Online vs phone reservations

[julie s]

Hi,

Question mostly to those of you who have some sort of online reservation available on your website - how many clients use it to book an appointment vs. those calling you on the phone. Is the split 50/50 or most still use the phone? There is also I guess the email way of doing it - how about we count it towards online reservation (as the client doesn't need to leave the computer and reach for the phone).

I realize that the answer may depend on whether you are in a more metropolitan or rural area, as well as the age of your cllientele, so if you could mention those parameters as well that would be great.

Thanks a lot everyone,
Yan

 

[rabcnesbit]

Online vs phone reservations

I haven't really kept track, and with our move things have been wonky anyway, but i believe we have a pretty even mix of phone and online booking. We don't really take bookings by email, although I do have a couple of folks who will "just think about it while in their email program", but in general we discourage that since it's so easy to miss/timing, etc..

We are in a small town community, with two larger cities close by (so we're sort of an "offshoot" of the larger cities), and within 30 minutes of a huge metropolitan area (although we don't get many clients coming from that area). We do have a small, small handful of clients who don't have computers/email, and they always either call to book, or schedule their next appointments while still in the office.

Almost entirely even with both phone and online booking is re-booking while in the office for the current appointment. I guess it's sort of a 3-way split.

This is an interesting question! I will have to start keeping track to see for sure!

 

[aaahyeaaa]

Online vs phone reservations

I have almost no one schedule over the phone. Almost everyone of my clients have mentioned to me that they love my website and the online booking. So on my voicemail I say "if you'd like to schedule an appt. you may leave a message or schedule online" and direct them to my website. It saves so much time playing phone eforum.xxx!

 

[ima90sbaby]

Online vs phone reservations

I am only answering here to give you an example of why I don't use online booking. Although, I am continuing to consider it, I haven't been swayed yet.

I am in a large metropolitan city. Millions. But, I think that online booking would be useful in a rural setting too, if you had the right demographic.

Yesterday (my day off) I had a new client want to book an appointment. I called her back and left a VM (voice mail) regarding my availiable appt. times for the week. She called back (phone eforum.xxx ensues) and let me know what times would be good for her. I called her back this morning (work day) and spoke to her direct. It ends up she's a massage student, part-way through school and looking to get a massage from someone who does injury and sports work, which is how she found me. Because I spoke with her on the phone (instead of an on-line booking system), I was able to let her know that I would schedule her hour massage, but then put a buffer 45 mins. in after her work, so that we could talk about what I did, and I could show her some things if she wanted. And, this is the perfect example of why I like to talk to my clients... especially the new ones! :massage:

My current thought is that if I ever went to an online booking program, it would be available for established clients only. If that's even possible.

Hope this helps in some way...

 

[Christine F]

Online vs phone reservations

I am only answering here to give you an example of why I don't use online booking. Although, I am continuing to consider it, I haven't been swayed yet.

I am in a large metropolitan city. Millions. But, I think that online booking would be useful in a rural setting too, if you had the right demographic.
.....

My current thought is that if I ever went to an online booking program, it would be available for established clients only. If that's even possible.

Hope this helps in some way...

With certain programs, it is possible, pueppi. Like with the Spa-Booker Lite that we just got hooked up with: we can make online booking available "for members only", and give each client access to it after they've come in. Hubby prefers to just have "free access" on the web site, but I am thinking of asking him to re-consider, so that new clients HAVE to go through one of us to book, for exactly that reason you mentioned.

 

[richard m]

Online vs phone reservations

People LOVE on-line booking!

They all want to do it themselves.
It is getting harder to even reschedule them after their appointment when they come in.
They all say that they will just go on-line when they have time later.

Amazing.

I still like to call.
But I am just old-fashioned.
And pueppi makes such a great point on what people could be missing out on by going this route.

 

[Los Rojiblancos]

Online vs phone reservations

We have online "requests" but nothing is confirmed until we call them to double check the details.

Between the tech delays that sometimes occur in the database generating the request email, operator error in filling out the form (it really is not that hard...) and their request not matching our availability, we insist on a live confirmation.

I would never put our book online for someone to decide when they want a service.

 

[italiangirl13111]

Online vs phone reservations

People LOVE on-line booking!

They all want to do it themselves.
It is getting harder to even reschedule them after their appointment when they come in.
They all say that they will just go on-line when they have time later.

Amazing.

I still like to call.
But I am just old-fashioned.
And pueppi makes such a great point on what people could be missing out on by going this route.

