Key points
- Payment at booking reserves the slot and settles the fee in the same three taps.
- Baymard Institute's average across 50 studies puts online checkout abandonment at 70.22%, and 17% of US shoppers who abandoned for a reason other than browsing blamed a long or complicated checkout.1
- A paid booking plus reminders protects the diary. In a meta-analysis of 21 studies, notifications alone cut no-shows from 21% to 15%.2
- Each payment arrives matched to a booking and a patient, so reconciliation becomes a short daily check.
- Take payment at booking for self-pay services, and keep insurer-billed or no-fee first visits as a simple booking.
Summary
For self-pay services, take payment at booking. The patient leaves with a confirmed, paid appointment and every fee lands already matched to a booking and a patient. Visits billed to an insurer or offered without a fee can stay as a simple booking.
Your patient leaves the booking page with a confirmed, paid appointment, and the desk has nothing left to chase. Below is what payment at booking gives the clinic on completed bookings, attendance and reconciliation, and which services can be booked without payment.
See it in your clinicThirty minutes on your own patients and doctors.
Request a demoBook a visit on a demo clinic page in three taps, pay with a test card and see the confirmation, receipt and intake form arrive.
| Measure | With payment at booking | What the clinic gains |
|---|---|---|
| Steps for the patient | Choose service, choose time, pay | A confirmed visit in three taps |
| Price shown | Beside every service in the flow | No surprise costs at the end |
| Commitment | Paid or deposited slot | A diary of committed patients |
| Attendance | Reminders plus a paid booking | Patients with a reason to turn up |
| Payment collection | Done at booking | Nothing for the desk to chase |
| Reconciliation | Each payment tied to one booking and patient | A short daily check |
| Unfinished bookings | Started, abandoned and paid events visible | A same-day list for the desk to follow up |
| Patient record | Booking, receipt, intake form and history | The next visit starts from the full history |
| Booked without payment | Insurer-billed or no-fee first visits | Each service gets the flow that fits it |
What payment at booking looks like
The service, the time and the card sit in one flow on the clinic's own website, with the price beside every service. The table below sets out what each part gives the clinic.
Keep every patient to the confirmation
Baymard Institute keeps a list of 50 studies of online checkout abandonment and calculates an average rate of 70.22%.1 It is a retail figure, and a clinic booking follows the same pattern when a patient starts and is interrupted.
In Baymard's survey of US shoppers who abandoned for a reason other than browsing, 40% cited extra costs that were too high, 18% were asked to create an account and 17% found the checkout too long or complicated.1 Each maps to a clinic choice. Show the full price up front, never force an account, and keep the flow to three taps.
Deposits and no-shows
Payment at booking turns a provisional slot into a commitment, and reminders bring the patient in. A BMJ Open meta-analysis of 21 randomised studies found that patients sent digital notifications were 23% more likely to attend, and that no-shows fell from 21% to 15%.2
UK guidance from the Competition and Markets Authority says a genuine deposit may be kept in full when the terms are made clear at the earliest opportunity and the circumstances are clear and narrow, and that it will not normally be more than a small percentage of the price.3 Our guide to clinic deposits and payment links covers policy design in full.
Every payment matched to a patient from the first tap
Each payment belongs to one booking and one patient from the start, so nothing is matched by hand.
wai Checkout runs payments on Stripe in the clinic's own account, with the clinic as merchant of record, and posts a webhook when a booking is started, abandoned and paid.4 Behind the desk, wai Admin reconciles each charge in the clinic's accounts.5
Every patient who books through wai Checkout receives a confirmation, a receipt and an intake questionnaire, and gets a wai Profile where they can see their appointments, forms, results and letters.4 The next booking starts from that history.
Services booked without payment
A first appointment billed entirely to an insurer, an introductory call or a service priced only after assessment can be booked without a payment step. Take payment by default for self-pay services and keep these as a simple booking, so each service gets the flow that fits it.
Where to start
Count last month's online bookings and no-shows, and the minutes the desk spent collecting payments and matching them to visits.
Then mark each service as paid at booking, deposit or no payment, publish every price, and run the combined flow for a month. Compare completed bookings, no-shows and reconciliation time against that baseline. The steps for an existing site are in how to add online booking to a clinic website.
Bring your service list and see which services suit full payment and which suit a deposit, on a booking page built from your own website.
Frequently asked questions
Does taking payment at booking put patients off?
Unexpected costs and long checkouts put people off. In Baymard's US survey, 40% of shoppers who abandoned for a reason other than browsing cited extra costs and 17% a long or complicated checkout.1 A visible price and a three-tap flow address both.
Is the 70% abandonment figure true for clinics?
It is a retail average across 50 studies.1 For a clinic it shows the pattern, that people who start a booking do not always finish it.
Do paid bookings reduce no-shows?
A paid booking adds commitment and reminders do the rest. Notifications alone cut no-shows from 21% to 15% in a meta-analysis of 21 studies.2
Can some services be booked without payment?
Yes. A clinic can take payment by default for self-pay services and keep introductory calls or insurer-billed first visits as a simple booking.
Who holds the money with wai Checkout?
The clinic. Payments run on Stripe in the clinic's own account and the clinic is the merchant of record. There is no wai subscription or setup fee.4
What happens to patients who start a booking and stop?
wai Checkout posts a webhook when a booking is started, abandoned and paid, and without a system of your own the unfinished ones arrive at the foot of the booking email the same day.4
Sources
- 1Baymard Institute, 202550 Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics 2026Read 14 October 2026Read source
- 2BMJ Open, Robotham and colleagues, 2016Using digital notifications to improve attendance in clinic, systematic review and meta-analysisRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 3Competition and Markets Authority, 2026Unfair contract terms guidance (CMA37)Read 14 October 2026Read source
- 4wai, 2026wai Checkout, booking and payment for any clinicRead 14 October 2026Read source
- 5wai, 2026wai Admin, the front desk and back officeRead 14 October 2026Read source
A full diary of paid bookings, on your own website.
The money lands in your own Stripe account and every booking arrives matched to a patient. There is no wai subscription or setup fee.
Partner with us
See it on your own patients, then build it with us
Thirty minutes on your own patients, doctors and rules, in your market. We reply within one working day, and the clinics that partner with us early shape what we build next.
See what wai does between the visits