It could be time to join independent wellness professionals and studios everywhere in getting an online booking system.
MagnaPass are exploring the following reasons why in this article.
Online booking systems have a number of benefits.
- Reduce admin time.
- Increase bookings.
- Reduce no-shows and cancellations.
- Get paid directly, on time.
- Track your bookings.
- Manage your clients.
1. Reduce admin time.
They may seem like simple and easy tasks, but they can take up a considerable chunk of your available time. You know what we're talking about, things like emails, phone calls, cash, change, refunds... the list goes on.
The fact is that wellness businesses, whether you're an independent yoga teacher or a multi-site CrossFit business, will no doubt be spending a lot of time organising, planning and liaising with clients, teachers and any number of others to keep your schedule and services up-to-date.
The good thing is that now, using purpose-built booking systems such as MagnaPass, you can make all of these tasks a lot less time-intensive. Here are some examples of features that can solve these problems:
- Automatic email communications will keep you and your clients notified on bookings and cancellations.
- Cash and change are a thing of the past with online bookings systems which allow clients to book and pay online in advance.
- Refunds can be managed online too, including partial and full refund options.
- Scheduling and sending out Zoom meeting links for online sessions.
2. Increase bookings.
Giving more people easy access to booking your services is the best thing you can do to improve your chances of converting them to a paying client. Having a booking system allows you to link people directly to a booking page and in some cases clients can use a mobile app to make bookings.
Having all of your services and pricing in one place is extremely handy for clients who wish to browse your offerings. Once they decide to book, they can be done within a couple of clicks - and you've got a brand new client to work with.
With MagnaPass, you get a public profile included with your account but you can also embed the booking widget into your website and list your services on the free mobile apps.
3. Reduce no-shows and cancellations.
Keep your clients engaged due to accountability. When people pay upfront and book their space online, they are more likely to turn up. When people have no buy-in, it's all too easy for them to decide to stay home with their favourite Netflix series!
Booking systems like MagnaPass allow you to see who's coming along, who's cancelled, display your terms and conditions, and even automate your refund policy.
4. Get paid directly, on time.
Allowing your clients to pay by cash or bank transfer can be very convenient for them, but not always for you! Chasing people up for overdue payments and remembering how much everyone needs to pay you can quickly becoming a nightmare. But when people are required to book in advance, it means that you have more stability and security when it comes to gauging your attendances and earnings.
To do this, payment processors are an essential part of any worthwhile booking system. Not all booking systems allow you to process payments as part of the standard subscription plan but most do. All booking systems will include a small transaction fee per payment.
Don't let this put you off though, this is something which is standard across all online payment methods. However, not all payment processors and booking systems have the same transaction fees.
Stripe is the payment processor built into MagnaPass. Transaction fees when taking bookings through MagnaPass using Stripe are 1.4% + 20p. This includes fraud prevention, security checks, usually receiving payouts in 3-5 business days, and directly linking to your bank account. The fees are very reasonable in comparison to others. For example, booking systems like Mindbody charge 1.99% + 20p and payment processors such as Square charge 1.9%.
5. Track your bookings.
When you receive bookings, there are a number of things you'll need a booking system to do for you. This includes creating/updating the client's profile, adding the client to the attendance list, and sending out booking notifications. Plus other useful data such as date, time, booking method and payment amount.
MagnaPass handles all of this and more. You're able to easily email all attendees that are booked into a particular session, manually book clients in, set a booking policy (how far ahead clients need to book), and you'll even receive a notification email with a full attendance summary.
6. Manage your clients.
Every time a client books, you have the opportunity to save their information for later. Details such as name, email address and phone number are vital for staying in contact and retargeting people to encourage loyalty.
If you require more information such as Par-Q forms, emergency contact details, address, date of birth or anything else, you'll need the option to create a form for your clients to fill out whilst booking.
Finally, once the clients are booking and you have their information, booking systems can also allow you to download the full clients list in order to utilise them in mailing lists.
All of the above is possible with MagnaPass. You can see a full history of bookings, cancellations, payments, passes, memberships, and packages. This ensures you have all of the information you need to engage with your clients.
