What to look for when reviewing online appointment booking software?
Here are 10 features to consider when reviewing online appointment
booking software for your business:
1. Real-time scheduling. Clients don't want to wait to find
out if their booking request went through they want instant confirmation. Does
the software confirm the appointment as soon as it's made?
2. Mobile apps. Can you access the appointment booking
software from your smartphone or tablet?
3. Calendar synchronisation. Can you feed the appointment
booking details into other calendars you use, such as iCal, Google Calendar or
Outlook?
4. Automatic appointment reminders. Will the online appointment
booking software automatically remind clients they have a booking? Does it
support e-mail and SMS text messages?
5. Connection to social media. Can clients make bookings from your Facebook page ?
6. Instant promotions. If you've identified a period or
service that's under-booked, can you send out an email of SMS text message promotion
or limited-time deal from within the appointment booking software?
7. Multiple log-in: Can several staff members log in to view
and manage appointments at the same time? Can you limit access by role, so
that, for example, a Driving Instructor can see his appointments only but not
see other instructors appointments?
8. Database. Can it export client contact details and
booking history?
9. Portability: Does the service let you export all the data
to load into other applications such as email marketing mailchimp program or accounting
software Zero ?
10. Ease of use. It's no fun to struggle with a
counter-intuitive interface. Does the booking interface make it easy to find
the next availability and make an appointment booking?
