How Appointment Scheduling Software Helps to Increase Your Business Productivity

Posted by admin Sep 10, 2020

Many businesses go through several practices when it is about improving productivity. Some of them succeed and some fail!!

A good customer service, a firm handshake, a sincere smile all works, but do you think these old-fashioned tricks now have the ability to give fruitful results?

Give us the privilege to answer this!! No, it does not give!!

Time is changing at a rapid speed, so do, the traditional ways of improving productivity. When it is about managing the business, the one thing that continues to be its vital part is appointments. 

For several companies, the trusty appointment book continues as an essential part of regular and accurate business functioning. However, an office full of customers is the surety of a boost in sales and immeasurable customer volume. 

Not to forget, these things are probable until you are managing them to the best. Any delay in attending the customers or giving them the wrong schedules can give them the worst experience. Even trying to handle every customer’s appointments or schedule to the best cannot assure their return to you. 

Hence, there is a need to leverage the practices the technology has given to us. Nowadays, with the advent of several management software, handling the business has become a seamless task. Indeed, many are implementing the same and are getting the most beneficial results. 

This not only improves the customer experience but also, assures more and more productivity to your business. Here, our concern lies in the appointment scheduling software.

Why Appointment Scheduling Software?

If your business totally relies on the appointments and bookings, then, the appointment scheduling software acts as a lubricant to run the daily tasks smoothly.

It is also termed as Online Booking Software, Online Scheduling Software, or Appointment Management Software, etc. This solution is nothing but a web-based application that permits individuals to securely and conveniently schedule appointments online via some web-connected device. It acts as a solution to the frustrations that both the businesses and customers face.

As per the recent online booking market statistics, the appointment scheduling software is regularly expanding. To know it further, check out the following statistics:

• It is estimated that the compound growth annually of 15.1% can be seen until the year 2024. 
• $360 million is the total market value of the same. 
• Online booking has been determined to decrease staff labor. 
• 40% of online bookings are made after office hours.

Appointment Scheduling Software-Defined

The Appointment Scheduling Software allows the organizations and the professionals to enhance the efficiency in the booking and scheduling appointments. It can also be termed as the Appointment booking software or Online Booking Software, that automates the scheduling tasks.

Though, there are several key features that it accommodates, but, the essential ones are defined below:

Online Booking

From the appointment booking software, the customers can schedule, reschedule, or cancel the appointments online by employing the drag and drop interface. Fews of the software assist the customers to make online bookings that can be synchronized on many devices automatically.

Promotions and Deal Management

The solutions enable you to make the deals and promotions which are besides valid for some timespan. These time frames are visible on the employee’s calendar to secure more and more appointments.

Online Payments Acceptance

Most of the booking software holds an alliance with the electronic payment gateways. From here, you can get the collect payments when the customers schedule their appointments.

Staff Scheduling 

Staffs are the major element in improving business productivity. With the appointment scheduling software, the staff work hours can be managed by examining the calendars in the real-time.

Customer Scheduling 

Every business owner knows that the customers are the backbone of their business. Delighting and satisfying them with their needs is of utmost importance. The software enables the customers to monitor the calendar of every staff member of the company so that they can book with the preferred one.

Automatic Reminders or Alerts

From the scheduling software, you can send alerts to the customers regarding the upcoming appointments or some offers, deals, discounts. These alerts can be sent via SMS or email messages.

Calendar Management 

The user can generate appointments or meetings on the calendar and share the same with others at different locations. Calendar management also has synchronization with third-party calendar apps, like, Google Calendar used by many.

Real-time Automated Scheduling 

The software can deny or confirm the appointment quickly when the booking request is made according to the availability. It might also handle the waiting list of the appointments which could be replaced when the existing booking is canceled or rescheduled.

Why Should You Consider Appointment Scheduling Software?

Better Relationship with Customers

At first glance, this may seem irrational, however, the truth is that booking an appointment from the appointment scheduling software saves the precious time. From the online scheduling, you can authorize the customers to access the services more effectively. If you prefer to provide the next day or same-day sessions, then, the solution is worth adopting. 

