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Appointment Scheduling Software Buyer's Guide
Table of Contents
- What is the definition of appointment scheduling?
- What is Appointment Scheduling Software?
- How does appointment scheduling software work?
- Before choosing the best Appointment Scheduling Software
- How to choose the best Appointment Scheduling Software?
- Questions to ask a vendor when buying Best Appointment Scheduling
- What are the features of Appointment Scheduling Software?
- What Are the Benefits of Appointment Scheduling Software?
- What are the latest trends?
- How Much Does an Appointment Scheduling Software Cost?
- Conclusion
Appointment Scheduling Software is a tool that helps companies to better manage their bookings and appointments without any hassle. Nearly 67% of the subscribers belong to the corporate world and 22% belong to the healthcare niche. It facilitates service providers to access more customers and enables users to check the real-time availability of servicemen and book them as per their availability.
What is the definition of appointment scheduling?
As the term suggests, appointment scheduling refers to a systematized arrangement to meet someone at a specific time on a particular day. Your appointment schedules will contain an organized record of all your meetings in one place. It will also ensure that no meetings clash with one another, helping you invest your time wisely.
What is Appointment Scheduling Software?
Online appointment scheduling software is used to automate scheduling tasks such as fixing appointments and meetings, integrating calendars, and autoprocessing payment systems to save productive hours of business for other purposes. The application is also capable of Revenue processing and reminding of the upcoming appointments which makes it even more sought-after by B2B companies. For a service-based business, especially companies involving large-scale scheduling on a daily basis, managing all the above-discussed processes manually can be a daunting affair resulting in more waste of time and resources.
How does appointment scheduling software work?
Before understanding how it works, it is important to know the types of this application. To be specific, Appointment Scheduling Software can be categorized into two types – Desktop applications and Web-based Systems (SaaS). The former type application comes with a license and is installed on the user’s hardware whereas the latter is a web-based system provided by a third party who is also called as SaaS (Software as a Service) providers. Desktop applications are solely managed by end users for their installation, support, and upgrades. Thus, they do not offer any web interference. On the other hand, Web-based applications enable customers to schedule and book appointments online powered by a hosted software solution provider.
One of the major uses of this kind of software is to schedule and route in-house service appointments which are used by mobile servicemen. Such type of application is called Customer Application Management (CAM) Software. This software uses proprietary algorithms to understand the work pattern of mobile employees in order to accurately schedule the appointment of a service technician. The algorithm helps to reduce the average waiting period up to 60 minutes.
Before choosing the best Appointment Scheduling Software
Before choosing a good online appointment scheduling software it is important to know some of the most important basics which can help you in choosing a good ASS.
» Properly research and explore before installing any particular ASS app: Boring or not, a piece of good knowledge on the app can prove to be very beneficial to know and understand its working procedure, target group, and its authenticity.
» Targeting your audience: Learning and understanding your target group behavior is as important as choosing an ASS app to work for your company. As this streamlines the tedious affair of getting to know what the audience needs and developing appointments on the basis to attract a lot more opportunities.
» Before a complete yes, always say might be: It means an individual or a company should always go for the trial test first to see whether the ASS app is actually meeting the requirements or just delivering a set of fake cheesy lines.
How to choose the best Appointment Scheduling Software?
Constant development and update of these appointments scheduling software are helping many corporate sectors, businesses, companies, and individuals firms to boost their working efficiency. However, not all software is the same. Some may have featured those you may not require and vice versa. In this regard, careful observation and comparison are necessary for sure. Once everything is clear then only one should move ahead. Before selecting the ideal appointment booking software, you need to set out some essential planning.
› Look for the popular lists:
There is no doubt that these days, you can easily get answers to your queries over the internet in no time. Why not use the same here? See what people are suggesting you on your social media forums and if possible make a little research on your own. Fetch the lists starting with “Top 10”, and “A list of trending “ in this niche.
› Select as per your business niche:
Certain applications are meant for small and medium-size business farms whereas some target only big farms only. If you are a solo entrepreneur, let’s say a freelancing photographer, then look for the applications targeting individual users.
› Monthly budget:
Budget planning is one of the primary things to do before finalizing any software. That makes your vision clear on choosing the right software over the rest. For instance, you have a small organization of size 50 and are newly entering into the market. Clearly, there is no need for choosing mega plans that come with high subscription charges. Just get into a small plan, see how it works for you and then consider switching to big plans periodically.
› The number of user access:
Giving too many accesses to the software may put you in a state of jeopardizing. Decide beforehand the maximum number of responsible employees to run and manage the application. It will help you choose the ideal package.
› Any possibility of email marketing:
In most Appointment Scheduling Software, Email marketing comes as an added feature and hence increases the monthly subscription by nearly 20%. In case you are only interested in scheduling and managing meetings, it is better to cut-off the name of the software that costs high because of providing Email Marketing as a compulsory feature.
Although there will be many self-proclaimed best appointment booking software, one has to be wise enough to differentiate between the fake and legitimate ones through careful observations. Before zeroing upon any appointment booking software, it is recommended to visit various websites, compare applications on various platforms or take recommendations from close allies to save time and money.
Questions to ask a vendor when buying Best Appointment Scheduling
1. Does the product meet all of my business requirements?
2. What level of customization do you offer?
3. Will I be able to integrate it with the other systems already in use at our organization?
4. How would you rate the software for its user-friendliness?
5. What is the frequency of the software fixes and new releases?
6. How long would it take for us to get started post-deployment?
7. Is it an appointment scheduling software or an appointment requesting system?
8. Does the software include the booking process? How smooth is it?
9. Does the product offer reminders and updates?
10. Which all calendars can be synced with this software?
11. Is there the functionality to print, export and view the appointments?
12. Would the software let me set up specific hours for appointment booking?
13. Is the product platform-independent?
14. What standards do you follow for the security and privacy of the data? Who gets the data ownership?
15. Does the software provide real-time updates on any changes or staff availability?
16. Does the system offer role-based access control?
17. What kind of payment mechanism does it include?
18. What kind of support and maintenance is provided?
19. Are the measures for expected downtime in place? What are they?
20. What level of authentication is offered for all users?
What are the features of Appointment Scheduling Software?
