Which should I use?
There are many ways that BridalLive helps you obtain new leads from the internet, Appointment Requests and the Appointment Scheduler are two popular options.
Appointment Scheduler
The appointment scheduler will ADD contacts and appointments to your system when the appointment is booked via your website.
With the rise in popularity of businesses having a real-time appointment scheduling tool on their website, we decided to embark on building the ultimate online scheduler for bridal and formal wear stores. Trouble is, there are so many factors that affect the "availability" of an appointment in a formal wear store.
Let's start with some examples. For instance, many stores have "block scheduling" meaning that they start their appointments at the opening time and then have 1:30 blocks set aside for their appointments. Other stores use a "first available" setting where they take appointments at any time during the day.
To complicate matters further, some staff members may not be able to work a Bridal appointment, but they could work a bridesmaid or prom appointment. And if that wasn't enough, some stores have fitting rooms that are dedicated to certain types of appointments.
With all this complexity, it's no wonder that scheduling is one of the biggest pains in formalwear retail. We aim to improve this by giving your staff members a super easy tool that helps them book appointments only during the times that are most optimal for your business.
We call this our Smart Book Algorithm.
This algorithm is used when determining availability on your online appointment scheduler and can also be put to use by clicking "Smart Book" on your appointment calendar.
Pros
- Use this form when you want to give the bride the highest level of "Self Service" prior to the visit to your salon.
- Encourages you to keep an organized scheduling system.
- Lowers cost of customer acquisition by removing the human element of scheduling.
Cons
- Visitors can see how "not busy" you are. If that's a concern of yours. A way to get around this is to only allow online booking for certain fitting rooms.
- The potential for duplicates to be created if names are misspelled on submission and the matching algorithm fails. You can merge two Contacts in BridalLive if this does happen.
Appointment Request Form
The appointment request form creates "requests" in your system. You will be notified when new requests are submitted, but these times are not booked to your calendar until you approve them by clicking the "Book Appointment" button.
Pros
- Gives you the most control over the schedule and allows you to "shift things around" to accommodate your clients.
- Potential higher conversion rate due to fewer steps to submission
Cons
- Increases administration costs of the schedule.
- May be viewed as "less convenient" by visitors
- Cannot trigger smart flows upon submission.