In today’s digitally driven landscape, customer expectations are at an all-time high, demanding instant and personalised interactions. As financial professionals struggle to keep up with evolving consumer behaviour, they are looking towards innovative technology solutions to help them balance their time and resources whilst catering for personalised interactions. 

Enter Conversational AI. From virtual assistants to chatbots, companies are increasingly looking to these technologies to enhance customer experience, improve conversion rates, and create internal efficiencies. 

In this blog, we’ll explore how Appointedd and EBM have joined forces to provide an innovative solution to tackle some of the contemporary problems financial professionals are facing. With this joint offering, financial institutions can harness the power of AI driven conversations to enable greater personalisation, provide round-the-clock customer support, and revolutionise the end to end customer experience.

You can watch a quick demo on how Appointedd and EBM streamline mortgage applications by clicking here.

 

Meet the team!

EBM is a conversational AI consultancy. They are dedicated to helping clients create better customer experiences and reduce support costs with intelligent and integrated AI chatbot solutions. From conversation design, chatbot development and ongoing support, EBM offers brands a unique service, quickly implementing chatbots that deliver ROI from day one.

Appointedd’s booking and scheduling technology transforms service offerings into bookable experiences and enables customers to book online, at any time, from any device, in any timezone and in multiple languages. Managing the impact of a booking right the way through the customer journey, Appointedd removes friction for teams and customers whilst providing enhanced efficiencies, increased productivity, and creating additional revenue streams.

 

How does the partnership work?

The partnership between Appointedd and EBM offers an integrated solution, redefining the appointment booking experience. Using our simple API integration, users can effortlessly schedule appointments using natural language – ensuring a user friendly and seamless process. The step-by-step booking feature employs a chatbot that guides users through each stage of the booking process. Dynamic categories and services add flexibility, with options generated based on Appointedd APIs. Not only does this drastically improve the consumer experience, this also allows financial professionals to set criteria in order to gather information on their client before an initial call has been booked. Appointedd and EBM’s joint solution could be used to gather vast amounts of information all before directing the customer to either set up a savings account, or seamlessly book an appointment with a financial advisor, all without leaving the chatbot interface. 

 

The importance of AI in financial services 

Extreme personalisation has already become the norm in many industries. Netflix will only suggest shows based on your previous choices, Meta will only serve you content that you’ve previously engaged with, and Amazon will suggest products based on your previous purchases. As it stands, financial services have been delayed in catering to this expectation. According to The Financial Brand’s Digital Banking Report, 94% of banks are unable to provide customers with this kind of personalisd experience.

There are a number of areas where the Appointedd and EBM solution can be implemented to improve personalised customer journeys, grow customer loyalty, increase ROI, and save valuable time for financial professionals.

For example, the Appointedd and EBM solution can drastically improve the process when a new or recurring customer gets in touch with a mortgage advisor. Utilising AI, a series of personalised qualification questions can be asked to determine if the customer is; a first time buyer, a previous customer, what their budget is, what type of mortgage they are looking for, and any other questions to gather relevant information – all before an appointment has been scheduled. 

Once these dynamic questions have been answered, the customer can seamlessly book an appointment through the integrated Appointedd booking flow. The data captured by EBM’s AI is stored in the Appointedd CRM and can be accessed by the mortgage advisor prior to their appointment. 

Conversational AI has the power to completely transform the way businesses manage and support these experiences. Users not only benefit from improved, real-time engagement, but also enjoy the convenience of 24/7 availability, supporting both bookings and sales conversions.

Businesses can significantly reduce support costs without sacrificing the personal touch, whilst also freeing up agent’s time to handle more complex customer queries. This reduction in support costs coupled with personalised interactions contributes to enhanced efficiencies that resonate with customers, fostering a positive relationship between businesses and their clientele.

