appointment Archives - Page 3 of 6 - Appointment - Online Appointment Scheduling Software

Troubleshooting Automated Appointment System Complaints

By | Appointment | No Comments
Troubleshooting Automated Appointment System Complaints

The benefits of automated appointment software are undeniable. Unfortunately, implementing a new system often comes with some bumps in the road. Setting up and then forgetting your new software may end up driving away customers.

If complaints arise, don’t just resort to tossing out coupons as a way to appease customers. Instead, develop a troubleshooting system that uncovers the root of the problem and leads you to solutions. 

Troubleshooting can be a frustrating and arduous process. Here’s how to make yours as painless and efficient as possible in order to help every one of your customers.

Identify the Problem’s Source

The first step is to determine if the complaint stems from an operator error or a system error. Operator errors can often be resolved with some top-notch customer service. System errors, on the other hand, require a bit more information and a hands-on approach.

How can you tell if the problem is a user error or an actual problem with your system? Start by focusing on the language. For example, a complaint might be “couldn’t fill out customer information lines.” At first blush, this might sound like an operator error. But if your form’s lines are too short to accommodate a longer surname, or the “Submit” button didn’t do anything, that’s a system fix that needs to be addressed. 

Don’t forget that some complaints may come from a system error that only occurs on the customer’s end. Someone loading your website with a computer from the ’90s may get a system error because of the outdated equipment. 

Improve the Resources for Customers

Even if your digging has unveiled an operator error, don’t blame the customer for their mistake. Instead, think of how to prevent future customers from experiencing the same confusion. 

For example, maybe a common customer complaint is that the instructions aren’t clear on your automated appointment system. Visitors get lost trying to follow steps and end up leaving in frustration. What can you do to improve their experience?

Perhaps a short video walking customers through your online appointment software will do the trick. Struggling customers can follow along with video instructions to make their first experience using new software a seamless one. 

Take Your System on a Test Drive

When was the last time you tested your online appointment software? The occasional test run will show you firsthand if there’s an obvious problem that customers are running into. You might even find that you fall victim to the same user error as everyone else.

Log on to your website as a guest. Better yet, get a friend or family member who’s less familiar with your system to go through the site. Does the functionality problem the customer mentioned happen to your friend? Or was it a one-time deal? 

If everything seems to be going smoothly, you should still adjust your approach and try a couple more times. You need to discover whether you can recreate the circumstances behind the system complaint. 

A good mechanic will do the same thing when you take your car in for a repair. They’ll take a test drive to recreate the noise you described when you dropped off the car. If you experience the same error as your customer, you’ll validate their complaint. It will also give you a better idea of what needs to be fixed. 

Look for Response Trends

You’ll get more insights from looking at response trends than fixating on individual complaints. Individual complaints may lead to band-aid fixes. Overall trends can help you find permanent solutions. 

Data is your best friend when you’re compiling and analyzing customer complaints. It allows you to connect the dots between isolated incidents. Once you find a pattern, you’ll have a better idea of where to focus your attention. Maybe you can even find the source from which all complaints stemmed. 

For example, you may find that a number of complaints boil down to poor loading speeds on your website. This could be a helpful discovery. It may be that your website has been struggling to process the load of your new online appointment system. With that info, you’ll be able to get the problem fixed in no time.

Look Into Your Back End

There’s a lot under the surface of your online appointment system. Unfortunately, understanding it all may be a little out of your wheelhouse. That’s especially true if you’re an entrepreneur outsourcing labor for your website. The good news is that your website developers should be able to do the heavy lifting for you. 

Get on a call with your vendor and discuss the nature of the complaint with them. They should be able to figure out what’s causing the customer’s problem and find a backend solution. In this scenario, you’re the intermediary between the customer and the techies who have the fix. 

Follow Up With Customers

When you’ve settled on a solution, follow up on its implementation. There’s no point troubleshooting complaints if you’re not planning to fix them. 

Following up with customers can accomplish a lot. For one, it shows them that you genuinely care about their experience with your company. It might even save you from losing them. After all, reaching back out to the customer encourages them to give your appointment software a second chance.

A simple email letting customers know that their complaint has been addressed will often be enough. When things really go wrong, though, you may want to call the customer. Thank them for bringing the problem to your attention. They’ll appreciate the courtesy and the resolution you came up with. 

Ready, aim, and troubleshoot your way to customer service excellence. Your effort to help every customer will make your business shine. Soon you’ll optimize your automated appointment system to the point that most complaints disappear.

Best Appointment Scheduling Software: 7 Apps for Business Scheduling

By | Scheduling | No Comments
A person manually setting up appointments without any of the best appointment scheduling software.

It isn’t fun to manually set up schedules, follow up with appointments, handle emergency bookings, and skim several calendars to see appointment dates. 

Creating manual appointments can cause you to lose customers and set back your business growth because your scheduling processes are all over the place. 

It gets worse if you continue to do this day in and day out every week.

What if you could streamline your appointment workflow in minutes, book customers faster, and make more money?  

The best appointment scheduling software streamlines bookings, messaging, payments, and other business scheduling. These booking systems help automate repetitive appointment processes and free up time so you can focus on your zone of genius.

Think of an appointment scheduler as your low-cost, super-efficient virtual assistant who doesn’t take breaks but continuously sets up meetings with your customers. It’s a must-have for all business processes and appointment types for an easier booking experience.

Here’s what you’ll find in this guide:

Appointment Scheduling Apps: Definition and Uses

What To Consider When Choosing Appointment Scheduling Software

Best Appointment Scheduling Software

  1. Appointment.com
  2. Calendar.com
  3. HubSpot Meetings
  4. Appointy
  5. Acuity Scheduling
  6. Calendly
  7. Chili Piper

Final Thoughts: The 7 Best Appointment Scheduling Software

Appointment Scheduling Apps: Definition and Uses

Appointment scheduling apps are a solution to manual tasks and processes for booking appointments. With these appointment schedulers, you can automate scheduling processes such as: 

  • Booking
  • Rescheduling
  • Cancellation
  • Follow-ups
  • Payments 

Your customers and prospects can access your appointment scheduling software through a simple URL and book meetings themselves. You can share the scheduling link to your booking page via e-mail and social media, or you can embed an appointment widget on your website and other business pages. 

Booking services has never been easier. An appointment scheduler erases the need for the tedious appointment setup, human error, and back-and-forth communications that characterize manual appointments. 

Appointment scheduling applications empower your clients to choose a time and date most suitable to them while letting you input your available hours. Your clients can book their own appointments without overbooking and stretching you thin. 

