Widgets and going live

The widget makes services, products, bookings, or ordering available to customers. Publish only after testing the entire customer journey.

Prerequisites

Ideally, complete the following before publishing:

• business profile, logo, and contact information
• opening hours and any bookable hours
• active services/products with correct prices
• legal documents
• a payment method if customers will pay online

What you will learn

• how to configure ordering and bookings in the widget
• how to test the complete customer journey in a secure preview before publishing
• how to publish safely and troubleshoot an empty widget

Secure preview of an unpublished widget

When you open a preview from Finta Business, the one-time link is exchanged for a short-lived read-only session. The one-time link itself is immediately removed from the browser history, so you are not left with a reusable secret.

This means:

• the preview is read-only and cannot be used to save or publish data
• the one-time link expires quickly, and the preview session itself lasts only a short time
• you must open a new preview if the link has been used, shared, or has expired
• preview pages are configured to remain private and not be indexed by search engines
• opening several tabs is coordinated, but the newest preview takes over the active browser session; an older tab shows an expiry message instead of content from the wrong business

Complete flow from setup to published business

The checklist is a recommended quality check, not a technical gate. Publishing itself is a visibility switch: an active business becomes available on public surfaces, while signed-in users with access can still preview an unpublished business through a short-lived one-time link.

The process works as follows:

1. Complete the recommended preparations and configure the widget.
2. Test the customer journey in the secure preview and fix any errors.
3. Select Publish and confirm the visibility change.
4. Check the public page without signing in.
5. Share the customer link or embed the widget on your website.

Configure the widget

1. Go to Sales & Growth → Widget.
2. Choose ordering, bookings, or both if the business supports them.
3. Enable the feature customers should use.
4. Choose a theme, colors, and text that suit the business.
5. Check payment and delivery options.
6. Save and open the secure preview.

Settings may be saved automatically. Wait for confirmation before closing the page. If you open a new preview in the same browser, consider the old link expired.

Check the customer view before publishing

Use the secure preview to check what customers will see:

1. Find the business.
2. Select a service/product.
3. Choose an option, employee, time, or table when relevant.
4. Check that information, availability, prices, and terms are correct.
5. Confirm that actions such as ordering, booking, payment, joining a waitlist, and submitting a review are blocked in the preview.

The preview is not a transactional test environment. Perform a complete order or payment check after publishing with an approved test method, then clean it up according to the business’s procedures.

The customer can enter an email address at checkout. The field is optional: fill it in and the order confirmation goes there, leave it empty and no confirmation is sent.

Publish the business

1. Return to Get started, or use the banner that says the business has not been published.
2. Select the publishing action and read the confirmation.
3. Confirm that the business should be publicly discoverable and available for orders or bookings.
4. Open the public link without signing in and run another check.

After publishing, you can complete the entire customer journey in a private browser window: choose a product or service, enter test information, use an approved test payment if relevant, and check the confirmation both as a customer and in Finta Business.

Publishing requires the business to be active. The other checklist items are recommended preparations and are not enforced as mandatory backend requirements.

You can later turn off publishing under Business profile. This hides the business from public surfaces but does not affect existing orders.

Share or embed the widget

You can share the customer link directly or embed the widget on your own website. Use the link and embed code from Finta.no, and test them after publishing the website.

Do not put an internal test link or unpublished preview on your production website.

If the widget is empty

• check that services/products are active, not drafts
• check categories and availability
• check bookable or ordering hours
• check that the widget is enabled
• check that the business is published
• open a new preview if the one-time link has been used or has expired
• reopen the page without the old browser cache

Next steps

Read Payments and payment methods and Bookings, tables, and the waitlist before the final test.

Flowchart

flowchart TD
  accTitle: From recommended setup to a published business
  accDescr: The flow shows how the business configures and tests the widget, fixes errors, publishes, and checks the public customer journey.
  A["Recommended preparations<br/>profile, content, hours, terms, and payments"] --> B["Configure the widget"]
  B --> C["Open the secure preview"]
  C --> D{"Does the entire customer journey work?"}
  D -- "No" --> E["Fix the profile, content,<br/>availability, or payments"]
  E --> C
  D -- "Yes" --> F["Select Publish and confirm"]
  F --> G{"Is the business active?"}
  G -- "No" --> H["Publishing is rejected<br/>resolve the restriction first"]
  H --> F
  G -- "Yes" --> I["Public search and widget become available"]
  I --> J["Test the public link<br/>without signing in"]
  J --> K["Share the link or embed the widget"]