No matter if you’re a freelancer or a full-blown business owner, managing meetings are never easy.
It takes way too much effort to manage and plan appointments with clients all by yourself, and as your demand increases, things just keep getting tougher. It can take an ugly turn if there is an emergency meeting required or last-minute plan changes because then your entire schedule is jumbled up.
And when that happens, it’s not fun at all.
Thankfully, you don’t have to do this manually anymore. There are many amazing online appointment software out there that can do the work for you easily and reduce your headaches. We’re going to have a look at those solutions in a bit after I tell you the undeniable benefits of using them. 🙂
Saves you a massive amount of time
This is the elephant in the room. The benefit of saving time never goes unnoticed because time is really the most valuable asset we have. Doing things manually would burn your energy quickly and might possibly give you a few grey hairs.
The use of online appointment software can make your life so much easier because you hardly have to do anything apart from setting it up (which is also super simple). It’ll drastically cut down on the number of emails back and forth and make a simple process for your clients to book appointments with you.
All you have to do is share the link with your prospects and take it from there.
Better conversion of clients
Managing meetings manually would throw you in the risk of jumbling up client meeting schedules and sometimes even having them canceled because of unintentional date clashes.
With online appointment software, the fact that you’ll be providing a straightforward process to your customers to book meetings with you screams “better conversions”, because you’re saving them from the unnecessary hassle.
Also, the great thing is most of the meeting schedule solutions integrate with payment gateways, so your clients will be able to pay before getting into a meeting with you. This kind of becomes like a semi-passive income for you.
Gives you valuable insights on the progress of your business
Regardless of the type of business, you’re in, there’s always a need to measure the ups and downs.
By using the solutions mentioned in this article, you’ll be able to tap into detailed insights and analytics that show you data like, a number of appointments booked, cancellations, marketing campaign results and other metrics sorted by date.
Helps you focus on things that are more important
Since utilizing online appointment software saves you a lot of time, it helps you focus on things that are more important in your business, rather than wasting all your precious time in managing meetings manually.
Now, let’s have a look at the best online appointment software.
Calendly
This first one in the list is one of the most popular ones, Calendly helps you seamlessly schedule meetings after you set your availability preferences. The setup process is super simple, and you can easily share your appointment links via email or even embed it into your website.
Depending upon your availability preferences, your clients can choose a time that matches with their schedule and book the meeting, all while not having to send you 100 emails and call numerous times.
Some other important features of Calendly include:
- Create secret event types and prevent last-minute meetings
- Set buffer times between meetings
- Time zone detection to make sure the meetings are done on appropriate times
- Supports various types of meetings, like collective, 1-on-1 and round table
This solution can be integrated with a bunch of third-party services like Zoom, Google, Office 365, GoToMeeting, etc. There are also options to collaborate with your team members in the best possible way.
You can get started for absolutely free.
Calendar
Smart-schedule your meetings with Calendar and avoid all those bulk emails back and forth. Once setup, you can share the booking link with your clients, which will allow them to book an appointment with your Calendar. This solution also prevents people from choosing conflicting dates and booking pre-existing meetings.
It makes it incredibly easy to keep things well organized in terms of managing meetings. You can set your preferred time slots and also make it feasible for other Calendar users to book an appointment with you when they’re best able to.
In addition, you can access their Analytics feature to view every single stat about your meetings, so you can always be on top of it. The best thing is, the more you use Calendar, the better experience you’ll get because their artificial intelligence can figure out what’s best for you and your business.
Doodle
Trusted by companies like Amazon, Google, and Disney, Doodle helps you book meetings super quick with the help of their smart scheduling feature. It’s great for collaboration with team members, even those who’re in different countries, because it lets you check available time zones to suit everyone’s schedule.
It also helps you maintain an organized environment by keeping all updates and reminders in one place so that you don’t lose your mind over trying to remember them on your own.
It’s also important to mention that Doodle puts a lot of emphasis on users’ privacy and security. They’re hosted on secure AWS hosting and additionally have the power of Cloudflare that comes with DDoS protection.
You Can Book Me
Easily connect with your calendar and hold meetings as per your schedule with You Can Book Me. Once you set it up, your customers will be automatically notified and updated regarding the appointments, without you having to lift a finger.
Here are some of the main features of this service:
- Personalized and highly customizable booking page
- Time zone specific to suit customers’ and your schedule
- Display team’s availability in one place to avoid confusion
- Ability to do video conferencing
- Integrate with Zapier to connect with over 1,000 services
There are so many more features that you can check out with the help of their 14-day free trial.
Setmore
You can automate bookings and payments while managing them from one simple dashboard with Setmore. It’s free to get started and has multiple device support, which means you can use it on your phone as well.
The free version allows you to have up to 4 calendars, book appointments online, and get paid with the help of their Square integration. You can also send automated alerts and allow one-click video appointments.
On the other hand, the premium plans cut down the limitations and have exciting features like recurring appointments and calendar syncs. Depending upon your requirement, Setmore can definitely meet your standards.
Acuity
Acuity helps you directly book more clients and automate your appointments with their amazing set of tools. Your clients can view your available time slots and book the appointments on their own, and even pay online. You don’t have to do much apart from setting up the booking page, which also happens to be really simple.
You can set your own form fields and collect as much information as you want from your clients. There are also options that let the clients reschedule appointments and receive automatic reminders to help them show up on time.
Acuity can be integrated with a bunch of third-party apps, such as PayPal, Google Analytics, Zapier, and Quickbooks.
Conclusion
I believe it’s time to say goodbye to managing meetings manually and say hi 👋 to the above online appointment software to make your life a whole lot easier.
