Online booking systems are growing expeditiously in terms of usage and functionality. We have our smartphones 24/7, and we are easily integrated with social networks and websites. The simplicity of the booking applications adds significantly to the overall streamlining of the customer experience. The customer experience is all about removing obstacles from the path and making it as easy as possible for customers to pay from interested parties. The less friction in this process, the more likely you are to increase the number of your customers.
While booking apps and websites are becoming more popular, most entrepreneurs do not see this as a sport, they see this app as a profit-making tool for their business. It makes sense to consider how to use booking apps and websites for your business to stay one step ahead of your competitor and how to move your business with increased connectivity and the global trend of smartphone usage. Whenever your customer thinks they can book an appointment you should be on their wish list and think about how you can improve your service experience through the booking app.
The booking application has successfully worked in many fields. In this article, we have explained the development process of the applications that allow you to make online booking appointments for various needs.
Reasons behind the success of online booking apps and websites:
The booking application is not only working successfully in many sectors but it also gives huge profits to the merchants. Have we ever thought about the reason for this ominous growth of online booking apps? Here is the answer you need. In this electrified world everything we need comes into our hands in a matter of seconds so we have forgotten the word waiting, and waiting for our turn in a beauty salon, hospital, and restaurant in this hectic life cycle is one of the most irritating ones. This is where the booking application helps us. There is no need to wait if we have booked our appointment with this application. This is an important reason for the development of online booking applications and we can make an appointment through phone calls but the chances of our booking details being missed are very high. But while we make an appointment in the booking app there is very little chance to miss the details.
Features of booking apps that bring profit to your business:
The above reasons alone are not enough to create a booking app, if you want to create a booking app it is very important to explore how it will add profit to your business. For your clear understanding, we have outlined below a list of how booking apps can feature your business.
Online booking in real-time:
The most common feature of the booking apps. By this feature customers do not have to make inquiries about the booking time before booking, do not have to wait for your reply, and you do not have to carry out these inquiries manually. Instead, your customers can see all the free availability dates directly and book their appointment.
Various languages and currencies:
Most businesses want to reach international customers. Therefore, customers need to have the opportunity to book at least in English and their language and pay in their currency, which will enhance the customer experience. If a customer does not understand how to book due to a language barrier, they will be forced to book your competitor’s business. Allow customers to select country, language and currency in online booking applications.
Payment methods for domestic customers and international customers:
For local customers you can use money transfer methods like Gpay, phonepe, amazon pay online banking. But for foreign customers, using PayPal is a great feature in your application. PayPal is the simplest and safest way to make payments online globally, with this method users can make payments from anywhere in the world. This makes it clear to customers that you value your customer’s security and privacy, and this enhances trust in customers’ trust in you. On the other hand, you have the assurance that you will receive online payments directly from your customers.
Intelligent diary and calendar:
The intelligent and easy-to-understand booking calendar gives the user a list of all bookings and revenue at a glance. This will greatly facilitate your booking planning. To avoid unnecessary work, the booking diary can be synced with digital diaries such as Outlook or Gmail that are already in use.
Automated emails management:
It takes more time to manually send regular standardized emails such as booking reminders, confirmations, and cancellations. It is hard, tiring, and man-required work. This is a job that needs to be done automatically. For example, a booking confirmation notification should be sent to the customer immediately after booking. This confirms to the customer that it has been booked. The booking system should not only send confirmation emails to your customers but also send all the details related to the booking to the customers on a time-wise basis.
Integration of marketing platforms:
In choosing your booking app, you need to make sure that it integrates with different marketing sites. These sites increase access to new customers and can also make some bookings at best. These bookings must be synced immediately with the booking application and the website. You have full control over bookings, dates, and prices.
Secure capital management:
To ensure that your daily work is facilitated, a good booking app and website should provide any of the features listed above. But none of these functions will work unless the last feature is completed. The most important factor of all is that the application must be developed by a trusted app development company, which helps keep your data and capital safe.
A step-by-step process for creating an online booking app:
Step-1: Discuss your application idea with the relevant professional. The goal is to solidify the idea. Before you start building an app, you need to define how your app works and what its features are. It’s so simple!
Step-2: You need to do market research before creating your app. This will save you from making a lot of mistakes in the beginning. You need to check the assumptions and evaluate the needs of potential customers.
Two types of market research can help you:
- Find what your competitors are doing wrong.
- Find out if people are looking for the app you want to create.
Step-3: Now that your project is taking shape, it’s time to create a graphic design for your application. The design of your app includes image properties, graphic effects, and pixel-perfect display details.
Step-4: Create a landing page and make sure you have the services and descriptions you offer, duration, and prices. Also, visualize which employees can provide those services by category which will give your application the best user experience.
Step-5: Design your booking form in which the user can customize the service they want, the date of the appointment, the time, the service professional, etc.
Step-6: Integrate your application with a digital diary and calendar. This will help the user to know the notifications related to the meeting and to receive reminders.
Step-7: Integrating payment gateway methods is one of the most essential for users who want online transactions. Or skip this step if you think you will collect the fee after your appointment. But most applications have this payment gateway.
Step-8: Test your app before sharing, making sure it provides the best user experience for customers and works seamlessly.
Step-9: The last step is to share your online booking application with your customers. You can share your application with your website, email campaigns, social media, and your business card or email signature.
Steps to develop an online booking website:
Step-1: The very first step to creating your website, you need to first select a domain and link it to your actual website.
Step-2: Give a domain name that is different from other players in the market. Be as unique as possible and stay away from common names.
Step-3: Get Managed WordPress Hosting WordPress is a low-cost and user-friendly website that lets you build and run your website on time. Whether you have a big business or a small business, you will find that managed WordPress works for you.
Step-4: Download your business-related theme from the material contained in the HBook Booking Plugin and then install it on the managed WordPress.
Step-5: Now that you have selected a theme, you need to review some plug-ins and find what you need to make your site run as smoothly as possible based on the booking website you are trying to create. Keep in mind that every WordPress site has some plug-ins that need to be run.
Step-6: Now that you have a booking website, it works, it’s good to know how to better share it and get your name. Some sharing suggestions you might want to consider are social media, email blasts, news boards, and forums.
Final thoughts:
Online booking applications and website building need not be difficult. If you have the right tools, know the steps, and know what to look for, with a little work, you can have your booking application and website and run it at the right time.
I hope this article was easy for you to understand. If you would like to create a booking application or website contact us and our coordinators will contact you and give you the details you need.