Your first day with niia: a setup checklist

Setting up niia takes a few short steps. Most of it is telling niia what you already know about your salon. Here's what to have ready and the order to do it in.

Before you start, have these to hand

• Your price list: a website, a PDF, an Excel sheet or even a photo of your menu all work.
• Your opening hours for each day, including the days you're closed.
• Your team and which services each person does.
• The WhatsApp number your clients message.

1. Create your account

Sign up with your email and a password, or with Google. Your progress is saved as you go, so if you get interrupted you can pick up where you left off.

2. Add your salon's details, the quick way

Paste your website address into Auto-fill from your website and niia fills in your salon name, address, hours and services for you. No website? Upload your price list, menu or a photo of it instead. Either way, check what it found and fix anything that's wrong.

Set your hours per day. Turn a day off to mark it closed. If most days are the same, set the first one and use the button that copies its hours to every open day.

3. Check your services

Every service needs a name, a price and a duration. The price can be text, like "From 50" or "On consultation". The durations matter: niia uses them to work out which times are free.

4. Start your free trial

The free trial needs no card. It gives you 2,500 credits to use over 14 days, or until the credits run out. Every feature is included.

5. Add your team

Add each staff member and the services they do. If a service has no one assigned, niia can't book it.

6. Connect your WhatsApp number

Go to Settings → WhatsApp Integration. niia only starts replying on WhatsApp once your number is connected.

• The simplest option is niia's shared WhatsApp account, which is set up for you by default. You only need to enter your number.
• To connect your own business number, use the Gupshup or Meta option on the same page. Both go through Meta's WhatsApp signup and need a Meta Business account, which the signup walks you through creating if you don't have one.
• Meta reviews each new number's display name before it can message clients. This usually clears within a few hours, occasionally up to 48.

7. Fill in the gaps

On the Agent Config page, add anything a client might ask that isn't in your services or hours:

• Additional Notes: parking, how to find your entrance, payment options, your cancellation policy.
• Custom Q&A: your own questions and answers. Click Extract FAQs from website to pull suggestions from your site, then approve the ones that are right.

8. Test it like a client

Use the Test Bot panel to message niia the way your clients would. Ask about prices, book something, ask for a time you're closed. Test chats don't use credits. Bookings made in Test Bot are real, so delete them afterwards.

9. Optional, but worth doing

• Google Calendar: connect it on the Bookings page and every booking appears in a dedicated calendar. Staff can get their own calendar too.
• Reminders: choose the morning of, 24 or 48 hours before in Settings. See how to choose.
• Review requests: add your Google review link, and niia asks clients for a review once their booking is marked Completed.

10. Watch the first conversations

For the first few days, keep an eye on Conversations and Alerts. You'll see exactly what niia said, and you can Take Over any chat to reply yourself. Anything niia can't answer becomes a gap to fill in your notes or Q&A.

Want to know more about what niia does in a conversation? Read what actually happens when a client messages niia.