Would you make appointments online?

Sprite has done a awesome job on his app and it was smart of him to get some feedback from you guys. I've been working on something for the past year and would love to get feedback as well.

 

The app I created allows you to make online appointments at the businesses you go to and typically call. An example would be: Hair salon, dentist, personal trainer, etc. It's free to use for users, businesses pay us a monthly fee and on top of that it allows them to manage their own business as well.

 

Here's what it would look like online..

 

 

 

 

 

Here's what would help me:

 

Would you make your next Hair appointment, personal trainer class, dentist, (and soon restaurant reservation) etc. appointment online or over your phone without the need to call anyone?

 

There are a number of other things not mentioned in the post that the app offers for both regular users and business users, but what ideas or suggestions do you have?

 

And lastly, I just signed about 30 pieces of paper signing my life away to be on a national tv show, can't say what, but hopefully I'll get some support from the Lpower community and get me back in a Lambo (or two) soon!

I would use it. I hate making phone calls to order things. When ordering pizza for example I normally order from Domino's or Pizza Hut because they offer online ordering, even though Buckhead Pizza is better but don't offer online ordering. If I could make a hair appointment without a phone call I would do that as well.

 

Btw, congrats on graduating hair school!

I would use it. I hate making phone calls to order things. When ordering pizza for example I normally order from Domino's or Pizza Hut because they offer online ordering, even though Buckhead Pizza is better but don't offer online ordering. If I could make a hair appointment without a phone call I would do that as well.

 

Btw, congrats on graduating hair school!

Ditto. I already use opentable to make all my restaurant reservations.

love it, especially if all appoints can be made from one place like your app.

Btw, congrats on graduating hair school!

It was OBGYN school, not Hair!

Ditto. I already use opentable to make all my restaurant reservations.

 

Awesome. Only problem with OpenTable is they are completely taking advantage of businesses because they have virtually no competition.

 

love it, especially if all appoints can be made from one place like your app.

That was the original idea. No need to have different apps for essentially the same thing.

would use. my car dealership has this available online for service appts - love it and +1 to the pizza thing

Awesome. Only problem with OpenTable is they are completely taking advantage of businesses because they have virtually no competition.

Doesn't sound like a problem for them

Doesn't sound like a problem for them

OT has huge problems. They can't make enough profit out of charging $600 - $1000 per month on average. They can only squeeze out about 12% - 15% profit out of that.

 

Out of a $30 plate of food, OT ends up getting about $1.5 just from the reservation, if you price in the standard fees, they are taking about 20% - 30% of NET Profit from a business. That can only last so long.

OT has huge problems. They can't make enough profit out of charging $600 - $1000 per month on average. They can only squeeze out about 12% - 15% profit out of that.

 

Out of a $30 plate of food, OT ends up getting about $1.5 just from the reservation, if you price in the standard fees, they are taking about 20% - 30% of NET Profit from a business. That can only last so long.

I'm confused - how can they be taking advantage of businesses when they are only turning minimal profits? It would seem odd For them to be that cripplingly inefficient. I'm legitimately curious to hear your insight.

Speaking strictly as a dentist...the dentist should have complete control over the time slot that the client has access to. It's not a big deal to let them schedule their own checkups and cleanings.... but for more complex procedures the dentist should be able to control when the patient can choose from. I'm a pediatric dentist so in my case, there are certain patients that I only want to see by themselves versus other patients and procedures where it doesn't matter who else is booked at the same time. For instance, I saw a special needs patient this morning for a procedure and I did not want any other patients in my office while he was in for treatment... that same procedure for a non special needs child that is cooperative would have been easy to do. So for the same procedure I would want the ability to have different scheduling based on what type of patient is coming in. Some kids are a lot more difficult than others...

 

I hope that makes some sense. I love what you are trying to do and think you will have much success with it! Good Luck!

To answer your question: Absolutely. I recently made my optometrist appointment online. Much easier than calling. Especially since I hate talking on the phone.

 

As far as the reality show is concerned... Shark Tank?

Speaking strictly as a dentist...the dentist should have complete control over the time slot that the client has access to. It's not a big deal to let them schedule their own checkups and cleanings.... but for more complex procedures the dentist should be able to control when the patient can choose from. I'm a pediatric dentist so in my case, there are certain patients that I only want to see by themselves versus other patients and procedures where it doesn't matter who else is booked at the same time. For instance, I saw a special needs patient this morning for a procedure and I did not want any other patients in my office while he was in for treatment... that same procedure for a non special needs child that is cooperative would have been easy to do. So for the same procedure I would want the ability to have different scheduling based on what type of patient is coming in. Some kids are a lot more difficult than others...

 

I hope that makes some sense. I love what you are trying to do and think you will have much success with it! Good Luck!

I'm glad you brought this up. I've spent a lot of time studying all kinds of appointment-based businesses. In your case, you would specify which services you (or your staff) offers. A cleaning by Joe might take 30 min and by Bob it might take 45 min.

 

When your client schedules, he can choose who he wants it with and it will time it accordingly.

 

Even more on your point, you'll have a calendar interface at which you can drag and drop appointments, as well as re-size appointments. So say Jonnie (special client) needs 2 hours on a 30 min procedure, you would just re-size the appointment and it would block out those times immediately as well

 

I'd love your feedback further, let me know if you want to test out the app.

I'm confused - how can they be taking advantage of businesses when they are only turning minimal profits? It would seem odd For them to be that cripplingly inefficient. I'm legitimately curious to hear your insight.

