Online Booking Guide

The Essential Guide to
Online Booking
$

Contact: sales@mytime.com | (888) 423-1944 | MyTime.com/merchants
Contents
04 // OVERVIEW
05 // HOW CONSUMERS BOOK APPOINTMENTS
06 // BENEFITS OF ONLINE SCHEDULING
1 1 // SELECTING THE RIGHT SCHEDULING SOFTWARE
12 // PREPARING FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Many appointment-based businesses
face the same problem. How do you,
as a business owner, effectively
reach the consumers who
increasingly do everything online,
and how do you best take advantage
of online booking technologies to
improve operations?

The Essential Guide to Online Booking
MyTime | www.mytime.com
04
Traditional appointment scheduling by phone incurs
excessive costs, unavoidable missed calls, and potential
customer dissatisfaction. As a business owner, you’ve
probably had your fair share of headaches with
appointment scheduling:
• You spend too much time on the phone, or you’ve had
to hire someone to manage appointments.
• Clients sometimes complain about not being to view
your availability or book appointments without calling
in.
• Changes make a mess in your appointment book and
confuse your staff.
• No-shows hurt your revenue.
Online booking software has been developed to satisfy
your client-facing and operational needs. By optimizing
your online presence and providing easy self-scheduling
for your clients, online booking software brings you more
happy clients and helps you run your business cost-
effectively. After reading this guide, you’ll learn:
• How consumers have changed their approach to making
an appointment
• Marketing and operational benefits of online booking
for you and your staff
• How to select online booking software for your business
• What to expect when you implement online booking
Overview

Contact: sales@mytime.com | (888) 423-1944 | MyTime.com/merchants 05
MyTime | www.mytime.comThe Essential Guide to Online Booking
Book you online
Google your business
G
Go to appointment
Communicate back and forth
about services, prices, and
availabilities
Book an appointment
Get a reminder phone call
from you
Call you during business
hours
How Consumers Book Appointments
WITH ONLINE BOOKING WITHOUT ONLINE BOOKING

06
Benefits of Online Scheduling
Online booking software seeks to solve many of the problems associated with the
traditional booking method. It streamlines the scheduling process and ultimately helps
you grow your business. In this section, we will explain how online booking software
enhances the way you attract and engage customers in this new digital age.
1. Reduce the time you spend on scheduling appointments
2. Enable your clients to self-schedule appointments whenever they want
3. Streamline your staffing process and make the best use of your employees’ time
4. Send your clients automatic reminders
5. Protect you from no-show losses
6. Encourage your clients to take action
7. Build and retain a sustainable client base
02
05
03
06
01
04
07

REDUCE THE TIME YOU SPEND ON
SCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS
You just spent another half day scheduling appointments.
Sounds like a good thing – you have a lot of business. But
think about what you had to give up in order to do that. You
are missing out on more productive tasks such as seeing
clients, marketing to new customers and planning the future
of your business. Even if you hire a receptionist to manage
appointments, it’s still going to take just as long to book
these appointments by phone - and it can cost you a fortune.
For a service-providing small business, labor is typically the
largest single expense.
With online booking software, your clients can schedule
their own appointments without distracting you and your
staff from other tasks. Don’t worry about making customers
unhappy with scheduling themselves – a study found 56%
of consumers prefer the self-service approach, and 25% of
millennials will only book appointments online. Consumers
now want more control in their purchasing process. If some
of your clients don’t like booking appointments on their own,
they can always call you, and they’ll have a better chance of
getting through.
ENABLE YOUR CLIENTS TO BOOK
APPOINTMENTS WHENEVER THEY WANT
As you saw in the chart at the beginning of the guide, many
consumers could’ve been your clients, but you missed them
without even realizing. The worst is when potential clients found
you and chose you but failed to book you. Maybe you missed their
calls because you were on the phone with another client or serving
clients in the store. Or they might need to book appointments
after business hours because it’s inconvenient for them to call you
from work. These ultimately represent missed opportunities for
you to grow your client base and increase revenue.
How much you ask? Based on MyTime data, 42% of online
bookings happened outside of normal business hours. Businesses
that don’t offer the option of online booking may find that clients
have gone to a competitor. In this age of instant gratification with
services like OpenTable and Uber, your clients want an immediate
booking, and if you don’t offer it, they may go somewhere else
that does.

