Do you want to make more money with your website? Do you want to fast-track your business’s success?
Statista reports that there are over 1.88 billion websites, and this number is growing rapidly. Today, the competition is on to provide customers with an excellent experience that'll keep them coming back for more.
If you manage a service-based business and appointments are an integral part of your operation, we've got good news for you.
An online booking system is a perfect solution to improve your website and the customer experience! You can quickly and effortlessly gain new customers and make more money.
We'll show you how to create an online booking system for your business in 7 easy steps. When you do it correctly, you'll end up with happier clients, more money, and an easier-to-manage company.
What is an Online Booking System?
An online booking system, such as Book Like A Boss (or BLAB as we call it), is innovative software that makes managing bookings quick and easy.
The software lets your customers make bookings directly on your website in a few easy steps.
Customers will find it easier to see your availability, choose the time slots they prefer, and even pay you online, reducing your need to handle repetitive administrative tasks.
Clever booking systems like BLAB will automatically send reminders to ensure that everybody is aware of any upcoming appointments.
This feature reduces no-shows and saves you the hassle of back-and-forth emails to find the perfect time slot for everybody. You save time and money and are able to deliver excellent service with ease.
There are hundreds of online booking platforms, from free to paid service scheduling software solutions. So, it can quickly become a daunting task to find the best online booking system for your business.
How to Choose the Right Online Booking System for Your Business
If you want your business to succeed, improve your sales, and reduce your admin, then you need an online booking system with the right features.
An online booking system can save you valuable time and money while reducing no-shows and those nasty double bookings.
Today online booking systems are a popular choice for:
- HVAC companies,
- Field technicians,
- Beauty and wellness spas,
- Homecare nurses,
- Colleges and online tutors,
- Any innovative company that wants to streamline their booking process and make more money.
The right booking software can quickly help you grow your small business.
While appointment scheduling software is popular, there are a couple of things to consider when looking for the perfect online appointment system for your business.
Since every business is unique and has its own particular schedules, you must find scheduling software that suits your business.
When trying to figure out which system will be best for your company, choosing customizable booking software is best. By doing that, you'll have an excellent booking app that can evolve along with your business.
Here are the top must-have features that your online booking system should have.
Features of a Top Online Booking System
The best online booking apps all have the following features:
- Customizability. You should be able to customize your booking tool so that it suits your particular business. This customizability includes selecting tools, features, and branding to take your business to the next level.
- Reduce administration. Your booking system should manage the routine administrative tasks associated with appointments. Whether it's allowing customers to pay you online or onboard customers, it shouldn't add to your workload!
- Automation. The best booking software automates tasks so that you can spend more time managing your business and not your appointments. This feature should include automated reminders, confirmations, and more.
- Increase sales. An online booking page should convert visitors into paying customers. It should have the ability to showcase your excellent products, services, and even reviews.
- Quick and easy to use. You shouldn't have to spend hours trying to get your booking system to work. It should work right out of the box. The faster you can create your first booking page, the quicker you can make money.
- Integration. Every day, developers release new software packages and tools. Your booking system needs to work well with all of them. Otherwise, you'll end up investing in software that quickly becomes obsolete.
Check out our handy guide if you want to learn more about the top booking apps for business.
When your booking platform has all of these features, you'll find it easier to make money. Customers can secure bookings and pay you while you're sleeping or cruising along the Mediterranean coast!
With the right scheduling software, you’ll do business like a boss.
Start for Free
Luckily, searching for the best booking system isn't that difficult. Grab this free trial of BLAB. You'll find that it takes only 17 minutes for you to create your first booking page.
Integration and activation are effortless. You'll quickly be able to make more money with our automated booking system on your website.
Create an Online Booking System for Success in 7 Easy Steps
Let's show you how to effortlessly create an online booking system for your business. At BLAB, we've reduced this process to 7 easy-to-follow steps.
When you follow these steps, you'll have guaranteed success with your online bookings in no time at all.
Step 1: Add Your Business Details
Your first step is to create trust. You can quickly generate trust by entering all of your business details into your preferred booking platform.
Typically, these details should include your business name, a description of your business, and contact details. If you're offering services at a physical location, you should also add your address to help customers locate you.
The more information you add, the more trust you create with your customers. So, feel free to add your social media handles too! Not only will you gain new followers, but it will help expand your marketing reach.
Creating trust is also essential to show visitors that you're running a legitimate business.
Not only is this more professional, but it creates a fantastic first impression with new customers.
Step 2: Decide on Your Availability and Booking Types
Your next step is to set your availability and choose your preferred booking types.
If you don't know which booking types to choose, read our handy guide on 5 Types Of Appointment Scheduling & How To Offer Them Online.
Top-rated booking software, such as BLAB, will let you define your working hours and block out time slots for breaks.
After you've selected your availability, you need to add your services.
Every service that you offer should have a juicy description, along with durations and prices. Use BLAB to specify which staff members will provide those services.