Appointedd is excited to announce the official launch of its native integration with NewStore! NewStore is an omnichannel platform, providing Omnichannel-as-a-Service for retail brands worldwide that want to accelerate their digital transformation. NewStore is built for speed and flexibility, and allows brands to easily deliver amazing shopping experiences that store associates and consumers love. Its mobile-first, modular cloud platform includes POS, order management, clienteling, inventory, and native consumer apps. With its new integration with Appointedd, it now expands its offering to include seamless online booking.

How Appointedd met NewStore

Work on the partnership began in early 2022, as a number of joint opportunities timed up with a desire from NewStore to enhance the features of its mobile POS – with a specific focus on clienteling. With both the customer overlap and shared visions for the future of retail, Appointedd and NewStore recognized that with an integration they could enhance their clients’ digital transformations, and began working on an integration.

Marcus Bittrich, Chief Product Officer at NewStore on the integration: “At NewStore, we’re passionate about crafting unforgettable shopping moments for both store associates and consumers. Our commitment is not just about building products; it’s about actively tuning in to the needs of modern retail brands and ensuring we deliver the best shopping experience imaginable. Our partners are an indispensable part of this journey. They empower us to innovate at an accelerated pace, and our integration with Appointedd is a great example of the value these organizations can help us provide for our shared customers.”

In order to truly enhance our shared customers’ digital transformations, the integration needed to work seamlessly. As a combined offering, we are significantly enhancing internal efficiencies and improving the overall customer experience. Recognizing the significant impact this partnership could have, the Appointedd development team prioritized the integration to ensure it was as good as it could be. Now, our joint clients can offer appointment bookings as a part of the omnichannel customer journey, and all the appointment details will be readily available in the NewStore Associate App.

Leah Hutcheon, CEO at Appointedd, on the integration: “We’re so excited to be announcing our partnership with NewStore after months of work behind the scenes to build our integration. It’s something we were keen to prioritize, as NewStore is a strategic partner that enables our clients to embrace digital transformation and stay at the forefront of omnichannel. All of our retail clients are thinking about new ways they can build out complex omnichannel customer journeys in a smart and scalable way, and our integration with NewStore enables them to do just that.”

How the integration works

Like all things at Appointedd, this integration was built to improve both the store associate and the customer experience. Any customer who makes a booking via Appointedd will be automatically visible within the NewStore Associate App. To view all appointments, the in-store team just has to select ‘Appointedd’ when they log-in. This will open an overview of all their store bookings and personal bookings.

There are a number of filters built into the app too, so store associates can filter by customer and see how many previous or upcoming bookings that customer has. They can also filter by service and have a quick overview of when those services are coming up. Each booking pulls through the answers to any custom booking questions and notes, as well as any custom CRM fields.

The integration also supports events and appointments that allow more than one customer to book on. For ease of use, store associates may also make bookings from within the app, to be used in cases where customers arrive in store and want to make a booking for a future date. Want to know more about our joint offering? Book a call with me here. 

Hi Leah, could you tell us a bit about your story? What led you to set up Appointedd?

“I started Appointedd back in 2011 when I was made redundant. I was previously a magazine editor and I had a fabulous career in the arts and journalism. Unfortunately, after the financial crash, I was made redundant and it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I don’t think I would have taken the jump to leave a stable career that I loved to go out on my own and do something brave and ambitious. But when given the opportunity, I thought “Well , if I’m not going to do it now, when am I going to do it?”

I’d had the idea for Appointedd whilst traveling. I’d quite often be in a new place and want to be able to book a salon appointment or other services and it was just impossible to find independent businesses where you could make a guaranteed booking. So that was the nugget of the idea. We’ve learned a lot over the years and we’ve definitely started to solve bigger problems than even I could have thought about in those early days.

There was, and still is, quite a big problem in how businesses connect in a meaningful way with their customers, their prospects, or their stakeholders, and really drive a kind of meaningful conversion, whatever else that might be. Sometimes businesses are looking for something that is really short, sharp and quick. And sometimes businesses want to dig deeper and have a better understanding of their costumes. It’s been an absolute privilege as we’ve developed Appointedd out to be able to spot bigger and more impactful problems to solve.”

