If a tree falls but no-one is nearby to hear it, does it make a sound? That’s the dilemma retailers face when they launch new in-store services but don’t use Appointment Software tools to generate interest.
Why should retailers use Appointment Booking Software?
The modern consumer has more freedom in the current retail landscape since the rise of ecommerce to choose where they want to shop than they ever have. As a natural consequence, customers are becoming less loyal to brands and it’s now necessary for retailers to fight to win consumer attention.
In other words, retailers must pull out all the stops to captivate consumers, increase revenue, and stay relevant. A key area setting the leading retailers apart from their competitors is how accessible their services are across channels. Increasingly, customers want to be able to use services both online and in brick-and-mortar stores.
One of the best ways retailers can promote services across channels is by deploying appointment scheduling. In doing so, they can tap into a key demographic. In a recent consumer survey, Qudini discovered that 3 out of every 4 Millennial and GenZ customers responded positively when retailers deployed digital Retail Choreography initiatives such as appointment scheduling.
Moreover, demand for “store appointments” is growing across the world–a quick glance at the Google Trends data and it’s clear that more people are searching for the phrase than ever. Retailers without any appointment booking process need to move quickly if they’re to prevent their digitally advanced competitors from poaching their customers.
What services do customers want to book appointments for?
Typically, customers want to book appointments for:
- In-store services
- Virtual services
- Sales advice
- Gift advice
- Personal shopping or style advice
- Repairs
- Personalization services
- Accessibility services (i.e., assisted shopping, wheelchair access, quiet store hours)
- Click and collect/buy online pick up in store (BOPIS) services
- Home visits (for services and repairs e.g., electronic equipment)
- Field consultants
- In-store amenities and dwell spaces
What happens if customers can’t schedule appointments?
If a customer can’t schedule an appointment, you’re effectively cutting off a major traffic driver to all your different services. Here’s why.
The typical consumer–let’s call her Erica–doesn’t see any mention of a service on your website, so she’ll only find out about the service on the day she comes to your store. Unfortunately, she’s in a rush so she leaves the store without using the service. She plans to come back another day but something holds her back. Without a way to book a timeslot, she’s worried the service may not be available when she returns. Consequently, she convinces herself not to bother returning to your store.
If Erica had seen a promotion for the service on your website, would things be better? Unlikely. Without an immediate way to book an appointment, Erica is still likely to either forget all about the service or worry that it’s not worth a trip to the store in case the service isn’t available.
Ultimately, without an Online Booking System, you’re going to drive a lot less customers like Erica to your personalized services.
How Appointment Software drives traffic to your stores
If you’re trying to get more people to use your omnichannel services, deploying an Appointment Scheduling System will be a game-changer.
You can promote your Appointment System across your website’s homepage, product pages, individual store pages to drive any customers who want to use a service to book an appointment. You can also promote your Appointment App using a QR code on online and offline ads so that any customers like Erica who want to instantly book a time for service can do so.
Additionally, walk-in customers who learn about a service but don’t get around to using it can schedule an appointment via a store associate on a desktop or tablet or your website. This way, they don’t have to worry about whether the service is available.
Head office can also use appointment data analytics to find out which services are in demand to invest and allocate resources more effectively.
Use in-store signage to drive appointment bookings via QR code
What are the proven benefits of using Qudini’s Appointment Software?
Enterprise retailers have seen some of the following results since deploying our Appointment System:
- Double the number of appointments
- 60% increase in new customer acquisition
- 25% higher staff efficiency
- Better resource allocation and stock availability thanks with our in-depth data analytics
What features does Qudini’s Online Booking System have?
Qudini’s award-winning Appointment Scheduling System has the following key features:
For customers
- Book appointments online, choose a service and select a time slot based on store capacity
- Choose an advisor as part of the appointment journey process
- Easy to reschedule, cancel or confirm booking
For store, call center and HQ teams
- Personalize customer questions depending on what service the customer has chosen with question type capabilities for free text, drop down, image selection, digital signature and much more
- Send follow-up customers surveys by email or text
- Seamlessly create and manage appointments on any desktop, tablet or smartphone, with ability for multiple team members to use the system at once
- Download and print a list of appointments
- Call center teams can create and manage appointments on behalf of customers
- Use our appointment software across multiple stores and timezones
- HQ teams also receive analytics reports to learn about appointment capacity utilization and get a deep insight into they customers make appointments
Do consumers want retailers to offer booking systems?
According to our recent survey of 2,000 US consumers, there’s rapidly growing consumer demand for appointment scheduling. Qudini found that Appointment Software increases customer acquisition, sales, loyalty, and advocacy.
The survey also revealed that when retailers use appointment services, customers are:
- 93% more likely to report positive impacts
- 33% more likely to visit the retailer in the first place
- 24% more likely to buy something from the retailer
- 21% more likely to tell their friends about the retailer
- 25% more likely to choose the retailer over their competitors
- 29% more likely to return to the retailer
Learn more about Qudini’s Retail Choreography solutions
Market-leading Retail Choreography software company Qudini is the only Online Booking System provider that’s solely designed for retail and banking.
Visit our client case study page to read more about the results we’ve achieved for brands and organizations like Specsavers and London Metropolitan University.
