Aug 20, 2020
If your business relies on appointment scheduling, adding the ability for your customers to book appointments online can be a game changer. According to a study by Yodle Insights, 61% of consumers either expect local businesses to offer online booking or think it would set them apart from other local businesses. The benefits of offering an online booking system for appointments goes beyond just meeting customer expectations, though. It can also boost efficiency, reduce no-shows, and lead directly to improved revenue.
1. Book more appointments
The primary benefit of offering online booking is that it will increase your number of appointments, thanks to two factors. First, customers are able book online appointments around the clock, even when your business is closed. Research shows that 40% of customers do indeed book appointments after-hours, so if you don’t have a way for those customers to book appointments online, you’re missing out on their business.
The second factor is that a lot of customers simply don’t like to talk on the phone. In fact, studies show that 42% of people across all ages prefer to book online rather than speak with someone on the phone. This trend is even more pronounced with millennials, with 71% preferring the ability to book appointments from their mobile phone, and 25% claiming they won’t book an appointment at all if they can’t do so online.
2. Reduce strain on staff
Using an appointment booking software solution like SpotOn’s salon tools to facilitate online booking does more than just increase your number of appointments. It also streamlines processes by letting computers do all the hard work when it comes to scheduling appointments. Rather than you or one of your employees being stuck on the phone taking appointments or following up on voicemails, you can now focus on interacting with the customers who are already there for their appointment.
How much time can you expect to save? Studies show that 63% of appointments are booked online, so that means you could cut down the time you spend booking appointments by more than half!
3. Minimize no-shows
Another great benefit of offering online booking is that it can drastically reduce the number of no-shows. A recent study indicated that when a customer books an appointment online and then receives a confirmation message via text or email, the no-show rate drops by 50%.
This is exactly why SpotOn designed our Salon platform with an automated confirmation process that verifies every appointment that’s booked online.
4. Increase the number of add-on services
The fourth major benefit of offering online booking is that it increases the likelihood of customers booking additional services. While no comprehensive study has been done yet to show how much of an increase business owners can expect to see with add-ons, salon owners in particular have been sharing stories and reporting that they are seeing significant gains.
With SpotOn, for example, customers can see a full listing of all the services your business offers when booking their appointment online. While they perhaps only intended to get their hair styled, it’s easy for them to add on an additional shampooing or coloring when they only need to click a box. It’s all about making things easier for both you and your customers.
Ready to streamline your business and accelerate revenue? In addition to the many other benefits of SpotOn’s Salon platform, it includes easy-to-use tools so you can allow your customers to book appointments directly from your website and Facebook business page.
