Whether you’re launching a fitness studio, scheduling recruitment interviews, or running a multi-location language school, you can use your online booking system to grow your business. Getting your business up and running online isn’t always easy, but it is necessary in a world where most customers will be looking for your services on the web. An online booking system will help you automate and manage your appointment scheduling, grow your customer base and connect with them on social media.
A common problem for local entrepreneurs is having a growing customer base and trying to manage bookings by phone or email, or worse with a game of text tennis. Worse still are those times when miscommunication leaves you and your customer with a meeting booked at different times.
Here are three ways that you can use your online booking system to grow your business.
Enable self-scheduling to make it easy for your customers
Allowing your customers to book appointments themselves makes it much easier for them to do business with you. As online appointment schedules become increasingly popular, customers are finding it quicker and easier to self-schedule. You don’t have to be available and in turn benefit from freeing up your time to focus on doing business, rather than doing admin.
As your business grows, and you extend your staff increase, you also benefit from already having an online booking system in process. It is then easy to add additional members to take appointments and manage your schedule.
Manage your database to maximize your business
Your email list is a powerful marketing tool, and you can use your online booking system to grow and manage your customer database. Requiring your customers to create an account with their name and email address as part of the booking process is a simple step.
You can then use these details to create a mailing list so that you can actively engage with customers. After all, winning customer loyalty is all about good communication. For example, you can download your database to Excel to view when customers last logged in or made a booking. A quick email to those who haven’t been active could prompt them to make a new booking.
Link your online booking system to social media
Having a strong social media presence is an equally important step in growing your business. Tools such as Facebook and Twitter and your website allow you to reach your customers, share promotions and encourage repeat business. It is easy to integrate your online schedule to each of these touchpoints, without needing any experience in web development at all.
You can seamlessly connect your online booking system to these touchpoints in a personal way by adding your own logo, branding and color schemes. It may take a little extra effort, but the result is that customers will feel at home when using your online booking system. It will also help build rapport with your customers and create a professional look and feel for your business.
You may be surprised at how quickly your business will grow and how much time you will have to focus more on your services. An online booking system will not only ensure a user-friendly experience for your customers, but will also make your life a lot easier, too. Soon you will no longer be scrambling to figure out when both you and your customer are free, having to manually build your mailing list, or trying to keep up with customers on disconnected social media.
If you have any further questions about creating your own online booking system, please do not hesitate to reach out.