STREAMLINE YOUR STAFFING
PROCESS AND MAKE THE BEST USE
OF YOUR EMPLOYEES’ TIME
Maybe you’ve perfected your appointment book, or maybe
you’re ready to throw it in the trash. Even if you use a basic
scheduling program like Google Calendar, it can be difficult
to communicate with your staff about their appointments.
Ultimately, your appointment book is supposed to collect
staff availability and client appointment information, but
you still have to do all the work, relaying the information
back and forth.
Scheduling errors, such as double-booking and over-
booking, can also happen due to the limitations of a
paper appointment book. When there are changes in staff
members’ availability, or when clients reschedule their
appointments, you can’t update everyone immediately,
and this delay can cause errors that affect your clients’
experience as well as staff morale.
Online booking software, on the other hand, will make
all the updates and inform the right staff members
automatically and instantly about appointment changes
and upcoming appointments. You can give your staff
access to the online calendar so they can input their
available time slots and receive immediate notifications
when clients book or reschedule appointments with them.
If you allow your clients to choose specific staff members
for their appointments, then you don’t even have to spend
time scheduling your employees. Since online booking
software keeps staff availability and client appointments in
sync, errors like double booking will never happen.
“We were looking for a scheduling program that would help us manage our
photography business. Creating a system to help us schedule and communicate
the schedule to our team was vital. MyTime was the answer! Our ability to share
it with the team and create individual calendars made this the perfect tool for us.”
SCOTT LASKE,
Laske Images Photography

Numerous studies have proven that reminders can reduce
no-show rate but making sure the reminders reach your
clients can take significant time. Calling clients on the phone
is a common method for appointment reminders. It can add
a personal touch, which makes the clients feel accountable
for their upcoming appointments. However, those calls can
also be ineffective because you might not be able to reach
your clients before their appointment, especially in this day
and age when a growing number of people simply don’t
pick up their phones anymore. As a result, you’ve probably
had to make multiple attempts before your client answers,
or you’ve had to leave a voicemail without knowing if it
would be checked. Ineffective reminder methods can lead
to no-shows, direct loss in revenue, and worse still, unhappy
clients who might not come back.
An online booking system will send automated reminder
texts and emails that reduce no-shows and last-minute
cancellations without the time and hassle of making
reminder phone calls. The software automatically sends out
reminders 24 hours before the appointments, even providing
an easy way for your customer to confirm the appointment.
Texts will reach your clients surely and quickly, with 95% of
texts read within 3 minutes of being sent. Emails are also
becoming consumers’ favorite method of communication
with companies, with 72% of consumers indicating that
they preferred businesses to contact them by email. Online
booking software will automatically send both texts and
emails to make sure your clients receive the reminders on
time, reducing your no-shows by as much as 50%.
REDUCE NO-SHOWS WITH AUTOMATED
APPOINTMENT REMINDERS`
“My cancellations have gone down since people have to leave their credit card
information.”
CHRISTIAN WASINGER,
Christian Wasinger, Clinical Hypnotherapist

PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS FROM
CANCELLATION LOSSES
Sometimes you do everything you can, but clients still fail to show up.
No matter the reason, no-show means no revenue. On top of losing
the revenue from that appointment slot, you also have to spend extra
time on rescheduling. Other than banning habitual no-shows, it can be
difficult to protect yourself and your staff.
Online booking software can protect you from these losses. It enables
you to establish and enforce your custom cancellation policy on your
booking page. It will ask to collect payment information from your
clients during the booking process and automatically collect a fee
from your client’s card if they no-show or cancel last minute. Given
the warning of a cancellation fee, clients tend to make more careful
choices when booking and better understand the impact that a no-
show has on a service business like yours.
Also, because online booking software reflects your calendar in real
time, clients are able to see the new availability and book that time
slot immediately. Better still, with some online booking software, you
can proactively set up last-minute sales to help you fill that open slot.
ENCOURAGE YOUR CLIENTS TO TAKE ACTION
Online booking software makes it convenient for your prospective clients to
take action and effectively converts interest into transactions. Your clients
are increasingly accustomed to finding business information online—42% of
consumers rely on search engines as their primary method for looking up
local businesses. Online booking software shares complete and consistent
information about your services across the web so that your prospective clients
can conveniently find everything they need to know about you without calling in.
Some booking software also enables direct booking on search engines and social
media so clients who find you there can book you without leaving these sites.
According to MyTime data, these integrations can bring you an additional 15% of
online bookings.
BUILD AND RETAIN A SUSTAINABLE CLIENTELE
For small businesses like yours, one of the biggest challenges is building and
retaining clientele. When you manage all your appointments through a single
online booking software, it becomes very easy to set up client profiles and keep
track of appointment and purchase history. Online booking also ensures that
you have accurate contact information for your clients. With this information,
you can foster a lasting relationship with your customers through personalized
email campaigns like rebooking reminders, birthday thank-you’s, or even a staff
newsletter. Some online booking software also allows you to set customized prices
and services for each client, providing your clients with personalized booking
experiences without giving you a headache.

