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Originally Posted On: Best Appointment Booking Apps for Enterprises (coconutsoftware.com)

 

According to recent research, 60% of customers will hang up if they have been on hold for longer than one minute.

This shortened allowance for hold time has made it more difficult for your staff to secure appointments. Especially during high volume call and service times. Now more than ever, accessible appointment booking options are integral to the success of your financial institution.

So how can you provide a better booking experience for your prospects and customers and maximize your schedule? You need the help of the best appointment booking apps to streamline customer service and scale your revenue potential.

Ready to make the change and advance your systems for the better? Follow along to learn about the top apps for appointment booking that ensure the success of your bank or credit union.

What Is an Appointment Booking App?

These online apps offer a convenient and self-sufficient way for your current and future clients to book an appointment with your financial institution. They can log on at any time to select their preferred time and don’t need to set aside time for a call or communicate back and forth through email.

This online scheduling software will take your customers from a link on your website, social media account, email signature or the existing mobile banking app to a booking page. From here they can choose from your open time slots and select preferred staff members or service specialists for their needs.

An online app will allow for more instant communication, freeing up your customer service agents for in-person interactions and operations. The added features of your software will offer advances in business processes such as addressing calendar optimization, and time management for both the client and your team members alike.

Why You Need One

The fear of making changes to your system can be difficult to get past. The problem is, paper scheduling, in-house developed programs or call-in only appointment booking is costing you time and money.

The benefits of an appointment booking app go far beyond customer preference. Here are a few key advantages you can gain by making the switch.

24/7 Access

Chances are, your business hours fall within the timeframe where the majority of your clients are at work. While this is great for business accounts, it severely limits an individual’s opportunity to get in touch with you.

Perhaps they can’t step out to make a call or their busy schedule limits their ability to exchange email communication.

Having an app makes it possible for your clients and new leads to log on at any hour and find a time that works best for them. They can secure the appointment with a click of a button, making the process simple and time-friendly.

Improved Experience

Stop the occurrence of your customers being asked to hold or waiting at the desk while agents decipher complicated calendars. This time-waster will make them lose interest in the interaction and seek a more customer-focused branch.

Your clients want instant gratification without any hassle. It’s time to start delivering this expectation to keep them around and draw in new clientele.

With automated systems and call back features, your team will be able to filter appropriate appointment openings. They could even guide customers to self-serve and reduce the back and forth conversation. This will have your staff and your clients saving valuable time and increasing earning potential.

Better Online Visibility

Paying for advertisements and marketing campaigns is a great way to generate leads, but are you utilizing organic traffic as well? Amp up your free visibility by appealing to Google’s ranking algorithm.

Banking locations can gain from narrowing in their online approach and targeting local SEO. This ensures you show up in the results when potential clients search for your bank or credit union + your location. Be sure to ask prospective appointment booking apps if they are integrated to Reserve with Google.

These apps are open for map integration and location-specific keyword options. This will increase your relevancy for these online searches. You can use Google to promote your business without spending any of your marketing dollars.

Highlight Improvement Opportunity

Scheduling software offers a plethora of insights and analytics. These can actually help you improve your service, marketing, and business operations.

You can see what demographic your bank or credit union is appealing to and use this information to target those individuals and expand your reach. You can also use these metrics to decern where your staff is doing well and where they could use performance coaching.

Features like automated surveys take the awkwardness out of asking your clients how their experience. They also encourage more honest responses. This valuable information can help you get ahead on issues and develop a more client-friendly experience.

An automated system can even help rule out human error. Your customers don’t become frustrated with crossed appointment times, double bookings or incorrect information.

What to Look For

Each app touts its own unique features and business improving elements. Keep in mind these features will be widespread for different business formats. For example, while some apps offer great payment processing, you likely won’t find this necessary for your financial institutuion booking needs. You can avoid the added cost associated with unnecessary features like this.

To choose the best appointment booking apps for credit unions and banking use, you’ll want to keep an eye out for these specific qualities.

Simplicity

Your bank or credit union has different areas of complexity than other service providers like spas or health facilities. Make sure you’re providing your clients with an easy to navigate and simple platform that is designed for financial institutions.

This will allow them to achieve the desired result with no fuss or hassle right from their first try. You’ll want your users to easily select appointments at the right location with their preferred agent. This will cut confusion or frustration when they arrive for their meeting.

Look for an app that makes filtering locations and services easy. Some will even provide simple shortcuts so that your team and clients can save on button-clicks. This leads to their desired destination even quicker.

Automated Follow-Up

When clients cancel or miss an appointment, it’s important to action follow-up.

Relying on customers to call when they are ready or asking them to remember to reschedule will hurt your rebooking rate and damage your growth. Using an app with these features takes the responsibility out of rebooking and automates the process for the best results.

Confirmation and reminder notifications are powerful tools for reducing no-show appointment times. Clients are proven to be less likely to cancel after they have received a reminder message. This hands-free reminder option will help you ensure more reliable scheduling and get the most out of a booked up calendar. Make sure the appointment booking app you’re looking at has automated SMS and email notifications.