Could you tell us about your journey with Appointedd so far? What have you learned from your customers?

“The journey thus far in building Appointedd has been amazing. I’ve been so lucky to work with so many really inspiring people and we have an amazing team based here in Edinburgh. Everyone is so passionate and driven. I think it comes down to the fact that we are all problem solvers. We all are really passionate about making a difference and we really believe that Appointedd tools can do that, and that is what keeps us motivated. We get so many amazing words of appraise and thanks from our customers where they’re saying sometimes that they just wouldn’t be in business if it wasn’t for Appointedd. 

Appointedd is particularly important for businesses, especially through challenging times with the pandemic and then now coming into a recession. Appointedd is a value creation tool. It drives sales, it increases the average basket value, if in retail. But Appointedd can also save money for businesses. This is something that, especially in challenging economic times, we’re seeing more and more. 

Businesses really need to drive a return on investment for all of the work that they’re doing to attract their customer and connect with prospects, and Appointedd can be there wherever that customer lands, whether it’s on their website or on their app. We can really convert that audience into a meaningful appointment or a sale or whatever is that they want to drive. 

That has given us so much pride that we can really make a meaningful difference to the businesses we work with, and I don’t think any of us would work as hard if we didn’t make that impact, so that’s been huge for us.”

Thank you, Leah.

Find out more about how Appointedd helps businesses drive efficiency, loyalty and revenue >>

At Appointedd, we strongly believe in creating an inclusive, equal and equitable workplace where people and their success are celebrated regardless of their background, race, faith, gender, sexual orientation or age. 

As a female-led organization, this International Women’s Day, we’ve collated quotes from our clients and team to celebrate the success, tenacity and ambition of women working in senior management roles and inspire our network. 

Tiina Korvenoja, Head of Digital Front Technologies at Musti Group, said: “I feel very lucky to work at Musti Group, and I’m proud that we recently earned the top spot in the Nordic Business Diversity Index 2023. I have had the privilege to work with supportive and strong leaders, both male and female. I feel I have always been treated fairly based on my capabilities and I want to cultivate that same environment in my current position.”

Emma Whyte, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at abrdn investments, said: “It is crucial that women champion and advocate for other women. This is easier said than done when the media and wider societal pressures tend to set us in competition with one another. Theodore Roosevelt said comparison is the thief of joy. Someone else’s success bears no reflection on your capability, potential, or achievements and it is vital that women find ways of championing and advocating for other women. Consider how you can leverage your personal and professional networks to promote a female led business or to provide mentorship and guidance. I have been lucky enough to mentor two amazing women and they are some of my favourite meetings!”

Alice Beeby, Client Director at Appointedd, said:  “Whether by chance or intention, I’ve always worked in female-heavy teams. It’s so important to recognise the balance of drive and empathy that women bring to an environment. I feel empowered working for a company with a 75% female C-Suite, it encourages me and my female colleagues, and is vitally important for the next generation to not see gender as a barrier.”

Imogene Keane, Chief Operating Officer here at Appointedd, said: “As the mother of a nine-year old boy, I see it as vitally important to be a working female role model for him to see my successes as equally valuable as his dad’s. For part of his life I was a single mum and COO, and the issues I faced were never around support or understanding from colleagues, but having affordable and flexible childcare. We can help the next generation of leaders by pushing this need for flexible child care and flexible work further up the agenda.”

We also spoke with Appointedd’s Founder and CEO, Leah Hutcheon, about female entrepreneurship in this interview. 

In this interview, we meet with Madeline Fish, Senior Client Success Manager at Appointedd. She talks about how Appointedd Reporting Suite gives clients the data insights needed to understand customer behaviour, increase conversions, build loyalty, and remain competitive.

