Question 1

What is Echo?

Accepted Answer

Echo is a service provider booking platform that gives tradespeople, home-service professionals, and health practitioners everything they need to run their business from their phone — AI-powered quoting, scheduling, clinical notes, invoicing, and Stripe payments, all in one place.

Question 2

Who is Echo designed for?

Accepted Answer

Echo is built for active service providers: plumbers, electricians, cleaners, personal trainers, physiotherapists, and 20+ other categories. It is equally useful for their customers, who get fast AI-generated quotes and a simple booking experience via WhatsApp and a customer portal.

Question 3

Do I need to be a registered business to use Echo?

Accepted Answer

Echo is for active service providers who take on paid jobs. You do not need to be a formally registered company — sole traders and freelancers are welcome — but you must be actively offering a service to customers.

Question 4

Can I use Echo for a health or wellness practice?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Physiotherapists, biokineticists, personal trainers, massage therapists, and other health practitioners can use Echo for scheduling, clinical notes with AI voice-to-text structuring, procedure codes, and patient intake forms.

Question 5

How does the booking process work?

Accepted Answer

A customer finds your public booking page, describes their job by voice or text, and receives an AI-generated quote within seconds. You review the quote, send it back, and the customer confirms. From there Echo manages scheduling, reminders, invoicing, and payment.

Question 6

How does AI quoting work?

Accepted Answer

Echo uses your hourly rates and call-out fee alongside the customer's voice or text description to generate an itemized quote. The AI does the math and writes the line items — you review and send in one tap. No spreadsheets or manual calculations needed.

Question 7

Can customers book directly without going through a quote?

Accepted Answer

Yes. If you offer fixed-price services, customers can select the service and book a time slot directly without a quote step. You control which services use AI quoting and which allow direct booking.

Question 8

How does voice recording work on Echo?

Accepted Answer

Click the microphone icon in any text field to start recording. When you stop, Echo transcribes your audio using Whisper and processes it with AI — either generating a quote from a customer description or structuring a clinical note into SOAP sections for practitioners.

Question 9

What happens after a job is completed?

Accepted Answer

You mark the job complete, Echo auto-generates an invoice, and sends it to the customer via WhatsApp with a Stripe payment link. The customer pays online and you receive the funds directly to your bank account.

Question 10

How do I sign up as a service provider?

Accepted Answer

Visit echo.co.za/join and complete the onboarding wizard. It takes about five minutes to set up your business profile, pricing, availability, and public booking page. No credit card is required to start.

Question 11

How do I set up my services and availability?

Accepted Answer

The onboarding wizard guides you through entering your hourly rates, call-out fee, working hours, and the types of jobs you accept. You can update these at any time from your dashboard settings.

Question 12

How do customers find me on Echo?

Accepted Answer

You get a public booking page at echo.co.za/book/your-slug that you can share anywhere — WhatsApp, Instagram, or your website. Customers can also find you through the Echo marketplace, which lists providers by service category.

Question 13

How do payments work for customers?

Accepted Answer

After a job is finalized, the customer receives a WhatsApp message with a secure Stripe payment link. They pay by card online and receive a receipt instantly. No cash handling or manual EFT is needed.

Question 14

How do I get paid as a service provider?

Accepted Answer

Echo uses Stripe Connect to deposit payments directly into your bank account. Once Stripe verifies your account, funds are transferred automatically — typically within two to five business days of a payment.

Question 15

What does Echo cost?

Accepted Answer

Echo charges 1.5% per completed job with no monthly fee on the base plan. If you want team management and advanced features, paid plans start at a low monthly rate. There is no charge until you complete a job.

Question 16

Are there subscription plans available?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Echo offers a Solo plan (single provider), a Team Business plan (multiple team members with role-based access), and a Premium Team plan (all features including advanced analytics and priority support). All plans include the core booking and quoting features.

Question 17

Can I manage my team on Echo?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Invite team members with different roles — managers can do everything you can, while technicians see only their assigned jobs. You get an approval workflow for team job completions so nothing gets invoiced without your sign-off.

Question 18

Does Echo support recurring appointments?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Set up a recurring booking series with daily, weekly, fortnightly, or monthly frequency. You can edit a single occurrence, all future occurrences, or the entire series — ideal for ongoing maintenance contracts or regular patient appointments.

Question 19

Can I send invoices through Echo?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Echo auto-generates invoices when a job is finalized and sends them via WhatsApp with a Stripe payment link. You can also resend invoices and track payment status from your dashboard.

Question 20

Is there a customer portal?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Customers have a secure portal where they can view all their bookings, download invoices as PDFs, check quote status, and manage their contact details. They log in with a one-time code sent to their WhatsApp.

Service bookings,
powered by AI.

The Echo journey

Describe your job

Receive an AI quote

Confirm and schedule

Complete the job

Get paid instantly

Frequently Asked Questions

About Echo

How It Works

Getting Started

Payments

Features

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Service bookings,powered by AI.