Remember to add buffer times to your services. Buffer time is quite handy if your staff need to travel or prepare between servicing customers.
If you don't have buffer times, your appointments may overrun, which will upset your customers if they have to wait for you.
Step 3: Embed a Booking Page on Your Website
It doesn't matter what type of business you have, you'll have to embrace your website fully if you want to make more money and thrive in a competitive, modern world.
When customers can find you online and book you online in a few simple clicks, they're more likely to use your services. As such, it helps retain old customers and convert new customers.
With BLAB's easy-to-use embed feature, you can quickly add a working booking page to your website.
Step 4: Customize Your Booking Page
The next step to quickly create an effective booking page for your website is to customize it!
We've written a fantastic, ultimate guide on how to create eye-catching booking pages to sell your services.
Here are the essential things you'll need to remember when designing a booking page that can convert your visitors into sales:
Make it Professional
Your booking page should look professional. After all, it's your ever-helpful, always-online sales representative, so it really pays to dress it up!
To make it look professional, you should always address the following questions:
- Who are you?
- What do you do?
- Where do you do it?
- When can you do it?
Emphasize Your Brand
Your brand is how visitors will distinguish you from the competition. At BLAB, we make it easy to ensure that your booking page follows your brand guidelines.
Add your logo, corporate colors, and fonts to make your booking page truly a part of your company.
Showcase Value
Your booking page should show why customers need to buy your products or use your services. Let customers know you're the best in town.
Show off with reviews and plenty of high-quality photos. Add a video to talk about your services, and tell clients what to expect when they book your services.
Build Credibility
Credibility is essential in an ever-changing online world filled with scammers and fly-by-night operations. You can quickly establish credibility by adding social proof or using BLAB's testimonial feature to show how your services have impacted your customers.
Address Sales-blocking Questions
Every booking page needs to address those frequently asked questions that customers always ask. BLAB has an excellent FAQ feature that makes it easy to address those questions.
Customers will find it easier to book and pay for your superb services when you quickly answer their questions online.
Get Paid
If you plan to accept online payments from your customers, you'll have to activate that too.
When customers pay you online for your services, you reduce your administration. There's no need to deal with late payments or awkward follow-up emails and calls.
Step 5: Activate Reminders and Calendar Sync
At BLAB, we've learned that automated reminders can reduce no-shows by 90%!
We all know that no-shows only end up costing your company money. So, to reduce them all together, use BLAB's automated reminders.
BLAB can automatically send reminders via SMS and email to ensure that everybody is aware of their upcoming appointments.
We find that SMS reminders have a higher open rate than emails. So, it pays to activate them.
You also need to activate calendar syncing. Calendar syncing is convenient if you manage several calendars, such as iCal, Office 365, or even Google Calendar.
When you activate calendar syncing, you only need to work on one platform. There'll be no need to run between calendars trying to manage your busy schedule.
If you plan to incorporate email marketing or social media, you can quickly integrate them with BLAB. You'll find that BLAB offers seamless integrations with the tools you already use.
So you can get started with the apps you are familiar with and enhance your customers' experience (as well as your own) in no time at all.
Step 6: Test Your Booking Page
Now we're getting to the fun part! After you've designed a high-converting booking page, you need to test it thoroughly.
It would be best to run an internal test to ensure that everything works as it should. We recommend running a couple of tests on your booking system by making some test appointments.
If you are using the online payment feature, you should also make a couple of test payments.
When everything works smoothly, you know you'll be giving your customers a fantastic user experience. It's this user experience that'll turn them into returning, loyal customers.
Before you share your new booking page with the world, look at the following checklist and ensure that everything works:
- Make an online booking.
- Check that the appointment came through on your calendar. If you're using calendar sync, check that the meeting also shows up on your other calendars.
- Keep a lookout for all of the reminders, SMS, and email.
- Play around with the booking by trying to reschedule it or even cancel it.
Step 7: Share Your Online Booking System
After you've tested everything (and tested it all again), you're ready to share your new booking page with the world.
To quickly add value to your business and customers, share your online scheduling tool with everyone.
Here are some clever ways to share your new online booking tool:
- Feature your booking page prominently on your website.
- Send out a blast email to notify your existing customers.
- Use social media to tell your followers how awesome you are.
- Add your booking page to your business card.
You can even add a link to your booking page in your email signature. This works great if you want to use it for internal meetings or if you email clients and potential customers a lot.
All you have to do now is sit back and watch as your new online booking system transforms your business.
In no time at all, it'll bring more customers to your website, improve your sales and eliminate those annoying back-and-forth emails about availability and scheduling!
Let Customers Book You Like A Boss
When an automated online booking system manages your schedule, you'll have more time to deliver an excellent service to your customers.
It's this excellent service that'll ensure that your business can survive no matter what life throws at it.
Your best decision is to let customers book you like a boss!
