Would you make appointments online?

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?

 

You could write a note above. Staff can also write notes about a client in their appointment, and private notes within the business of the client.

 

As far as payments, I want to allow the business to require a credit card to book payments, but we need more time to get this implemented.

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.

You bring up great points.

 

- The times you see, are only available times. The moment you click on, say 1:00 pm, that time slot is automatically reserved for 3 minutes for you until you click "Confirm appointment". Even if the business needs to "Approve" your appointment, that time slot is yours and will not be available to anyone else until they "Deny" it.

 

- The "schedule" the businesses see, they will probably use 100% of the time - even with their walk-in's and callers. So say a person calls, and wants 3pm wednesday: Staff will click on 3pm Wednesday, select service, client, and book the appointment. Now that timeslot is automatically taken from what users can book online. http://d.pr/i/pbbu

 

- A phone will always ring, but how many times have you tried call a place and they are closed? Only to have to wait until the next day to talk to someone. Or, you have to change your appointment, why not be able to just go in, and make the change at 1 AM instead of waiting until 9 AM when the business opens. Once a change is made from either the user or staff, notifications are sent to both parties.

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.

If OT can't make money on that (as you mentioned), how will you? - Scale because of the multiple markets your are looking to penetrate?

the hair salon i use has this on their website, i love the feature.

$100/month is going to be impossible to sell. I can't imagine any small business willing to pay $1200/year for an online appointment maker. No one is going to lose customers because they don't have online appointments and no one is going to gain customers because the do. Unless you can convince people that this is so much more efficient than what they use now, you will have a very hard time selling it at that price.

 

I don't think it makes sense to compare with OT. OT isn't just a reservation website -- it's a place where you can browse open tables if you need a reservation. Sure, people come on there just to book a specific place, but if they can't get a table, they will see a list of all the places they can get one. In that sense, they are providing clients with potentially new customers and that is one of the things your fees go towards.

 

That model isn't really compatible with your application. While in theory it's the same, in practice it's not because of the nature of the business you cater to. No one is going to browse for open appointments. There is no substitute. No one will go to a new doctor, or dentist, or salon just because they want it done on a certain day/time or because they must have online appointments. Even if some other dentist or stylist offers online appointments and is available at exactly the time I want, I'm still not going to change. Those are the kinds of things that people stick to and nothing short of bad experiences or moving tends to change those things.

 

You need to sell this as a service that provides people with an easy way to take online appointments and manage their appointments. You need to sell it as a service that they don't need, but like. I'd say this is more related to third party online ordering than it is to OT. Online ordering doesn't necessarily bring you more or new customers, but it does automate the process for a certain amount of orders, therefor reducing the need for employees to be working the phones. Being that online ordering is significantly more important than online appointments and that online ordering fees usually aren't even close to $100/month, you really need to come down in price. $10-20/month at most.

$100/month is going to be impossible to sell. I can't imagine any small business willing to pay $1200/year for an online appointment maker. No one is going to lose customers because they don't have online appointments and no one is going to gain customers because the do. Unless you can convince people that this is so much more efficient than what they use now, you will have a very hard time selling it at that price.

 

I don't think it makes sense to compare with OT. OT isn't just a reservation website -- it's a place where you can browse open tables if you need a reservation. Sure, people come on there just to book a specific place, but if they can't get a table, they will see a list of all the places they can get one. In that sense, they are providing clients with potentially new customers and that is one of the things your fees go towards.

 

That model isn't really compatible with your application. While in theory it's the same, in practice it's not because of the nature of the business you cater to. No one is going to browse for open appointments. There is no substitute. No one will go to a new doctor, or dentist, or salon just because they want it done on a certain day/time or because they must have online appointments. Even if some other dentist or stylist offers online appointments and is available at exactly the time I want, I'm still not going to change. Those are the kinds of things that people stick to and nothing short of bad experiences or moving tends to change those things.

 

You need to sell this as a service that provides people with an easy way to take online appointments and manage their appointments. You need to sell it as a service that they don't have, but want. I'd say this is more related to third party online ordering than it is to OT. Being that online ordering is significantly more important than online appointments and that online ordering fees usually aren't even close to $100/month, you really need to come down in price. $10-20/month at most.

