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To determine the best online booking system for you, you need to first be able to answer these key questions.
- What is an online booking system?
- Why do I need an online booking system?
- Which features are important to me and my business?
- Will I get support when I need it?
- Can I try before I buy?
What is an online booking system?
When a potential customer comes to your website and sees an event that you will be running, or a services that you offer, they are able to book that service there and then. You choose whether you require them to securely pay at the same time.
Behind that simple statement are a whole host of what-ifs. We’ll examine the most common ones in our features section, which highlights the points you need to think about when choosing a solution for your business. If you are short on time, you can skip straight to an interactive demonstration of an online booking system. To continue, let’s consider why having one could be a great idea for your business.
Why do I need an online booking system?
Customers want you to have one.
Customers are coming to expect it. Surveys are showing that people prefer the control and convenience that online booking gives them. It’s less hassle and takes less time than using the phone, and lets you see all of the possible options rather than just the ones being fed you over the phone. At least, if the system is well implemented it will do this.
That’s the rub of course. If your booking system is not a great customer experience you’ll likely not get a second chance to turn your website visitor into a business customer.
It saves you money.
It saves you time and therefore money. You don’t need to tie up staff time taking appointments, re-scheduling appointments, sending reminders to people to turn up for their appointments, updating staff on who and what has been booked for them and so on. All of that gets done for you.
Happier staff.
Staff want to be doing what they’re good at – providing the service they’re skilled at. They don’t want to be doing admin tasks or spending time and effort figuring out where they’re supposed to be, delivering which service and to whom. If there is somewhere online that they can access, by desktop or phone, that clearly shows in real time exactly what is booked for them then that’s one less thing in life to worry about.
More appointments.
By allowing customers to book repeating appointments in one go you increase the number of booked appointments. By automatically sending out reminders you decrease the chance of them not turning up.
Customer and staff safety.
Let’s not forget in these crazy times you may need to limit how many people can attend your premises at any one time. When you supply an online booking system, people can see when the available times are and can be reassured that when they come to you, they’ll be able to do so within government guidelines. That in turn increases the chances of your business getting the maximum number of people through the door in a way that is safe for you, your staff and your customers.
Best online booking system key features
- Let’s get the number one, way above everything else, obvious statement out of the way. It has to be user friendly. Not easy to use = no customer booking. Simple.
- That also means, that whilst operating to exactly the criteria that you set up, it should not only be easy to book an appointment but also to reschedule and to cancel. By criteria I mean that you can set a minimum window for cancelling – say 24 hours notice is required, or whatever works for your business. If you offer multiple services, you might decide to set different periods per service.
- It’s got to work well on phones because likely that is where you’ll get the majority of bookings.
- It should be flexible enough to fit with how your business works. You’re open 9-5 but Chris only works until 3pm on Tuesdays? No problem, if Chris is the only one who offers service “x”, then service “x” doesn’t appear on the calendar for Tuesdays 3pm-5pm. If Ali and Chris offer “x” then your customers only get the choice of Ali for Tuesdays 3pm-5pm, assuming Ali isn’t already booked for a different service.
- It’s easy to add in holidays, breaks and one off events.
- Gain maximum benefit by having a system that integrates with a secure payment system.
- It should send out automated reminders, either by email, SMS or both, as you prefer.
- You as the business owner should be able to see at a glance which of your staff are booked over the next week/month and which have capacity. In turn, what’s the financial impact of that given that you can charge out staff at different rates.
- Also, a nice feature that may well become more important is the ability to integrate with Zoom. If you are a hairdresser you’ll want to see your customer face to face but for other industries such as personal trainers or lawyers it’s now possible to offer some services online. Why not make it easy to organise by including all the details in the automated meeting invitation? (That’s one of the handy extras in this system.)
Will I get support when I need it?
When you’re looking at some of the best online systems featured below, just bear something in mind.
No matter how easy these systems are to operate, your business is not an off the shelf cookie cutter business (one day I am going to get a call from someone who tells me that is exactly what their business does !). You are unique and there will be things that you need help with, and Murphy’s Law says you’ll need that help right at the most awkward moment.
So make sure that you have access to support. You want your online booking system to be a runaway success, and when it is, your business will come to rely on it. I’d advise anything your business relies on to have ongoing protection and support, so be wary of any one off purchases.
A selection of the best online booking systems
Open Table
Open Table is used by over 50,000 restaurants to allow customers to reserve tables online at establishments across the country.
Because of its reach, it is well known within its niche, and thus treated as trustworthy by potential customers who might not know the actual restaurant in question.
Although generally reviewed positively, some have complained about its ease of use on mobile, and whilst it is solid at its core function of table reservations, it is limited in dealing with special requests.
Open Table is priced at £29-£299 per month.
BookedIn
BookedIn is a growing system, based out of Canada, that can work across sectors, and which has had a focus on wellness and related services.
The above image shows an example from a tattoo parlour.
It has good feedback for its ease of customer use, though customising booking pages to reflect specific salon needs and branding are not so easy to achieve.
BookedIn ranges from $20 to $85 per month and offers annual plans as well.
Bookeo
Bookeo has booked toward 50 million bookings. Although technical support is email based only, it has good reviews for its support.
Besides acting on its own, it’s also possible to build Bookeo into a WordPress website and it can be connected to Stripe, allowing for secure online payments.
Price ranges from $14.95 to $79.95 depending on size of use.
Try before you buy
The online booking system that we offer has an interactive demo available. This means you can try it out without entering any card or contact details. Have a play and see if it feels like something that could work for you.
We build it into WordPress websites and brand to your business. This is great because customers are on your website, booking your service rather than choosing from a range of competitors.
It is suitable for service based businesses where customers can book a time and/or particular staff member and those services can be face to face or via zoom (with built-in links automatically sent to the customer). We’ve tried to make it easy for you and your customer in the “new normal” of our socially distanced coronavirus affected reality.
It is also used for events that take place at set times and which have maximum attendance figures. It is integrated with Stripe so that you can require secure online payment at the point of booking if you wish.
Customers can book repeat appointments and bring along friends if you are happy with this, all in one website visit, making it easy to book multiple appointments and increasing business revenue.
Customers receive automated reminders in order to minimise no shows.
Business owners can manage the system themselves, choose to delegate certain tasks to various staff members or let us administer for them.
Contact us for more information and a free and friendly chat about how online booking can help your business.
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