 

Hi Maddy, could you please tell us a bit about you and your role here at Appointedd?

Hi, my name is Maddy and I am Senior Customer Success Manager, so I am part of the Customer Success Team as a whole. I joined Appointedd four and a half years ago now, which have flown by. But actually when I joined, I worked in many different roles within the company, so it’s been very interesting to see the company grow with all the positive changes we’ve made.

What does your role involve on a day to day basis?

My day to day job involves many things and I see it as the client journey we help our clients with. So, it can be a handover from Client Partners, as I work with them to understand what the clients are looking for in a product like Appointedd, what the key success metrics are, what they’re looking for in order to say “It’s a great product, that’s exactly what I am looking for”.

Part of my role is also to train the clients in using the product. Sometimes I meet then face to face but, since we have clients in 167 countries, very often it’s online training.

My role also involves running Quarterly Business Reviews with clients, where we review the data, making sure they can track the metrics that are relevant to them, track results against the targets they are setting and we see how they’re getting on.

Could you give us an overview of the type of data that clients can gather from the Appointedd Reporting Suite?

We built a Data Insights dashboard which has been fantastic! What it allows clients to do is log in and access the Data Insights portal where there are a lot of different types of data. They can see, for example, how many bookings have been made, what date they have been created, what day of the week – which helps them gain seasonal insights – what’s been most popular, how many clients are not showing up at events, and many more. There is a plethora of data they can access.

What’s also important is that they can decide who has access to these data. So, if the Head Office wants to select a few people, we can do that. Everything is very much in their control.

When clients log in to the Data Insights portal, the data are presented in an illustrative way, with pie charts and bar charts, but they can also be downloaded. So, clients can download it via SVC file or Excel Sheets and then they can manipulate them further.

Every client I work with uses these data. They’re used by the Head Office to understand the bigger picture and return on investment, and by operational staff to understand where they need to allocate resources, or similar. A lot of our clients find these data very useful.

Could you give us a few examples of how can clients use these practical insights to improve operational efficiency and drive more revenue?

Any data can be a key part of the decision making progress. What I find with our clients is that different data is important for different departments. For example, Harrods events use the data to really understand the uptake of their events by looking at how many people are booking and how much revenue they’re generating from those events. And that data is also very useful, for example, to Frasers Group to understand what services are actually the most popular. Charlotte Tilbury is running many different masterclasses, and they can see what’s most popular, if the services, the type of masterclass or the person whom people are there to see. So they can really understand what drives demand and conversion.

The data offers Head Office an understanding of the bigger picture and the return on investment, and then further down the data offers the marketing team when people are booking and what they are booking, gaining important insights for running campaigns. And then the store team can use these data from an operational level to allocate resources. So they are really valuable for different departments across the business.

How do data insights provide clients with a competitive edge?

I think that for many clients I work with, the data is a key thing for experimentation, which is great to see. Because they have these data at their fingertips, they can run a two-week trial of a new service, and see immediately if there is an uptake or not. For example, Mamas & Papas have been offering the personal shopping but now they’ve changed it to Buying for Baby, so they’re tracking their conversions and reviewing their service offering. This is the kind of thing that really give company a competitive edge.

Any exciting new project you’re working on at the moment?

What I am working on at the moment that’s really exciting is how we can share the data with our clients but also with the other partners we work with and they use. Then, clients can also share these data with their marketing platforms and CRM systems, and create that full circle, which is really exciting.

In this interview, we meet with Alice Beeby, Client Director at Appointedd. She discusses the role of Client Partners and Client Success Managers and how they provide proactive and strategic support to clients – from onboarding and training to data reviews and client feedback.

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2022 will be remembered for many unexpected and surprising events (and even more UK Prime Ministers!), but we will certainly also remember it as the year the world properly opened up again after two years of restrictions. I am delighted that at Appointedd we helped many businesses overcome the challenges they faced during the pandemic, but I am particularly pleased that this year we could help our clients do and achieve even more as restrictions eased and business as usual resumed. 

