According to the Statista report, in 2018, 1.8 billion people all over the world purchased goods and services online. While entrepreneurs use dedicated e-stores for selling goods, selling services online requires looking for additional solutions and creativity. Even more so if you want to automate the process and maximize the number of appointment bookings.
It doesn’t matter whether your company is an experienced market player or if it is just stepping on the path, the following tips will help you boost appointment booking on your website.
Why Does Increasing of Appointment Booking Matter?
Online appointment booking is a good tool for driving your company’s revenue. It allows businessmen to give the reins to the customers, allowing them to make decisions and purchase services at any convenient time no matter what their location is.
As a result, you can automate the whole booking process, decrease the administration’s duties, and focus more effort on providing the clients with the best service. According to the recent study, every sector benefits from using online booking systems and will continue to do so in the future.
How to Increase the Appointment Booking?
Appointment booking has plenty of perks; however, the portion of people who benefit from them is relatively small. The main reasons are the inconvenience of a booking system for site administrators, the lack of intuitive design for users, and the associated technical issues. In some cases, website owners do not see a powerful impact of scheduling automation on the bottom line of the company, because they do not make users fully aware of such an option.
Luckily, there are several tips on how to maximize the effectiveness of appointment booking systems to have clients pouring through your doors. Keep them in mind to increase the revenue while gaining more free time.
1. Make your booking option and CTA stands out
Make the booking option clearly visible on the website. A good idea is to add a button of contrasting colors to the navigation line so that the option is visible no matter what page the user navigates to. It is also recommended to add the booking block more than once on the page. For example, you may place one in the side widget, in the pop-up, in the footer, and even split your blog post with an invitation to schedule a call or a visit.
Research what CTAs work best for your industry and your audience and browse some effective examples. Trying to be creative, remember the number one task is to make clients convert. For that purpose, they should clearly understand what you want them to do. If you are not sure about the impact, keep your CTAs clear and simple like “Book now” to rent on the safe side.
2. Reward self-service
Taking bookings by phone or email is more expensive as it requires having a responsible specialist. Also, it takes time that both customers and the company’s employees can spend on other important things. You can improve appointment booking by rewarding the clients who use the online system instead of traditional methods. For example, you can use coupons that are gaining more and more popularity among the customers who deal with unfamiliar companies for the first time.
3. Keep the information current
Make sure that you provide clients with up-to-date information. Always check that such significant data as location, working hours, and other details are clear and updated. Otherwise, the selling process will be broken.
If you use automation to process scheduling, make sure you use a reliable tool that will ensure flawless distribution of workload and occupancy. Envision any additional information users might need when completing a booking online like payment options or a cancelation policy. Include a relevant FAQ section or the link to it close to the booking form.
4. Let the users know about the online booking feature
Do not expect the clients to find out about the possibility to book an appointment on their own. Tell them that your company accepts booking online by sharing news via your blog or any social media sites that you use (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). This is the quickest way to reach your existing clients.
Keep reminding your customers about the feature in your regular email campaigns. Besides, you can make your business cards and flyers contain your booking page URL or a QR code that will help customers easily land in the right place.
5. Use a reliable booking system
A good booking system doesn’t only allow clients to book an appointment but also provides them with all the important details of the upcoming meeting. Some great features to look for include email automation and synchronization with a person’s calendar.
Bugs, the lack of confirmation message, failure to synchronize the data can make your business face ineffectiveness, losses, and even serious reputation risks. For example, your schedule may display as busy preventing users from making registration even if you welcome new sign-ins, or vice versa, accept two appointments for the same time. Thankfully, an up-to-date booking plugin for WordPress can carry out significant tasks without bringing any risks.
The Last Word
Online appointment booking makes connecting with the necessary specialists more convenient. Sports centers, schools, beauty salons, private clinics, and other organizations can benefit from it even more if they use the above steps to increase appointment booking on their websites.
This option is less time-consuming and may prevent the business from making mistakes that lead to losses and a worsening of the company’s reputation. Finally, boosting appointment booking via the website will help receive significant revenue as well as a more stable customer flow.
