New apps and technology pop up every day. As technology seeps into every aspect of our lives, will customers find an integration between appointment scheduling software and calendars a positive or negative experience? Some business-minded individuals weighed in with their opinions. Keep reading to find out if they find it a helpful tool.
Online Systems Streamline Scheduling
In my experience, using online appointment systems actually helps with scheduling and getting more clients. Nobody (neither our customers nor our team) likes having their time wasted. The biggest plus of online booking systems is how much easier they make the whole scheduling process.
The last thing we want is to make it hard for customers to book with us. It’s a bad experience for a customer if they have to leave work to set up an appointment or wait on the phone. These kinds of hassles might even push our customers to go to our competitors.
So, our solution is to offer online booking. It’s really useful because customers can book from anywhere as long as they have an internet connection. They don’t have to rely on when our staff is available to set up their appointment. Plus, nobody enjoys the back-and-forth of picking dates over the phone.
Proactive Booking Builds Stronger Relationships
I’ve been using appointment software with my prospects and customers along with my Google Calendar for years, ever since I learned about Calendly, and it has helped me gain both efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Back-and-forth emails to coordinate meetings are time-consuming. Asking a vendor or provider for a meeting is also painful and sometimes disappointing because you have to ask. Your client has to ask you. It’s not proactive.
Conversely, when I share a link with my customers so they can book appointments for one-on-one meetings at the beginning of the consulting or coaching engagements, I’m being proactive with them. It creates a sense in the clients that I’m here to help, and they can have my time without hassle. They just need to book with a link, and I’ll be there.
This approach has helped me to build stronger relationships with my clients efficiently and painlessly.
Minimize Errors and Miscommunications
Appointment software that includes a calendar integration feature can play an important role in increasing customer satisfaction through easier scheduling and minimizing errors or miscommunications. A good illustration of this is in the healthcare sector, for instance, a dental clinic.
In this case, patients can make their appointments online using the software, and it automatically gets synced with the clinic’s calendar. While this system allows patients to select their desired time slots without the hassle of back-and-forth phone calls, the software also allows for sending automated reminders to both the patient and the dentists, by which no-shows are reduced while making timely appointments.
Moreover, if the patient needs a reappointment, it can be done simply using the software that updates its calendar in real time. This adaptability makes patients feel more empowered in their appointments.
From the clinic’s point of view, this integration decreases administrative workload, prevents booking errors, and improves scheduling. This leads to a more seamless operation that results in improved patient satisfaction. The patients appreciate the ease, accuracy, and speed of the process, resulting in a much-improved patient experience with higher loyalty toward that clinic.
This is a crowdsourced article. Contributors’ statements do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this website, other people, businesses, or other contributors.
