customer retention Archives - Appointment - Online Appointment Scheduling Software

5 Ways Appointment-Based Businesses Can Delight Their Customers

By Gunjan Saini | Business Tips, Time Management | No Comments

Customers put a fair amount of thought into booking an appointment. They likely have several businesses to choose from, and each entails various parameters to weigh against each other. How far out is availability? What is the pricing like? What kinds of policies do they need to be aware of?

Each appointment-based business will operate in a slightly different way. While it’s important to stand out, there are a few things that most customers will always love. If your business can accomplish them, you’ll be in a good place.

1. Reduce wait times.

One of the biggest complaints people have regarding appointment-based businesses is the wait times. Showing up on schedule to your appointment only to be told to wait is admittedly disappointing. While sometimes this occurs due to unforeseen circumstances, customers love and notice when a business is making an effort to keep wait times short.

Think of strategies for reducing wait times for your appointments. Maybe you need to go as far as hiring more employees so you can help more customers. Perhaps booking fewer appointments in a single day will make schedules more manageable.

A lot of the changes you make might take place behind the scenes. Customers won’t immediately know what you’re accomplishing, but they will begin to notice when wait times are regularly reduced. They will then tell their friends they can breeze right in to appointments at your business, and you’ll have to expand your capacity once again!

2. Use reminders effectively.

Any good appointment-based business will implement a reminder system for their customers. No-show appointments are costly, and late arrivals are difficult to work with. As a result, sending reminders helps keep both situations to a minimum.

However, businesses need to be careful about how they use reminders. Too many notifications can feel overbearing or just plain annoying. Reminders sent either too early or at the last minute aren’t very helpful. You need to find a happy medium.

You’ll see a lot of success by letting customers set their own appointment reminders through your scheduling system. Let them choose the frequency at which they receive reminder messages, as well as the means by which those reminders are sent. They will create the most effective reminder system for themselves, and your appointment software will do the rest.

3. Enable self-service.

Even if you have the nicest employees in town, some customers just want to stay in their own lane. They want to book an appointment, get in, and get out with as little human interaction as possible. These customers love when appointment-based businesses enable self-service solutions.

An example of customer self-service is simply being able to book your own appointment online. You don’t have to speak with a representative, and you can take as much time as you need when choosing a time slot. You can even schedule an appointment outside of normal business hours with no employees on the clock.

Self-service isn’t just limited to the introverts. Being able to take matters into one’s own hands appeals to those who like to feel in control of their environment. They can customize their appointment experience by choosing the self-service features that fit their needs best.

4. Create a comfortable environment.

The more comfortable a person feels at an appointment, the better their experience tends to be. Think of a medical clinic as an example. If patients feel relaxed in waiting areas and in exam rooms, their doctor’s appointments will go a lot more smoothly.

This is an important aspect for every type of appointment-based business. Patients who feel comfortable are more likely to open up to their therapist. Likewise, kids will be more cooperative with the dentist if the waiting room helps them to feel welcome. Customers waiting for their oil change won’t mind longer wait times if they have snacks and reading material at their disposal.

There are a lot of different ways you can make your business space more comfortable. Update your furniture, play some light music, use bright colors when decorating. Anything from a hot chocolate machine to a TV in the waiting room can help make the entire appointment experience more enjoyable.

5. Show flexibility.

Appointments won’t always go as smoothly as you would like each day. Consequently, it’s important to remember that bumps in the road affect your customers just as much as they affect your business. If you work on being flexible and empathetic when handling unplanned situations, you’ll draw your customers in rather than push them away.

Let’s say you have a cancellation policy that prevents customers from canceling an appointment fee-free without 24 hours’ worth of notice. A customer calls you in the morning stating that their car isn’t starting, so they are unable to make it to their appointment that day. You could choose to stick to your policy and charge them, or you can be understanding of their plight.

Now, not every customer will be truthful when calling to cancel an appointment. However, by being flexible and willing to work with your clients, you’ll develop a greater trust with everyone. Loyal customers will continue to come back even if they once had to cancel a booking at the last minute.

Customers of appointment-based businesses want what they want. However, if you’re able to meet such expectations, you’ll see a lot of appointment bookings and a lot of success in your near future.

Featured Image Credit: by Max Vakhtbovych; Pexels; Thanks!

