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Allowing Contacts to Book on Behalf​ of ​Clients

You can enhance a client profile by adding a contact who will have the authority to schedule appointments on the client’s behalf. This feature is particularly beneficial when a family member, such as a parent, partner, or child, needs to arrange appointments for someone else. To set this up, follow the steps below.

  1. Go to the client's profile.
  2. Navigate to Profile > Contacts. 
  3. Click + Add New Contact to add a new contact (or select an existing contact from the list). 
  4. Fill in the contact settings details. Use different mobile phone numbers and email addresses for the client and the contact details. 
  5. Enable the Portal Appointments switch in the contact settings.
  6. Click Save.

💡 Pro Tip: To keep each user's access distinct, leave the client’s email address and mobile number fields blank, or ensure they are different from those provided for the contact booking on their behalf. This maintains separate logins for the contact and the client, so each accesses the appropriate portal role.

Once done, the Contact will be able to log into their client portal account, and book an appointment for the client.

Important Notes

1. Sending client reminders and automations communication to their contact. 

You can toggle on the Appointment Reminders and Automations Communication switches  on the Contact Details page, to send reminders about all client appointments and all clients' automations messages to this contact.

2. Billing client invoices to their contact. 

You can set the client contact as their default payee, this will automatically generate invoices where the contact will be listed as the person responsible for paying for the invoices. The detailed setup process is described here. 

3. What the contact can see on the Client Portal

The Portal Appointments switch covers appointments. When the contact logs in, they can book for the client, see the client's upcoming appointments, add the client to the waitlist, and see the client's invoices if those invoices are billed to them. Online forms, documents, and files stay with the person they belong to, so the portal shows each person what is on their own profile. To have the contact fill in a form for the client, send the client's form link to the contact and turn on Form Authentication on their contact record so they can authenticate with their own details. See Adding Client Authentication to Online Forms.

Setting this up for a brand-new family (when neither person is in Zanda yet)

If the child is a new client and the parent, guardian, or carer isn't in your Zanda account yet, set up the client profile and the contact link from your side first. A parent can't create this by registering on the Client Portal themselves.

When a parent registers on the Client Portal, they only create—or get matched to—their own client record. Self-registration doesn't create the child's client profile, and it doesn't set up the permission that lets one person book for another. That permission lives on the child's profile.

So for a brand-new family, the order is:

  1. Create the child's client profile in Zanda—the child is the client.
  2. On the child's profile, go to Profile > Contacts and add the parent or guardian as a contact, following the steps above—including enabling the Portal Appointments switch.
  3. Invite the parent to the Client Portal—for example, by sending them a registration link with the {PortalRegistrationLink} merge field, or by letting them register using the same name and email you saved on their contact details.

Once the parent logs in, they can book appointments on behalf of the child. If the parent later registers as a new client using the same details, Zanda matches them to the contact you already created instead of making a duplicate (see Understanding Contact Registration Logic below).

Sending a registration or password reset link to the Contact

If the client is a minor (or anyone else whose portal access you manage through a Contact), send the registration or password reset link from the Contact's own profile—not the child's.

Send Password Reset Link and any communication using the {PortalRegistrationLink} merge field always go to the email address saved on the profile you send them from. Sending from the child's profile emails the child's own saved email address, even when a Contact is linked—it will not reach the Contact.

To reach the Contact instead:

  1. Open the Contact's own profile—this is a separate profile from the child's, not the child's Profile > Contacts tab. Search for the Contact by name in People > Clients the same way you would search for any client.
  2. Go to Admin > Manage.
  3. Select Send Password Reset Link.

Zanda emails the link to the email address saved on the Contact's own profile. The Contact can use it to register or reset their password, then log in and book on behalf of the child as usual.

See Client Portal Login and Password Reset Guide for Existing Clients for the full password reset process, and Client Portal Registration For New Clients for how the {PortalRegistrationLink} merge field works.

Understanding Contact Registration Logic

We have updated the registration process on the Client Portal to make it easier for existing contacts (such as parents, guardians, or partners) to access services. This feature ensures that when a contact registers as a new client, or uses the Forgot Password option, their details are matched to an existing contact profile in Zanda account , instead of creating a duplicate profile.

How it gets triggered

When a person

  • registers on your Client Portal as a new client using their Name and Email (or Mobile Number):

  1. The system searches their existing records.
  2. If it finds a matching "Contact" profile, it recognizes this is the same person.
  3. Automatic Profile Upgrade: Instead of creating a duplicate profile, the system links them to their existing Contact profile.
    • Result: The person can log in and continue using their existing contact profile for client portal bookings on behalf of their connected clients.