Whether your business holds internal meetings between teams, schedules external appointments with customers or both, the facts remain the same. It can be difficult to manage appointments without a proper system in place.
Handling last-minute cancellations, rescheduling bookings and sending email invites are some of the many things involved in arranging appointments. We’ll explain the five most common appointment types and how to manage them with BookingLive.
Time slot scheduling is the most popular type of booking made by businesses. This is where a customer is shown a list of available dates and times and picks the slot they prefer. After completing personal details and paying for the appointment, the customer will receive a confirmation email and SMS reminders ahead of the booking.
BookingLive is perfect for time-slot scheduling. It can automate all of the above admin actions for you. The online booking system will update in real-time to avoid double bookings and ensure that every slot can be filled.
Benefits of time-slot scheduling include convenience for customers and control for businesses; they decide which slots are available. A drawback of time-slot scheduling is that if appointments are filling fast, some customers may miss out. On top of this, if a customer is late to their appointment or it takes longer than expected, other bookings in the day are delayed.
As well as taking bookings from customers, a scheduling system can also help businesses organise internal team meetings. It can be hard to make plans when employees work different hours and have other commitments. This proves challenging when you’re an international business with stakeholders working in different time zones.
BookingLive’s calendar management allows you to sync staff calendars to identify the perfect time for a team meeting. BookingLive integrates with major online calendars including Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and Outlook so can adapt to the applications you like to use.
Gone are the days of sending emails back and forth to arrange a meeting. An online booking system has it covered.
If your business runs group cookery classes, yoga sessions, training courses - basically any activity that is enjoyed as a group - an online booking system can help arrange it.
Businesses can tell the booking system how many spaces are available for the event, and the limit on how many spaces one person can secure. When a customer uses the booking portal they can choose how many tickets they want to purchase and can see how many slots are remaining. As this data is automatically updated, customers can see if they need to act fast to secure their place. This perception of scarcity will help businesses to increase bookings and revenue as a result.
Organised, efficient and automated. These things may spring to mind when you hear the word online booking system. So, how would something so structured be able to deal with spontaneous walk-in appointments? Walk-in appointments appear to be a nightmare on the surface, but the scheduling system is prepared for every situation.
BookingLive has a virtual queuing feature so people interested in a last-minute appointment can carry on with their day whilst they queue, rather than sitting in a waiting room. This feature also helps businesses handle spikes in traffic whilst ensuring that every customer is seen.
The virtual queue gives customers all the information they need such as their place in the queue and the estimated time of their appointment. These systems boost efficiency and customer satisfaction.
A lot of appointments take place virtually these days. From internal business meetings to online music lessons and virtual classrooms, if something can be done digitally it will be. Online booking systems release regular updates to keep up with these trends, and BookingLive doesn’t disappoint.
With our Zoom integration, attendees will be sent a meeting link with their booking confirmation. These details will integrate with the calendar so it’s easy to join the appointment. No more back and forth emails asking for a meeting link then scrambling to find it at the time of the appointment; all of the admin is taken care of and organised with customers and employees in mind.
BookingLive offers a leading booking solution to help you manage your appointments. This includes automating admin tasks, sending appointment reminders, integrating with your calendar, using virtual queuing, taking payments, rescheduling and updating cancelled slots in the system and much more. It’s like a personal assistant in your pocket!
We offer our system for SMBs and our enterprise solution for larger organisations taking bookings at scale. If you have any questions, feel free to call 0800 1310 342 or email sales@bookinglive.com. We also offer demos of the system so you can see its full potential.
Handling last-minute cancellations, rescheduling bookings and sending email invites are some of the many things involved in arranging appointments. We’ll explain the five most common appointment types and how to manage them with BookingLive.
1. Time-slot scheduling
Time slot scheduling is the most popular type of booking made by businesses. This is where a customer is shown a list of available dates and times and picks the slot they prefer. After completing personal details and paying for the appointment, the customer will receive a confirmation email and SMS reminders ahead of the booking.
BookingLive is perfect for time-slot scheduling. It can automate all of the above admin actions for you. The online booking system will update in real-time to avoid double bookings and ensure that every slot can be filled.
Benefits of time-slot scheduling include convenience for customers and control for businesses; they decide which slots are available. A drawback of time-slot scheduling is that if appointments are filling fast, some customers may miss out. On top of this, if a customer is late to their appointment or it takes longer than expected, other bookings in the day are delayed.
2. Team meetings
As well as taking bookings from customers, a scheduling system can also help businesses organise internal team meetings. It can be hard to make plans when employees work different hours and have other commitments. This proves challenging when you’re an international business with stakeholders working in different time zones.
BookingLive’s calendar management allows you to sync staff calendars to identify the perfect time for a team meeting. BookingLive integrates with major online calendars including Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and Outlook so can adapt to the applications you like to use.
Gone are the days of sending emails back and forth to arrange a meeting. An online booking system has it covered.
3. Group events
If your business runs group cookery classes, yoga sessions, training courses - basically any activity that is enjoyed as a group - an online booking system can help arrange it.
Businesses can tell the booking system how many spaces are available for the event, and the limit on how many spaces one person can secure. When a customer uses the booking portal they can choose how many tickets they want to purchase and can see how many slots are remaining. As this data is automatically updated, customers can see if they need to act fast to secure their place. This perception of scarcity will help businesses to increase bookings and revenue as a result.
4. Walk-in appointments
Organised, efficient and automated. These things may spring to mind when you hear the word online booking system. So, how would something so structured be able to deal with spontaneous walk-in appointments? Walk-in appointments appear to be a nightmare on the surface, but the scheduling system is prepared for every situation.
BookingLive has a virtual queuing feature so people interested in a last-minute appointment can carry on with their day whilst they queue, rather than sitting in a waiting room. This feature also helps businesses handle spikes in traffic whilst ensuring that every customer is seen.
The virtual queue gives customers all the information they need such as their place in the queue and the estimated time of their appointment. These systems boost efficiency and customer satisfaction.
5. Virtual appointments
A lot of appointments take place virtually these days. From internal business meetings to online music lessons and virtual classrooms, if something can be done digitally it will be. Online booking systems release regular updates to keep up with these trends, and BookingLive doesn’t disappoint.
With our Zoom integration, attendees will be sent a meeting link with their booking confirmation. These details will integrate with the calendar so it’s easy to join the appointment. No more back and forth emails asking for a meeting link then scrambling to find it at the time of the appointment; all of the admin is taken care of and organised with customers and employees in mind.
Get started with BookingLive today
BookingLive offers a leading booking solution to help you manage your appointments. This includes automating admin tasks, sending appointment reminders, integrating with your calendar, using virtual queuing, taking payments, rescheduling and updating cancelled slots in the system and much more. It’s like a personal assistant in your pocket!
We offer our system for SMBs and our enterprise solution for larger organisations taking bookings at scale. If you have any questions, feel free to call 0800 1310 342 or email sales@bookinglive.com. We also offer demos of the system so you can see its full potential.