If you have become used to a manual way of creating and managing a business schedule, switching to an automated method might seem like a drastic step that could hurt your business. But it is actually the other way round. As business schedule automation has transformed for the better in the past few years. You can actually offer a far better experience to both your customers and employees by fully automating or semi-automating your business schedule. 

If you’re still on the fence, I have created a list of all the benefits of automating your business schedule in 2020 to help ease your fears…

Saves time and money:

Manual scheduling can seem like a very personal method, but if you tear it down and look at the process you will see that it is a very inconvenient approach. It usually starts with a potential client filling in a contact form, then your assistant emails them and asks them about a time they prefer and then they respond with their preferred time (or ask your assistant what time you prefer). There’s usually an exchange of 6 to 8 emails before they settle on a time. 

After that, your assistant needs to stay in touch with the customer/client by regularly emailing them and informing them about the call. And if they want to reschedule, they will require an exchange of several more emails. This to and fro can take up a lot of time and annoy both the employee and customer. A simpler method would be to automate this process by embedding a contact form created using a scheduling software such as Vcita’s. This software lets people instantly view your available times online (in their time zone) and schedule an appointment. 

And the software does the constant job of reminding them to not only make it to the meeting but to also add the meeting to their calendar. 

This simplifies the process and results in less work for your employees. Your employees can focus on pressing tasks where they can make a bigger difference, or they can be made redundant if deemed surplus to your requirements. 

Helps you collect data:

Another big benefit of automating your business schedule is that the software can collect data. It can track clicks, email open rates, views, etc. It can analyze this data and show you what times people prefer scheduling appointments at, which email subject lines lead to more opens, if text reminders fare better than email reminders and so much more. 

All this data can be used to get more people to schedule more appointments and to get more people to attend the appointments they set. So, make sure you pick an automation software that tracks data. 

Helps you send more custom messages:

Several appointment automation software have become so advanced these days that they won’t need human interference to deliver a better experience. They can collect more data automatically, sum them up and offer a better experience with custom messages, by just using their own inbuilt AI. 

They can address people by their names, email them at the best time (depending on their time zone), track the links they click in their emails and categorize them by interests and do so many other things that your assistant won’t be able to do. 

Helps you better your overall business strategy:

The data obtained from your scheduling software, can not only be used to offer a better employee experience, but to also improve your overall strategy. You can use the data to better understand your customers and create a more accurate audience persona. You can then create better products and marketing strategies based on this persona. 

Conclusion:

Managing a business schedule ‘manually’ can seem good on paper, but as discussed above there are several drawbacks to this process. There are some drawbacks to completely automating it as well, but they make up only a tiny handful compared to all the benefits that automation offers. 

So, if you want to standout from the competition and get more people to book appointments and show up to them, you must switch to an automated process. It will also save you more time and money in the long run.