Every company should take customers’ requests into consideration if it wants to remain in business. If you haven’t incorporated it yet, online scheduling is probably desired by your customers. There are a lot of benefits for both the customer and your company as well.
If you want to know more about online appointment scheduling and how to use scheduling software to your advantage, this article will come in handy for you.
Always Available
The most obvious advantage of online scheduling software is that it’s always available and ready to book an appointment. Online scheduling software gives you the option to book appointments at any time because the system automatically checks for available slots.
Fast and Simple
Another benefit of online appointment scheduling is the fact that it’s fast and simple to use. For example, if you need to make an emergency appointment, Mint Dental can set up an online appointment, without having to make calls in advance.
Sometimes, the staff spends too much time dealing with your information, but you can easily avoid this by filling in your personal information correctly. This way, the staff doesn’t miss any information and you avoid making calls.
Appointment Reminders
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If you’re someone who forgets things easily, the online scheduling software has an appointment reminder system that’s highly convenient and reduces the number of cancellations. This saves time for both you and the staff because they don’t have to reach out to you to confirm your appointment.
For example, a healthcare program by the U.S Department of Defense included a web-based appointment program and it showed that customers reduced their no-show rate from 8% with phone scheduling to 2%.
Easy Access
This goes without saying, but online appointment scheduling apps allow you to have access from almost any electronic device. To make this even easier, there are online customers scheduling apps that integrate with a few online calendars. By doing so, customers can add any appointments directly to their calendar.
These online appointment apps also allow the customer to receive emails or texts at any time. They also have a customer self-scheduling feature that saves up even more time. Apart from these benefits, an online app is one way to make your business successful and profitable at the same time.
Integrated Payment Processors
Payments can be time-consuming for both you and the staff. That’s why most website appointment systems include integrated payment processors that you can use to pay in advance.
This is one less tedious step that you have to deal with. When you’re done with this payment method, all you have to do is go to the office and receive your intended service. This method is also helpful for your business because it allows your staff to serve and deal with more customers.
Decrease of Errors
If you have a successful business, you know that time-management is crucial and your team could be dealing with many things at once, which is always challenging. If you were to make your appointment on paper, there would be more mistakes. These mistakes are not only frustrating, but also costly.
For example, a member from your staff could forget to record an appointment; or perhaps the appointment was recorded but it may be missing some information. But, with online customer appointment scheduling, you can avoid all this fuss.
Better Patient Experience
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Before you go to your appointment, you will most likely end up having a better experience because online scheduling ensures a more positive experience. According to research, 59% of patients become frustrated when they are waiting to schedule an appointment by phone because of the inconvenient office hours.
By giving patients the option to schedule online from a website ensures that they don’t have to deal with office hours or become annoyed while waiting on hold. Apart from this, patients also don’t have to deal with waiting at the front-desk, while the staff is making calls or is busy with other duties.
Not only that, but staff that is less busy with phone calls tend to provide patients with a better experience and they have more time on their hands to welcome or answer any question is regards to a customer’s appointment.
As a result, these customers will want to come back again because they were satisfied with the staff and this spreads the word across friends, families, and ultimately social media.
Reduces No-shows
Everyone has dealt with cancelled appointments and it’s not fun. There are consequences to this because if for instance, 8% of your clients don’t come to their appointments, you are in risk of losing 8% of your revenue, or even more.
With an online scheduler, you are reducing the chances of no-shows because the clients get their appointment reminders in their calendars. According to a study by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, SMS appointment reminders lead to a decrease of no-shows at 39% because these schedulers sent out reminders and integrated with the clients’ calendars.
Improves Security
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Before online appointments were a thing, companies kept track in a centralized database which proved to be unprotected. Traditional approaches to appointment scheduling can be hacked and all of your data can be at risk. Once a hacker enters a company’s network, they can just as easily gain access to your personal information.
Apart from this, online appointments systems use cloud storage, which is what makes them more secure than traditional systems. Another thing is to use a VPN, also known as a virtual private network since that helps to hide your location whenever you’re using your phone. A VPN encrypts your data so that hackers can’t have access to your address or personal information.
Provides Better Insight
We talked about how important online scheduling is for customers, but your business can also benefit from online systems. Online appointment scheduling can be used to give you a better insight as to how your business operates. Additionally, with these systems, you can see when your business is having its peak hours and if you should offer more availability for customers.
In the end, an online appointment system not only increases the efficiency of your business, but it also provides better insight, so that your customers can book appointments at any time and your business runs more effectively.
