Reserve with Google
Reserve with Google has now made it possible for people to book services straight from Google Search and Google Maps.
Yocale, a scheduling software, has partnered with Google, which means that appointment-based businesses (and Yocale users, in particular) will now be able to exponentially boost their bookings and, by extension, their revenue.
Google has made the booking process so simple that all potential customers need to do is click the blue booking button.
For those not quite caught up, any appointment-based business can take advantage of the new Google booking button.
It’s already available for businesses based in the US, but it will be coming to Canada in 2018, so this new feature is not that far away.
How Bookings Can Help Your Business
We’ve talked about how Reserve with Google will mean a lot more bookings for your business in the past, but we want to reiterate it again because this new feature is just that powerful (we also want to show you how to set it up).
Here is a brief summary of why Reserve with Google will result in a lot more bookings and revenue:
- Reserve with Google is the equivalent of putting your business on Hotels.com except it’s on a Google level – you no longer have to worry about driving enough traffic to your own website.
- Having a booking button makes your business stand out from the rest – remember, you have to be using a scheduling software like Yocale in order to have a booking button displayed next to your Google listing, which means that you have the competitive advantage compared to the businesses who aren’t using a scheduling software.
Essentially, Reserve with Google is the equivalent of putting your business on websites like Hotel.com or Expedia. You don’t have to rely on your own website traffic to get more bookings. Google does it for you – the biggest search engine in the world.
Remember: most people don’t go to a business’s website to book services. That’s why Reserve with Google has the ability to radically increase your bookings.
In the past, Google would also simply display a business’s contact information – if the customer wanted to book a service, they would have to call. But, the reality is that most people don’t want to have to call.
Nearly 70% of customers prefer self-service options over having to speak to an agent.
But the point is that Reserve with Google completely removes this barrier – customers can now book an appointment straight from Google and in under a minute.
It’s as simple as clicking a button.
The simplicity is another reason this feature is so successful.
Here’s another important aspect of Reserve with Google. Having a booking button allows your business to stand out from the rest – you give yourself a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Let’s say someone wants to book a hair appointment at a salon they haven’t tried before.
They type ‘hair salons in Phoenix, AZ’ into their search bar.
Two businesses come up at the top: one with a blue book button and one without it.
People are naturally inclined to take the path of least resistance – we’re wired that way and research has backed that up.
With this in mind, it’s clear what business would get the booking.
The one with the booking button, of course.
How It Works
We will now show you how it works. First and foremost, when someone searches for a particular service and clicks on yours, they will see both real-time availabilities, pricing and so on. This makes it easier for businesses to control their calendar.
You can also track all of your bookings through your Google My Business (GMB) dashboard, which is quick and easy.
Now on to how businesses can actually sign up. Don’t worry: it’s super simple.
1 – Sign Up: Log in to Google My Business. If you are already a Yocale user, your booking button has automatically been added to your Google listing – you don’t need to do anything else.
You can now start tracking your bookings. How simple was that?
If you’re not a Yocale user, don’t worry – it’s still just as easy.
2 – Choose Yocale As Your Booking Provider: If you aren’t yet a Yocale user, you can quickly sign-up here. It will take less than a minute. All you need to do is click the green Sign Up button on the right-hand side of the screen.
Once you’ve done this, go to step 1. You should either be able to see your booking button as soon as you sign up or it could take a few days. Ensure that you check back.
3 – Start Tracking Your Bookings: The next part is to simply wait for new Google bookings to come in and start tracking them.
Again, as soon as you log into Google My Business, you will be able to track your incoming bookings and the total revenue gained from those bookings as well.
Here’s How To Do That:
Once you’re in your Google My Business (GMB) dashboard, you will see a long list on the right-hand side. Simply navigate to ‘Bookings.’
Above all, Reserve with Google is going to rapidly increase your current number of bookings. You are essentially putting your business on the equivalent of Hotels.com, but you’re really putting your business on Google itself.
Not only will you have a lot more visibility over businesses that aren’t Yocale users (or other scheduling software users who have also partnered with Google), but you also won’t have to worry about driving as much traffic to your website in order to get bookings.
Reserve with Google is a win for appointment-based businesses.
