Appointment Scheduling Software
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How to Use Customer Information in Your Small Business
It’s common to find yourself doing the same things over and over again only because that’s the way they’ve always been done. It’s easy to become settled into a business process without taking the time to reflect and ask yourself “why am I doing this,” or “is there a better way to do this?” Collecting data and record keeping are regular daily tasks for most service-based businesses. Do you find yourself collecting lots of customer information, but then never doing anything with it? You could have a treasure trove of useful data in your appointment scheduling software.
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Typically when a customer calls or stops in to schedule an appointment you’ll ask for their name, phone number, mailing address, email address, as well as any other pertinent information about the service they are requesting. You can use this information to both understand your customers’ preferences and to offer them more services and special promotions.
Understand Customer Preferences
Each appointment can be categorized by the type of service your customer wants. In appointment software you’ll be able to run summary reports to show the most popular services in your entire small business, as well as a detailed appointment history for a particular customer.
In addition to the overall service type, you can also keep more detailed information about the appointment and the customer. Add more fields to your appointment scheduling software, write miscellaneous notes, and attach files and web links to a person’s record to keep track of aspects that will help you better understand your customers' preferences.
Offer Services and Special Promotions
Once you understand your customer base a bit more, you’ll be able to run targeted promotions that should bring in more business, plus you’ll know exactly how to reach out to them. If you store their email address, mailing address and phone number, you'll have multiple ways to contact them (over and above communicating through Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets).
In addition to sending out email reminders before an appointment, you’ll be able to send out email messages after appointments, too. This is a great opportunity to thank your customers for their continued patronage and offer them a limited-time discount to encourage a repeat appointment or a referral. If there are customers who haven’t booked an appointment for a while, send them an email or a direct mail piece with a special “welcome back” promotion. If you have a new employee or begin offering a new service, send out an announcement to help keep your customers engaged and up-to-date with your small business.
Use the customer information collected inside appointment software to help your small business prosper. When you better understand your customers’ preferences, send targeted promotions and offer related services to book more appointments.