New booking system - What you need to be aware of

Customised booking system for your industry

Before we get started with this post, we'll start by introducing Planway.

Planway is a Danish developed booking system that has already helped more than 5,000 practitioners in Denmark and processed more than 650,000 bookings. Since 2017, the system has helped Danish businesses optimise the booking process for the benefit of both the self-employed and the customer.

A booking system is not just something you develop and then it's finished - it's almost NEVER finished. There are always new features that can be used, which is why Planway has an ongoing dialogue with customers about how best to optimise the system to ensure that we keep our fingers on the pulse.

Technology sets the limits, and since we're used to it always getting better, wilder or even more intuitive, there's always a lot of pressure on developers as the competition to create the favourite booking system is fierce. But that doesn't change the journey Planway is on - the mission itself is quite simple:

Planway should be the most user-friendly system on the market.

You can read more about it Danish developed booking system here.

What does my booking system need to do?

There are some key things to consider when choosing your new booking system. We'll look at 5 things that the system should include as a minimum - see them below.

Online booking: 

The first and probably the most obvious, which is why we won't spend too much energy on it, but it is of course essential that the system can handle an online booking.

It's always a good idea to run through the process yourself first, to test errors, usability and just make sure you know the entire customer journey from deciding to book a "treatment" to finalising the booking.

Online payment: 

Make it easy for your customer and not least yourself. Everything is much easier if there is a natural flow to the booking, which an online payment can definitely help with. It's natural, easy and all parties are assured that there are no misunderstandings.

You may also need to charge a deposit when the customer books to ensure a level of seriousness, or in case you are prevented from attending.

Automatic reminders: 

This is where you as a practitioner can save a lot of time by contacting customers if they forget their appointment, for example. With automatic reminders, customers will be reminded of their appointment, which ensures a higher percentage of all treatments are completed and generally reduces no-shows.

Statistics: 

Use the statistics in your business to improve, or motivate yourself to set new goals or fulfil existing ones. Optimisation opportunities are quickly identified and key performance indicators can be found.

Managing multiple departments: 

If your business is growing or you are part of a chain, it should be possible to manage multiple departments via the booking system. This reduces the financial cost of having multiple systems connected to each department, but also makes it much easier to keep track of treatments and bookings internally.

If you have any further questions about a new booking system, we recommend contacting Planway, who have experts on hand to advise you in this particular area. In this post, we have simply given our opinion on factors you should be aware of when choosing a new booking system.