The Benefits of Appointment Booking Software 

A person looking at a computer screen reading the best appointment scheduling software reviews.

Here are some of the advantages of using appointment booking apps:

  • Online appointment scheduling software reduces the length of your sales cycle
  • Provides a better booking experience
  • The best appointment schedulers ensure you get paid faster
  • Enables your customers to self-schedule or adjusts their bookings
  • Reduces the number of no shows
  • Appointment schedulers eliminate manual tasks and stressful marketing
  • Prevents overbooking and scheduling errors
  • Provides automation to follow-up with customers
  • Saves you time, energy, and customers
  • Gives you the space to focus on your zone of genius

What To Consider When Choosing Appointment Scheduling Software

The best appointment scheduling software solutions have certain features that cut across them. Here are the five features you should look out for when choosing an appointment scheduling app for your business. 

Calendar Syncing

Calendar syncing is one of the most common features of the best appointment scheduling software. It’s essential to integrate your scheduler with your personal and work calendars. 

Calendar sync increases your efficiency by conserving your energy and saving time. This feature enables you to view your business appointments alongside your personal to-dos and holidays at a glance. 

Check for software that syncs to your Google calendar, iCal, or Outlook. It can be tedious opening one calendar after the other to see when you have appointments. 

Flexibility

Companies often have different appointment scheduling needs depending on their business type and niche.

The best appointment scheduling software solutions consider the versatility of the business world by offering several customization options. Some of these booking apps even create tailored interfaces to suit specific types of services. 

Understand your business’s scheduling needs before you invest in any appointment scheduler, as this will help you know what customizations your business processes need. Then, look for the appointment booking app that matches those needs. 

A person looking at their scheduling needs to determine the best appointment scheduling software for her business.

Easy Access

Your clients need to access your appointment scheduler from anywhere. Go for the best appointment scheduling software that provides multiple access points. 

Ideally, your appointment scheduler should provide a sharing link, integrate with social media platforms and messaging channels, and have website embed functions.

Payment Processing

One of the simplest ways to grow your revenue is to set up an easy online payment system. 

The best appointment scheduling software empowers you to automate payments alongside bookings so your customers can use a credit card or merchant website like Paypal to pay you quickly and easily. 

To reduce financial and time losses, you can have customers pay at the point of sale before the appointment kicks off.

Reminder Settings

Life gets busy, and so do people. Your customers will most likely have other things besides your meeting on their minds. That’s why you should send a reminder ahead of your meeting time to minimize the number of no-shows and emergency rescheduling.

This can be a hassle if you have to send follow-up messages every time you get booked manually. 

The best appointment scheduling software automates reminders, so your meeting attendees are always aware of their appointment time and date beforehand. 

Best Appointment Scheduling Software

  1. Appointment.com
  2. Calendar.com
  3. HubSpot Meetings
  4. Appointy
  5. Acuity Scheduling
  6. Calendly
  7. Chili Piper

Based on several appointment scheduling software reviews and features we analyzed, we’ve rounded up seven of the best appointment scheduling software you can use for your business. 

While the functions and pricing of these app schedulers vary depending on the businesses they support, your choice ultimately depends on your budget, business type, online booking needs, and marketing strategy.  

Here’s the breakdown of the seven best appointment scheduling software:

1. Appointment

Appointment.com is one of the best appointment scheduling software you’ll find online. This scheduler has been satisfying the appointment needs of various business types since 1999. 

The best part of Appointment.com’s software is that you don’t need a website or to install the app or sign any contracts before you start booking clients. 

So, whether you own a coaching business, health club, or tanning salon, Appointment.com has an appointment solution tailored to your unique requirements.

With Appointment.com, customers new and old can book an appointment with you whenever they want, be it day or night. They can also cancel and reschedule appointments themselves. 

An advantage of using Appointment.com so your customers can book appointments on their own is that it allows you to grow your customer base cost-effectively. 

Key features of Appointment.com:

  • Fast set up in minutes
  • Appointment book and scheduler
  • Full-fledged customization options
  • Gift cards and a tracking system
  • Syncs with calendars like Outlook, Google Calendar, and iCal
  • Appointment reminders and waitlists
  • Multiple locations, departments, and categories management
  • SSL encryption for customer transactions
  • Powerful API that allows for smooth integration with other systems
  • Extensive business analytics
  • Supports payments through PayPal
  • Compatible with any device
  • Free coaching call

Best appointment scheduling software for: Small businesses, both service providers and product sellers.

Price: Free 30-day trial. Plans start at $29/month (pay-as-you-go, monthly, and yearly plans available).

2. Calendar.com

Calendar

Calendar.com is a low-cost option among the best appointment scheduling software. It’s an effective bookable calendar and time management solution for solopreneurs and small teams.

Calender.com is an AI digital calendar that syncs across several devices that empowers you to plan bookings, events, time, and scheduling changes in a single dashboard view quickly and easily.

Key features of Calendar.com:

  • Lets you know when other Calendar users are available and create events around their availability
  • Analytics so you know how you spend your time
  • Support for teams
  • AI-powered — the software learns your schedule and customizes your experience over time
  • Supports Gmail, Office 365, and Outlook
  • Web embedding with white labeling
  • More than 2,000 app integrations with Zapier
  • Access to 24/7 support from the help center
  • Automated email notifications
  • Scheduling time slots
  • Shared and sub-calendars
  • Excellent user interface 
  • Available for mobile devices on the Google Play and Apple app stores 

Best appointment scheduling software for: Freelancers and small businesses looking for an effective, low-budget scheduling solution.

Price: Free (with limited features). Premium plans start at $6/month when billed annually. 

`3. HubSpot Meetings

HubSpot Meetings is a free scheduling tool that has what you need to take your hands off manual appointment scheduling. It’s completely free and one of the best appointment scheduling software you can use for your business.

HubSpot Meetings’ scheduling app empowers you to add form fields to your meeting page to collect important contact details, such as names, email addresses, and phone numbers. It’s an all-in-one field service management app that captures lead and customer data for future marketing outreach.

HubSpot Meetings integrates directly with HubSpot’s free CRM software and automatically creates records for new contacts so you can monitor and manage your appointments. You can also automatically log call recordings directly to your CRM.