5 Ways to Show Your Customers You Appreciate Them

By Gunjan Saini | Business Tips | No Comments

A business that fails to appreciate its customers won’t get very far. As a result, part of your company’s strategy needs to involve focusing on members of your customer base and making them feel important. Likewise, if they sense your business doesn’t care about them or value them, they’ll move on to others that do.

The watchword here is appreciation. You want your customers and prospects to feel valued for their patronage. When they do, they will lift your business up with increased revenue and positive word of mouth. Here are a few ways you can make that happen.

1. Develop a rewards program.

The customers you really want to show your appreciation to are the ones that continue to show up time and time again. Returning customers provide a lot of value and consistency to your business. As a result, a rewards program makes it worth their while to stick around, while also drawing in new customers to take part in your program.

What typically makes a rewards program desirable is the ability to save a significant amount of money. Points earned with each appointment can make subsequent appointments cost a lot less. The more appointments a customer books, the lower their average cost becomes.

However, you don’t have to develop a complicated rewards program with points and tiers in order to express appreciation to your customers. Even a small rewards program like a punch card or a referral bonus can be positive. Just make sure that whatever benefits you offer make sense and are worth pursuing.

2. Provide early access.

If you’re preparing a brand-new product or service, consider giving your loyal customers a sneak peek before releasing it to the public. This could be a perk that’s included in your membership rewards program. Likewise, even opening early access a day or two for long-term customers can help them feel extra appreciated by your business.

Let’s say you operate a beauty salon. Your team has decided it wants to take advantage of the hottest hair-coloring trends and expand your line of services.

Instead of just adding balayage and “curl-lights” to your list of offerings, consider taking this opportunity to ask your regular customers to try the services first. Consequently, they’ll love this unique opportunity and will be more reliable sources on whether or not the results were what you hoped for.

3. Get personal.

Businesses that develop sincere relationships with their customers can more easily show their appreciation. As a result, this is one of the biggest positives that come with running an appointment-based business. You often see the same faces repeatedly, giving you many opportunities to learn customers’ names and stories.

Developing a personal relationship is all part of a good customer service strategy. Likewise, speaking with customers and making them feel welcome enhances their appointment experience. A positive experience makes it much more likely that they book a return visit.

Do things like address customers by name and ask how their family members are doing. Hair stylists are known for being good at this. It enables them to build relationships with clients and helps those clients feel more comfortable during an appointment.

4. Listen to feedback.

Another way to treat customers like human beings and not like metrics is to solicit their feedback and genuinely listen to it. Consequently, customers whose voices are heard feel appreciated. Plus, customer feedback can actually lead to major improvements in your business.

Look to provide numerous opportunities for customers to leave their feedback. Links can be included at the end of emails and in text reminders for upcoming appointments. Additionally, you can also add a form on your website for feedback and invite guests to leave a review for your business online. The more feedback you can get, the better.

Once the responses start rolling in, put them to good use. Likewise, look for trends in responses that point to positive and negative aspects of your customer experience. Keep the things that receive good marks and work to change the processes that leave something to be desired.

Finally, thank your customers for their feedback. You may even incentivize feedback responses by offering discounts to individuals who share their thoughts.

5. Celebrate special occasions.

When adding new customers to your database, one thing you might ask for is their birthdate. If this intel is something you record, you can celebrate the birthday of each of your customers. Sending a simple birthday message with a discounted appointment voucher or free product coupon can mean a lot to your customers.

Celebrate regular holidays as well. You can put on a trunk-or-treat event for customers and their kids to celebrate Halloween.

The holiday season provides numerous opportunities to give gifts to everyone who walks through your doors. Even smaller commemorations like National Donut Day can make for a special occasion that allows you to give back to your customers.

As you get to know your customers, you can celebrate more special occasions with them. You can offer congratulations for graduations, anniversaries, and work promotions. Likewise, you can even celebrate the anniversary of the first appointment they ever made with your business.

Customers who feel appreciated will return the favor to your business time and time again. As a result, pay attention to their needs and desires, and you’ll rarely go wrong when directing your business.

Featured Image: Antonio Sokic; Pexels.com. Thank you!