I think he could find a market in higher end salons. I use opentable to book a reservation at restaurant I've already decided to go to. It's just easier to make, manage, and cancel. I'd rather do things online then phone. People (younger people) would rather make appointments online then over the phone in general imo. I could see lots of people on their way to work thinking I need a hair cut, lemme see when my stylist has an appointment open.

 

The OP may wanna think of a different pay structure, sign-up but lower monthly? It's a service hes providing to the salon, otherwise they'd have to hire someone else to set up and manage their online reservation system, and I firmly believe online reservations would have a market.

 

 

If OT can't make money on that (as you mentioned), how will you? - Scale because of the multiple markets your are looking to penetrate?

 

They have hundreds of employees, and last I checked 40 "engineers" - all these people need to be paid somehow. And looking at OT, I don't think they need 40 engineers to design that program.

 

$100/month is going to be impossible to sell. I can't imagine any small business willing to pay $1200/year for an online appointment maker. No one is going to lose customers because they don't have online appointments and no one is going to gain customers because the do. Unless you can convince people that this is so much more efficient than what they use now, you will have a very hard time selling it at that price.

 

I don't think it makes sense to compare with OT. OT isn't just a reservation website -- it's a place where you can browse open tables if you need a reservation. Sure, people come on there just to book a specific place, but if they can't get a table, they will see a list of all the places they can get one. In that sense, they are providing clients with potentially new customers and that is one of the things your fees go towards.

 

That model isn't really compatible with your application. While in theory it's the same, in practice it's not because of the nature of the business you cater to. No one is going to browse for open appointments. There is no substitute. No one will go to a new doctor, or dentist, or salon just because they want it done on a certain day/time or because they must have online appointments. Even if some other dentist or stylist offers online appointments and is available at exactly the time I want, I'm still not going to change. Those are the kinds of things that people stick to and nothing short of bad experiences or moving tends to change those things.

 

You need to sell this as a service that provides people with an easy way to take online appointments and manage their appointments. You need to sell it as a service that they don't need, but like. I'd say this is more related to third party online ordering than it is to OT. Online ordering doesn't necessarily bring you more or new customers, but it does automate the process for a certain amount of orders, therefor reducing the need for employees to be working the phones. Being that online ordering is significantly more important than online appointments and that online ordering fees usually aren't even close to $100/month, you really need to come down in price. $10-20/month at most.

 

1 of our competitors is ZocDoc, they charge $3,000 a year, which is paid upfront. Another charges less. There is salon software out there that charges $60 - $80 a month and provides a really terrible experience, but businesses are happy to pay for it just so they don't have to pencil in appointments on paper and access it from their home computer.

 

It's easy to come down in price, but we're going to test the market and see what kind of response we get. And I don't think $100 is too much, if it gets the business just 3 appointments a week because a client could book online while they were closed, they are making their return x10.

I disagree that they are making a 10x return. You are assuming that getting 3 appointments equates to 3 new customers. That's not true. Like Studley said, he could see someone on their way to working checking to see if their stylist has an opening. I believe that could happen. What I don't believe would happen is that if he saw his stylist didn't have an opening, that he'd pick a random stylist and salon that did have one.

 

Like I said, people don't browse for places to get their haircut based on what's available. Same thing for doctors and dentists. I believe that the majority of the people who will be making appointments online would still be making an appointment even if they had to call. In other words, I don't think you are getting new clients. I think you're just providing a convenience to mainly your current clients.

 

From what I can tell, ZocDoc is not a competitor. From what it looks like, it's a place for people to find a new doctor in their area. Your application isn't a discovery service, it's an appointment making service. People aren't going to come to Skeduler.com to find a new doctor or dentist. If you want it to be something like that, then I think you are marketing it wrong.

 

That said, I don't think you want to be in the directory business. Even the biggest directories and discovery sites can barely turn a profit.

 

I think you have a potentially good product, but I think you should focus on what it is at it's core -- it's a business tool, not a consumer tool. Sell it to businesses as a way to provide online appointments for clients and as a better way to manage appointments. Don't try and sell it as a tool to attract new customers because it's probably not going to.

I didn't say it was a tool to gain new customers. You are very right on it being a convenience tool to the business.