Key features of HubSpot Meetings:

  • Syncs to Google Calendar and Office 365
  • Unlimited bookings
  • Round-robin meeting links that connect you or your sales rep to your prospects
  • Group meeting availability
  • Support for custom domains
  • Direct meeting scheduling
  • Video conferencing software integrations
  • Automated follow-ups
  • Automatic integration with HubSpot CRM

Best appointment scheduling software for: Businesses (small, medium, or enterprise) looking for a free, reliable appointment scheduling solution.

Price: Free 

4. Appointy

Appointy

Appointy is the best appointment scheduling software for you if you own a brick-and-mortar business. It makes it a breeze for companies with physical stores — in any industry — to book appointments while adhering to any applicable social distancing guidelines.

Whether you want to schedule appointments, resources, workshops, classes, events, or tours, Appointy will fulfill scheduling demands with its custom-made features.

Key features of Appointy:

  • Multi-channel bookings on platforms such as your website, Facebook, and Instagram
  • Group scheduling 
  • Zapier integration
  • Integrates with multiple payment apps, including Square, PayPal, and Authorize.net
  • Automatic reminders
  • Syncs with personal and work calendars, such as Google Calendar, iCal, and Outlook 
  • Integrates with video conferencing apps
  • Fair usage policy limit of 2,000 appointments a day
  • Unique subdomain

Best appointment scheduling software for: Brick-and-mortar business owners looking for an appointment solution that adheres to social distancing regulations.

Price: Free (with limited features). Premium plans start at $19.99/month when billed annually.

5. Acuity Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling, owned by Squarespace, takes out the stress and delays of manual appointment scheduling. It is another one of the best appointment scheduling software because it lets you book appointments with clients in a way that allows them to see your real-time availability. This scheduling app also empowers you to send customized follow-ups.

Key features of Acuity Scheduling:

  • Accepts payments through Stripe, Square, and Paypal
  • Integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and GoToMeeting
  • Integrates with 2,000+ other apps through Zapier
  • Syncs with Google Calendar, iCloud, Outlook, Exchange, and Office 365
  • Lets you offer coupons and discount vouchers
  • Optional support for client tips 
  • HIPAA-compliant for top-notch privacy
  • Integrates with Google Analytics
  • Integrates with QuickBooks and Freshbooks for invoicing and accounting

Best appointment scheduling software for: Businesses that want scheduling customization that fits their branding.

Price: Free 7-day trial. Plans start at $14/month when billed annually.

6. Calendly

Calendly

Calendly is one of the best appointment scheduling software that empowers you to connect your calendar and book unlimited meetings.

With Calendly, simply set up your schedule and automation, share your link, get booked, and it will automatically send out email notifications and reminders to clients who book with you.

Key features of Calendly:

  • Automates reminders and follow-ups
  • Automatic “thank you” notes
  • Connects to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and GoToMeeting
  • Unlimited appointment and one-off meetings
  • Custom branded pages
  • Payment processes with Stripe and Paypal (Pro and Enterprise plans only) 
  • Webhooks automatically send updates to connected apps
  • Custom email and SMS notifications
  • Connects to Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Intercom
  • Tracks with Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics
  • Connects to Google Calendar, Office 365, Outlook, and iCloud
  • Available on both web and mobile apps (iOS and Android)

Best appointment scheduling software for: Individuals, small teams, and enterprises looking for low-cost customization and advanced features.

Price: Free (with limited features). Premium plans start at $8/month when billed annually.

7. Chili Piper

Chili Piper

Chili Piper is an effective scheduler designed to help B2B brands book meetings in one click and send automatic updates to their CRMs. It is one of the best appointment scheduling software that eliminates manual tasks and makes bookings and rescheduling easy. It also enables you to schedule multi-person meetings and hold conversations with ready leads in real-time.

With Chili Piper, when you send emails to clients, instead of adding a link to a landing page where they look through your calendar, you can add buttons for them to book meetings with a single click.

Key features of Chill Piper:

  • Instant web form scheduling
  • One-click booking
  • Flexible round-robin scheduling
  • Unlimited event types
  • Calendar integrations with Google Calendar, Office 365, and Outlook
  • Handoff meetings
  • Automated emails, email signatures, and SMS reminders
  • Automatic lead routing to CRM
  • Embeds within website
  • Group meetings coordinated using multiple calendars
  • Instant Booker plugin to schedule appointments from your sales tools
  • Tracks meetings, no shows, reschedules, and cancellations in your CRM
  • Team meeting templates and reminders

Best appointment scheduling software for: B2B brands and companies looking to schedule multi-person meetings at once.

Price: Free (with limited features). Premium plans start at $15 per user per month when billed annually (Instant Booker package).

Final Thoughts: The 7 Best Appointment Scheduling Software

As a solopreneur, small team, or large enterprise looking to book more customers and expand your business, you need an appointment scheduler to sharpen your functionality.

While manual appointment scheduling can cause you to burn out, lose customers, create errors, and ultimately lose your vibe, online scheduling software is the virtual assistant you need to book more clients with ease.

If you’re not using an online appointment scheduler, choose the one that suits your business and scheduling needs from our list of the seven best appointment scheduling software.

Ready to book more clients quickly and efficiently? Try Appointment free for 30 days.

5 Potential Barriers to Automated Appointment-Making

By | Appointment | No Comments
5 Potential Barriers to Automated Appointment-Making

Automated scheduling makes life for appointment-based businesses so much easier. However, that may not be the case for all your clients. There are some potential accessibility barriers that every business must be aware of, especially when moving most of their operations to an online platform.

The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990 to help eliminate everyday discrimination against people with disabilities. This includes barriers to employment, schooling, and working with businesses. The internet has helped a lot of people with disabilities accomplish great things, but there are still struggles to overcome. Businesses should take the following factors into account as a strong first step toward making online scheduling available to all:

1. Visibility

The most common disability you’ll come across when operating online is visual impairments. There a variety of different issues that may affect your customers, each with its own required solutions:

Low Vision

There are lots of factors that can contribute to low vision, from cataracts and astigmatism to simple aging of the body. Individuals with low vision will struggle with small bodies of text, complex fonts, and poor spacing between words. Minor tweaks to your website and online appointment software, as well as enabling text enlargement as a feature, will accommodate their needs.

Some of your customers may be legally blind, rendering all the text and images on your website inaccessible to them. These individuals typically rely on screen readers to navigate the internet, getting all their information from sound. Read through your appointment process and see how each heading and set of instructions sounds in your head. If everything flows smoothly, you should be in the clear. 

Color Blindness

The average person can clearly distinguish different colors. Those who suffer from color blindness, though, lack such perception. This can be a challenge for them in many aspects of life, including working through websites that rely on color signals for navigation.