Well if you're old fashioned, I am too. And while some techie things are awesome, I like the human contact of answering the phone and talking to people, **especially** new clients. We have a few people who will email us for an appointment but we don't have any online booking. It would be really hard for us, because there are 4 of us there and often one person will go from one to another (scrub and facial with me, massage with C, nails with S). We have a basic, old fashioned book from Sally's that we schedule in. In 11 years, it hasn't let us down yet

ETA: Pueppi's point, I'd hate to use it for new clients (again, that's just me) but I *like* that newbies hear a friendly voice and can answer questions. I have a 72 year old lady coming in tomorrow - first massage ever, son got the the gc and she is terrified (but bless her heart, she's doing it), about how much will be revealed, body and age insecurities, worried her massage will hurt, etc etc. I scheduled an extra 30 minutes for her, just to be able to talk to her beforehand, to reassure and get her comfortable with me first and be able to talk to her afterwards.

Another plus: We go through 2 or 3 books a year. They're about $11 each, so even at 3, that's only $33 a year. Don't know how much the scheduling costs but it can't be less than that.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Online vs phone reservations

I love online booking. Being a solo having clients being able to book themselves online save me so Much time. And clients love they don't have to play phone eforum.xxx with me

 

[Afnan M]

Online vs phone reservations

As a solo practitioner I do love the thought of clients taking care of their own scheduling (at least some of them) and I like that you can only allow them to book during open hours (I am good at holding boundaries, but I get so tired of telling people my schedule and then being pressed to come in early, stay late, etc to work around their schedule. Not gonna happen.). I'm assuming the software allows me to block off certain times. And having to rush around trying to prep the table, return calls, etc would be reduced drastically, I would guess.

But my only concern is how do you screen new clients if they book on your site? Or has that even been an issue?

 

[Pompal 09.]

Online vs phone reservations

Another concern of mine is planning... I find it difficult to plan if I have to constantly check the computer to see if someone decided to cancle or not. I figure you are going to have a lot less cancellations if people have to call. Anyone who doe do online booking care to mention how frequently (by the numbers) they are getting schedule changes and cancellations in a week? As a rule, I don't have many, and I'd certainly hate to encourage more of the clients mixing things around.

Please let me know. I am interested to hear about it. Or, maybe you can't track how many changes in your schedule are made in a week, or even care... (?)

 

[Told You So]

Online vs phone reservations

Another concern of mine is planning... I find it difficult to plan if I have to constantly check the computer to see if someone decided to cancle or not. I figure you are going to have a lot less cancellations if people have to call. Anyone who doe do online booking care to mention how frequently (by the numbers) they are getting schedule changes and cancellations in a week? As a rule, I don't have many, and I'd certainly hate to encourage more of the clients mixing things around.

Please let me know. I am interested to hear about it. Or, maybe you can't track how many changes in your schedule are made in a week, or even care... (?)

I have genbook and it send me a txt message when someone books along with an email. I also have it set up so people can cancel on their own within 24 hr. of their appointment. Also when people confirm their appointment when they book they also get my office policy's emailed to them. And the system send them a reminder 24 before their appointment.

It did take me awhile to get a good routine with people booking online because of awhile I was getting my schedule messed up because I would forget to put an appointment in but now I request that people go online to book all the time and it has made my life sooo much easier. And when people call to book on my message I let them know if they are looking to book a massage please bookonline. Online booking saves me a lot of time.

 

[daisyr]

Online vs phone reservations

Also make sure you pay attention to your book! This week for example I had 9 people book online for the same day :shock: and I had to call a few of them to ask them to rebook Thankfully that were all more than happy to change.

So I am getting better about blocking off time a couple of week out so that doesn't happen. I like to stay around 18 clients a week.

 

[althea]

Online vs phone reservations

When I worked at a center, most of my clients either booked through the center's phone, or re-booked with me before leaving and would call the center if they needed to cancel/reschedule. Once I started having online booking available my weekly client used it all the time because it gave her the option to pre-pay and book all her appointments in advance. It was great for me because at just $10/month, just one pre-paid appointment from her paid for half a year of the service. I do have a disclaimer in the emails that lets them know that I can't always update my calendar immediately and that I may contact them if I can't accommodate their request.

