An online booking system has more than one benefit that can set your business on the road to success with streamlined workflows. It aids you in managing your time, appointments, and ensures that there are no crossovers or mix-ups. Whether you own a hairdresser salon, restaurant, or an AirBnB, a booking system is more of a necessity, rather than luxury.
This blog post will offer you an insight into the detailed features and benefits of a booking system and will certainly establish it as a means to a well-working, successful business.
Automated scheduling process
As one of the most vital features, an online booking system automates your scheduling process. But what does that look like in practice? Instead of dealing with constant enquiries and trying to schedule appointments in your notebook, the system offers you a much easier approach: letting clients choose from free appointments, and informing you what they have booked.
However, if you’d rather manually approve bookings, the booking system allows you to set a default status: pending or approved.
Customised system
A booking system is not one-size-fits-all. You need to be able to customise it; add different categories of services, and multiple staff members with unique pricing, working schedule, and personal information. Moreover, minimum notice periods, cancellation terms, and scheduling limits are needed to achieve a well-working system. Luckily, an online booking system allows all that – and Social Ant is more than happy to set it up for you.
In addition, we can create a personalised look to make the booking system on-brand and tailored to your taste, including colour codes and the integration of Zoom & Google Meet video conferencing.
Easy management and usage
To assist customers and business owners alike, online booking systems work excellent on any device and can be managed on-the-go. And, of course, the admin area is user-friendly which allows you to manage appointments, make changes, and insert holidays as needed; even if you are not that tech-savvy.
In addition, booking systems offer secure and flexible payments, a calendar of upcoming appointments, and a printed copy of the schedule to ease day-to-day business life.
But, the booking system’s ease of use does not end at the click of the ‘book’ button. Staff and customers can easily access booking information and make cancellations, send/receive automatic email and SMS notifications, and users can even sync staff member’s calendars with their Google Calendars!
Built-in analytics
What might not be an expected benefit of an online booking system is the built-in analytics it offers to users. The system contains comprehensive reports of booking history, payment statistics, and internal notes.
This feature not only benefits the everyday management of business but allows the forecasting of expected income. Not to mention, the analysis of booking history helps you to see the peak and off-peak times of your business so you can take your holiday without causing a monetary setback for your business.
Add-ons
While these features don’t come with the basic booking system, depending on your business, they could be a real life-saver.
For instance, you can choose add-ons that let you ask custom questions from your clients on the booking form, allow group bookings, service extras, clients’ calendar syncs, the set of custom working hours different from the default ones, or even a user account for clients.
However, if you didn’t find the feature that you need in the mentioned add-ons, maybe these ones will be of greater value for you: recurring appointments, deposit and PayPal payments, coupons, or automated, personalised invoices.
Whether you already have a booking system that might not quite agree with your needs or you have been trying to organise appointments on colourful post it notes filling your desk, a well-set-up online booking system can really take the stress out of managing your business.
We can help set up your online booking system – get in touch.