For example, red is a common color used to indicate an error in a form field that’s needed to finalize an appointment. Red can be a tricky color for many color blind people to identify, causing them to miss the details that require their attention. Using textures or symbols alongside colors will help direct them just as well as any other customer. 

Light Sensitivity

Some people are really sensitive to light, which can make it difficult for them to navigate your website if it includes bright colors. Many apps include a “dark mode” setting for this very purpose. Replacing white with black is a simple tactic that can make all the difference for those with high light sensitivity. 

You might think that adjusting the brightness on a device is enough, but don’t count on it. When looking to comply with ADA regulations, go above and beyond to meet the needs of every customer you serve. 

2. Hearing Impairments

While the internet is considered to be a primarily visual medium, there are certain aspects that only function with an auditory component. You might not realize that you’re alienating those with hearing impairments until you revisit your website with a fresh perspective. 

Does your website have a video that’s used to explain how your appointment software works? If you do, make sure that those with hearing impairments receive equal direction. Enable closed captioning or provide a transcript of the video so that all the information can be read as well as heard.

3. Dyslexia

Contrary to popular belief, dyslexia is not a visual problem. It’s considered a language-based learning disability that makes reading and writing a challenge. People with dyslexia are just as smart as anyone else. However, their brains have a harder time connecting letters and words together when reading things like your appointment booking portal.

Simple fonts such as Ariel are easier to process. Avoid using italics if possible, as this can cause letters to run together or seem foreign. In addition, videos and images can guide those with dyslexia through your appointment booking software if you make them an option. 

4. Motor Function

Motor skill disabilities pose another potential obstacle to online appointment booking. Trying to operate a sensitive mouse or trackpad can be frustrating for customers with even minor struggles with motor functions. Your job as a business is to make website navigation and appointment booking as easy as possible for everyone.

This demographic normally gets by through keyboard commands rather than a trackpad or touchy mouse. Make sure customers can navigate through your appointment booking software by using arrow keys and shortcuts. Even customers with perfect motor skills will appreciate having several options for website navigation. 

5. Sensory and Memory Issues

Ever experienced a sensory overload? When there’s too much going on in your vicinity, it’s practically impossible to focus. People with sensory processing issues can experience such sensory overload all too easily. If your online booking software is too loud and busy, it can be too overwhelming for these individuals to schedule appointments online.

There are also those with short-term memory problems who will struggle with a long and complicated booking process. Take time to evaluate how your online booking software can be simplified to cater to both of these types of customers, as well as anyone else who might simply be in a hurry. 

There are many unique disabilities and hardships that each of your customers push through on a daily basis. Get to know them so that you can serve them better, both through your online appointment software and your in-house service. You’ll feel a greater sense of satisfaction knowing that no customer will be turned away or feel discouraged when interacting with your business.

6 Strategies for Encouraging Online Appointment-Making

By | Appointment | No Comments
6 Strategies for Encouraging Online Appointment-Making

As hard as it might be to believe, not everyone has a smartphone — or wants one. You’ll even have some customers without reliable internet service. These customers will be the most difficult ones to transition to online appointment software when it’s implemented by your business.

Customers without good home internet are unlikely to hike to the local library to make their appointments. Customers without a smartphone aren’t going to buy one just because you have fancy new software. So how can businesses upgrade their systems and retain these customers instead of cutting them off?

All these people need is a little persuasion and some tender care from your business to move them online. Try out one of these six strategies to get all of your customers hooked into online appointment software:

1. Show and Tell

Customers who stay away from technology likely do so because they don’t understand it. Since they’re so comfortable booking appointments over the phone, why would they want to change a perfectly good system? If it’s not broken, they say, don’t fix it.

What these customers need is for someone to walk them through the steps of online appointment setting. Once they see how easy and convenient it is to book online, they won’t be as hesitant to make the switch. 

Before a customer leaves, have an employee set up their next appointment with them. Show them how to log in to your company website or customer portal. Take each step methodically so customers have a chance to ask any questions they have about the process. 

2. Reach Them Where You Can

While the customers you are trying to reach might not be online, there are other ways you can reach them to get them there. Your usual strategies for getting customers to book online appointments via social media and email will need to be replaced with something more old school.

Start by addressing customers face-to-face. Talk to them on-site about switching to online booking and address their problems then and there. For some customers, this might not just be your best opportunity, but your only one. 

For your more immovable customers, you can use snail mail with printed links to your booking website to pique their curiosity. Also change up your voicemail message to include information about online booking. That way, customers who always call in might get the hint that online booking is the better choice. 

3. Favor the Techy

Now, this tip in no way suggests that you discriminate against your tech-averse clientele. However, offering small rewards to those who book online will incentivize the rest of your customers to follow suit. 

For starters, make it known that the first appointment customers book online comes with a special discount, perhaps even as much as 50%. The first online booking is the hardest one to get, so it’s worth the significant price slash in order to transition more customers in the long run.

Online bookings can also have more lenient cancellation policies, better rewards programs, or more options when selecting time slots. Choose one or multiple benefits like these, and you’ll have no problem getting customers to move to your online platform. 

4. Develop a Relationship

From personal experience, you’ll probably agree that it’s much easier to convince someone to try something new if you have a long-standing relationship with them. Wouldn’t you rather try a new electronic device recommended to you by a friend instead of being told why you should buy it by a salesman?

If you have a strong relationship with your regular customers, you’ll be able to more easily sway them to try online appointment booking. Since they trust you and your service, they’ll be more likely to oblige in order to continue doing business with you. New customers or those you can’t differentiate from the rest may well head over to a different business instead.

5. Partner With Other Businesses

You wouldn’t be a business owner if you didn’t do whatever it takes to attract and retain customers. Sometimes that means partnering with other businesses to leverage each other’s strengths. In this case, consider running a promotion with businesses that can get your customers plugged in.

Got customers who haven’t jumped on the smartphone train yet? Hook them up with a special deal with the cell phone store down the street. Use the promotion as a way to talk about how one of the many things customers can use a smartphone for is to book their appointments online.

You can also do this with internet service or any other customer need another business can fulfill. You’ll benefit by getting more customers looped into your online appointment system, and other companies will appreciate the business you send their way. 

6. Continue to Improve the Appointment Process

Customers need to be assured that your transition to online appointment software is a long-term commitment that’s worth buying into. To make certain that online booking is more than just a fad, look for ways to make continual improvements to the process.

