How to Reduce No-show up for Your Meeting Using Appointment Scheduling Software

Posted by kevin Moress on December 21st, 2020

Many appointment no-show up or cancellation happens due to forgetfulness, less priority given, not sure about the product or service and finances.

There are times when your leads are in between several other commitments or they are gradually losing interest in your service or product but they are not making it obvious. In such cases, it is difficult to reduce the amount of no-show ups manually. The online platforms allow automated features which would allow hassle-free scheduling and booking features which may reduce the no-show ups significantly.

There are some of the best appointment scheduling software which make it not only easy to make an appointment but also it can help to make your customers less prone to no-show ups. In this era of digital platforms, it is very likely that customers use them frequently and they would definitely make it to the appointment. Survey shows that 70% of the customers prefer booking through online platform rather than phone call.

1. Remind Your Customers
   

Manual options like reminding about the appointment through a phone call by the staff may not have much influence as most of them may go straight to voicemail. Also, there are times when customers do not respond to the phone call. But if there are automated reminder available through several online platforms and mediums, then there will be less probability of no-show ups.

In order to build an interest in your customers, it is good to inform them about the meeting and what does the meeting consists of. But reminding them through online platforms are more efficient to avoid no show ups.

While customers book for the appointment within your schedule, they can be asked if they require the reminder for the meeting or they can be directed to automated reminders via various mediums and platforms such as sms or mail or applications that automatically sets reminder in the customer’s calender such like Google does. Not only does it streamline the confirmation but also the consistent reminders on several automated platforms make it more happening.

2. Give Reasons to Commit

Research shows that 90% of the texts are read within thre minutes of receiving it. Setting up an automated appointment reminder is the half of the way towards the reduction of no-show ups. In order to minimize the tendency of no-show ups, allow your customers to confirm their attendance through text or email. While sending reminders to your customers, it can be confirmed directly from the reminder sent.

Some other ways to give ample reasons for your client to attend the meeting are providing information about the meeting, what is covered in the meeting and making your clients sign on a no-show policy. The No-show policy would make it mandatory for the client to show up in the meeting. The information regarding such reasons could be providing at the time of appointment booking or after the booking through the appointment scheduling application.

Setting up prepaid appointments for which customers need to pay in advance is a good option in this regard. The clients are less likely to miss the meeting as they have already made the deposit. The customers could be asked to pay a particular percentage of the money before they book the appointment through the automated booking and scheduling software.

This will build a sense of accountability within the customers.

3. Easy Reschedulable

Booking appointments via call or text is a time-consuming process. Booking and scheduling applications can help in slimming the booking as well as rescheduling process. There should be the option for rescheduling the appointment with the appointment reminders.

For instance, if an email is sent to the customer in order to remind them about the appointment, then within that mail, an option to reschedule the appointment time and date should be provided. The customers could also be given options to either confirm the appointment or they can keep it on hold or they can change it when they require. This creates a sense of convenience and provides flexibility to the customers.