4. September. 2015 | von Anna-Lena Lewerenz

By offering your customers the ability to book their appointments independently online, you provide optimal service while relieving your staff. Customers can plan their appointments on Sunday evening from the couch instead of waiting for opening hours. You and your colleagues in the business can focus on customers on-site instead of constantly answering the phone. So far so practical.

But how will your customers become aware of the online appointment booking? On one hand, we offer you the option to link directly to your online booking on your web presences and to send invitations directly from your calendar. But some of our customers who have already successfully established booking have also taken extremely creative approaches. Today we present you with the best 6 measures to increase the number of your online booked appointments.

1.) Online appointment booking on the website

The simplest and most obvious way to offer online appointment booking is on your own website. Ideally with a clearly visible button that is clearly labeled. "Book appointment online" or "to appointment booking" are examples of buttons that your visitors will also click. Place this prominently on your homepage, in the menu and on the contact page so that users notice it. Link this button to your personal online booking page. If you wish, you can also embed the online booking directly into your website. We'd be happy to support you with this! You can find an example of successful integration here: http://www.project-h.de/

2.) Directly on Facebook

You can also integrate Belbo online appointment booking on your Facebook page. The advantage is that your customers can book appointments directly on your company's Facebook profile. You can integrate this function both in the header area and in the sidebar. It's best to inform your customers with a Facebook post: This also gives you another conversation topic for your Facebook page. You can find more information on this in our article The new Facebook online booking.

3.) Via invitation email

You can invite your customers via email to use the online booking. In each customer file there is the option to invite customers to customer booking individually without login. However, the marketing functions are even more practical: Simply select the desired customer group (or all customers) and send a corresponding round email.

4.) In the shop window

One way to really inform all existing and new customers about your online appointment booking is with a notice in your shop window. This way, customers who notice your business outside opening hours can also quickly and easily book appointments!

5.) On printed advertising materials, business cards and loyalty cards

Do you have flyers and business cards or do you use paper bonus cards to advertise your business? Be uninhibited and print the web address of your booking page on all advertising materials. We'd be happy to help you find a meaningful, short web address or generate a QR code so your customers can access your page directly with their mobile phone.

6.) With discounts and marketing campaigns

To convince even the most stubborn internet refusers among your customers of online appointment booking, you can launch a marketing campaign. Offer a time-limited service at special rates, but only bookable online. Or grant a certain discount on all services booked online. Promote this campaign on-site or use Belbo's marketing functions to send an SMS or email to your customers.

Try one of these options or combine some of them and you will see how your appointment book fills itself. And perhaps you have more tips on how to increase the online booking rate? We look forward to your feedback!