Stay on top of your website’s loading speed so visitors don’t get discouraged. Review your site’s layout to make sure resources and booking pages are easy to find. Also ensure that your online system is compatible with every device your customers might use. You don’t want to deter Apple users because you’re only optimized for Android.

In all honesty, individuals who don’t adapt to the times are the ones who are really missing out. Make sure your customers aren’t among them by using online appointment software to create a better user experience for them inside and outside of your business. 

Apply ‘Forensic Tactics’ to Appointment No-Shows

By | Appointment | No Comments
Apply ‘Forensic Tactics’ to Appointment No-Shows

You likely associate forensics with your favorite crime show. A technician will scour a crime scene in search of clues to direct detectives toward the perpetrator. While this is the primary function of forensics, you can use your own investigative skills to solve your appointment mysteries.

Fortunately, the only crime your customers have committed is not showing up to an appointment they booked. No-shows are expensive for businesses, as time slots suddenly become empty, and opportunity cost drives down revenue. To keep no-shows to a minimum, call on your inner sleuth.

Look for Evidence Left Behind

Evidence makes life in forensics a lot easier. Anything that provides a tangible clue will be infinitely better than any guesswork used to fill in the blanks. 

What evidence can you find left by customers who failed to show at their appointments? Was it the fact that they didn’t prepay? Did they ignore reminder messages? Look for signs that may indicate why a no-show happened and what you can do to prevent a recurrence. 

Interview Eyewitnesses

A lot of information about a crime scene can be given by an eyewitness. Someone who witnessed the event can shine a lot of light on a situation that can’t be obtained through even the most in-depth observation. For your appointment-based business, the people you should interview are your customers. They can provide the insight you need to determine why no-shows are occurring and how to put an end to them. 

Survey your customers about their appointment experience. From their responses, you might discover that your late policy is too strict. If your late cancellation fee is nearly as punitive as your fee for no-shows, customers may feel inclined to skip appointments entirely rather than pay the fee and face your disapproval. 

An even better source are the perpetrators themselves. Draft up a message you can send to no-shows to inquire about their absence. Make sure you word things delicately so as not to sound accusing. Rather, let customers know that you’re asking about their experience so you can serve them better in the future. 

Take It to the Lab

Most forensic discoveries occur in a lab, not on site. In a controlled location, forensic scientists can dig deep into the evidence they recovered and use additional time and resources to make conclusions. 

For your business, you can set up your own lab to look at appointment data. Online appointment software will do the trick. It will track key data for all your appointments, including what percentage of appointments result in no-shows and which days and time slots have more no-shows than the rest. 

Data is worthless if it’s not put to use. Focus on the metrics that will help you cut down on no-shows. The information you receive should be used in marketing strategies and customer service strategies to try to keep no-shows to a minimum. 

Look for Patterns

An experienced forensic technician will know what to look for after being on the job for several years. Patterns form across similar situations, providing knowledge and experience to be applied in the future. 

What patterns can you identify with your appointment no-shows? Are they more common with a certain demographic? Do no-shows occur on weekdays more than weekends? Once you find a pattern, you’ll be able to better identify problems and come up with solutions. 

The data you pull will make identifying patterns even easier. For example, data might tell you that the majority of your no-shows occur on Fridays. This may tell you that your customers’ plans change more often toward the end of the week, and you need to do a better job of reminding these customers about their appointments in advance. 

Run Tests

A forensic scientist will use chemicals to test for certain substances left at a crime scene. This helps identify various factors at play or even uncover traces of DNA. While you won’t be performing any DNA tests on your customers, you should be running some tests to see what helps reduce your no-show rates. 

Let’s say you’ve pinpointed the problem as a lack of reminders being sent to your customers. Run some tests to see how they respond when you send multiple reminder messages; perhaps one the day before and another an hour before their appointment time. Keep recording appointment data to see whether this change affects your no-show rates. 

Try to change only one variable at a time when running tests. If you change too many things at once, you won’t know what factor changed your customers’ behavior. Sending reminders, changing your late policy, and adjusting appointment times may all be good things to do, but you shouldn’t do them all at once. 

Keep Records

Once a case is closed, paperwork needs to be filed recording all the important details. This isn’t just done for legal reasons; teams can look back on old cases to learn from similar situations in the past. After you’ve cleared one appointment no-show hurdle, keep a record of what you did so you can refer back to it next time. 

Not all situations will respond as well to the same treatment, but it’s good to have some background information to guide first steps. If your reminder messages are still being sent out and no-show rates are climbing, perhaps there’s something in your previous plan that could be implemented differently this time around. The better records you keep, the less research you’ll have to do each time. 

You might not become the world’s greatest detective, but you’ll certainly be doing your business a favor by using forensic tactics to keep appointment no-shows to a minimum. Follow these steps diligently, and you’re sure to make an impact on your no-show rates.

Approaching Walk-Ins as an Appointment-Based Business

By | Appointment | No Comments
Approaching Walk-Ins as an Appointment-Based Business

How does your appointment-based business work to meet the needs of your customers? Do you have an appointment-only policy, or do you handle a mixture of walk-ins and appointments daily?

Many businesses operate by scheduling appointments, such as healthcare providers, spas, salons, and veterinary clinics, to name a few. Having an appointment serves both the client and the business in several ways. First, the client knows when they come into the business, they have a specific time to be seen. It can also make several things within the business structure easier to manage. Understanding things such as staffing, planning out your day, and revenue expectations are just a few examples. 

The problem with an appointment-only approach is that it does not account for late customers and no-shows. That last one is no small matter: one study found that up to 42% of customers skip their appointments.

By allowing for walk-ins, your business can fill the gaps in your schedule that those missed appointments leave behind. You can also add revenue, gain new customers, and create future brand loyalty. 

Although walk-ins can offer great benefits, they can also interrupt what your business had planned for the day. If you don’t manage them properly, walk-ins can result in longer wait times and poor customer service. So how do you manage time slots for walk-ins within your appointment-based business?

The following six tips can help you approach walk-ins in the best possible way:

1. Use Online Appointment Software

Walk-ins wouldn’t be a problem if you accepted all clients on a first-come, first-served basis. But you’re an appointment-based business. By and large, you want to know when people intend to arrive and when you’ll be serving them. You can look into Calendly or the Calendly alternatives for more calendar functionality if you can’t find it with an appointment software. 

To determine how to work in walk-ins among existing appointments, you need to know when those appointments are scheduled. When you utilize online appointment software, you’ll be able to see all your appointments at a glance. You can also update your appointment calendar in real time so that if a spot opens up, you’ll know right away. That will enable you to give a walk-in the “Sure, I can fit you in at ___ p.m.” response they want to hear.