 

But I've personally been in a situation where I needed a hair cut last minute, and my stylist is not picking up her phone and since she works for herself there is no receptionist to take my call. She could have been on vacation, off, with customers, how am I to know? Instead, with Skeduler I can quickly see exactly when I can book, instead of even bickering back and forth on the phone to schedule an available time.

 

Now, in some cases, because I needed an appointment ASAP I went somewhere else. 2 hours goes by, I get a call, she's available in 30 min but I've already had my service done because I "didn't know" her availability. In this case, wouldn't it have been nice to have scheduled a hair cut at the time she is available and she remained un-interrupted while with other clients?

 

 

All the best escorts I use have this facility on their website. As well as full details of menu.

 

Great tool.

All the best escorts I use have this facility on their website. As well as full details of menu.

 

Great tool.

 

 

Lol

Dinko,

 

Hope all is well buddy. Been too long.

 

My thoughts are as follows-

Brian is bringing up some valid points. But I also think you are on to a good idea. May also be a good place to run ads on specials for businesses as well for an additional fee to generate more revenue for your business. In other words someone searches haircut->Miami->and then you have a list of results that come alphabetically, or by pricing in $-$$$$$, or by businesses running specials or that have Skeduler specific discounts.

 

I think it may be good to offer businesses a couple months complimentary to check your business out and see results. When they see value they will be more eager to pay whatever you will charge them.

 

Businesses that do not see that much walk up traffic would benefit most from a search and service rating side of it.

 

Just a couple quick thoughts

 

 

I would use it for all of the reasons mentioned here. I love OT and the ability to do that with other services would be great. I hate having to call...wait for someone to pick up...wait to be transferred to the person who can help me...wait to have that person look at the schedule...only to find out that they can't do what I need at a time that works. Or right now I am working nights and nobody is open at 6:30am when I am driving home and I really don't feel like making phone calls when I first wake up at 4. Let me schedule my appointments for my day off during the night and I can come in the following evening to a confirmation email...sign me up.

 

Anything that makes it easier for me as the consumer is a win for the business. If I can access your services in an easier manner you are going to get my business over another company and since you have now made it easier for me to spend my money you are going to end up earning a larger share of it.

 

Good luck and I can't wait to see what you bring to the market.

 

 

PS. You are going to be on Shark Tank aren't you?

I don't think $100 a month is too much to ask. From my own experience selling a monthly software service, I can tell you it's much easier selling a subscription for $100 a month than it is for $20 a month.

 

Our app relieves business owners of back office work, much like yours. I tested several price points and here's what I found. We have always offered a minimum of 3 plans. Let's just all them Bronze, Silver, Gold.

 

When our plans were priced between $20 and $50, I hated picking up the phone. If we spent 30 minutes with a customer answering questions, we basically broke even with that customer for that month. If they didn't actually purchase after the free trial, it was a loss. I also started to profile the businesses that paid $20 per month and found that most were either start-ups or one-man operations. I'd say 1/3 would cancel after the first 3 months because they couldn't justify investing $20 a month on their business or they went out of business.

 

I also think that when we advertised our plans between $20 and $50, we were seen as "too cheap" by larger companies. I started to think about how I look at $6.95 p/month web hosting plans, and how I automatically think they are shit just because of the low price. I started to think about how I personally shop, and low prices actually discourage me from buying.

 

So I increased my prices to $40 to $150 p/month. Sales actually went up immediately. Most surprising is that the average order size is now $100 p/month since our buyers have more employees. Customers are also making a decision to upgrade from their free demo to a paid account faster (generally 7 days vs 31). I also don't feel as anxious when someone calls now.

 

Bottom line is that I think there is a customer ready to buy at every price point. It's just a matter of picking which customers you want to work with. For me, I'd rather work with the company that pays $100 per month than $20. It's just more practical. Companies ready to spend $100 p/mon are generally established so the income will be more predictable. They've actually gotten to a breaking point where software is needed to provide relief.

 

Ultimately, you'll just need to test.

 

 

 

Mike, thanks brother! You read my mind. Once we have the traffic, and say 5,000+ businesses on site there are a lot of things to do to generate additional revenues without ruining the experience.

 

Hannibal, thank you, very excited as well.

 

Profunctional, my point also. We all tend to always be more lured towards the more expensive, whether it be watches, cars, escorts (donnie), and other things. And you are absolutely right, if they bitch for $20 that means their business/store has no business.