friendly with occasional emojis), or Direct (efficient and to-the-point). You also control permissions, including whether the AI can reschedule and/or cancel appointments.

Absolutely. In Dashboard, then Messages, you can see all AI conversations in real time. Toggle any conversation from AI to you, and you'll respond directly via SMS. Toggle it back when you want the AI to take over again.

Each plan includes a monthly allowance of AI text replies (Pro includes 500, Icon includes 2,000). The AI keeps replies short (under 300 characters when possible) and always uses the client's first name for a personal touch.

Name, email, phone, birthday, custom notes, total lifetime spend, appointment count, first and last visit dates, and optional fields like lash style preference. Everything updates automatically as clients book and pay.

Yes. Go to Dashboard, then Clients, then Import, and upload a CSV file with your client data. You can also add clients manually one at a time.

Besmi sends automatic reminders 24 hours and 2 hours before each appointment. Email reminders are included on every plan. SMS reminders are available on Pro and Icon. You can toggle each reminder on or off and customize the timing. Editing the actual message wording (with merge tags like {clientName}, {serviceName}, {date}, and {time}) is an Icon feature; lower plans use Besmi's default copy.

Booking confirmation (pending or confirmed), appointment reminders (24h and 2h), booking declined notifications, and payment receipts. Email goes out on every plan, and text-message (SMS) versions are included on Pro and Icon. You control which channels are on in your notification settings.

Extremely. From the My Page editor you control your colors (with built-in contrast guidance so text stays readable), curated button "looks" (a set of polished styles instead of fiddly combinations), fonts, corner roundness, and your background (solid color, gradient, or a photo that auto-dims so text stays legible). You can also frame your cover photo and avatar by dragging them right on the image, and you arrange the whole page with drag-and-drop modules.

Building blocks for your booking page. You can add, remove, and reorder: Profile Header, Booking Widget, Link Buttons, Social Links, Text Blocks, Photo Gallery, Image Blocks, Intake Form button, FAQ, Popout Card, Reviews, Payment Methods, a Text Us button, Booking Policies, and Separators. It works like a page builder, so your page looks exactly how you want it. The add-module menu groups everything by purpose so it's easy to find what you need.

Yes. On desktop, the editor shows a live phone preview beside your edits. On your phone, tap the preview button to pop up a live sheet of your page that you can flick away to keep editing. There's also a full Preview to see exactly what clients will see, and a quick link to view your live page.

Yes. Go to Dashboard, then Discounts, then New Code. Create percentage discounts (e.g., 20% off), fixed amount discounts (e.g., $15 off), or free service codes. Set optional limits like max total uses, per-customer limits, date ranges, and minimum spend requirements.

Clients enter a code during checkout or booking. The discount is validated in real time, checking if the code is active, within date range, applicable to the selected service, and not over the usage limit. The discounted price is shown clearly (e.g., "$75 to $60 with code WELCOME20").

Add-ons are extra services clients can add during booking, like lash sealer, brow tint, or under-eye treatment. You set a name, price, and duration for each. They can be tied to specific services or offered as standalone bookable items.

Yes, on Pro and Icon. Create custom intake forms with pre-built templates for lash, general beauty, or hair, or start from scratch. Forms support short and long text, dropdowns, checkboxes, single and multi-select, date pickers, photo uploads, and digital signatures. Embed them on your booking page or share as a link.

Input fields: Short Text, Long Text, Dropdown, Checkbox, Yes/No, Single Choice, Multi Select, Date, Photo Upload, and Signature. Display-only fields: Section Heading (to group related questions under a topic) and Description (multi-line instructional text or disclaimers above a set of fields). Display-only fields don't collect input, they just structure the form so it reads cleanly.

Yes. Any field can be set to only appear when a previous yes/no, checkbox, dropdown, single-choice, or multi-select field has a specific answer. Example: only show "Describe your allergy" if the client checked "I have allergies." Configure this in each field's expanded settings under Visibility.

Dashboard, then Form Builder, then Responses shows everything sorted by date. Each response can be linked to a client record so the intake history follows the client. You get notified when a new form is submitted.

Digital aftercare instructions you create once and share with clients after their appointment (a Pro feature). Build cards for different services (lash extensions, brow lamination, etc.) with your own care instructions. Clients get a clean, branded page they can reference anytime.

Yes. Go to Settings, then Dev for ready-to-paste embed snippets. You get two options: a full iframe that drops the booking flow directly into your page, or a popup overlay that opens when clients click a button. Both work on WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, custom HTML, React, anywhere. The ?embed=1 parameter swaps the full Besmi header for a clean, compact one for an inline experience.