2. Leverage Social Media

When you get a last-minute appointment cancellation, that empty slot on your calendar could mean lost revenue. That is, unless you hop on your social channels and let your followers know, pronto, that there’s an opening they can take advantage of.

Social media lets you reach your customers in real time at no cost to you. You can also include booking buttons on your social media pages to encourage your fans to book an appointment via your online scheduling software. Maybe a customer can’t capitalize on the opening you just posted on Facebook, but seeing that post — and having ready access to your scheduling system — could prompt them to book an appointment at a time that works for you both.

3.  Track Your Walk-ins

One way to begin formulating a plan for handling your walk-ins is to keep tabs on them. Taking note of how many clients arrive late or are no-shows is helpful in scheduling, as is tracking walk-ins. Recording the average number of walk-ins and their timing over the last week or month lets you see patterns you can plan for. 

To account for these walk-ins, you might leave a few extra spots in your schedule. And don’t just track these numbers once. Continuing to audit your schedule for various appointment types will also reveal patterns at different times of year.

4. Set Off Some Time for Appointment Walk-ins

Depending on your type of business, having a dedicated block of time for walk-ins can be key. Take what you’ve learned from tracking your appointment types to look for trends. Are there days or hours where there are often gaps in appointments? If so, try to promote walk-ins during these times to boost your business during slower periods. 

You might add “Walk-ins welcome: Tuesdays, 2-4 p.m.” to your sidewalk sign. Or you could use your website and social media channels to advertise times when you accept walk-ins. As noted, social media is a great place to promote open time slots. It’s free to post, and those who follow you tend to be customers already.

5. Account for Staffing

Depending on your business, the walk-ins you see will vary. A nail salon or quick haircut salon will likely see more walk-ins than, say, a dentist or attorney. Relatively low-cost services in areas with high foot traffic tend to bring more walk-ins. 

Because you’ve tracked your walk-ins, you’ll have an idea of how many time slots to hold open for impromptu customers. Knowing the number of slots will, in turn, let you know how many employees you will need to accommodate them. 

Some salons might dedicate newer employees for walk-ins while established employees take the clients with appointments. This can help accommodate walk-ins while retaining loyal customers. It also gives a new stylist the chance to meet potential repeat customers who will request them in the future.

6. Disclose Wait Times to Walk-ins

It’s important to treat walk-ins the same as you would customers with appointments. If you want them to have a positive experience and return, don’t treat them like an inconvenience. Encourage them to stay, but be honest about potential wait times. 

If you are currently booked solid, let them down gently. Apologize that you can’t take them right away and show them the next available times in your calendar. If they would like to make an appointment for one of those time slots, help them do that.

Following these tips can help your business begin to manage tricky walk-ins. As with any aspect of business, results tend to flow in the areas you spend time focusing on. By tracking your walk-in customers and leveraging technology to help integrate walk-ins and appointments, you’ll soon have a better handle on your scheduling logistics. And that will let you get back to what you love to do — serving your customers.

Common Obstacles for Appointment Booking and How to Tear Them Down

By | Appointment | No Comments
Common Obstacles for Appointment Booking and How to Tear Them Down

There are appointment booking obstacles in the way of every business and new customers. Identifying these obstacles and breaking them down is how companies are able to promote growth and deliver quality products and services to consumers. 

Appointment-based businesses have their own unique struggles when it comes to getting new customers to book their first appointment. Below are some of the most common obstacles for customers when it comes to appointment booking. 

Commitment Issues

Committing to an appointment time is a struggle for some people. Maybe they have an unpredictable schedule, so making a commitment seems impossible. 

It could also be that your available openings do not fit their schedule. Perhaps you need to specify one night a week that you’ll accept evening appointments or open at 8 a.m. each day to catch customers before they start their workday. Figuring out how to accommodate customers’ varying schedules will help you fill up your bookings and keep everybody happy.

Committing to your business is also a factor that may give customers pause. Booking an appointment isn’t like entering a grocery store or eating at a restaurant. The appointment process requires more information to be given out and a relationship to be established. If a customer isn’t ready to make that commitment to your business, they won’t be booking an appointment any time soon. 

How do you help customers get over their commitment issues? Maybe you need to improve your online rating or focus on getting more referrals. Word-of-mouth advertising is a powerful tool when it comes to convincing customers to give your business a try. Trust is already established through a friend or family member who speaks well of your services. 

Poor Accessibility

If you’re not using online appointment software yet, you’re missing out. A big deterrent for new customers is an obstacle-strewn path to booking an appointment. If customers have to find a time to call in — risking an unanswered phone or being put on hold for an indefinite period of time — they’re more likely to try their luck as a walk-in (if that).

Online appointment software resolves that issue easily. Online bookings are open 24/7, meaning a customer can book an appointment on their own at their convenience. They can even look at daily availability on the off chance they find an extra hour in their day when they can sneak in an appointment. 

Of course, you should also continue to accept phone bookings for those who prefer to call in. It may be that a portion of your customer base doesn’t have reliable internet access, or your online system could go down temporarily. The more appointment-booking options you offer, the more accessible your business will be.

No Perceived Need

If you’re being super accommodating with those walk-ins, chances are you’re hurting your appointment rates. Many customers won’t bother booking an appointment if they know they can just show up and get in during the next opening. However, too many walk-ins create a lot of variables that can slow down your operations and cause unneeded chaos.

If you want your customers to book appointments — and thus make your operations run more smoothly — limit the number of walk-ins you accept each day. Set clear guidelines so customers understand why they need to book an appointment. 

Your no-show policy will also impact appointment bookings for your business. If you have a lax no-show policy, you might get more bookings, but cancellations will frequently ruin your day. In addition, a high no-show rate might encourage even more walk-ins hoping to land a spot left behind by a last-minute cancellation. 

Poor Strategy

This obstacle is put up by businesses themselves. If you have a poor appointment strategy, you’re just making life more difficult for yourself. To encourage more appointment bookings, you’ll need to revamp your approach to meet customers where they are.

Start with your online presence. Do your website and social media pages clearly state information about appointment booking? Using technology in this way makes it clear to customers where they can book an appointment and how easy the process is. 

Next, take a look at your customer acquisition plan. Are you targeting the right audience? Is your marketing reaching them in the right place? Find the sweet spot with your acquisition strategy, and you’ll find more customers who are ready to book appointments with you. 

