What’s the best on-line calender/scheduling/booking system? Something that allows me to show my availability & customers can ‘request’ to meet me. When I ‘accept’ their request, the appointment pops into our calendars & reminders are automated.
The features mentioned in the question is a generic aspect of most of the online scheduling apps and there are several of them designed for this. However, appointment scheduling apps have now evolved to automate many other administrative works such as updating client data, showing meeting analytics, including integrated CRM features. Although, many scheduling apps are cramped with features, many fail to provide the basic simplicity and security features that customers expect from such an app. Therefore, it is wise to consider giving a trial to even the most acclaimed software to see if it fits you right. Here are some of the applications you should consider using:
Acuity Scheduling
Apart from the generic features of a scheduling app such as customized replies, client management, text reminders, and many such, Acuity takes care of payments and deposits through Stripe, Square, or PayPal, offer coupons and vouchers for discounts, advanced reporting about appointments, no shows, & performance, and optimizing your availability for maximum appointments and fewer gaps. Acuity offers a 7 day trial before you select your plan.
Karen App
Karen is a 24x365 hours online facility that offers clients with appointment booking facilities and make payments as and when they are comfortable. With Karen clients can send reminders through text or email alerts and control the no-show ratio.It also tracks the number of appointments per week, missed and canceled bookings, new addition to the client base and much more. Furthermore, it caters to both appointment booking and meeting scheduling needs. Karen can be integrated with Zoom and Zapier to scale its further reach.
Calendly
Calendly lets you customize your meeting slots by providing details such as a 30-minute meeting or a round-robin, a group, or a one-on-one. It syncs with your calendars such as Google, Outlook, or Yahoo and keeps your timetable up to date. Your clients can then choose from these options to book a meeting or schedule an appointment.
HubSpot
In HubSpot, the cherry on top is that the meeting tool syncs with both the calendar and the HubSpot CRM. It further allows members to align meeting schedules by letting them access to view your availability. The free CRM tools in HubSpot include contact management, contact website activity, companies, deals, tasks & activities, company insights, and Gmail and Outlook integration.
Meetingbird
The best part of this application is that one does not need a separate account for setting a meeting through Meetingbird. All you need is a Google account or an office 365 to schedule appointments here. There is a Meetingbird Chrome extension that is in tandem with Gmail if you plan to use mails for scheduling. Meetingbird is a completely free application and integrates with Zapier to improve your work flow.
