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Posts tagged apps for spas
Mobile App Reservations Made Easy
Apr 10th
Do you have an appointment- or reservation-based business? If you’re still making appointments for your clients and customers by phone, by hand or from an appointment book, that’s okay. Companies have been doing this for decades, and it seems to work well enough.
But what if you could save your office administrator time, while boosting your business? You’d want to do that, right?
The world has gone mobile, and people are using their smart phones and mobile devices to do everything – including making appointments. If you and your competitor are alike in most ways, but they offer mobile appointments/reservations and you don’t, well – there’s a pretty good chance that they are going to go with your competitor. People like the ease and convenience of being able to make a reservation on the go, without having to call and speak to someone, or stand around waiting for someone to look at a calendar.
According to a recent report, restaurants are getting 12% of their bookings online, and a third of that comes from mobile devices.
It isn’t just restaurants, either. Realtors, health related services, salons, and a huge selection of other industries are jumping on board, offering mobile appointments and reservations to their customers. It allows a person to take their schedule into their own hands, choosing and booking their own time. A person is much more likely to log in quickly to an app and make an appointment than they are to dial a number and spend five minutes or more on the phone, trying to book a reservation.
It’s all about ease and convenience.
By offering mobile reservations, you remove several obstacles – customers won’t have to spend time googling or looking up phone numbers, dialing, waiting for an answer, waiting on hold, having to find a quiet place to make the call, etc. It might not be a big deal to everyone, but some people really are that busy. Taking those obstacles out of booking an appointment will give you a distinct advantage to those people.
Why not add a mobile reservation or appointment feature to your app? Try out Bizness Apps today to get started with our easy to use “reservations tab” feature.
The Benefits of Adding Mobile Reservations to Your Business
Apr 10th
If your business is taking appointments over the phone, by hand, into an appointment book – that’s fine. The system has served countless business owners for a very long time, and it’s bug-proof (well, so long as your receptionist is on the ball).
We’re not going to tell you that has to change.
What we are going to tell you, however, is the cost of using that system (and only that system): some sales prospects may avoid your business, and may book instead with a competitor. In fact, one mobile restaurant booking service reports that certain restaurants are getting 12% of their bookings online, and a third come from mobile devices.
Of course, this percentage can vary widely depending on what industry you’re in, but if your business doesn’t take online and mobile bookings, you’re almost certainly leaving some money on the table. The reason is simple: the more obstacles you put in the way of a prospect or customer making a booking, the less likely they are to make one. And in today’s everything-on-demand world, the most insignificant tasks count as obstacles:
1. Having to look up a phone number
2. Having to dial it
3. Needing reception to make the call
4. Needing to be in a quiet enough place to make a call
5. Social anxiety of having to speak to a stranger on the phone
6. Being put on hold
7. Having to switch from a device’s phone app to the calendar app (what percentage of users can do this smoothly?)
8. And so on
The goal is always to reduce these obstacles as much as possible, and adding a simple booking feature to your business’s mobile app or mobile website is a great way to do it. Booking features let customers book appointments with your business anytime, anywhere using their mobile devices. When they look up your business online, instead of having to reach out via phone, they can simply pop open your booking feature, select an open appointment, and they’re done. The process is smooth and convenient, and is often a lot quicker than making a phone call.
As a business owner, you’re still in total control of the bookings that come in. You can limit how many appointments users can book, the duration of appointments, which appointments are open to users, and even when they can submit bookings. You’re also notified when an appointment is made, so there are no surprises. Managing and reviewing appointments is also easy from any of your computers or mobile devices. If you like, you can even charge a fee for bookings using PayPal or Google Checkout functionality.
You might be wondering what users who aren’t comfortable with mobile technology are going to do after you “go mobile.” They’ll do the same things they always did! If any user finds this stuff to be too complicated, and still prefers to call in a reservation, that’s fine. You’re not going to lose any of those prospects. They can still call in. You’re just adding a new channel to receive bookings.
At the end of the day, the benefits really add up. First, an easy-to-manage, cost-effective electronic booking system saves you time and money because you don’t have to spend as much time on the phone taking appointments. But that’s nothing compared to the boost you get from new customers and increased bookings. Users can also create accounts and schedule appointments more easily in the future, leading to increased repeat bookings from current customers.
For easier operations and increased revenues – mobile bookings are a simple, cost-effective solution every small business owner should seriously consider.
For more info, please click here.
Why Every Spa Needs A Mobile App and Mobile Website
Mar 21st
To a guest, a spa is a relaxing oasis. Mellow, new age music plays in the background, a trickling water fountain bubbles in the corner, and the smell of essential oils helps people unwind. But somewhere “in the back,” it’s a different story. While guests lounge at the front, in the back, a stressed small business owner may very well be pulling her hair out as she looks over this quarter’s financials.
This is where a well-built mobile app or website comes in.
With every passing day, mobile becomes more and more important to small businesses. Using the right features, mobile solutions can boost revenue and customer satisfaction, and can deliver highly useful insights to the spa owner.
So, what can a spa do with a mobile app or website that makes these tools so powerful? Here are five features to consider:
1. Mobile reservations
Taking reservations through a mobile app or website can boost bookings, smooth out demand, and enable better planning and staffing. Some guests simply don’t like talking on the phone, and will even be more likely to book a visit if they can do so online. Moreover, online bookings are easier to administer and analyze when compared to a classic paper schedule, and can also help with unobtrusive upsells for add-on services.
2. Information
A mobile app or website lets you share information with prospects. This information can be simple things like your hours, address, phone number, or your mapped location. But you can also upload things like your menu of services, details about products used, your therapists’ skills, and more. Quickly being able to get info helps customers make decisions and ultimately boosts sales.
3. Offers and coupons
Offers and coupons are great for getting bookings for unpopular time slots, and guests will appreciate discounts or other benefits. If you’ve published an app, these can be delivered via a “push notification,” which means that your offer message pops up on a user’s device at a time you schedule. This can be an effective way to increase conversions, and users can opt out of these notifications if they find them irritating.
4. Learn about customers
With analytics, mobile apps and sites can provide you with information about your guests that can be very valuable. You can learn which pages or pieces of information they visit most, so you know what is on their minds and where to focus your efforts. You can also solicit feedback, and learn even more. Some examples include: 1) What treatments do they want to see offered? 2) What price would they pay for certain services they don’t currently use? 3) Who is their favorite therapist? 4) Do they like the music? 5) Do they like the products?
The list goes on and on.
5. Get social
Mobile apps and websites allow you to turn each prospect and guest into a mini-relay through social sharing. If they book an appointment, give them a chance to post it to Facebook or Twitter. Or if they enjoyed an appointment, send them a follow-up message and ask if they’d like to post a simple “Thank You” to their social media accounts.
There are a lot of possibilities, here, and mobile apps and sites make it happen.
It may seem like just another task to add to your list, but the opportunities far outweigh the costs. In fact, a basic app can be created quite easily and cost-effectively using Bizness Apps. For more info on how we can have your app up and running in short order, please click here.
(Also, if you’re a developer who’d like to take advantage of the opportunities the small business mobile app market presents, click here for more information on our app reseller program.)
