We’ll Pencil You In: Why Scheduling Features Matter
For quite some time, web designers touted websites as a company’s “digital business card.” But those days seem to be long behind us.
Anymore, a website should be so much more than just a digital business card. After all, a business card only does one thing. According to Bizfluent, a business card is designed to “quickly share contact information with someone. When you meet with a potential client or partner, for instance, you can leave a business card for that person to use in a follow-up call or email.”
However, with the tech solutions available today, your website should be way more than just a place to share information about how to contact you; it should be an entire marketing tool, designed to help you connect with potential customers and clients, nurture those relationships, and drive conversions with leads.
One important component your website must have? A scheduling tool.
Here’s what you need to know about how implementing a scheduling tool into your website can have a huge impact on your business.
Help Customers Choose You
Why should your website include a scheduling feature?
It’s simple: Your clients and customers want things to be as easy as possible.
For many consumers today, “Easy” can be synonymous with, “Not having to interact with anyone more than I have to.” This means phone calls and emails alike. In fact, MarTech reports that 90 percent of consumers today won’t answer an unsolicited call—and less than 2 percent of calls result in a scheduled meeting.
Emails aren’t much more effective compared to phone calls, either. Consumers reportedly only answer 8 percent of all emails.
This is not the case for scheduling tools, which make it easier for customers to choose you. They don’t have to pick up the phone or draft a reply email; they merely select their desired meeting time from the available options right at the moment they are most interested in what you do.
With a scheduling tool, there’s no delay to consider other options or wait for a phone call or email response. It’s a simple, effective way to connect on your customer’s terms.
Say Goodbye to Rescheduling and Cancellations
A quick internet search will field a host of articles about rescheduling and cancellations like this article published several years back in the Harvard Business Review. If you find yourself setting meetings and then backing out at the last minute, you’re not alone. Rescheduling and canceling are so common that the article itself is entitled, “You Have to Stop Canceling and Rescheduling Things. Really.”
There are a lot of theories about why so many people set meetings and then ask to postpone them or cancel them outright, but they all stem back to the same idea that we tend to overcommit ourselves. Whitney Johnson, the author of that article, explains that avoiding canceling and rescheduling is all about establishing trust, saying, “When you fail to fulfill commitments that you freely make, trust is not the result.”
The best part about including a scheduling tool on your website is that clients, customers, and anyone who visits your site can set up a meeting with you on their time. They can choose a time they won’t feel overwhelmed or overcommitted, and they see exactly when you are available to meet.
What’s more, you can set up available appointment slots in your calendar when you won’t feel like you’ve overcommitted yourself. It’s a win for everyone.
Manage Cancellations with Ease
Even if you offer a scheduling tool to let customers, clients, and leads choose when they want to meet with you, sometimes things happen and meetings have to get canceled. It’s just a fact of life.
But traditional scheduling means your meeting attendees have to call or email, wait for a response, and then spend time going back and forth about a new time that works for them. And this may be time they don’t have. Additionally? It’s time you could spend doing something else!
A scheduling tool gives the power back to your clients, customers, and leads and allows them the opportunity to reschedule without any pressure or delay.
Plus, you can set cancellation policies without having to speak to the customer, which gives you the respect that you deserve.
Give JAW Dropping Designs Scheduling Tool a Try
There are so many benefits to building a scheduling tool into your website. However, not all scheduling tools are equal. Some only allow you to set up one type of meeting at one location or don’t have a full suite of features that make sense in today’s world.
JAWDD offers a robust, versatile scheduling tool you can use for existing customers and new leads alike.
With our scheduler tool, your clients and customers can set up in-person, office, video, or phone appointments. You can then break down appointments based on team members, rooms, and vehicles—however many appointment types you need. We can handle unlimited appointment options. Users can even set up recurring appointments and set up appointments from their mobile devices.
We also do everything we can to help avoid missed appointments. We’ll send confirmation and reminder emails as well as text message reminders to make your life easier and keep your clients in the loop. Your scheduling tool can even be HIPAA compliant.
