Owners of small businesses are always looking for time-saving strategies. After all, as the saying goes, time is money. Therefore, making use of an online appointment scheduling program like Setmore makes perfect sense.
In any case, what separates some reserving frameworks from others? How do you select the best one for your particular requirements? Additionally, will the system you select be compatible with your existing business platforms?
If you want to make an investment in an online booking system like Setmore, keep reading to learn everything you need to know about it, its advantages, and other Setmore alternatives available so you can make the best choice for your small business.
Who is Setmore?
Setmore is a free app and software for scheduling appointments online. that enables you to maintain control of your calendar thanks to automated booking, which is available 24 hours a day and includes payment options, reminders, and more. It is not a complete CRM (client relationship management) tool because its functionality is only related to scheduling. However, it does offer CRM capabilities that are specific to managing your calendar.
You can use it as a one-stop scheduling solution to book your own appointments or design a bespoke booking page so that your customers can schedule their own appointments whenever and wherever they want.
What are Setmore’s main advantages?
Setmore, like any other online appointment scheduling software, provides small business owners with the following key advantages:
1. Better customer experience (and higher rates of client retention) Using a booking system that is quick, easy, and effective contributes to the creation of a more positive customer experience, which in turn keeps clients coming back.
2. Utilizing an automated system frees up more time to focus on taking your business to the next level rather than wasting time coordinating meetings and reschedules or sending reminders and follow-ups.
3. Increased revenue A scheduling software that is simple to use helps cut down on no-shows and encourages satisfied customers to take advantage of up-sell opportunities. These are two important factors that can have a significant impact on your revenue without requiring you to acquire more customers.
Setmore provides a number of important (and cool) features in addition to these advantages, such as:
A tailored online booking page that showcases your services, your real-time availability, and your distinctive brand—such as your logo and client testimonials—to assist your clients in self-booking Additionally, it will send automated appointment confirmations as well as text and email reminders to ensure that your customers never miss a session.
With Setmore, you can link your booking page to your website and social media platforms (or use it as your website) so that customers can make appointments through Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms. Customers can make reservations at any time and from any location on your website by creating a QR code or using a plug-in.
Setmore syncs with Square, Stripe, PayPal, and others to accept secure online digital, credit, and debit payments before your appointments. Flexibility to work how you want it to. You can also use it to schedule recurring sessions or to take reservations for events like webinars. You can also add links to your appointments for Zoom, Teleport, or Google Meet so you can join your clients anywhere.
What is the price?
Setmore has three plan tiers to suit all budgets:
1. This free Setmore tier is “music to our ears.” It can be used by up to four people, offers unlimited appointment booking, payment options, personalized notifications, email reminders, and integration with your preferred apps.
2. Pro Setmore Pro is designed for one to two users who want to provide text reminders, recurring appointment capabilities, and two-way calendar sync to improve the customer experience. You can also remove Setmore’s branding from your platform at this level. Additionally, 1% of your $12 user/month membership fee supports tree planting.
3. Group Appointments
Setmore Group offers similar usefulness as Star for limitless clients and will run you $9 each client/month.
What are the best choices to take into account?
Calendly:
Calendly Most likely, you’ve used Calendly before. With this leading appointment scheduling software, you can send your customers a personalized link that they can use to quickly access your calendar and schedule an appointment. You can also add the link to your website, social media profiles, and email signature so that anyone can set up a time to talk.
Calendly is free for basic users and is known for its straightforward experience, easy-to-use interface, and ability to sync with Outlook, Google, and Office 365 calendars. You can upgrade to their Essentials Plan for $10 per month or their Professional Plan for $15 per month if you want more advanced features like payment options, automated reminders, or multiple event types. More alternatives to Calendly can be found here.
Acuity Scheduling:
Acuity Scheduling, formerly Squarespace Scheduling, is a good option for fitness trainers, physiotherapists, and tutors who need to gather information from their clients before scheduling a meeting. Clients can fill out its simple intake form to give you the information you need to make their upcoming appointment a success. It also sends alerts and reminders to them automatically via email and text message, so you don’t have to worry about no-shows.