Whether it was helping our clients flex in and out of lockdowns, or enabling them to engage a global audience (we powered bookings in 167 countries this year!), team Appointedd has been bringing its whole self to the challenges 2022 threw at us. We’ve had some standout moments that are definitely worth celebrating. 

A year of growth and change

In June this year we were super excited to find a new home in a wonderful new office in the heart of Edinburgh. It’s been amazing for us as a place for cross-team collaboration, client meetings and that important, spontaneous fun and creativity you get when you share the same space. 

We’ve also welcomed some fantastic new team members across product design, development, sales, and marketing. I am thrilled that our team continues to grow – it’s wonderful to be constantly reminded of the dedication and expertise the Appointedd team offers to all our clients. Seeing our #customer-love Slack channel light up with shoutouts from our clients to both our fabulous team and amazing product is a joy we all share!

To make this year even more special, we have been thrilled to welcome new fantastic clients including LEGO, Elemis, Otto Car, Roland and McArthurGlen Group. 

As our marketing team expanded and gained strength, this year we were also delighted to refresh our brand and launch a new website, which enables us to tell better stories and better convey our values. The team has done an amazing job at bringing Appointedd’s personality to the masses (including sponsoring professional skiers Carrick-Smith Boys), and it’s a refresh that has put a spring in our step!

Superpowered velocity in product innovation

As our goal is to help companies build connections and unlock opportunities with flexible online scheduling, I am particularly excited that our Product Development Team has been going from strength to strength, finding a new way of working that has increased the speed at which we release new product features and integrations.

Using the Shape Up methodology, we are able to take a commercially focused approach to our product and bet on vertical slices of product development that solve real world problems for our clients. This has been invaluable in enabling us to flex to the changing demands over the last few years, and it also allows for maximum collaboration between our different teams, and our clients, to ensure that the features we build are as impactful as possible. 

As part of our evergreen offering, this year we’ve launched tons of new features and integrations including: 

• A new navigation menu on our software to improve the user experience
• A direct integration with Meta, enabling companies to take booking straight from their social media platforms
• Integrations with new SMS providers
• SAML Single Sign On to improve security
• An integration with Zapier that enables our clients to connect Appointedd to more than 4,000 apps
• Our Promo Codes feature to encourage repeat business
• The new Localization feature which makes our app available in 6 languages and counting
• And much, much more… 

These features have been highly requested by our customers and are testament to the fact that our user-centric approach remains at the heart of our product development work.

Looking ahead at 2023

As we’re going through a period of economic uncertainty, we’re glad that Appointedd’s scheduling system can help brands drive efficiency, loyalty and weather the recession. In the last few weeks, we’ve had organizations tell us that they wouldn’t still be in business without Appointedd, and global brands thank us for our great UX, and our dedication to getting their customer experience standing out from the crowd. 

It’s great to know that, while we are all navigating a challenging landscape, our clients see real value in the service Appointedd provides – we feel so lucky to be collaborating with some of the most innovative companies in the world, and I can’t wait to see what magic we get to create with them in 2023. 

Here’s to necessity being the mother of invention, being in the trenches with our clients, helping businesses delight their customers, and saying yes WAY more than we say no! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Leah Hutcheon

Founder & CEO, Appointedd

Another year is drawing to a close and, with our annual Appointedd Team Awards, we took some time to celebrate the effort, dedication and commitment that our team put into truly understanding our clients, proactively devising strategies, and skilfully implementing new product features and solutions that increase the impact we make to the clients we power.

Our awards not only allow us to celebrate our achievements, but also to recognise the supportive, optimistic and collaborative approach shown by the team, which creates the culture we live and breathe here at Appointedd.

