Running a business requires a lot of skills. If your business is in the service vertical, the margins might be higher but certain special skills are required to ensure the smooth running of the business. A lot of human touch is involved in the services industry both on the customer and employee fronts. Failure to handle and balance both of them means lost opportunities and bad word of mouth.
Appointments help the employees from burning out and the customers from waiting in a line. With SnapAppointments, customers can schedule their own appointments online 24/7 in just seconds.
Overview
Overview
No dealing with busy signals, no sitting on hold, and no waiting for callbacks. SnapAppointments takes the hassle out of making appointments, which will increase business and keep you and your customers happy. The web app is free for both businesses and their customers.
User Interface
You will be taken to the business login page after validating the email address. The app offers a quick run down of where things are and how they can help you via an overlay. The instrcutions were very straight forward and should really help speed things up. The user interface is rather plain and there are no design elements to speak of. On the left side of the dashboard you can find several categories listed. All of them are about fine tuning the app and shouldn’t take a long time to check out.
Using SnapAppointments
Categories
Under Account Settings, you can set your time zone and edit login information. Business Information Section is where the most of the action is. First, enter all the business information including the location and other contact information. List your business in categories you find apt.
Then add some relevant tags to improve the searchability.
Business Information Section
If you plan to not display your business in certain categories, you can do that as well. Use the tag filters to ensure that your business does not show up when users are searching for certain keywords. Another key feature that needs attention is the business hours. Make sure that you have appropriately added all the working hours so that a customer doesn’t actually show up when you are chilling at home.
Uploading some images could better showcase your business and link to your social network pages as well to increase user engagement. Finally, rate how affordable your service is and you are good to go.
Adding a Resource
SnapAppointments refers everyone and everything that requires a calender as a resource. So if you own an auto service shop, both the service bays and the service persons need a calender and hence they both are considered as resources.
Adding a Resource
Calendars can be shared with other SnapAppointment Users. When a calendar is shared, the user it’s shared with can view and edit appointments on the calendar. Enter the email address of the person with whom you will be sharing calender and he/she will be duly notified.
Adding Services
Adding Services
From the Manage Services category, you can list all the services that your concern offers. Services can be created under various categories and you can specify how much it will cost the customer and how long it will actually take.
Trends
From the Dashboard you can see the appointments currently being handled and the ones that come in after them. The trends graph showcasing how the business is faring week on week is a briliant idea. You can go to the Calender page and change scheduled appointments if need be.
You can sync calendar information with any calendar application that supports CalDAV, such as Apple iCal, iPhone, iPad, Mozilla Sunbird/Lightning, and Android phones with an application.
The Booking Page
Embed Options
Calenders and the entire appointments page can be embedded to your own website. You can choose between two different colors and for the booking module, there is an iframe available. It’s unbelievable that a free web app offers so much functionality!
Booking Page
The public booking page looks really cool. All the relevant information that a customer needs to know about your business before making the decision are shown. Based on the address you have provided earlier, a Google Maps module is automatically displayed on your booking page.
Booking an Appointment
Customers can easily book appointments by selecting the service, the provider, timing and finally giving out their contact information. Automatic reminders by both email and text messaging help eliminate forgotten appointments. Easy rescheduling features result in customers rescheduling with reasonable notice, and an optional rewards system can give customers additional incentive to show up for their appointments on-time.
Final Thoughts
SnapAppointments not only helps attract new customers, it helps increase customer loyalty. The web app will help you attract more customers and simultaneously result in fewer phone calls and fewer missed appointments so that you can focus on the core of your business.
I am bit curious as to why the web app sports two different designs – SnapAppointments.com and SnapAppointments.com/en have two different designs. Both the pages are in English but the latter has a better design though.
The backend of the app could use some colors and Web 2.0 elements. But that doesn’t make the app any less intuitive. Don’t miss this cool web app if you plan to stay ahead of your competiton.
Share Your Thoughts
How important is it for a service business to have an appointments system in place? Is there a better alternative to SnapAppointments?