Whether you’re scheduling client bookings for a salon or scheduling a meeting with a colleague in a different time zone, manual appointment scheduling is time-consuming. It’s also a process that’s prone to human error. Double-bookings can be common, leading to a negative online review and impacting search engine optimization (SEO) performance.
In this guide, we explore five reasons to use automated booking software, allowing you to reduce the risk of scheduling errors while improving customer experience, employee productivity, and cash flow.
5 Reasons to Use Automated Booking Software for Your Business
Manual appointment scheduling is time-consuming and prone to errors. Automated booking software can help you reduce the risk of scheduling errors, improve customer experience, and boost employee productivity.
1. Generate bookings and leads 24/7
Statistics:
- A survey by GetApp found that 94 percent of customers are likelier to choose a new service provider if that provider offered an online booking option.
- Research from salon software as a service company, Phorest, shows nearly 50 percent of all spa and beauty salon bookings happen online when businesses are closed.
Benefits:
- Automated booking software allows customers to book appointments at any time, day or night. This means you can capture more bookings, even when your staff is not available.
- It can also help you prevent the loss of prospects who were keen to book outside work hours but lost interest because that business didn’t have online scheduling functionality.
2. Impress new clients
Statistics:
- 59 percent of the general population is frustrated with waiting times and the inconvenient office hours related to scheduling appointments by phone (GetApp, 2021)
- 75 percent of Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) avoid phone calls because they are “too time-consuming” (BankMyCell, 2020)
- 81 percent of Millennials feel anxious before making a call (BankMyCell, 2020)
Benefits:
- Automated booking software can help you create a positive first impression for new clients. You can send them a confirmation email with all the details they need to know about their appointment, including the date, time, location, and what to bring.
- It can also help you reduce the number of phone calls you receive from customers who want to schedule appointments. This frees up your time so you can focus on other tasks.
3. Deal with fewer phone calls
Statistics:
- Software consulting giant Accenture’s research found that the United States healthcare system would have saved $3.2 billion in 2019 alone if more people booked appointments online.
- It takes under a minute to schedule medical appointments online, compared to 8.1 minutes on the phone, with staff transferring calls 63 percent of the time, resulting in more booking-related paperwork and less time on patient care.
Benefits:
- Automated booking software can help you reduce the number of phone calls you receive from customers who want to schedule appointments. This frees up your time so you can focus on other tasks.
- It can also help you improve customer satisfaction by providing a more convenient and efficient way to book appointments.
4. Save costs and reduce “no-show” risk
Statistics:
- Appointment reminder functionality typically built into scheduling software more than halves the risk of a no-show, according to a separate analysis of customer behavior by 10to8.com.
Benefits:
- Automated booking software can help you save money by reducing the time your staff spends scheduling appointments.
- It can also help you reduce the risk of “no-shows” by sending out automated reminder emails.
5. Increased employee productivity
Statistics:
- In a Udemy 2018 report, 60 percent of employees said that poorly scheduled and unorganized meetings distract them from working efficiently and productively.
Benefits:
- Automated meeting scheduling can eliminate behaviors such as:
- Employees ask each other, “ when are you free?” to initiate a meeting
- The need to check calendars throughout the day
- Attaching video conferencing links to meeting events manually
- Manually working out time zone differences to hold meetings with colleagues across different jurisdictions
- A suitable scheduling tool should handle most meeting-related logistics, including adding video conferencing links, finding a time to meet, and meeting preparation tasks.
Conclusion
Automated booking software can offer a number of benefits for businesses of all sizes. By reducing the risk of scheduling errors, improving customer experience, and boosting employee productivity, automated booking software can help businesses save time and money.
Automated booking software is a great option if you want to improve your appointment scheduling process. It can help you save time, reduce errors, and improve customer satisfaction.