What’s better still? Because it complies with HIPAA, healthcare providers can rest assured that their appointment and data adhere to all required privacy regulations.
If you like how it compares to Calendly, give it a try for free for the first seven days. After that, their Emerging Plan costs $16 per month, their Growing Plan costs $27 per month, and their Powerhouse Plan costs $49 per month.
Square Scheduling You may also be familiar with the name of this popular choice. Since Square Scheduling is a component of the overall Square experience, it is easy to integrate with all of the company’s other services, such as its POS systems and team management tools.
This particular booking system stands out because it can manage a calendar with multiple locations, allows customers to book multiple services with multiple providers, and includes cancellation and no-show fees. All of these features make it a great option for salons and spas. In addition, it gives you the ability to perform additional useful tasks, such as adding and managing visitor profiles and logging client interactions, which will help you enhance the marketing and targeting of your small business. Additionally, it is accessible through a straightforward app or standard web browser.
There is a free basic plan, and the Plus membership, designed for growing teams, costs $35 per month, while the Premium membership, designed for businesses with complex booking and team management needs, costs $85 per month.
ZohoBookings:
Zoho Bookings is a good app for consultants and small businesses to sync their calendars and book appointments. You can schedule one-on-one or group appointments, offer in-person, over-the-phone, or online options, and, if necessary, collect payments prior to sessions. In addition, it integrates seamlessly with all of your favorite small business software, including Zoom, Google Meet, PayPal, Stripe, and others. It also automatically adjusts time zones for you so that neither you nor your customers are confused.
Another great feature of Zoho is that it lets you work smarter. You can set buffer times between meetings with this system so you can take notes before you forget! Defining your vacation and break times will help you avoid being overbooked, overworked, and exhausted, and avoiding surprise bookings will ensure that you always bring your A-game for your customers.
Their Basic plan costs just $6 per month, while their Premium plan costs $12 per month.
Practice Be patient with us while we boast (just a little!) However, we have a straightforward yet efficient online scheduling system for you. As part of our larger client relationship management platform, our built-in meeting scheduling tool is intended to simplify all aspects of your solo business, including appointments, file storage, client portal, record keeping, forms, and contracts.
With us, you can choose to embed your calendar directly on your website or link to it through a URL, and you can set different meeting parameters for different kinds of meetings. In addition, you can easily change your availability across all of your calendars (so you can take that unexpected afternoon off!). Additionally, you are able to add forms and payments to any appointment, as well as registration pages for group events like webinars and information sessions. We even provide a Teams feature, allowing each member of your organization to access all shared files and work together in a single, straightforward location!
Get a free seven-day trial of our complete CRM system today to learn about all of its features.
Bookafy:
Obviously we are a little biased, given Bookafy is our baby. But, as much as we think other tools are great, and often do a really good job… we originally started Bookafy to fill the gaps of what we think businesses NEED and what the current products are offering. A few major highlights I will share.
1. We offer a fully branded white label platform for both enterprise clients and partners. Bookafy becomes your branded solution, your customers only get emails from you. Your staff only see your URL, Logo, Icons, Emails. Our product is made to look and feel like it is your own internally produced application.
2. We offer a full suite of API calls to handle the most complex of cases, including SSO.
3. We offer customer support free. You can talk to a real person anytime with a few clicks to book a zoom call. Easy peasy!
4. We are small, robust, agile and ran by a small team of smart and caring folks. We aren’t a VC backed faceless company. Rather Bookafy was built for the people, by the people. 🙂
We’d love it if you gave Bookafy a try!
The moral of the story is to act in your business’s best interest. There are numerous online appointment scheduling systems available, but the key is selecting one that meets your company’s specific requirements. Our guidance? Don’t underestimate the power of a simple user interface; don’t settle for a system that doesn’t have the real features that will save you time; and don’t be afraid to read more on our blog about other popular online booking options.
