Covid features you need to keep your customers and your business safe

Having been in lockdown before, we know that it’s not the strongest that survives… it’s those most adaptable to change. We’re delighted to be helping businesses offer Covid safe features to their online booking armoury.

Here’s 6 ways you can add additional safety to your scheduling solution, for both your business and your customers…

Capacity Flex: setting your occupancy levels across all services

Appointedd’s capacity management feature is perfect for businesses who are focussed on welcoming as many customers as they can back, whilst adhering to government regulations. No matter how the customer chooses to book (online, walk-in, or scan a QR code), Appointedd takes into account the occupancy of each space or service that’s booked. 

When booking online or scanning a QR code, customers are only shown the times which can accommodate them or their party to prevent overbooking. If a customer decides to walk-in, it’s quick and easy to mark them as arrived and fill the space.

For example, if you have a beautiful dress shop and allow five customers to browse your dresses at any one time, you can trust that Appointedd will keep this controlled. Should a sixth person wish to book, later times will be displayed on your booking tools. This not only controls the capacity levels in-store, but ensures social distancing measures can be adhered to.  

Buffers: extra time for sanitisation and reducing unnecessary interactions

Buffers will be a necessity for all as we ease out of lockdown. They allow you to add contingency time before and after services.

Virtual appointments: connect with your customers from home via Zoom

Appointedd allows you to seamlessly offer virtual booking experiences on your website, whether it’s for consultations, masterclasses or group events. In a matter of minutes, you can transform your in-person services into virtual services, enabling you to connect with customers anywhere, and revive your customer engagement. 

Simply integrate with Appointedd’s powerful Zoom Meeting or Zoom Webinar feature. Every virtual booking will automatically send video links in the confirmation and reminder emails. This ensures your customers can seamlessly connect from the safety of their own home.

• Deliver your services by connecting with customers online – even in lockdown
• Maintain your frictionless customer journey – a unique Zoom link is generated and sent to the customer upon booking
• Allow appointment details to be updated in real time – empower your customers to reschedule or cancel with plenty of notice
• Automate communications throughout the entire customer journey, including confirmation, reminder and follow-up emails or SMS

Automated and direct communications: keep customers up to date with business changes and empower them to reschedule or cancel with notice

As well as automated messages, Appointedd allows you to send direct messages to customers, either from the booking or from their customer profile. Send an email or SMS in seconds to individual customers or to an entire group at once, with no need to look them up in your database. 

Appointedd’s automated communication suite gives you the power to send messages on brand. They can be triggered by particular events in the customer journey. For example, marking customers as ‘no-shows’ allows you to send a different type of follow-up message to those who did arrive. Through this feature, we’ve been able to help businesses reduce no-shows by up to 67%.

Keep in contact with your customers at just the right touch-points for the biggest impact and communicate changes to your business as you respond to government requirements. 

Full control of your availability: easily block time or turn off bookings altogether

Rules and regulations are constantly changing. In order to adapt quickly, Appointedd gives you full control over your availability to decide when you want to be bookable. If you’d like to block off your time for a month or two, the quickest way is via our calendar sync integration. Otherwise, you can simply block your time off directly in your calendar. 

If you’re unsure when you’ll be back up and running again, you may prefer to book your time off completely. If this is the case, Appointedd’s smart online booking settings has you covered. With a flick of a switch, or in our case a toggle, you can turn off the setting which allows customers to make bookings with you full stop.

Take payments and handle refunds: provide excellent customer service with Appointedd’s hassle-free payment integrations

Appointedd’s online payment integrations allows customers to book and pay online in one transaction. All customer payments will go into your chosen payment gateway, but Appointedd will give you clear visibility over the payments you’ve received, not received and gives you full control over refunds.

It’s a seamless process that will give your customers confidence. If you have a no refund policy, Appointedd allows you to easily reschedule customers to a later date/time in your calendar.

Flex in and out of lockdown: Appointedd is here to help

Appointedd is in a unique position to help businesses respond to Covid. We’ve helped countless independent businesses and some of the world’s best brands flex in and out of lockdown. 

We’re here to help you take the learnings from the first lockdown and encourage you to think about how your business can survive the third lockdown. We’re not trying to spread fear, we’re here to help you turn to digital solutions like Appointedd. With our Covid safe features, we will help you prepare and remain sustainable throughout (what feels like) a never-ending global pandemic. We have helped our clients turn their online booking on and off, then on again.

We’re ready to help you too. No matter what happens next, Appointedd’s technology is flexible and can move between different restrictions or strong government guidelines. If the current climate demands virtual appointments over in-person interactions, or flexes your indoor capacity to meet the current social distancing guidelines, Appointedd can assist you and your business through it all.

Moving as fast as a flick of a switch, we’re here to help your business adapt without too much distribution to you, your staff or your customers.