How digitising appointment booking saves time, reduces errors and evolves customer experience

COVID-19 has brought dramatic changes upon service providers, with drop-in trade severely impacted and driving a dependence on pre-booked appointments.

Appointment-only services now effectively requires engagement with almost every customer interaction, potentially overwhelming booking teams.

Digitisation of the booking process is the only realistic way for most businesses to maintain this level of engagement.

Introducing TIMIFY as an automated scheduling solution relieves strain on staff grappling with phone- and paper-based systems, allowing them more time to focus on the customer experience.

Below we outline how TIMIFY’s appointment booking solution helps you stop booking errors, automate customer communication and optimise internal processes, bringing benefits to your business in the short term and also for the future. 

Control complex booking requirements and stop booking errors

Many businesses are now managing an array of services needing pre-booked appointments, each requiring different durations, preparation, cleaning processes and staff resources.

Adding a digital scheduling system where customers book their own appointment online can manage all these elements of a service without booking errors or needing complicated systems.

• Book online – customers find their most convenient appointment time at their leisure, rather than on a call with a booking team searching for a free slot
• Replace creaking manual systems - as booking volumes increase, empower customers to make their own booking in a robust and clear system where double bookings cannot happen
• Stop booking errors – customers get confirmation emails immediately after booking to confirm the correct details, while also promoting easy rescheduling or cancelling online if needed
• Synchronise schedules - a digital system is constantly in sync with bookings being made by staff or by customers online. Incoming bookings are blocked out in the calendar to avoid one slot being booked simultaneously
• Find availability fast – TIMIFY’s fast booking app lets booking teams search for appointments with almost any parameters around service, duration, start time, staff member etc. The app scans your entire schedule and returns results in seconds. Find more info her: TIMIFY Fast booking widget
• Avoid double bookings on staff, equipment, and rooms by creating dependencies between appointments for certain services and the resources they require. Now resources will be auto-assigned whenever that service is booked 
• Stop over-running appointments increasing wait times and filling reception areas. Set ‘buffer times’ to be included automatically with certain services. This ensures dedicated time is automatically blocked out for essential preparation or cleaning procedures to take place.

Use digital processes to take better care of customers

The simple switch to giving customers the choice to book online anytime, anywhere gives them a major sense of empowerment.

TIMIFY also allows customers to reschedule appointments online at any time or cancel if necessary. 

In this way, customers have the freedom to manage your services to fit their lifestyle, while the system saves your booking team from errors or frustration regarding repeated rescheduling.

• Send automated confirmation emails immediately after booking, helping to highlight booking errors quickly and without draining staff resources
• Set automatic reminder messages to be sent to customers ahead of an appointment, reducing no-shows and maximising the efficiency of your resources and service availability
• Get feedback on services without staff having to follow up every appointment. TIMIFY sends feedback emails to customers straight after appointments, giving customers a voice while providing valuable insight for the business.

Online scheduling brings peace of mind to managing group events

The COVID-19 situation has forced many businesses to take classes, events, and other group events online.

Even more so than individual bookings, trying to manually manage large attendee lists, capacity limits, cancellations and attendees reserving places for colleagues is a tough challenge.

TIMIFY’s digital scheduling system incorporates appointment management for group events in the same simple and efficient way it does for individual appointments.

• Set maximum limits on attendees, relieving booking staff from monitoring sign ups and answering calls for fully booked events
• Assign resource dependencies, ensuring that key staff and equipment is always auto-booked for every service type
• Enable video conferencing for an event with just a couple of clicks
• Take payment online in advance if required
• Stop double bookings with one calendar synced across all platforms and locations. For group events, in-progress bookings are blocked out while any cancellations will automatically and instantly open up for a potential new attendee to book.

Bring digital scheduling power to internal processes

Using a digital scheduling system doesn’t just improve efficiency and reduce errors for customer services – it can also be a highly valuable tool internally.

Managing a network of employee working schedules and appointment availability was hard enough before COVID-19.

Now, with more staff working remotely and often with a more flexible schedule, having a centralised and always-online system can transform the communication and unity of your workforce.

• Each employee manages their own working hours, holidays, sick leave and shifts in the shared schedule, giving an up-to-the-minute view of availability across the entire business
• Any group of individuals or teams can create a booking link. This can be shared internally or externally to display that group’s dynamic availability for the upcoming period. Find out more about Booking Links here

Think TIMIFY could be the solution to a help you manage appointment bookings efficiently? Get in touch with our team via our website to discuss details or book a free demonstration.