5 Ways You Can Handle Customer Issues Smoothly

By Hunter Meine | Business Tips | No Comments

No business is an island. Each company exists only because of its customer base. Without paying customers, even the best products, services, and ideas will go nowhere. How you choose to handle customer issues is of utmost importance.

There are many ways that companies can convince consumers to spend money on their brand. Marketing campaigns and product design are important for that reason. However, many companies fail to focus sufficiently on one of the most important aspects of business: customer service.

How you treat your customers, especially when they have problems and concerns, says a lot about your organization. A positive customer service experience can convert a one-time buyer into a lifelong loyalist. In contrast, a poor customer service experience can permanently drive people away. Here are some processes you can establish to deal with your customers’ issues properly:

1. Provide Thorough Customer Service Training

Your frontline employees will be the people who handle most customer issues. The more training they receive, the better they can handle such issues. By budgeting for and conducting comprehensive customer service training, you set your workers up for success when dealing with difficult situations.

Fortunately, you don’t have to create your own customer service training program. That can be a lot of work to put together and execute, especially while running the other aspects of your business. Look for outside help to get your employees the training they need. There are plenty of qualified third-party training services you can reach out to.

That said, customer service training shouldn’t be a one-and-done event. Continuously remind your team of the importance of customer service. If additional training is needed, take the initiative to provide it in a timely fashion.

2. Solicit Customer Feedback

Try as you might to run a perfect operation, things will inevitably go south from time to time. When a customer has a bad experience — whether it’s an overlong wait or an uneven bang trim — strive to learn from the situation. This will help prevent repeat errors from occurring in the future.

A great way to gain insight into customer issues is to conduct surveys. Make your survey request after the initial problem has been resolved, and preferably via email. The last thing a frustrated customer wants to do is answer survey questions over the phone while trying to get a problem fixed.

Tailor survey questions to get at the root cause of each problem and ways future instances can be avoided. Ask customers what they would have liked to see done differently and try to implement their suggestions. Making positive changes is how you can better deal with similar issues in the future or avoid them entirely.

3. Offer Online Resources

Not all customer issues will occur within the 9-to-5 window. This doesn’t make them any less frustrating for your patrons. While you might not have someone available to help them at that specific moment, you can set up online resources that can provide helpful guidance.

Take chatbots as an example. These little AI-powered assistants sit within your website ready to answer simple questions website visitors might have. While they can only offer preset suggestions and responses, the assistance they provide is better than leaving impatient customers hanging.

Other resources such as an FAQs page or how-to videos can also be quite helpful. These pages are always accessible and may supply the assistance customers need before they place an annoyed phone call.

4. Maintain the Human Connection

Many companies are using automation to speed up a lot of their processes. While efficiency is always desirable, be careful not to lose the important human connection with your customers. Appointment-based businesses that develop relationships with their regulars should be especially mindful of this.

For example, an automated phone system can guide callers through booking an appointment or checking on wait times. This frees up employees from the phone lines so they can take care of in-house issues. However, not all customers can — or want to — navigate an automated system. If you’d like to implement an automated call menu, be sure to give callers the option of speaking with an in-house employee.

All your other automated systems should keep the human connection in mind. There should at least be access to a company representative for times when automation falls short. No automated system is perfect, and even if one was, many customers still prefer human interaction.

5. Stick to Your Policies

Unfortunately, you can’t just give in to every demand when a customer faces a minor inconvenience. Each customer service incident sets a precedent for future interactions. Having policies in place can provide helpful boundaries and protections for both customers and employees when resolving issues.

Take the common 30-day return policy, for example. A customer is entitled to return an item within a month of purchasing it. Exceptions are not made on day 31. This policy protects the employee from having to make difficult judgment calls and clearly tells customers what expectations regarding returns are.

Appointment-based businesses should establish their own firm policies as well. Your business may allow service animals at appointments, for example, but draw the line at regular pets. Some customers may take issue with that, but they should be required to respect the policy you have in place. In this way, you show respect for all those who visit your business.

Keeping customers content is an uphill battle companies fight every day. While it may seem like an endless challenge, the way you approach this will directly reflect on the success of your business. Take proper care of your customers, and they will take care of you in return.

Featured Image: Stefan Lorentz; Pexels.com. Thank you!

