Offering your customers the opportunity to book online allows them to browse your available schedule from any device, at any time they find it convenient. With around 95 percent of North Americans looking at their phones every five to 10 minutes, chances are they’re going to choose mobile devices when making a booking, so online booking is perfect for this.
By using software like Yocale’s psychologist scheduling software or medspa practice management software and with online booking, your business is available 24/7, keeping your schedule full, enhancing customer satisfaction, saving time, and increasing your business’s profits. In this blog post, we’ve compiled a list of just some of the reasons online bookings are so important to help your business stay competitive.
Customers Can Make Location-Based Bookings
Google’s location-related mobile searches are growing 50 percent faster than all mobile searches, so if you want your business to be first on customers’ lists, ensure your location is set so it shows up when people are searching for services in the area. If your business is not searchable by location, you’re not only going to miss out on all those searches, but you may be required to answer multiple location questions via phone.
Customers Get Confirmation Immediately
If customers are busy, the last thing they want to do is to wait around all day to hear if their appointment is confirmed or not. Customers who book online receive instant confirmation that they are booked in for a particular time slot, making the entire booking process seamless, easy to use and stress-free.
Customer No Shows Will Be Reduced
When customers fail to show up for an appointment, they waste your time and hurt your bottom line, but our research shows that online bookings can reduce no-shows by over 80 per cent. This is because when clients book online, they automatically receive text and email reminders which they can add straight to their mobile calendar.
Customers Can Book Anytime They Want
Many customers have commitments during the day and as a result, want to book appointments in the evenings, with approximately 35 percent of appointments being booked after hours. Offering customers the opportunity to book online means they have more flexibility and are more likely to book with you than with a competitor offering the same services but who close at 5 pm.
Customers Can Book Recurring Appointments
You might have customers who want to book with you every other Friday for six sessions, and with online booking, the customer can see if those consecutive slots are available and quickly schedule their appointments in one go. An online booking system that’s able to take recurring appointments also saves the customer having to enter in multiple appointments manually.
To find out more about the features we offer, check out our website.