The customers can seamlessly secure the last minute appointment when the schedule opens-up. Holding the capacity to promote customer meetings, the appointment scheduling software converts it easily to offer the quality service that assures business productivity. Indeed, the improvement in the customer satisfaction rate results in higher customer lifetime value when making brand loyalty.

Save the Staff Time

Undoubtedly, the service staff spends a lot of time attending phone calls, managing schedules and describing options to the customers, this all can be automated. The time-saving advantage operates similarly to the prospects. The customers who like to schedule the appointment with your business do not need to spare their time to call for the appointment from their busy routine. 

They can carry this out even by completing the respective duties. If the schedules have the space on the specified date, the customers can select their options and then pick the time and date according to their preferences. 

The software will then send the email or SMS to confirm when the appointment is scheduled, and this all can be done without human intervention. It not only frees up the staff schedule but also lets them do the valuable tasks during that time period. This can be considered as an extended benefit that can surely benefit your business productivity.

No More No Shows

Despite the industry you are into, there are many customers that regularly no-show, try to rebook or cancel the appointments last minute. With the implementation of SMS reminders or automatic email enables you to track how regularly the customers cancel.

The business owners usually consider the scheduling and staffing for the week according to the number of appointments they have. With the SMS and email reminders is essential in saving money and preventing the lots of opportunities as a customer skipped when the meeting was.

Get rid of the canceling or rescheduling the bookings. Then, the booking software here comes as a huge help. By permitting the customers to change the booking online, you are making it easy to reschedule. 

More Sales Possibilities

The best thing about selling services is to attract customers with more options. That is, attempt to cross-sell or up-sell. Though this can be done over the phone or in person, here, the appointment scheduling software can also be a trick here.

With a central booking portable which indexes every available option to the customers might help them to include more service to the appointments. As the booking page reveals the business offerings, it enables the customers to find new services that they can buy.

The next way to cross-sell the booking website is by using the gift certificates. The customers are required to put the value of the gift certificate with the payment gateways and finish the purchase on time.

Simple Social Media Promotion

If the company is not on the leading social media accounts, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, then surely you are missing a lot of business opportunities. Even if it is via an advertisement or search, social media is the manner several users find new businesses.

With online bookings, you do not have to respond “Contact us to schedule an appointment”. You can build several locations to which you can send the possible customers and send them to the booking form with an engaging social content next to it. It will improve the number of overall bookings and yes, business productivity.

Even, there are few appointment scheduling software that includes the social networks permitting the customers to book from the social media website directly via live availability calendar.

Valuable Insight into the Business

Despite the company size, the comprehensive reporting accessible in the online scheduling system assists you to make profitable decisions.

The appointment scheduling software has an analytics dashboard that assists you to find the performance indicators:

• How many meetings were scheduled as a result of a marketing campaign?
• Number of accomplished appointments by staff
• The number of no-shows per month, week, day.
• Productivity comparison
• Complete appointment history for the customer

The above-mentioned measures can be checked. Many scheduling software permits you to manage reports on a periodic or daily basis. The easy and quick access to essential business data can assist the longer and regular strategic decisions for the organization.

Keep Tracking of Leads

You can use Word or Microsoft Excel to get a list of leads, however, there are many cons of this solution. Sales Management and representatives cannot check the list till you send them in the form of an email. It is tough to track and schedule appointments on the complex Excel spreadsheet.

Here, the appointment scheduling solution came as a rescue again, it provides you every feature, such as:

• Comprehensive calendars that you can share adequately with the employees on the software.
• Software tracking on the Customer Relationship Management System.
• Open notes system for the internal and external teams to have access to update the details.
• Full reports on the customer’s conversions and leads.

The Appointment scheduling software is an essential tool for the sales team that has access to it. It will permit the internal sales team to secure more leads that will boost the chances of improving business profitability.

