Booking sites like Spread Simple, Travel Perks and the likes reported that 60%- 72% of businesses, especially small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the hospitality sector, culinary industry, fashion industry, etc worry about the implementation and management of online booking and payment platforms. These businesses question whether or not having an online booking system would be of any benefit to them or their customers, and that’s okay. As a business, it’s okay to evaluate how certain external services would serve your brand. To make your evaluation of online booking and payment services easier, we’ve put together some factors for you to consider.
It’s a digital world, you should catch up, but that’s not enough reason. Here’s a detailed list on why your company should use online payments and booking services.
1. 24/7 Availability:
We are certain you’ve had instances where you’ve had to lose a customer because they called outside of business hours. It’s either the customer didn’t call early enough to catch you on the seat, or he/she called right after you settled into your car, and there was no way you could have entered their request after close hours. Having an online payment and booking platform saves you from unavailability problems. Your customers would be able to make reservations or payment at any time, without calling you or being restricted to your business hours. In summary, online booking and payment platforms are of great advantage for your business because the platforms run 24/7. This feature allows you to keep potential customers, bookings, and sales regardless of the time.
2. Operations Streamline:
Using an online booking and payment platform for your business means you’ve automated your reservation process. It means you don’t have to worry about entering data manually or making errors with booking dates and time. Customers can make bookings at their convenience, and the booking platform updates all data in accuracy. You would have nothing to worry about. You would also know before hand when a customer would come in and how to appropriately prepare to handle that.
3. Staffing Reductions:
With an online booking and platform, you don’t have to worry about getting a staff that takes records, you don’t even need to include manual data entry in the duty delegations list of any of your employees. The platform covers that. Your employees can now focus on more information day-to-day tasks and that increases overall productivity. In conclusion, online booking platforms saves you money and time and reduces your worries.
4. Reduces Absence:
To reiterate, online booking and payment platforms are automated to enter everything and anything, from contact of customers, to their preference, etc, it doesn't end there. Using a booking platform would mean that you wouldn’t have to worry about a customer not showing up, and knowing that if a customer didn’t show up, he/she just didn’t want to. Online booking and payment platforms sends emails and SMS that serves as reminders to customers, keeping them informed of their appointment with you If it makes it any better, you could attach a charge for no-show customers. That’s a balance for your business.
5. Data Management and Enhancement:
Online Booking and Payment platforms collect data about customer behavior, preferences, and allows businesses like yours to have an insight on customers spending patterns. Your business can leverage this data to gain deep insights into your customers needs and preferences. Taking advantage of this data helps you know which of your services are popular and most wanted by your customer, the peak booking times that customers mostly take advantage of, and customer demographics allows. This allows you to tailor your offerings and marketing strategies to better meet customer demands. You could even start to develop your newsletter, social media content, to address these needs. Again, another great feature.
6. Effective Payment Process:
At this point, you would agree that online booking and payment platform is a must have for any business. Something more interesting is the payment process. With an online bookings and payment platform, your customers' payment is integrated into the system, you can even decide to offer a payment plan. Customers paying at the time of the booking reduces the time spent to make payment in person. This method of payment also keeps you assured that your customers would show up. Who wouldn’t show up for a service that they’ve paid for? It also means you’ve opened up your business to the reach of everyone. Friends, loved ones can now book your services for those they care about from anywhere around the world, they can make payments without restrictions and just send the confirmation to their loved ones. This boosts your business efficiency, reputation and diversity. You also wouldn’t have to worry about carrying cash in such a digital world, and you can keep better track of your finances.
The benefits of online booking and payment platforms are numerous and you should consider setting up one for your business with us. City Life is offering a month free trial for an online booking and payment platform for all businesses, you should take advantage of that deal. It’s time to take your business to the next level of ease and control. With our one month free trial, you get to experience all these benefits and turn your business around. Start your trial today.