Without further ado, here are the winners of the Appointedd Team Awards 2022:

The Ultimate Hustler: Marta, Client Partner

Colleagues said: “Closing all those big deals, she’s my inspiration and I hope one day to be her”. Marta won this award for her amazing tenacity and resilience in bringing on board new clients over the last 12 months.

 

The Crystal Ball Award: Ruta, Client Success Manager

Our go to guru for answering any product related questions.

Colleagues said: “I love the logical way she approaches any queries or problems. She knows our product inside and out.”

 

The Unsung Hero: Gintare, Finance and Operations Specialist

Who deserves some recognition for all the little things they do.

Colleagues said: “Gintare is the cog that keeps things turning. I actually believe she should have won the quarterly crown as she is someone who delivers over and over again as a hidden prop that keeps the company moving. Just. The. Best.” We are so grateful to Gintare, who’s been with us for nearly four years, for all the operational wizardry she performs to keep us in order.

 

The MacGyver: Maddy, Client Success Manager

Who can flex our tools to solve any problem.

Colleagues said: “Maddy Fish! Working next to Maddy in the office has taught me a lot about what to do to keep our biggest clients happy.” Another nomination read “thinks outside of the box, keen to trial and test.”

 

The Risk Taker: Stefano, Marketing Manager

Who is up for taking risks and big swings to reap rewards.

Colleagues said: “When he has an idea he really believes will make a difference he makes sure to advocate for it, and is willing to take the risk because he firmly believes it will reap rewards!” Stefano has done a huge amount of work on our content and messaging strategy, as well as being heavily involved in our brand refresh and new website this year.

 

The S*** Hits The Fan Award: Stewart, Digital Marketing Manager

Who keeps their cool and holds the team together when things don’t always go as planned.

Colleagues said: “We’ve had a fair few things go wrong, or not be as easy as they should be, and Stewart is always armed with a calm and reasonable way to work around the problem. Data packs are just one example, but he’s also been a huge help with supporting social strategy working with our agency partners, and the rest of the commercial team.”

 

The Good Samaritan: Geraint, Lead Software Engineer

Who’s constantly looking out for the team with their big heart and charitable nature.

Colleagues said: “He makes such an effort to support the product team in our work, but also takes on the role of social secretary to organise get togethers and keep team morale up.”

 

The Reporting To You Live Award: Rafe, Client Success Manager

Who’s most likely to join a call from anywhere but their desk.

Colleagues said: “I have probably only seen him at a desk once or twice this year.” We’re all very familiar with the four walls of Rafe’s gym, his favourite Pret or anywhere that he finds himself that day.

 

The Curator: Alice, Client Director

Who has the most interesting backdrop on their Zoom calls.

Colleagues said: “Bernie-tastic backgrounds!” (Bernie is Alice’s dog)

 

The Perpetual Optimist: Sabrina, Marketing Executive

Who’s glass is always half full.

Colleagues said: “Positive vibes all day, every day.”* Another nomination read *“lived through multiple rollercoasters and tough times throughout this year, but cool, collected and cheery in the face of adversity.” Sabrina is coming up for one year at Appointedd and we’re all delighted to have her cheery, optimistic self around.

 

Wild card award: Susan, UX Designer

One person that should be recognised and why.

Colleagues said: “Spinning plates award – For dealing with the move to 3 squads (3 concurrent projects), everything that comes with pregnancy and having to do a tonne of recruitment.”

 

Appointedd Champion of Champions 2022: Gintare

Who do you think deserves a massive shout out this year.

Colleagues said: “Our absolute bloody hero, all round legend, huge heart, incredible brains, and genuine top champ. We are SO lucky to have her!” and “she really does do SO much for us all – whether it’s pay, or things we need for home, or in the office, or food and drink to keep us all going in the office. She’s just a totally legend, I absolutely love working with her and I don’t think we realise how lucky we are having her.”

Thank you SO much to Gintare for all she does to drive us forward and keep us right, and thank you to our entire team for all they do to make Appointedd life as wonderful as it is