Assures a Good Return on Investment (ROI)

When cost is the single factor that troubles you, then find out how much you are charging per service. The chances are that the fee is more than that the monthly income of the online scheduling service. 

If providing an online appointment assures you just a new customer, and the software has paid for itself already, then, you are assured to see that customer more than once a month.

Avoid Overbooking

You must have experienced those moments when you have to attend two customers at one time. At that time, you become unable to give the best service and hence, results in customer dissatisfaction. 

Small businesses are facing this issue on a daily basis, and mistakes happen more regularly. Hence to get rid of it, it is prevalent to start using the online appointment scheduling software.

With the software calendar system, the staff and customers can find out the free time slot and hence, book accordingly. The scenario is different when more staff is free and they are willing to serve more customers at one time. This is how you can assure multiple bookings as well.

Email And SMS Reminders

Same as the way you do not want the work to be interrupted by customer calls through email and SMS appointment reminders, the customer also does not want to be interrupted when they answer the phone during the day.

The advantages of choosing an appointment scheduling software with the appointment notifications not only assures good results to the business but also improves the customer volume as well.

Of course, not everyone uses a computer or phones the whole day. The SMS reminders and emails provide notifications to the customers of the pending appointments, deals, coupons, etc. to the mobile devices despite the location they are at. A similar thing works for the service provider as well.

If the customer reverts to the appointment notifications for cancellation, then, you as the business owners also get the notification for the same.

Customer Self-scheduling 24X7

When 75% of millennials prefer to text rather than talk over the phone, then, more customers acknowledge the freedom that online appointment scheduling brings.

The research has revealed that 35% of the customers like to choose scheduling appointments in the non-business hours and 40% of the online bookings are completed after those hours.

The online scheduling software permits the 24-hour booking, not in the office hours or usual facility. The customers book the appointments when it fits in their schedule.

Marketing Synergy and More Sales

One-click book now links and buttons on social media and the website enables easy scheduling and an outstanding marketing tool. 

When you have every detail of the brand on the website, then why not provide the opportunity to book with an engaging write-up?

Let customers leave your product page or website to place an order, causing unnecessary trouble to customers. This increases friction and reduces the chance for them to make impulsive bookings to generate substantial income.

Faster Payments

An appointment scheduling software requires the customers to pay for their schedule in advance. The online booking system enables you to earn this new income as soon as the user books with you.

You can anticipate from the customers to pay while booking, then, surely will boost your profits. Hence, you do not need to bother about the payments when they visit you. In addition, in the case of no-shows, you can save some money in the form of compensation.

Also, the software permits the customer to pay via reliable and convenient payment options. 

More Quality Leads

For reaching the yearly turnover goals efficiently, the team of appointment managers has to source high-quality leads. 

This implies that the cold caller of the date setter must have a demand for your products and services; otherwise, they will waste time.

Hence, the appointment managers always schedule and find a meeting with those in target users. They assure that they lock those leads that have a certain interest in the services and products. It makes the prospects to purchase whatever you are selling.

Centralized Information System

The appointment scheduling software has customer data management as a part of the package. It makes it easy to update, manage, save, and examine customer information. Examining, reporting, and recording the same information assists to manage the case file of the customer effectively.

It can decrease the amount of documentation and the time it consumes for accessing the physical data. Give easy and quick access to the important business data that can give support to both the long term and daily strategic decisions of the organization. It is also probable to evade the unnecessary data entries of a similar customer.

However, the ongoing reports can be updated on every appointment that makes the details available to fast and easy access in one place.

Wrapping Up

Indeed, the appointment scheduling software can lead to business productivity. With the provision of easily managing, canceling, scheduling, or rescheduling the appointments, the customers can improve the bookings. This can boost business productivity and enables customers to come back.

So, why wait?

Book  Your Appointment Management Software Now!

Allow this software to prove itself and monitor the results thereafter. And, if you are in search of the best scheduling software, that offers you user-friendly and exceptional features, then, you can easily find many on the internet. 

Thanks for reading!!