Choosing the Best Online Booking System: 5 Rules to Follow

Written by Kevin Liew on 20 Mar 2019
23,439 Views • WordPress

Running an appointment-based business nowadays is quite different than it used to be just a decade ago. One of the biggest changes that came hand in hand with the new technologies is the fact that the majority of bookings now happen online.

However, this also means that you have to stay up to date with the latest trends and technologies if you want to stay ahead of your competition. Using one of the best online booking systems is the best way to do so.

But how do you choose the best appointment booking system for your business? If you are not sure how to pick the right one, here are 5 rules that all the best appointment booking plugins have to follow.

#1: Mobile-Friendly Design

Estimates say that the majority of people will not turn on their computer just to book an appointment online. In fact, most of these quick online activities are performed on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets.

That being said, a good online booking system has to be mobile friendly and look great on all screens. If your users want to book an appointment during their lunch break, they have to be able to do so or you might lose them.

#2: An Intuitive Interface that is Easy to Use

A good booking system is quick and intuitive which means that everybody has to be able to use it instantly and without trying to figure out for too long how it works. Even people who aren’t exactly tech experts need to be able to book an appointment with your online booking system quickly and easily.

#3: Appointment Management

While it all starts with a user scheduling an appointment, the process does not stop there. In fact, what comes next is equally as important as the booking itself.

A good appointment scheduling system will help you manage your appointments with a variety of useful features such as automated notifications, reminders, and alerts. Not only will these features help you stay up to date with your schedule, but they will also minimize the number of unexpected no-shows.

#4: Customizable Design

Customization options are an essential part of making your booking system a part of your brand. This means that you should incorporate all the elements commonly associated with your brand’s design such as your logo, fonts, and colors.

A customizable design is what will help your users recognize your brand easily and make you stand out from the competition. On top of that, you should also be able to customize the forms used for collecting the users’ data to obtain all relevant information quickly and easily.

#5: Multiple Payment Methods Supported

When it comes to online payments, it is essential that you make them as smooth as possible. You don’t want to make it harder for your users to pay you, do you?

With that in mind, it is important that your online appointment booking system supports multiple payment methods, specifically some of the world’s most popular ones such as PayPal, Stripe, credit cards, etc.

Give your clients a chance to choose the method that works best for them and make it as easy for them to pay you as possible.

Amelia – The Best WordPress Appointment Booking Plugin

Amelia is one of the best appointment systems you can find and it follows all the rules that we talked about in this article. It is completely automatedwhich means you will have a lot more time to focus on the most important parts of running a business while Amelia manages your appointments for you.

This creation by TMS Outsource will send out automated reminders, confirmations, cancellation alerts, and even online birthday cards to your users as well as to all your employees. To make things even better, Amelia seamlessly integrates with Google Calendar, WooCommerce, and WordPress itself.

Here are some of Amelia’s key features:

 

Search Interface for Bookings

Amelia lets you search for available appointments, time, locations, services, employees, and more. You can use various filter criteria to narrow the results and find what you are looking for in no time.

 

Step-by-step Booking Wizard

You can choose any parameter of your choice to set up an appointment; from the service to the employee.

 

Insightful Dashboard

All your reports, financial and conversion-related KPIs, and basically everything else that you need to know about your bookings will be available to your thanks to Amelia’s insightful dashboard. Check the dashboard for the back-end demo.

 

Before Booking and Before Cancelation Settings

You can set the time before booking and before cancelation however you want.

 

Automated Notifications

Amelia’s automated notifications will keep your employees as well as your clients up to date with all the appointments and possible changes.

 

Schedule Settings

With Amelia, your schedule will come with dozens of customization options which means you will be able to set it up in any way that best fits your business. You can set up different working hours for different locations and employees, as well as for different time periods.

On top of that, each employee will be able to set their schedule separately and synchronize it with Google Calendar to manage their availability easily.

 

Multiple Online Payment Methods

The online payment process with Amelia is as smooth as possible. Amelia integrates with PayPal and Stripe, as well as with WooCommerce which comes with its own set of practical benefits such as simple invoicing, VAT/tax management etc.

 

Customization Options

With Amelia’s customizable design, you can make your online booking system a recognizable part of your brand.

 

Customizable fields for booking

Collecting relevant data from your users has never been easier. Amelia lets you customize all the booking forms so that you track detailed information through your users’ requests. Custom forms allow tweaking the booking appointment process to match your business in all the right ways.

Conclusion: Let Amelia Manage Your Bookings – It is Worth It

Running an appointment based-business has never been easier than with the help of one of the best online booking specialists.

In this article, we talked about 5 rules that the best WordPress booking plugin has to follow: customizable design, multiple payment methods, automated appointment management, easy-to-use interface, and mobile-friendly design.

We are happy to conclude that Amelia excels in all of the above-mentioned points which makes it one of the best appointment booking systems ever. If you like this plugin, you should also check out wpDataTables, the #1 WordPress table plugin online.

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