How to set up custom actions for optometry after hours ap…

You need a Chatref account and an agent trained on your practice’s hours, services, and booking procedures. If you haven’t created a healthcare agent yet, follow the Optometry & Eye Care setup first so your agent accurately understands your after-hours policy and can offer the right help.

Make sure you know where you want captured requests to land—typically a shared inbox, a practice email, or a tool your team monitors in the morning. This will be the “destination” you configure in the custom action.

1. Open your agent’s settings. From the Chatref dashboard, select the agent that handles your optometry website, then go to the Custom Actions tab.
2. Add a new action. Click Create action and give it a name like “After-hours appointment request.”
3. Define the fields. Add the information you need from the patient:
   • Full name (required)
   • Phone number
   • Email address
   • Preferred days/times (a free-text field or date picker)
   • Reason for visit (e.g., eye exam, contact lens fitting, urgent symptoms) You can mark some fields as required and leave others optional. Keep it short—long forms reduce completions.
4. Decide what happens with the data. Under “Action,” choose how the collected details are delivered. Common options include:
   • Email: Send the form contents directly to your front desk.
   • Webhook: Post the data to your practice management software or a scheduling tool that accepts incoming requests.
   • Slack/Teams message: Alert your team in a dedicated channel. Select the method that fits your after-hours workflow and fill in the connection details.
5. Set the trigger. In the “When to offer” section, configure the condition so the action appears only when it’s relevant. You can use:
   • A phrase trigger like “appointment after hours” or “book outside hours”
   • Intent detection (train the agent to recognise conversations that imply an after-hours request) Avoid blending normal business-hour bookings; a separate action keeps logic clean.
6. Save and publish. Once saved, the action becomes available immediately on your website widget.

Test the flow exactly as a patient would:

1. Open your website and start a conversation outside normal hours (or simulate by temporarily changing your agent’s known schedule in its training data).
2. Ask something like “I need an eye exam but your office is closed. Can I still book?”
3. The agent should respond with the custom action form. Fill in all fields and submit.
4. Confirm the data arrived at your chosen destination—check the email inbox, Slack channel, or webhook logs.

Also review the conversation inbox in Chatref. If you enabled human handoff, you’ll see the full chat with the submitted details, letting a team member follow up when the office opens.

• Form never appears. Check that the trigger phrase or intent is correctly configured. Try rephrasing the patient’s question; the agent may not have been trained on enough after-hours scenarios. Add a few variations of the request to the agent’s training data and retest.
• Data doesn’t reach the team. Verify the email address, webhook URL, or Slack workspace connection. For email, check spam folders. For webhooks, use a test endpoint first to debug formatting.
• Patients abandon the form midway. Too many fields cause friction; reduce to just name, phone, and a single preference field. You can always ask for more details during the follow-up call.
• The action triggers during office hours. Adjust the condition: either use a time-based rule (if supported) or add a restriction phrase in the trigger, like “I know you’re closed” to keep it separate from day-time booking.

What causes optometry after hours appointment capture problems for Optometry & Eye Care?

Most issues come from poorly defined triggers or missing after-hours content. If your agent’s training doesn’t clearly state what counts as “after hours” or which services can be booked outside regular times, the custom action may not fire. Incomplete form delivery often ties back to misconfigured destinations (wrong email, blocked webhook) or the team not knowing which inbox to monitor.

How do I improve optometry after hours appointment capture for Optometry & Eye Care?

Train the agent with precise after-hours scenarios—include phrases like “office closed,” “can’t call right now,” and “I need an appointment for tomorrow morning.” Keep the custom action form short (name, phone, preferred time), and test the end-to-end flow weekly. Route the captured data to a single place your front desk checks first thing in the morning; pairing the action with a dedicated Slack channel often reduces missed follow-ups.