Right now, I use it to put in appointments for my self and it sends the confirmation/reminder emails to those who provide emails. However, at this point those people are using email to let me know when they need to change their appointments, even though there is a link to do so in the emails they receive. I have only been operating for a few months though, and I haven't actually explained how it works to them, but they really like it when I tell them they'll be getting the emails from it once I put their appts in. I've only had one client have to cancel and reschedule, and she has done it by phone and email and well in advance of her appointment.

If the client doesn't give an email then I just get the confirmation email from the online service which is nice for me, as I can get that (or a text) on my phone and be able to refer to it anytime. I DO also use the big old book for myself. I love being able to look at an entire week at once when providing my availability to a client. I use the book first and the online service second, even though I would love to have the majority of my clients to using the online system more often which is why I have it integrated on my website. I could just take that down and not put clients email addys into the system if I wanted to use it just for myself. In that case I could just use the free version as I wouldn't have to worry about making sure my schedule was exact and blocked off properly.

ETA: I use Acuity Scheduling and if I wanted to make it for current clients only I would remove it from the website and email them a direct link to it, or I could make the initial appt. for them with their email included and they could book mark the site from that email, I guess.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Online vs phone reservations

Also make sure you pay attention to your book! This week for example I had 9 people book online for the same day :shock: and I had to call a few of them to ask them to rebook Thankfully that were all more than happy to change.

So I am getting better about blocking off time a couple of week out so that doesn't happen. I like to stay around 18 clients a week.

Why did that happen? Is there not a way to allow for specific appointments. 11:00, 12:30, 2:00, 4:00 (flexible with the 2:00) 5:30 and 7:00pm?

Let me know! :shock:

 

[Yadda Me HappyToday]

Online vs phone reservations

This week for example I had 9 people book online for the same day

doesn't that indicate a flaw in how your scheduling is configured? isn't there a way to limit number of online bookings people can do with you for a given day? or a total number of hours they can book or something along the lines?

 

[Frances_Simonds]

Online vs phone reservations

There isn't a way to limit the amount of hours booked that I know of. I have to do it manually by the day. So on my 2 long days I need to make sure I stay on top of the schedule.

I have genbook so if it is able to limit the hours booked per day let me know

 

[The Tank]

Online vs phone reservations

I have genbook so if it is able to limit the hours booked per day let me know

Unfortunately I am not familiar with genbook, but have you tried contacting the support? or maybe there is an online forum of online scheduling users where you can find your answer, quick search reveals this one http://www.virtualassistantforums.c...s/genbook-online-appointment-scheduling-13737

 

[Bluenash]

Online vs phone reservations

We have investigated some online scheduling options and received feedback from similar businesses that made the transition. Though most have been happy with the change, we have decided to stick with phone booking only for now. The primary reason is service.

With online booking, clients don't have that human contact, so newbies will tend to make judgements about the business by the web site, the scheduling software, the perceived speed of their connection, and so forth... all of which have NOTHING to do with the experience they will have when they arrive. Since we have many MTs with different skill sets, it would be impossible for newbies to have any idea which MT(s) would be best suited for them, or how we might accommodate a special need. Online booking would also make it nigh impossible to screen out the pervs - something we take very seriously.

With telephone contact, our receptionists can give that personal touch and help the client feel a greater sense of confidence about the experience they will have. If they have special needs or concerns, we can address those directly. If they are new, we can educate them. If they are a returning client, we can help them book with a favorite MT or find a suitable alternative if their favorite isn't available. We also track cancellations, turnaways, and special requests/needs - things that would not be noted nor tracked via online scheduling.

The primary argument in favor of online scheduling seems to be client convenience, primarily for repeat business - especially for small practices (1-4 MTs). In areas where the client base is very much wired-in to the internet, online scheduling could become a competitive advaneforum.xxxe if used wisely and backed up by competent reception staff who kept up to date with online bookings. One large massage business similar to ours likes the way Schedulicity works for them, as they have a largely techno-competent clientele. They also maintain a well-trained and vigilant front desk staff to back it up.

 

[Radical Babez]

Online vs phone reservations

Why did that happen? Is there not a way to allow for specific appointments. 11:00, 12:30, 2:00, 4:00 (flexible with the 2:00) 5:30 and 7:00pm?

Yes..If you know exactly what hours you want to book on genbook, it's easy. There is an "offline mask" option. So if you know you want 11, 1230, 2, and 4 for example, you just put yourself "offline" on the times you want off. If you want people to be able to book anytime, and then block times around their bookings, then you'll have to do manually as JLW stated. Genbook is an extremely user-friendly online scheduler, once you take the time to explore it