If clients need to cancel or their appointment is flagged as ‘missed’, they will receive a message reminder to rebook. This message should contain an easy access link to the booking platform. Your app will allow them to make the split-second decision to go ahead and rebook that appointment without delaying the action.

Marketing Tools

Having an online appointment booking option is a great way to get a leg up over your competition. However, it’s only effective if your clientele knows about it.

Seek an app that provides you with tools to raise awareness and draw an audience for your new improved accessibility. Placing a call to action on your website will help convert the audience that are already there, but why not use this feature to drive traffic altogether?

Features like a sharable booking link and social media buttons help spread the word about your distinct advantage. You can then draw leads from each of your marketing platforms. These CTAs will allow customers to jump right from your Facebook business page to booking. No distractions or obstacles can get in the way.

These marketing tools can make a large difference in your campaign strategies and promote easier access. When paired up with integrations into solutions like Hubspot or Salesforce, you’re also getting a better picture as to what marketing campaigns lead to the most valuable appointments booked.

Staff Management

Investigate apps that will support enough accounts for all of your staff to gain access. Your agents will need to know who they have coming in next on their own schedule, rather than monitoring the overall system. Choose an app that all your agents can use simultaneously with life updates from one account to the next.

This will ensure that no double booking or communication errors take place.

Another advantage to independent users is the insights it will provide you as a manager or owner. You’ll be able to monitor team performance and address weaknesses in your team.

This insight can even help you determine your optimal workforce management and adjust shifts. You can be sure to cover higher volume times or have agents available for commonly requested services.

The Best Appointment Booking Apps

Here are our top picks for apps that are set up for a great customer and business experience. These four apps offer unique features and specialize in areas like customization, advanced booking, and all-around ease of use.

1. Acuity Scheduling

This app is the best performer for customization for small business that are looking for basic, cheap and low integration help. The platform allows small businesses to upload intake forms or provide payment in advance options. You can even accept coupon codes through the system and enable service add-ons for each appointment as requested by the client. Clients can reschedule or cancel but you can set limits for how close to the appointment they can make these changes.

You can use a direct link to the booking app or embed the service into your website for a smooth and easy customer experience.

As a bonus, you’ll also be able to access the schedule and make changes to availability on the go right from your android or IOS mobile device, perfect for the busy hairdresser, pet groomer or mechanic on the go.

2. Coconut Software Appointment Scheduling

This software is specifically designed with financial institutions like credit unions and banks in mind. The system is optimized to handle requests and workflows that these institutions often experience.

This platform serves as a convenient space to manage bookings for all locations and staff with easy access to the schedule for an optimized calendar. Real-time updates allow clients to choose their preferred spot without any hiccups.

Quick-access shortcuts allow for a frictionless process when selecting a preferred location and service, even language for the meeting. This promotes higher conversion and more satisfied customers.

You’ll be able to monitor performance and trends with ease and your customers will love the SMS and email appointment reminder system. They’ll even be able to check themselves in on their mobile device, or join a line online via scanning a QR code or clicking a link, as part of the lobby and visitor management feature.

The app works with your staff to provide accurate wait times and streamline customer flow. This ensures a consistent and high-quality experience for every customer. From booking to their in-person interaction, this app is set up to make workflow a breeze.

3. SimplyBook.me

This system is perfect for international SMBs. They offer service in 32 languages and have international payment options to reduce foreign exchange headaches.

You can choose from 24 payment processing services so that you can offer the most convenient options for your clients and encourage return visits.

The set-up is simple and user-friendly and allows you to choose different colors and background themes to fit your branding. Even if you don’t have a website, you’ll still be able to offer online bookings with Facebook and Instagram integration.

Keep track of all of your business activity from cancellations to staff member workload all from your dashboard.

4. Genbook

If you often have empty spaces in your schedule, this app will be your saving grace.  With a unique last-minute booking feature, you can set preferences on quick-fill appointments and turn those empty spaces into revenue-producing appointments, ideal for small businesses that focus on services such as gyms, massage therapy or salons.

Select what timeframe qualifies for last-minute booking and apply discounts to fill them up.

The Genbook app also allows you to block off time for vacation without individually closing each appointment time. You can simply cross off dates of service and ensure no customers will have an unwelcome surprise when they arrive at an empty office.

Have a popular time that books up quickly? Allow customers to join a waitlist and receive notifications if their preferred time and service have any new openings.

Maximize Appointment Booking

From time-saving systems to improved customer interactions, there’s no doubt that an appointment booking app is just what your financial institution needs to see growth and success in the digital age.

Eliminate those dreaded hold times and banish difficult to decipher schedules. Your clients and your staff will be thrilled with the much-needed update.

Ready to get your hands on the best appointment booking apps? Get in touch with us today to experience a specifically designed system for financial institutions like banks and credit unions, and start reaping the benefits of this optimized system.