The Belbo waiting list can automatically notify waiting customers via email when an appointment becomes available in the desired time slot.

Requirements

1. The waiting list function is activated.
2. The email template has been created.

Activate waiting list

If the function is not yet activated, it can be enabled under Settings > Add Function.

The waiting list will then be visible in the header area of the system:

Create email template

Under Settings > Waiting List > Customer Notification > Template, you can create the email template that will be sent to waiting customers. Suitable placeholders are available that provide information about the details of the available appointment.

Settings

• Appointment cancellation by staff: Sends the email when an appointment is deleted by a team member.
• Online cancellation by customers: An email is also sent when an appointment is cancelled by a customer.
• Exception: If a break is deleted by a team member, no email is sent to waiting persons.

Here we explain how to make a newly created service or service group available for online booking. This applies to customers who use the "Special Booking Process" feature ("Booking Process" for Swiss customers).

Sie können festlegen, dass bestimmte Mitarbeiter von Neukund*innen nicht online gebucht werden dürfen. So entlasten Sie bei Stammkunden beliebte Mitarbeiter und geben z.B. neuen Teammitgliedern die Möglichkeit, mehr Termine zu erhalten.

In an increasingly digitalized world, it is essential for local businesses to adapt to changing customer behaviors and expectations. This article provides practical strategies and measures to increase the number of online bookings in your business.

Reviewing the existing booking process

To achieve more online bookings, you should first evaluate your existing booking process:

• Test your own booking process yourself!
• Make sure the process is clear and simple from the customer's perspective. Ask yourself: Are too many services listed? Would a subdivision make sense? Our special booking process can help you here
• Use meaningful and professional images, both of the services offered and of your team, to build trust and relationships with customers. You can learn how to upload photos of your team members here.
• Implement the rating function so that customers can share their experiences. Positive feedback can encourage future customers to make an online booking.

Tips for more online bookings from your regular customers

Regular customers are the backbone of your business. Here are some strategies to encourage them to use online booking:

• Use your customer database to send personalized invitations for online booking.
• Create marketing emails that highlight current offers, seasonal services or special promotions. You can also set up a round email here to invite customers to use online booking.
• Reactivation emails and birthday emails can encourage customers who haven't visited you in a while to book an appointment again.
• Communicate a referral bonus to encourage your customers to recommend your services.
• Train your staff to actively promote online booking.

Making online booking visible

To acquire new customers, you should make the booking process as easy and quick as possible:

• Check that the link to online booking on your website is clearly visible.
• Add a link to online booking in your Google, Facebook and Instagram profile.
• A QR code in your shop window that leads directly to online booking can attract potential customers. You can have this created online using free QR code generators.
• Add a note about the possibility of online booking to your answering machine.

Suggestions for concrete marketing campaigns

After you have carefully gone through the points described above, you can now start targeted marketing campaigns:

• Link your social media posts to online booking. You can highlight special offers here or give a behind-the-scenes look at your salon.
• Use discount codes for online bookings or create special new customer offers, for example using landing pages.
• Offer reduced prices for a specific time period to provide an additional incentive.
• Voucher campaigns with discount codes or at reduced prices can encourage customers to try out your services.

If you use the "Any Employee" feature, customers do not need to choose an employee during online booking. This simplifies booking for new customers. To define how your available employees should be prioritized for this type of booking, you can use the "Any Employee Prioritization" feature.

Requirements

To use this feature, booking via "Any Employee" must be activated in the online booking settings. For more information, see the article "Any Employee".

Prioritizing employees

You can either set a general prioritization, or define it individually for specific services.

1. First, select which service(s) the prioritization should apply to. You can choose between individual services, service groups, or all services.
2. Then click on the created prioritization rule to set, in the following step, the order in which the system selects employees for online booking. Here too, you can select either individual team members or roles:

Application examples

Prioritizing individual team members

In the example above, team members are selected for all services in the order shown. If all listed employees are available at the customer's desired time, Sina will be selected for the appointment. If Sina is booked, Marie will be selected. Only if no one else is available will Max take the appointment. This is useful, for example, for prioritizing new employees who are still building up a customer base.

Prioritizing by role

In the example above, roles are selected for all services in the "Women's Haircut" category in the order shown. If all listed employees are available at the customer's desired time, a team member with the role "Junior Stylist" will be selected for the appointment. If all Junior Stylists are booked, a team member with the role "Top Stylist" will be selected. Only if no one else is available will the owner take the appointment. This is useful, for example, for relieving popular employees.

Prioritizing by workload

If it is not individual people but workload that should determine the selection, the feature can also prioritize the person with the least bookings on the customer's desired day.

To do this, simply set this option:

In Belbo können Sie Ihren Kunden die Möglichkeit geben, selbst die gebuchten Termine zu verschieben.
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You can set whether your customers need to register when booking online or whether they can also book with you without a previous login. Here we explain both variants with their advantages and disadvantages.

Booking without registration

You can set in the online booking that you allow booking without login:

This means that customers do not need to log in or register when booking and must enter all their data again with each booking. Customers may create a new customer record with the status "New customer" with each booking if they provide different spellings or email addresses in subsequent bookings. Duplicates can be merged.

Booking without login is only recommended if you have few repeat regular customers. This includes, for example, hotel spas or escape games.

Booking with registration (recommended)

We always recommend booking with login. Belbo offers several advantages that are only possible if customers register when booking and thereby identify themselves clearly.

• Setting your own booking processes and bookable services for certain customer groups (example: "New customers may only book consultation services" etc.)
• Blocking individual employees from booking by new customers (learn more)
• Setting different prices for customers with a specific status (learn more)
• The ability to set time exceptions for your customers (learn more)
• The ability to allow certain customer groups to book only by advance (payment) deposit

If you deactivate the "Allow booking of appointments without login" option in the online booking settings, customers must register or log in before they can complete their booking and then do not need to enter all their data again with each booking (first name, last name, email address, phone number and other required fields).

Customers who register after deactivating the option will create a duplicate, which can be merged with the original record. After that, the customer will always be recognized when booking since they have to log in.

Existing customers who have an email address in their records can also be invited to register via the link in the record:

This prevents future duplicates when the customer only needs to set a password after clicking the email and the login is linked to the existing customer record.

Here we show you what helpful information we need for specific requests and how you can possibly solve the problem yourself.

Wenn Sie erklärungsbedürftige oder komplexe Leistungen anbieten, welche Kunden erst nach telefonischer Beratung buchen dürfen, können Sie dies einrichten. Kunden sehen diese Leistung zwar in der Onlinebuchung und erfahren, dass Sie diese anbieten. Die Leistung kann jedoch nur telefonisch gebucht werden.

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