Faulty People Skills

The common denominator with appointment bookings across industries is human interaction. Even if a customer books their appointment online, they’ll come into contact with a receptionist or other employee at some point. If they’re treated poorly, you’ll never hear from them again.

Make sure your entire team is well-trained in customer service skills and habits. This is just as important for your mechanics and hair stylists as it is for representatives that handle phone calls. Answering one question the wrong way may cost your business an appointment booking. 

If you don’t know where to start with your customer service training, add a survey to the messages customers receive upon completion of their appointment. Their feedback will highlight exactly where your team members excel and where they need to improve. This will help you better train for customer service skills as well as gauge customer needs in other areas. 

Analyze your business and look for cracks in its foundation. What needs to be improved to make appointment booking easier and more desirable for customers? Once you’ve pinpointed those needs and resolved glaring issues, there will be fewer hurdles for customers to jump on their way to your waiting room. 

How Social Media Can Land You More Appointments

By | Appointment | No Comments
How Social Media Can Land You More Appointments

With social media, the world is, quite literally, at our fingertips. With just a few taps, we can connect with friends, plan our next meal, or get inspired. 

While social media is entertaining, it can also be a powerful tool for business. If used with intention, social media can help you foster client engagement and even increase the number of appointment clients book with your business. Here’s how you can use your social media channels to help you land more appointments.

Post Consistently 

Today, having a social media presence for your business is non-negotiable. It’s also one of the most cost-effective marketing tactics around. Creating content and posting it regularly gets you in front of potential customers and builds trust. You can create standard posts, host a livestream, and add posts to stories that will live for 24 hours.

The problem is, posting engaging content can be a challenge, especially if you don’t have anything planned prior to sitting down to update your pages. Fortunately, this last-minute stress can be eliminated through the use of a social media calendar. By leveraging a social media calendar, you can create relevant content ahead of time and schedule posts all year long, holidays included.

A social media calendar will enable you to post consistently and build credibility for your brand. Not only that, but you’ll make your own life easier and will have more time to focus on your clients.  

Engage With Your Clients 

Sharing photos on your social media stories can help boost engagement, and you can make those stories interactive. With many social media stories, you can include polls for your followers to participate in. Instagram, for example, allows you to include polls, quizzes, and Q&A forms. These features offer a great way to get feedback from clients or answer any questions they have about their appointments. 

Many social platforms want you to go beyond the regular photo posts, and you should use this to your advantage. Your social media content needs to be engaging and memorable. One way to achieve this is by posting video content on your social pages. Try a how-to video, an animation, or even an interview with a thought leader from your industry. And when potential clients see videos of the services your business offers, they will be more likely to book with you. 

With appointment-based businesses, cancellations are inevitable. If you have a last-minute opening, social media is good for that, too. Announce any available time slots on social media so they can still be used productively.

Brag About Your Business

Don’t be shy when it comes to sharing your successes on social media. People want to have confidence that they’re making the right choice when it comes to spending their money and precious hours. So that means it’s time to boast and be bragged on. 

Most consumers make their purchasing decisions based on the reviews they read and the recommendations they hear from people in their circle. Including reviews and testimonials from past clients on your social pages can help future ones feel more secure in their decision to choose you over competitors. 

You can also share photos and videos of your satisfied clients. This will help your future customers imagine themselves in your current fans’ shoes. Including real clients will bring a touch of humanity and emotion to your brand. This makes it easier for clients, old and new, to support your business. It will remind them that they’re interacting with real people and not a robot that posts every day at noon. 

Make Booking Appointments Easy for You and the Client

Let’s face it, with technology, we’ve been spoiled. With just a couple taps, we can have whatever we want (almost) whenever we want it. When clients are ready to book an appointment after scrolling through your pages, they want to schedule theirs quickly.

You can share links to your website to book appointments or include a booking button on your social media pages. Adding this button is a snap, and you can even connect it to an automated program that moves the request along to staff for approval. This functionality will help you strike while the iron is hot, turning audience interest in your social content into more appointments in your (digital) schedule book. 

When you plan your next campaign to bring in more appointment bookings, don’t forget about social media. You can interact with your clients and answer their burning questions. You can provide updates in real time. And you can share the stories of your current clients and bring your brand to life.

Social media is a powerful business tool, and it’s only growing. If you plan your content with intention, you can use social media as an inexpensive marketing tool to land your business even more appointments.

Spring Cleaning Tips for Appointment-Based Businesses

By | Appointment | No Comments
Spring Cleaning Tips for Appointment-Based Businesses

Spring has sprung, and with blooming flowers and singing birds comes the yearly rallying cry of spring cleaning. Something about those first rays of sun melting the snow motivates people to deep clean after their winter hibernation. While this is a beneficial practice for your home, spring cleaning should occur in your business as well. 

Whether it’s taking a broom and mop to the floor or cleaning up your operations, a good spring cleaning will keep your business running on all cylinders. The following ideas can help you direct your spring cleaning efforts to where they’ll be most effective:

Tune Up Your Website

When was the last time you looked at your website layout? There might not be anything inherently wrong with it, but it’s always good to tune up your online presence from time to time. After all, as an appointment-based business, you’ll get a lot of traffic to your website from customers looking to book appointments online.

Start by testing your loading speeds. If your website is taking longer to load as time goes by, focus your spring cleaning on backend solutions geared toward faster speeds. Also pay attention to how your website performs on mobile devices and determine whether a change in design is needed to recapture the attention of customers. 

Amp Up Your Business Marketing

While you’re online, take a look at your marketing strategy. Is it accomplishing what you set out to do? Is your ROI acceptable? Taking the time to reevaluate your marketing campaigns is always a good idea.

Even if your marketing efforts are exceeding your every expectation, you should be preparing your next approach. Rarely does a single marketing campaign survive without eventually going stale. A new strategy will attract customers whom your original plan didn’t appeal to and will keep your content fresh.

Your social media pages will need the most upkeep. Consumers are heavily influenced by what they see on social media, with over half of them using social media to research new products. Take a moment to review your profiles and newsfeeds and look for ways to improve your brand image. A change of wording or a new profile picture is a small touch but can make all the difference. 

Have Your Business Go Paperless

As useful as it can be, paper is easily wasted and can slow down your operations significantly. How many times have you dug through stacks of paper looking for a particular document only to come up empty-handed (or, if you did find it, taking twice as long as you had expected to do so)? Fine-tune your operations by going paperless.

