# Asking the guest for details (https://docs.serviata.ru/en/docs/storefronts/catalog/questions)

Extra questions attached to a service, so an order arrives with everything your team needs to fulfil it.

Every order already carries the guest's name, their contact details and a free-text comment. What it
doesn't carry is whatever your team specifically needs to know: which room, what time, how many
people, any allergies. That's what **custom fields** are for — questions you attach to one service,
answered when the order is placed.

They live on the **Custom fields** tab of a service, next to **General**. Groups don't have them:
nobody orders a section.

## Adding a question [#adding-a-question]

![Screenshot: storefronts/custom-fields](https://docs.serviata.ru/screenshots/en/storefronts/custom-fields.png)

1. One block per question: its name, its type, and whether it is required

**Add field** creates one and gives it a placeholder name. Each question has three settings:

* **Field name** — the question as the guest reads it. It is a label, not a sentence: "Room number",
  "Preferred time", "Number of guests".
* **Type** — what kind of answer is accepted, from the table below.
* **Required** — when on, the order can't be placed until it's answered.

The bin icon on the right removes a question. Questions are asked in the order they're listed here.

Remember to press **Save changes** at the bottom of the Inspector — questions save with the rest of
the service.

## The types of answer [#the-types-of-answer]

| Type              | What the guest gets                    | Use it for                                      |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| **Short text**    | A single-line box.                     | Room number, flight number, a name.             |
| **Long text**     | A multi-line box.                      | Special requests, notes for the chef.           |
| **Number**        | A box that takes digits.               | Bags to collect, nights, quantity of something. |
| **Single choice** | A list where one option can be picked. | Massage pressure, seating preference.           |
| **Multi choice**  | A list where several can be picked.    | Allergies, add-ons.                             |
| **Yes / no**      | A simple toggle.                       | "Travelling with an infant?"                    |
| **Date**          | A date picker.                         | The day a transfer is needed.                   |
| **Date & time**   | A date and a time.                     | Anything with an appointment slot.              |

Pick **Single choice** or **Multi choice** and an **Options** section appears under the question. **Add
option** adds a line; each line is one thing the guest can pick, and the bin removes it. A choice
question with no options gives the guest nothing to choose, so fill them in while you're there.

<Callout title="Dates work with the service's schedule">
  **Date** and **Date & time** are the questions the [**Availability** tab](https://docs.serviata.ru/en/docs/storefronts/availability/) acts on. If you've limited
  when a service can be booked, those limits are what the guest's picker offers — closed days are
  not selectable, and times outside your hours aren't shown. A service with no date question ignores
  the schedule entirely, because there's nothing to restrict.
</Callout>

## Asking well [#asking-well]

* **Ask for what you'll act on.** Every question is a moment the guest may abandon the order. A
  transfer needs a flight number; it does not need the guest's dietary preferences.
* **Make required mean required.** If your team can fulfil the order without the answer, leave it
  optional.
* **Use choices instead of text where you can.** "Preferred time" as free text produces "after
  lunchish"; the same question as choices produces something your team can put on a rota.
* **Ask once.** The guest already gives their name, phone and email at checkout — don't ask again in
  a custom field.

Answers arrive with the order and are shown alongside what was ordered, so whoever picks the order up
sees them without having to go looking.