Look at it from a restaurant perspective: On a minimum, a small restaurant will spend $500 - $600 per month to have the ability to take appointments online. That is a lot of money for a small mom and pop place.

 

Let's look at a Maggiano's or other big franchise that uses OT, they spend upwards of $3,000 per month per location.

 

For EVERY time you make an appointment through OT, the restaurant has to pay about $1.50 per person in your party. So a typical family of 4, just for walking in the door, the restaurant needs to pay OT $6 in booking fees + base monthly fees, per-station fees, etc.

 

With us, it'll be $100 a month, that's it. No booking fees.

Id use it.... I hate talking to people.

This sounds awesome, its about time. Only thing I can think of ATM is the ability to write special requests/notes with your appointment to be sent along w/ the reservation. Are you guys processing payments through the app also?

Id use it.... I hate talking to people.

 

Your a lawyer??? WTF

I would 100% use it, did you steel this idea from me when I was sleeping?

Speaking strictly as a dentist...the dentist should have complete control over the time slot that the client has access to. It's not a big deal to let them schedule their own checkups and cleanings.... but for more complex procedures the dentist should be able to control when the patient can choose from. I'm a pediatric dentist so in my case, there are certain patients that I only want to see by themselves versus other patients and procedures where it doesn't matter who else is booked at the same time. For instance, I saw a special needs patient this morning for a procedure and I did not want any other patients in my office while he was in for treatment... that same procedure for a non special needs child that is cooperative would have been easy to do. So for the same procedure I would want the ability to have different scheduling based on what type of patient is coming in. Some kids are a lot more difficult than others...

 

I hope that makes some sense. I love what you are trying to do and think you will have much success with it! Good Luck!

 

 

What if the appointment went into a cue; then the business could confirm or request modification based on particular situations. Would allow the business owner to have more control over appointments, but still allow fully automated booking. An appointment could be declined if for instance the dentist is fully booked for the day & time requested. A confirm e-mail could be generated when appoint is accepted, and in the case of an appointment requiring additional attention details could be provided within confirm.

looks good. reminds me of demandforce and other similar sites..

I'd use it too for all the reasons posted above but you are going to do something with the name in the top left corner, right?

 

Even if you have to call it "skeduler" to appeal to the young cool crowd that refuses to spell things properly, you can at least pick a font that looks a bit more classy I would think? I don't mean that to be a smart ass, I am being serious.

 

My thoughts about the entire thing are AWESOME, but the top left corner of all those screen shots looks out of place in my opinion.

I like the idea, though I feel like it may not be suitable for a lot of the business that take appointments. Off the top of my head, things I usually make appointments for are: Doctors, dentists, haircuts, and my accountant.

 

Haircuts: I think it's fine.

 

Dentist: Fine so long as you are only scheduling something basic like a cleaning due to the fact that you personally have no idea how much time to allot for a given service and neither would a computer. Only the office knows this based on your file.

 

Doctor: Fine so long as you are there for an initial visit or something basic. Again, you and the computer don't know how much time it will take, thus it can't know if it can fit you in or not.

 

Accountant: Wouldn't really work because we usually need to talk about stuff before making an appointment. Whenever I make an appointment with my accountant, we talk on the phone first and confirm what he needs from me, what I need from him, and do some back and forth questions/answers. The call is about much more than just making an appointment.

 

So of the above few things, I feel like it would be hit or miss. While I like the ability and ease of such a product, I feel like it lacks the communication required for making a lot of appointments. In the cases in which there is a schedule conflict, it would end up as a back and forth, slow moving process of essentially delayed response instant messages. In these cases I'd rather just call up and talk to someone about when they can fit me in. There is often too much back and forth going on in cases where a time you want doesn't work.

 

If I try to make an appointment at 1pm, and they decline the appointment, what happens? Do they send me some type of notification suggesting I select certain times on other days of their choice? If I don't like those suggested times, how do I know if those are the only times or if those are merely suggested times? Are there other times? If they are merely suggested times, what if I respond with another time that also doesn't work? What if I don't respond in time or they don't get my message in time, and now that slot is no longer available?

 

The above mess is what is avoided by making a real-time phone call. There is a lot of back and forth when making an appointment, and all of that get straightened out with a 2 minute phone call rather than a day-long volley of messages that may or may not end in success.

 

In short, I think the idea works, but with a more limited scope of potential business. Also, if it doesn't integrate with their current system, it may be an annoyance. A phone will always ring, whereas someone might simply not check their scheduler. I will often be left waiting for a response as to whether or not my appointment has been accepted because the office is busy or no one has looked at it recently. The phone has one really nice thing going for it in an office in that it rings out loud when someone wants something.

My thoughts about the entire thing are AWESOME, but the top left corner of all those screen shots looks out of place in my opinion.

 

I think it looks good. It looks a bit "off" but people notice it and remind the name because it pops out.

My hearing blows so I do as much as I can through online appointments and email as possible

What if the appointment went into a cue; then the business could confirm or request modification based on particular situations. Would allow the business owner to have more control over appointments, but still allow fully automated booking. An appointment could be declined if for instance the dentist is fully booked for the day & time requested. A confirm e-mail could be generated when appoint is accepted, and in the case of an appointment requiring additional attention details could be provided within confirm.

Sure. It's got a facebook-style approve/deny feature: http://d.pr/i/Hm0t This can be turned on / off. Notifications are also sent by email/text to both the staff and user.

 

Whatever times the user clicks on when making the appointment, is the times that are available. This works in real time. So if you select 10:30 am for a 1 hour massage, then "10:30, 10:45.....11:15" would not be available any more for the selected staff.