Converting your paper-based system to digital platforms is much easier than it might sound. Cloud storage will take care of those paper stacks cluttering your back office, and online document management software will make it even easier for customers to fill out and sign paperwork associated with their visits. Other software applications will help with project management, communication, and any other requirement your business needs to fulfill. 

Clean Up Working Space

What’s spring cleaning without some actual tidying of your business? Now’s the perfect time to deep clean your workspace before the warmer weather and looser COVID restrictions bring customers pouring in. They’ll appreciate the clean and tidy atmosphere just as much as you will.

Start by cleaning everything visible to the customer. Bathrooms should be spotless, reception desks immaculate, and waiting rooms prepped for royalty. A clean business makes a good first impression and sets the tone for a successful appointment. 

Renovations are more expensive, but they are also worth considering. Long-term customers will especially appreciate the improvements you make to your business, such as a state-of-the-art waiting room, increasing the odds that they’ll continue to be loyal to your brand.

Organize Your Bookkeeping

Your business handles hundreds, if not thousands, of transactions per week. Bookkeeping is the active processing, tracking, and recording of these transactions. Bookkeeping is how invoices are sent and received, employee pay is monitored, and financial reports are generated. 

With so much information to keep track of, bookkeeping can be a daunting process. If the task is getting beyond your staff’s capabilities, consider outsourcing it to an accounting service or implementing accounting software like QuickBooks or Sage. Clear all your outstanding balances and check for discrepancies in your accounts. The more accurate and efficient your bookkeeping is, the better your business’s financials will be. 

Evaluate Your Goals

Your goals could probably use some dusting off as well. Are you on track to meet your annual goals? Have you been keeping pace with weekly and monthly goals? If your goal-setting has been lacking these past few months, now’s your chance to pivot in the right direction.

If your annual goals seem too lofty after the first quarter of the year, reevaluate them to make them more feasible. Let’s say your original goal was to triple your customer base by the end of the year. If progress has seemed slow, consider changing that to double. 

Then, establish weekly and monthly goals that will help you reach your new target. You might set a goal of getting five customer referrals per week or increasing walk-in appointments by 25% per month. By creating weekly and monthly goals that break down your year-end goal, you can use them as stepping-stones to get there.

Many hands make light work, so get your team together and dive into your business’s spring cleaning. Once you’re finished, make a plan to stay on top of all the areas you just tackled. Next spring, it will be much less of a project to rejuvenate your business.

Appointment Deals Your Business Should Consider

By | Appointment | No Comments
Appointment Deals Your Business Should Consider

Every business, even appointment-based businesses, runs a deal at some point to bring in new customers and to give back to their loyal following. Special events renew interest in your brand and can tip the scales in your favor when customers are on the fence. 

Appointment-based businesses will approach deals differently than other industries. While promotions will have to be implemented in different ways, they can still be just as effective at building your customer base and giving revenue a short-term boost. Here are some ideas you can use for your next appointment deal:

Online Booking Promotions

If you’re trying to move toward online appointment booking software, run a promotion that rewards the first customers to adopt it. Even if you explain all the benefits of online appointment booking, you’ll have some customers who don’t like change and will be hesitant to make the switch. Offer them extra reward points, discounts, and flexibility during the first weeks of implementing the new software, and they’ll be more willing to jump on board. 

The real benefits will be enjoyed by your business. Online appointment booking is faster and more reliable than traditional booking. You can easily keep track of appointments, quickly make adjustments, and conveniently access customer information. Your customers can book appointments whenever they please and can even prepay online. 

Loyalty Punch Card

When extending deals to your customers, your primary goal should be to incentivize them to return as often as possible. While new faces are great, it costs five times as much to acquire customers as it does to keep them around. For that reason, many businesses across a variety of industries provide loyalty punch cards to their current fans.

The concept of a punch card is simple. Each time a customer leaves an appointment, they get a punch or a mark on their card indicating they’ve completed a visit. After a certain number of appointments — 10 is typically the magic number — they qualify for a reward. This could be a free appointment or any other incentive that would get customers to pursue the end goal. After their punch card is used up, they can start a new cycle.

First-Time Bonus

Just because getting new customers is more expensive than retaining existing ones doesn’t mean you should stop trying. A healthy business continues to gain new customers as others fade away and need to be replaced. To incentivize new customers to commit to their first appointment, offer them a small bonus.

A first-time appointment bonus should be big enough that it lures in new customers, but not so large that it devalues future appointments they would potentially book. A $10 cut in price or a free additional service will work just fine. A free service — an eyebrow wax with a haircut, say — will also give new customers a taste of what they can enjoy at future appointments. This will act as another incentive to get them to return. 

Bulk Discounts

Another technique to keep customers coming back again and again is to offer a discount for bookings made in bulk. Let’s say you run a chiropractic office, and a regular adjustment costs $60. Over the course of 10 appointments, the bill would run to $600. With a bulk discount, customers can pay for all 10 appointments up front, lowering their total cost by a set amount. A 10% bulk discount, for example, would result in a cost of only $540.

This program benefits your regular customers who were already prepared to pay the full fee for all their appointments. Additionally, it may sway some new customers in your direction as they weigh their options before committing to a business. The promise of a substantial discount on future services when compared to the competition will win over many.

You might be wondering whether this large of a discount will hack away at your revenue. After all, a 10% price reduction can add up over time, especially if multiple customers take advantage of it. What you need to consider is the fact that you’re filling up several appointments in advance. Appointments at a 10% discount still pay more than an empty appointment slot. 

Referral Bonus

Referrals are a powerful asset for your business. A Neilsen study found that more than 80% of U.S. consumers actively seek recommendations before making a purchase. They’ll ask friends and family or poll their social media following to get insight on the brands and businesses those individuals prefer before making a decision for themselves. 

With so many potential customers already looking for recommendations, your task is to get your current loyalists to bring those customers to you. A referral program will incentivize your fans to be more vocal about their decision to do business with you. They’ll talk with their friends and family and guide them to you, receiving a bonus for their efforts.

What should your customers receive for making referrals? For many, additional perks at their own appointments will be a welcome reward. Otherwise, gift cards, lottery tickets, and other prizes may do the trick. You can even hold a referral contest where the winner gets their next five appointments for free or dinner at the hot new restaurant in town. 

Offering the right deals to your customers will help your business grow and flourish — it will also make your customers happy. Don’t be afraid to cycle through these types of deals every once in a while to keep things fresh. New deals and promotions will continue to pique interest in your company year-round. 

Register Now & Get a 30 Day Trial Register Now