The effectiveness of online booking tools for SMBs

Out with the old and in with the new

The idea of scheduling all your appointments on large excel sheets or overfilled diaries is a thing of the past. Small businesses are now gradually switching to digital calendars and online appointment scheduling and in turn improving their business output as customers have the ability to make appointments online, anywhere, anytime.

To get to this stage, it is recommended to follow the next 7 steps for success as a small business.

7 methods for a small business to boost adoption of online booking

1. Promotion, Promotion, Promotion

When committing your business to a CRM / Online booking system you need to “go big or go home”. Meaning, you need to promote the fact that you are now accepting new appointments through online booking.

This should be advertised anywhere your customer has most interaction within your business. For example, good places to advertise would be next to your cashier, shop window, SMS and Email or even on your voicemail message (this is a particularly high conversion, especially for SMBs).

As you are now taking online bookings with the ambition to switch completely to online bookings ONLY, it is of utmost importance to place a Call-To-Action on your website displaying “book now” at the very least.

More methods would be advertising on Google Maps, Apple Maps, review sites and of course Social Media! Remember have fun with it, don’t scare customers but encourage them that booking online is simple and more convenient for both parties.

2. Collect Reviews

It is without a doubt that reviews are by far one of the most powerful triggers for potential customers to chose your service over your competitors. Publishing the reviews, then sharing them on social media is recommended to drive more unique traffic.

However, you must be true to your word and place legit reviews on your site from actual customers so people don’t become suspicious about fake or unsubstantiated reviews.

There are plenty of review sites you can be listed in, which offer a badge for your page. Below are some of my favourite review sites:

3. Use and Obey the power of Booking widgets

For any small business a booking widget is your best friend. If you place the booking widget in the correct places, either on your website or social media you are guaranteed to reel in your customers.

In terms of offline communications, using a QR code is a good way to entice customers to use an online booking platform.

4. Take Advantage of Appointment Reminders

A booked appointment, gives you the necessary right to start communication with the customer. As well as sending out EMAIL and SMS reminders for the addressed appointment. You now have them in the pipeline for additional email marketing campaigns for example, special offers or discounts.

Any additional benefits can involve sending out thank you emails for customers that have booked online, this of course can all be automated and implemented with no stress, but very high customer satisfaction.

5. Unforgettable Design

It is imperative to show off to your customers, and let them enjoy an exciting visual appearance once coming across your website. Most people (unless they know what they want) need to be persuaded to book online. Therefore, you need to build trust on your website. Examples could include: displaying attractive pictures of your team, keeping the brand colors neutral or consistent use of your brand logo.

Believe it or not, but using the right visuals gives the customer confidence in their decision to book online or not.

6. Integrating Online Booking with Email Marketing

Once the customer has submitted their information into your system, you can now take advantage on specific parameters. For example, you can target your email marketing towards Birthdays, Bank Holidays, Mothers and Fathers day, past experiences and so on.

With these different parameters in mind, it is more likely that you will have repeat visits from your customers, because they now know you are thinking of them and are aware of the important dates.

7. Offer Customers a Booking App

In this modern day, we keep hearing of an increasing number of small businesses introducing an App for their product or service. This is simply because, more people are searching for apps from businesses that they want to (or already) know more about. It is almost as imperative to have an app as well as website.

When making an online booking you want to be able to access the booking platform anywhere, anytime. With mobile apps it is becoming the best way to drive online bookings as customers are more willing to act spontaneous when the information is at their fingertips.

In a Nutshell

With the growing power of digital, small businesses must evolve and adapt to new processes in order to attract their target audience. SMBs that use an online booking or appointment scheduling system should take note of the sections mentioned above to maximize on customer satisfaction and user experience.

If you would like to know additional information regarding this topic, check out the Shore Blog.

Thanks to Andy Penfold for sharing their advice and opinions in this post. Andy writes on Topics related to CRM and Digital Marketing. He has a strong passion for the growing age of digital but still hunting for new exciting topics to learn about. Now working for Shore as Content Manager, he also has past experience working for the likes of OnPage.org and Sixt rent a car.