Online marketing tools for medium business you can find in Bookly Pro and its add-ons
To grow your medium-sized business you need the right tools. Bookly PRO is a powerful online booking solution. But to take your sales to the next level, you’ll want to leverage all the top WordPress plugins that are available. Bookly PRO comes with dozens of different add-ons which add useful features and functionality to improve the service that you offer your clients and increase your sales. Here we will look at the most useful Bookly items for medium-sized businesses.
Take deposits with Bookly deposit payments
Taking deposits is one of the smartest moves if you are running a service-based business. Bookly PRO deposit payments add-on enables you to take a partial payment for the service during booking. The remainder of the payment will be taken on the appointment date.
Taking deposits during the online appointment booking produces fewer customer objections than requesting the full payment upfront. At the same time, you are reducing the risks of no shows and improving your business’s cash flow.
Once you’ve added the deposit payment, you can set the minimum deposit that will need to be paid when the client makes an appointment. You can set this amount based on the service that has been offered or the staff member that has been allocated. You can choose to have your deposit payment either as a fixed amount or as a percentage of the total cost of the appointment. When a deposit is taken, Bookly will automatically update your payment list.
Obtain additional information to build up your customer profile
Data has been called the oil of the 21st century. Tech Giants like Google and Facebook provide incredibly valuable services for free because they understand the power of collecting data about their users.
With the Customer Information add-on this kind of capability is now in the hands of small and medium-sized businesses. With this plugin you can collect and store additional information about your client. This add-on is completely customized so that you can create tailored fields for your customer’s section. When information is entered, it will be added to that individual’s customer profile.
This additional information can be collected in a variety of different ways, which includes drop-down lists, multiple choice, and text fields. These custom fields can be optional or required. The customer profile add-on lets you ask as many additional questions as you require.
Obtaining additional information about your customer allows you to provide a more targeted service to your clients. It’s also a great way of identifying the segments of your market, which are most profitable. This allows you to be more targeted in your marketing. You can use the data for advertising to attract clients who meet your most profitable buyer demographic.
Integrate Google Maps to speed up the booking process
You want your booking process to be as seamless and simple as possible. One part of the booking process, which is often slow and confusing, is filling in the address. Because of the variations in which addresses can be written, this is often a frustrating experience. There is also a good possibility that address information will be entered incorrectly.
The Bookly Google Maps address add-on helps to solve this problem. The Bookly Google Maps add-on automatically fills out the address once the client enters the initial details. This is thanks to the Google Maps autocomplete functionality.
As the client types their address, they will be given the option to choose an address from a drop-down list of street addresses and business names. Once an address has been entered, it will be saved in the Customers section.
Enable customers to upload files
Some services require more detailed documentation for a booking to proceed. This documentation may be essential for delivering the service. For example, if you are offering financial services, you may need to see specific identification or financial documentation.
In some cases, uploading additional files may not be essential but allows you to offer a superior service. If you are running a personal training service, you might have an on-boarding form with their exercise history and health information.
The Bookly files add-on allows you to achieve all of the above. Once installed, you can enable customers to upload files when they schedule an appointment. This will be added to their unique booking details for reference later on.
Create a waiting list for your appointments
It is every services business to have a lengthy waiting list of clients wanting to pay you money. If you are in the enviable position of having more demand than supply, then you will want to incorporate the waiting list add-on into your booking process.
When you are fully booked, clients will be given the option to join a waiting list. When an appointment slot opens up, a client can be automatically allocated to that slot. One of the biggest benefits of having a waiting list is that if you get a last minute cancellation, you will be able to fill it immediately. This is a great way of ensuring that you are making the most out of all of your available slots.
The Waiting List add-on works as follows. If an appointment slot becomes available, then the person who is delivering that service will receive a notification. They will be able to see all of the customers that are currently in line. Next to each of the clients’ names is a link which can be used to approve their appointment. Once approved, that customer will switch from being on the waiting list to approved. The customer will then receive a notification with the details of their appointment.
Let staff members manage their own calendar
As a medium business size owner or manager, it is important to use your time wisely and delegate tasks when appropriate. The Staff Cabinet WordPress add-on enables staff members to manage their own calendar and appointments from the frontend. With this add-on installed, staff members won’t need to login into the WordPress admin dashboard to make changes.