No. The embed snippets work without authentication, they just load your public booking page in an iframe. API keys are only needed if you're building a fully custom booking experience that talks to the Besmi API directly.

Yes, that's exactly what the Besmi API is for. Read services and availability, create and update appointments, list customers, fetch your business profile, all from the same data that powers Besmi itself. Full reference at besmi.com/developers.

Sign in to Besmi, open Settings, then Dev, click "New key." Give it a name ("Website integration," "Agency dashboard," etc.), and the key appears once, so copy it immediately. Besmi only stores a hash, so if you lose the key you'll need to generate a new one. Revoke keys at any time from the same screen.

Today's endpoints (under /api/v1/): read business profile, read services and categories, get availability slots, list and filter appointments, create and update appointments, list customers. Webhooks for real-time events (appointment.created, etc.) are on the roadmap, so email developers@besmi.com if you need them on a timeline.

No, never put a Besmi API key in client-side JavaScript. Each key authenticates as your entire business. Treat them like production credentials: keep them in environment variables on your server, never commit to git. For browser-facing flows, route the request through your own server which holds the key.

Revenue over time, appointment count, average revenue per appointment, tips, completion rate, a payment method breakdown, and revenue by service. You can also see no-show and cancellation rates, new versus returning clients, and your top clients by spend. Filter by today, this week, this month, last 30 days, all-time, or a custom range.

Yes. Tips are tracked separately in your analytics dashboard. You can see total tips alongside total revenue and per-appointment averages.

Yes. Analytics breaks down discount usage, including how many times codes were redeemed and the total discount given, so you can see which promotions are actually driving bookings.

Yes, on Pro and Icon. After a completed appointment, Besmi automatically sends the client a review request by SMS and email (configurable from Dashboard, then Reviews, then Settings). They click a magic link that drops them into a clean review form, no account or password required.

Published reviews appear on your public booking page, and you can pin one to feature it at the top. The Reviews dashboard at Dashboard, then Reviews lists every review with its status (published, flagged, or removed) so you stay in control. Reviews post automatically unless they get flagged, and you can remove any review at any time.

Yes. Each review supports a single public-facing response from you. Open the review and click "Respond," and your reply appears underneath it on the booking page.

No. Review tokens are sent to the client via SMS/email and don't require a Besmi account. They click the link, write the review, optionally add a photo, and submit. That's it.

Yes. Add products at Dashboard, then Products with name, description, photo, price, and stock count. Products are sold during appointment checkout, added as line items alongside the service. A public Product Grid for your booking page, so clients can browse and buy directly from your link, is on the way.

Yes. Each product has an optional stock count that decrements with every sale. Set a low-stock threshold and any product that drops to or below it is flagged with a Low Stock badge in your Products dashboard so you know when to reorder. Untracked products (no stock count) work fine for digital goods or made-to-order items.

Not yet. Right now products are sold during checkout when you settle an appointment. A standalone Product Grid that lets clients buy retail directly from your booking link is coming soon.

You can add a dedicated Besmi phone number, a real working number where your clients can text and call. It's an optional add-on (see pricing below). All inbound SMS routes through Besmi (so the AI receptionist can respond automatically), and you can send manual messages from the Messages dashboard. You don't need a number to use Besmi: bookings, email reminders, and your booking page all work without one.

Inbound calls forward to your personal phone (you set the forwarding number in Settings, then Phone Number). Voicemails are not yet stored, so clients are encouraged via SMS auto-reply to text instead.

It's additive. Your clients see your Besmi number on the booking page, your reminders, and your receipts, while your personal number stays private. Many pros use the Besmi number as their public business line.

A dedicated Besmi number is an optional add-on for $4.99/month, billed separately from your plan (it just covers the carrier costs). You add a payment method, pick an available number, and you can cancel anytime from Settings, then Phone Number. It is not included in a plan or in the free trial, so you only pay for it if you choose to claim one.

Yes. All connections use HTTPS encryption. Card payments are handled entirely by Stripe, so Besmi never sees or stores full card numbers. Your data is isolated in Firebase with security rules that enforce business-level access control. Dashboard requests require an authenticated Firebase login, the public developer API uses scoped API keys, and public booking uses one-time verification codes.

All data is stored on Google Cloud (Firebase/Firestore) infrastructure. Images are stored in Firebase Cloud Storage with ownership-based access controls.

Yes. Users can request data deletion by contacting support@besmi.com. We comply with data deletion requests in accordance with our privacy policy at besmi.com/privacy.

No. We never sell, rent, or share your personal data or your clients' data with third parties for marketing purposes. Data is only shared with service providers essential to running the platform, including Stripe for payments, Twilio for SMS, SendGrid for email, Google Cloud for hosting and storage, and Google's Gemini AI to power the SMS receptionist.