5 Ways Your Appointment-Based Business Can Boost Customer Retention

By Jon Bradshaw | Appointment | No Comments

Companies in the U.S. lose $136 billion dollars every year from a lack of customer retention. The worst part is that this switching can be easily avoided. It costs five times as much to acquire new customers as it does to retain them.

Increasing your retention rates just requires a conscious effort to reach out to your customers. The following strategies will help you book more appointments and start to see more familiar faces over time:

Improve the Customer Experience

The obvious way to get customers to keep coming back is to provide them with an experience they won’t forget. Customers will be looking forward to their next visit if you make it more than worth their time.

Take a trip through your customer journey and look for ways to make improvements. You can break down their experience into four parts:

Booking

How easy is it to book an appointment at your establishment? A difficult booking process is sure to cause frustration. Implementing online scheduling software will work out a lot of the kinks that come with appointment bookings, such as miscommunications, forgotten appointment commitments, and long hold times.

Waiting

Reducing wait times for customers will put a big gold star next to your company name. If customers know you can get them in and out, you’ll get customers who are willing to squeeze in an appointment during their lunch break. You’ll also appeal to those pressed for time who simply can’t afford to lose a half-hour in a waiting room. Respect your customers’ time to the best of your ability, and they’ll feel comfortable making a return appointment.

Service

From start to finish, the service you provide is the most important factor when customers decide to make a return or not. When you provide the best haircut, dentistry, massage, manicure, [your service here] in town, your customers will have no cause to stray.

Departure

You might consider this part of the customer journey an inconsequential one, but you’d be wrong. Each time a customer heads out the door is an opportunity to end things on a high note. Ask them about their experience, crack one last joke, and encourage them to book a return appointment on the spot.

How would these steps affect you as a customer of your own business? Putting yourself in your customers’ shoes will enable you to make the right adjustments.

Treat Customers Like Family

Of course, your customer service skills should also be top-notch. When your customers feel like they belong, they’ll have an intrinsic desire to keep coming back. You can accomplish this by treating each one of your customers like family.

Start every customer interaction on the right foot. Address each person by name, and commit to memory the names of your regulars’ kids and/or significant others. Without being intrusive, learn details about your customers’ lives and use the information to develop closer relationships with them.

Offer Return Incentives

Nothing boosts customer retention quite like an enticing incentive. An incentive program gives customers a reason to keep coming back or even increase the rate at which they book appointments. Your business can offer discounts for return appointments or allow customers to book multiple appointments at once for a lower rate.

Membership programs are especially effective at enabling customer retention. Points are accrued through purchases that can be used as credit for additional purchases, discounts, or prizes. Airlines and hotels are leaders in this field; their rewards programs are key to getting travelers to commit to their brand over the many others in their industries.

You can also appeal to other customer desires by making donations to their charity of choice or putting together community outreach efforts. To some customers, sharing values with a brand is the biggest motivating factor for continuing to patronize a business.

Aim for Referrals

Referrals are one of the most effective ways of getting new business. In fact, customers are four times more likely to buy a product or book an appointment when referred to a company by a friend. Why wouldn’t you want more referrals filling up your appointment bookings?

A referral program can be one of the incentives you offer. For every referral that leads to an appointment, customers can earn points, discounts, or other rewards. This creates a chain of customer referrals to keep you busy day in and day out.

Another way to get referrals and maintain customer retention is to continue working on that customer experience. If you constantly exceed the expectations of your customers, they can’t help but tell their family and friends. One last statistic that demonstrates why referrals are worth cultivating: customers who come to your business from a referral have a 37% higher retention rate than customers obtained through other means.

Ask for Feedback

Sometimes the best way to figure out how to increase customer retention is to go directly to the source. Asking for feedback from your customers will give you an inside look on the best and worst aspects of your business. This knowledge will allow you to focus on what’s working and ditch what drives customers away.

Let’s say you get 100 customer responses to a survey on various aspects of your business. There are bound to be a few outliers due to personal preference, so stick with what the majority seems to be saying. For example, if 88 of these customers say wait times are too long, you know that should become your next focus. If the responses are less conclusive, you may need to ask some follow-up questions.

Be sure to calculate your retention rate now so you can see the difference once you start prioritizing retention goals. When you see what drives improved numbers, double down on those positive changes. More and more, you’ll see your customers sticking around for the long haul.