1. Online Appointment Scheduling:
The one-click appointment booking feature allows customers to schedule a booking without having to get off from the couch. The appointment scheduling software offers booking, rescheduling and prompts follow up within a matter of seconds. Some best appointment scheduling even comes with smart features which automatically connect with desktops, mobile and tablets, making it easier for you and the customer to keep track of their appointment.
2. Online calendar integration:
Some online appointment scheduling software allows users to integrate google calendar or other third party calendar apps in the system. The detail of the booking automatically syncs with the online calendar, helping the users to remind them of their scheduled appointment.
3. Prompt Reminder:
Your clients will get a reminder of their upcoming appointments on their devices in the form of email and SMS. You can set the time to send an auto reminder to your clients. Some apps allow you to customize the content of the reminders which you are intended to send to your customers.
4. An interactive scheduling experience:
Your customers won’t have to pick a phone and wait for a booking confirmation while using an appointment booking app. Apart from booking, the app allows the customers to reschedule or cancel their reservation within a specified time limit. The app instantly denies an appointment if a customer tries to book an already booked appointment. It also allows customers to put themselves on a waiting list, ensuring successful scheduling of appointments when an existing scheduled customer cancels or reschedules an appointment.
5. Tailor-made schedule for customer and employees:
If a customer wants to book his/her appointment with a particular person within a business organization, then an appointment scheduling app can help with that. It enables a customer to view the calendar of all the professionals within an organization and decide when to book their appointment.
You can access the calendars of your employees, and look at their work schedule. With that, you can arrange the work time of your employees as per the requirement.
6. Lucrative marketing features:
It lets you attract your clients by offering them lucrative offers for a limited period. The deal created by you will be displayed on the devices of the clients, drawing them toward an appointment.
7. Easy payment procedure:
An appointment scheduling software is integrated with all electronic payment offering a sense of trust to customers while scheduling a booking.
What Are the Benefits of Appointment Scheduling Software?
› Hassle-free and customized scheduling:
A survey suggests that a large number of customers prefer an online schedule system as it offers more flexibility and convenience. Your customers don’t have to go through any phone calls, nor have your employees flip through the appointment book to squeeze a customer. Now, your clients can book an appointment as per their convenience and time with just one click. With a fully scheduled appointment, your employees don’t have to wait during the regular business hours. The comfort this appointment scheduling application offers will cast a significant impact on your business as well. Everyone loves simple and transparent procedures which will help you further to retain and attract more customers in the future.
› Escalate revenue generation:
The prolonged process of manual scheduling will be an issue anymore. Appointment scheduling software comes with an auto appointment fixing feature. Without the burdensome task of manual programming, your employees will have more time on hand, which they can utilize to attend to the customer even better.
Now onwards, no customer of yours will complain about the lack of proper attention at the helpdesk. Your employees can work on upscaling their customer services and create a warm environment to retain your valuable clients.
The appointment booking software easily integrates with all payment gateway. Hence, your clients can pay the appointment fee without having to leave the website.
› Eliminates appointment errors:
With the burden to attend a client along with fixing schedules of others, often hampers the productivity of your employees. A mistake as simple as double booking can result in escalating frustration among customers. With this appointment booking software, it will be your customers who will be scheduling and rescheduling their appointment. Upon a scheduled booking, your employees can call the customer and ensure a successful appointment booking.
› Ensure high customer visits:
The online appointment scheduling software helps to track all the upcoming appointments, and effectively remind the customers about their meetings. The appointment confirmation feature of the app ensures the arrival of a client. Maximum customers’ turn-up helps in maintaining a smooth time management planning for your employees.
What are the latest trends?
With a constant rise in the popularity level, appointment scheduling software is witnessing some change of taste from customers in terms of the following.
› More Mobiles, Fewer PCs:
A great portion of the total subscribers are mobile users and they are preferring a mobile-optimized software over the other.
› Safari over Internet Explore:
Due to a constant increase in the number of iPhone and iPad users, Safari browser compatible Appointment Scheduling Software is in more demand than the non-compatible ones.
› Freebies are reducing:
The number of free software is decreasing day by day. The companies are shifting their focus from customer acquisition to customer retention by offering free support.
How Much Does an Appointment Scheduling Software Cost?
The cost of appointment booking software starts from as low as $10/month, and the price extends up to $499/month. From the amount, we can make it clear that apps with more integration cost you more. The necessary integrations which you must look at in an appointment scheduling software are a calendar, analytics, mail integration, constant contact, text reminder, event scheduling, and customer payment.
There are other add-ons you might require such as email marketing, staff filters, location staff sharing, multiple access, etc. The price of the monthly billing of an appointment scheduling app depends upon the number of users the app can handle, the threshold of appointments it can make, including several other advanced features. There are applications that offer a free version for solo users while there are some others who offer a limited period free trial and then charge on a per month basis. Think and analyze well before investing money into any appointment scheduling software. Most importantly, it can work seamlessly without any technical glitches.
Conclusion
The recent study shows that the global market for service-based business is going to increase by 10% in the next two years. Needless to say, it will demand more attention to cater for managing meetings and using appointment scheduling software. In this regard, adoption and full utilization of an ideal online appointment scheduling software will not only help service providers to minimize losses from scheduling errors but also will boost company review with increased customer satisfaction.