Whatever your sector of activity, there’s a good chance that you’ll have to make appointments with your customers. A good appointment scheduling system makes your job easier, optimises your conversion rate, and limits the risk of being stood up on the day. Here are 4 different approaches, each with its advantages and disadvantages.
Managing your appointments the old-fashioned way
This method is very simple. Simply display your contact information clearly on your website, such as your email address and telephone number.
All people have to do is contact you to arrange an appointment.
Benefits
- Quick and easy to install
- No additional cost, if you already have a telephone line and an e-mail box dedicated to your professional activity
- You can keep a record of your conversation in your email inbox or be directly informed if someone calls you.
Disadvantages
- Risk of double booking: if you have regular appointments, you run the risk of receiving requests that fall at the same time.
- Manually managing calls and emails can quickly become time-consuming if you have several appointments a day.
- Going back and forth by email to find the right date can be time-consuming, but it can also discourage prospects who were hoping to get an interview/meeting with you quickly.
- Displaying your email in plain text on your website makes it a prime target for spambots. Remember to use a good obfuscation technique, as described in this article.
Use a contact form
This solution is particularly useful if you need to retrieve certain information about your prospect/customer at the same time as making an appointment.
Benefits
- Collect the information needed to process the request (requirements, contact details, availability)
- Limit the number of emails back and forth, which speeds up the processing of the request
- Your details, such as your email address, are not displayed publicly, protecting them from spam.
- You can automate responses
- You can also automatically transfer requests to the relevant people/departments
Disadvantages
- Setting up a good accessible contact form takes a little time and requires certain skills
- Some customers like to make a phone call rather than send messages
- If your form is not synchronised with your diary, there is always a risk of duplication.
- You’ll probably also have to manually manage communication and add appointments to your diary.
Using an online calendar
What better way to offer your customers this functionality than with a dedicated online appointment booking tool?
There are many solutions on the market that can be integrated into your website.
The best known at the time of writing is undoubtedly Calendly. I wouldn’t recommend it, however, as its integration requires the addition of a consent banner that spoils the user experience. What’s more, Calendly is not necessarily the most attractive solution in financial terms.
I’d recommend turning to cal.com instead, a tool that has the advantage of being open-source, and deployable on your own network if you wish.
This is the solution I use, but there are many others.
Benefits
- Customers choose the day and time of their appointment directly.
- You can offer telephone, video or face-to-face meetings… Or leave the choice to the customer.
- The online calendar is synchronised with your own diary and adds new appointments directly to it.
- No risk of duplication
- A professional interface
- Low cost for the time saved (it’s even free if you’re self-employed⋅e)
Disadvantages
- Setting it up takes a little time and technical knowledge
- Loading the tool makes your web page a little heavier
- Your customers’ data is transferred to a third-party organisation, which can pose problems in terms of confidentiality (which is why it’s a good idea to choose an open-source solution and possibly host it in-house).
- The tool can pose accessibility problems if poorly designed
- A bit of an overkill if you almost never make an appointment
Install an advanced appointment management tool
If you have more advanced needs, it will be worthwhile turning to more powerful solutions than a simple online diary.
An appointment management tool can allow you, for example, to take payments directly online, customise the display of your multiple services, create more email or SMS notifications for your customers, create a customer area on your site to allow them to track their upcoming appointments, etc.
This solution is ideal for businesses that need to manage a high volume of appointments, such as doctors’ surgeries, restaurants, the hotel trade, the sports industry and the beauty and wellness sector.
For WordPress, WPAmelia is a powerful and popular solution.
Benefits
- Advanced appointment scheduling with dedicated dashboard
- Synchronise your diaries
- Also suitable for establishments with several employees and separate schedules
- Accept online payments directly, synchronise with your online shop if you have one
- Monitoring and analysis over time
- A made-to-measure solution that can be integrated into your white-label site
- Data is stored locally on your server, making it easier to comply with the RGPD.
- You can also offer event bookings
Disadvantages
- Complex implementation requiring the intervention of an expert⋅e who will be able to train you
- Additional recurring costs (but generally lower than using popular external tools)
- A heavier solution, to be used only if the need is real
How do you make your choice?
If you’ve read this entire article, you probably now have a good idea of the solution that’s right for you.
If not, here are the right questions to ask yourself:
- Do you work alone?
- Do you often receive requests for appointments (at least once a day)?
- Do you need precise information from your prospects/customers before your meeting (apart from their availability)?
If you’re an independent entrepreneur⋅se, with very few appointments to manage, I recommend simply displaying your contact information (hiding your email address all the same), with perhaps a form to retrieve important details (type of service requested, geographical location, etc).
You could consider using an online calendar solution like Cal if you need a practical system to save you having to deal with back and forth emails, and offer video conferencing.
Don’t turn to more complex tools unless you have to:
- You have a high volume of appointments
- You have more advanced requirements
Finally, don’t forget that you can combine several of these solutions. You can display your email address and add a contact form to your contact page. In this way, you can combine the advantages of several solutions. Be careful, however, not to make the user experience and your management unnecessarily complex by going off in all directions.
How do you set up your appointment scheduling solution on your website?
The solutions presented above are ranked in ascending order of complexity.
The more powerful a tool is, the more skills it requires to be installed, configured and managed.
If you’re comfortable with the appointment scheduling solution you’ve chosen, you can of course install it yourself. Take care, however, to respect web accessibility so as not to penalise part of your audience.
If you need guidance, or are not yet sure⋅e which solution is right for you, the best thing is to turn to someone who can advise you from experience.
Oh yes, you can make an appointment with me to discuss it, it’s free and there’s no obligation 😉