From the front end of their calendar they can view and update their calendars and service details. This includes the ability to approve, cancel, edit, or add in new appointments. If a staff member finds they have more or less time available than expected, they can update their availability. If you are using the add-on with the Special Days add-on, your employees will also be able to allocate special days which override their existing scheduling.
Make specific services available only during particular times of the day
There may be certain services that you only wish to offer for a set period of the day. With the Service Schedule add-on you can make these services only available at set times. This works in conjunction with staff members individual schedules. This is useful because those staff members may be available to offer other services throughout the rest of the day.
Let customers book multiple appointments in a row
There are circumstances where clients may want to be able to book multiple appointments on a consecutive basis. With the Multiply Appointments add-on customers can choose to book multiple number of appointments for the same service in a row.
This can be used to allow the client to determine the length of their appointment. Another use case is for booking managers who want to accommodate a series of identical appointments by the same service provider in a row.
Allow customers to set several appointments using a single visit
Another scenario is where clients want to book multiple services within the same visit. For example, if you are running a luxury spa, there may be a series of different treatments that your customers will want to book in for during the same visit. With the Chain Appointments add-on customers can pick from multiple services and with different service providers. The add-on will automatically look for the best set of available slots to accommodate all of the appointments that this client wants to make.
Use your booking form with a multi-site setup
If your medium-sized business has multiple different operations, then you may be running a WordPress multisite setup. With the Multisite plugin you can use the Bookly plugin within a multisite environment. Once setup, you will be able to manage your Bookly forms across multiple different WordPress websites all from a single dashboard.
Offer additional service items
Offering additional service items during the appointment booking process is one of the best ways of providing additional value for your customers and maximizing their spend. Once a customer has committed to making a purchase, it is usually relatively easy to upset them into additional purchase. These purchases can have a significant effect on your overall profit margins. Offering extra service items also ensures that your customers get the most out of the services that you offer or increases convenience. Examples could include offering towels or locker rental at a gym.
The Bookly Service Extras add-on provides a lot of flexibility in terms of the additional items you can offer during the booking process. In fact, once installed, you can offer as many additional items that you want. These additional items could be extra products the customer purchase along with their appointment. The additional item can increase the price and/or duration of the service that you provide. All of this will be displayed as an “extras” step during the booking process.
Let staff members collaborate to deliver services
Do you have services that are delivered by more than one staff member? Then the Bookly Collaborative Services add-on is for you. This add-on allows staff members to work together to deliver a service and allows multiple staff members to share rooms or equipment.
The collaborative services add-on is particularly useful if you are providing more complex services. For the customer, the experience is simple. They simply book in the service that they require. In the backend, Bookly automatically organizes the resources and employees that are required to perform that service. It will then indicate to the client what slots are available.
Once a client selects a time, the add-on notifies the relevant staff members that they are scheduled to deliver the service. It will also reserve any equipment or room that is used for the service. This prevents double booking of required resources. The end result is the ability to deliver seamlessly what would otherwise be a complex service using multiple employees and resources.
Ensure your booking process is GDPR compliant
GDPR has created a complex set of requirements for customer data protection that many businesses struggle to meet. With the Customer Cabinet add-on you can comply with the requirements that have been set by GDPR. Once installed, customers will be able to access and manage their personal details.
From their user account they can delete any personal information from their customer profile. They can also view their previous appointments history or appointment details. This removes the administrative time that would be required in order to be GDPR compliant.
Include taxes in the price of your services
Making sure that you are applying the right taxes to your services is essential for avoiding problems. With the Taxes add-on you can be sure that you are applying taxes correctly. Once setup, taxes will be applied in the service price. You can define a single tax rate and apply this across all of your services. Alternatively, you can set different tax rates for each of the services. Once you have chosen the tax rate, Bookly automatically calculates the correct total price using the tax rate that has been applied.
Conclusion
Your booking process should meet the unique needs of your business. Using add-ons you can tailor your booking process so that it matches the services you provide. With the right add-ons you can provide a personalized experience for your clients while maximizing the amount that they spend. The end result is satisfied customers and more profitable business.
