To understand the experience of the customers with the online booking, the best way is to interview customers who will give you a real feeling. It’s up to you to investigate.
Its features
Find out about the features offered with your reservation software. For a team of beauticians, see if you can take reservations for several people, manage your different cabins, take into account the skills of each of the employees, offer home services and retrieve your customer file, for example. Be careful, however, about gimmicky features that may decrease the reliability of the system by creating dependency on other players.
Will the system give visibility to your business?
Another important point, will your future reservation software (in the broad sense) bring visibility to your business? You have a website but will it really be referenced according to the rules of the art? There is what is called natural referencing, generally it is all the natural techniques that will give visibility to your website in search engine results. For this, one of the main criteria is that the site must be technically well constructed, another criterion the information must be clearly hierarchical or the texts must contain appropriate semantics. Make sure this is the case without blindly trusting what can be told to you by the salesperson. Making use of the online calendar booking system comes useful here.
Make sure you have customer service worthy of the name
To use your online reservation software, having a privileged and responsive contact is essential on a daily basis because at any time you can be in a situation where advice is essential, for a particular setting for example. And sometimes it is better not to have to wait 48 hours to get a response from customer service.
Regular supply of new products
Regular updates by adding new features are also to be taken into account. It is very frustrating to have a product that does not improve on a daily basis, because you have software that remains “in its own” at the risk of gradually becoming obsolete. The contribution of new products is also the signal of a certain dynamic of the company which follows your reservation software.
Integrating online booking means choosing the planning and diary tool that suits you and ensuring that it meets the essential criteria. Whether in terms of ergonomics but also functionality, here are 5 tips for choosing your online booking tool
An online booking tool that adapts to the specifics of your activity
A good booking engine or online agenda should include a schedule that includes all the specifics of your establishment. Both your available resources (cabins, rooms, machines & equipment, hairdressing stations, etc.) and your teams (in order to leave the possibility for your customers to choose the person on your team who will perform the service)
Ditto if some of your employees are specialized in one or more services in particular, this must be integrated and configurable in your online booking tool.
- An online reservation adapted to mobiles and tablets
A good booking engine must be responsive design, that is, one that adapts to the size of the screen on which it is viewed. All the efforts you put into designing your website and acquiring traffic on it could be reduced to nothing if you do not ensure a booking route adapted to mobile users!
- An online reservation that adapts to your payment strategy
The payment method offered on your online agenda must be in line with your strategy. This can range from simply making an appointment without payment to a bank imprint (to limit the rate of no-show / customers who ultimately do not show up for the appointment). Or to go even further, ask for a deposit and why not online payment
- An online reservation that tracks your conversions
If you want to run advertising campaigns, you must be able to know how many Internet users have booked with you as a result of your online advertising campaigns. Only an engine with tracking options can give you this type of information. Be sure to check that this criterion is met when choosing an online reservation provider.
- An online reservation that automates the sending of emails / SMS confirmation and reminder
Goodbye manual emails to confirm an appointment, your booking engine must be able to do it on its own. This also avoids the no show rate and saves you time!
- Online reservation without commission
The advantage of having an online reservation tool is to be able to generate direct reservations, without going through reservation platforms! You thus ensure a certain independence. It is therefore important to check the operation of your online reservation.