The Essential Guide to Online Booking MyTime | www.mytime.com
Selecting the Right Scheduling Software
Now that you know the benefits of online booking software for you, your staff,
and your clients, which one should you use? Choosing the software that satisfies
your specific needs is crucial. After all, you will be interacting with it every day,
and a major part of your business depends on it. Here is a checklist to help you
select the best online booking software for your business.
FUNCTIONALITY REQUIREMENTS
Is it easy for me, my clients, and my staff to
navigate the software?
Will it manage all my online listings to make
sure my business information is complete and
updated?
Does it enable direct booking across the web,
including my website, consumer destination
websites, social media, and search engines? Is
my booking page mobile-optimized?
Is the booking function designed to handle all
types of services and levels of complexity, such
as recurring appointments, custom prices for
specific clients, and off-peak sales?
Does the software send out automatic
confirmations and reminders?
Are appointment changes easily made and
instantly updated for everyone?
Will I have access control? Can I limit staff
access to the calendar?
Does it help enforce my customized cancellation
policy?
Can I access the software whenever I need it, at
any location, on any operating system, and from
any device?
Is it an all-in-one solution that helps me
consolidate everything related to online
booking?
INTEGRATION REQUIREMENTS
Is the software compatible with other business
software I’m using?
If I’m migrating from another booking software,
is assistance provided to import all the
appointment history and client information?
Does the calendar synchronize with my
personal calendar?
Will I be able to integrate my website and email
services with the software?
Can the software adapt to my future needs,
such as integrated online payment processing,
multi-location businesses, and analytical
reports?
TRAINING & SUPPORT
REQUIREMENTS
How much employee training will be provided?
What on-going services should I expect from
the support team?
What is the availability of after-hours support?
Is the software easy to maintain?
What are the standard security, data storage,
and backup procedures?

12
Preparing
for Implementation
After you choose the best solution for your business,
switching to the new online booking software may seem
daunting. But you will not be alone in the process. Software
companies are aware of the challenges that can arise when
adopting a new online booking system, so they connect
you with specialists to help you set up and get familiarized
with their software. Each company has a different process,
but generally, they will integrate the software into your
website and customize the settings based on your
preferences. A specialist will help you build your profile and
understand all the features and benefits of the software.
The specialist will give you and your staff training on the
features and make sure everyone is comfortable with the
software. If you are migrating from another online booking
software, they might also help you import your history.
You should expect to be up and running in 1-2 weeks,
depending on your and the specialist’s availability, and you
should expect 4-6 weeks to fully train your staff and get
acquainted with the full functionality of the software.
Conclusion
Online booking software will enable you to take full advantage of consumers’ increasing tendency
to do everything online and help you optimize your daily operations by making the best use of your
staff’s time. You can share complete and updated business information with a huge online client
base and capture more opportunities to get appointments. You will also have more time to spend on
improving your business. Online booking software not only helps run your business better today but
also empowers you to grow your business tomorrow. Find the right software for your business, and
start enjoying the marketing, operational and financial benefits of online booking.
MyTime powers local businesses. MyTime is an all-in-one scheduling, marketing,
and point of sale solution that helps service-based small businesses like salons,
massage therapists, and pet groomers attract, engage, retain, and check out their
clients better. Click here to learn more about MyTime Scheduler, a state-of-the-art
online appointment calendar, client relationship manager and instant messenger.
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Online Booking Guide

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