Microsoft Bookings: Have Customers Book Appointments Directly
Have you ever experienced being put on hold for a long time waiting for someone to get back to you with an appointment time? This can be incredibly frustrating — not to mention a waste of your time! Say goodbye to a paper calendar and appointment booking system and start using technology to do the work for you. Microsoft has the solution and is included in many Microsoft 365 subscriptions. See how you can end the frustrating process of making appointments and focus on growing your business with Microsoft Bookings.
Microsoft Bookings
Microsoft Bookings is an online and mobile application designed to support appointment-based businesses with their online bookings and scheduling. It allows your customers to easily schedule a time in your appointment calendar without you even being involved. Your customers will love the flexibility, convenience, and control they get with Bookings. They can visit your booking page whenever they want, schedule the time and service they need, receive a confirmation email and calendar invitation, and reschedule or cancel if they need to. For customers who prefer to make appointments by calling you, you simply enter their details into Bookings, and the technology will do the rest. The software sends all confirmations and reminders to both you and the customer.
Bookings Saves Time
Microsoft Bookings gives you a fast, easy alternative to time-consuming, frustrating phone-scheduling. Their easy-to-set-up, customizable webpage lets your customers find available times and book appointments 24/7 that suit them without you having to be involved. You receive a private calendar for managing your schedule along with automatic confirmations and reminders that will save you time.
Bookings Decrease No-Shows
Nothing is more frustrating than a customer missing an appointment. This is bad for business and costs you money. Bookings decrease your no-shows by sending automatic reminders to your customers and staff. Staff also receive reminders as appointments appear on their calendars as soon as the appointment is made. Your customers can add their appointments on their calendars as well, giving them the flexibility to reschedule or cancel appointments with just a few clicks.
Get It All With Microsoft 365
Microsoft Bookings automatically comes with a select Microsoft 365 plan. The Microsoft Bookings app is available to use by default for all Office 365 Education A3, Office 365 A5, and Office 365 Business Premium subscriptions. In Office Online, you can access the Bookings web app from the app launcher or office.com. For Microsoft 365 for business, Office 365 Enterprise E3, and Office 365 Enterprise E5 subscriptions, the Microsoft Bookings app offered through the Business Apps (free) add-on is off by default. Bookings provides the flexibility to be turned off or on at any time for your entire organization and specific users. When you turn on Bookings for users, they can create a Bookings page and calendar and allow other people to book time with them. You can also select specific users to create Bookings pages, without turning off Bookings for your entire organization. The IT administrator grants access to Bookings. Then those authorized users can access the app via Office online.
Customer Service is Everything
A good “experience economy” business model is staffed with people who’ve been thoroughly trained in providing exemplary customer service. Giving the customer the option of making bookings online ends their frustration of being put on hold when calling in to make an appointment. HubSpot reports that computer software is one of the best performing industries in terms of deals created, despite seeing an 8% decline last week. This is because website traffic is trending well above pre-COVID averages as consumers are turning to software to help them weather the storm. Using software like Microsoft Bookings to do the heavy lifting is smart in any business.
To learn more about how Microsoft Bookings can relieve your customers’ frustrations in making appointments give us a call at 504-533-8323 if you are in New Orleans or 225.336.0273 if you are in Baton Rouge. We provide businesses with comprehensive solutions from anti-malware software to 24/7 security monitoring. We are ready to help with work-from-home solutions and employee training. To learn more about our free assessment services or remote support, contact us today.
