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Our life is different from what it used to be in the earlier decade. Now, if we talk about 2021 and the upcoming years; life is relatively swift, convenient, and solution giving. In today’s world,- every challenge is designed for a better solution. Thanks to technology for making our lives much easier and more luxurious. Considering the two adjectives, I have recently used for technology; it reminds me of the appointment booking app development experience that we cherished for one of our clients. I swear the online appointment scheduling app is the ninth wonder of our world.
Appointment Booking: Now and Then
Everything in the world changes with time. And we know it very well. The same applies to the experience of appointment scheduling. If we talk about the world that existed before two or three decades, the appointment service was managed by writing a letter to the concerned doctor, lawyer or any other professional. After getting the confirmation, the appointment was assumed as booked. Later, the invention of the telephone made things different and a little easy. Scheduling an appointment was via a telephone call. Many professionals still accept the appointments via a phone call.
The makeover of appointment scheduling experience
In 2021, and the coming years- the digital mode will be one of the most appropriate ways of accepting or cancelling an appointment. Online appointment booking is the most professional and apt way of requesting, canceling, or rescheduling an appointment. Suppose you have heard about apps like Urban Clap that do not take a moment to let you know whether your appointment is confirmed or not. Here is where we will talk about the benefits and use of online appointment scheduling apps.
What is Appointment Booking App Development?
An Appointment scheduling or booking application refers to a smartphone and a web application that helps the customer to book any service from the given list of categories such as flight booking, train ticket booking, doctor consultation booking, salon service booking, home cleaning service booking, carpenter service booking, gardener service booking, car rental service booking, etc. Here the application serves the role of the service professional’s assistant for accepting, rejecting, rescheduling, and cancelling the appointment on behalf of the concerned professional or service brand.
How to book an appointment using an appointment scheduling app?
In order to schedule or confirm an appointment online using a smartphone application, the following steps need to be followed.
- Initially, the customer must download the particular customer application on the smartphone and get themselves registered as a verified user. The authentication process is generally completed using a phone number verifying process via OTP.
- Later, the customers can scroll the category list and choose the most appropriate service that defines their needs such as clinic, salon, utility and cleaning, rentals, etc.
- After clicking on the category, the customers will be asked to choose a service type and later, will be asked to select from available time slots for booking their service.
- Clicking on the available time slot and completing the payment method checkout will book you as a client for the service selected. Also, it follows by the option of cancelling or rescheduling the service if the chosen time slot is no longer appropriate for you.
- The same application can also use the AI for understanding your regular service booking behaviour and might suggest you with the same services in the future.
Does your business need an online appointment booking app?
If your business is a service type, then definitely it needs an online scheduling application for maximizing your business reach and multiplying the customer base. So, definitely yes that your business requires an online app for helping your customers to book an appointment with your firm digitally.
From small scale firms to large scale brands, having an online application is highly beneficial in 2020 and beyond. Applications like Urban Clap are now highly prominent for booking various types of services online. Though it is a brand that functions in multiple areas if you are a single brand, you can also own an appointment scheduling application for helping your customers with a digital booking platform.
Business Types
- Doctors and Clinics
- Hospitals and Labs
- Beauty Salons and Spa
- Lawyers and Consultants
- Utility and Cleaning Professionals
- Carpenters & Plumbers
- Gardeners
- Pest Control Professionals
- Car Rental Brands
Here is an infographic by FinancesOnline depicting the clear picture of millennials who wish to book appointments online.
If your business falls under any of the types mentioned above, then investing in an online scheduling application is highly beneficial. It will certainly work for your business in enhancing its visibility and customer base. Let us move ahead to how it shall help your business in serving the said benefits.
Appointment Booking App Development Features
To understand the benefits of utilizing the appointment, making an application for your business, it is vital to have a glance at the features. The features defined by your appointment booking app development company shall enhance your business in multiple ways. Here are some of the most prominent features of the online scheduling app:
Customer Registration
The most important feature is the customer registration feature that helps the customer be a member of the application to proceed for an appointment booking service. Here the customers can either sign in using their social media profile or can select their phone number or email ID for a successful registration process.
In order to maintain the security of the users, the application mostly sends an OTP for verifying the user after the registration or forget password option.
Browse Service Categories
The next option is the service category. The customers can browse the different service categories by scrolling the ‘category menu’. If you are running a multi-service brand, then you shall have different types of categories to offer.
Browse Services
The very next option is browsing services. Depending on the categories of the services, there are multiple types of services offered. For an, e.g., if you are running a beauty salon, then there are various types of beauty services that can be displayed in the category including facial, haircut, make-up and hairstyle, clean-up, and waxing, etc.
Likewise, suppose you are running a hospital or multi-specialist clinic. In that case, you can display different doctors or specialists under the different booking categories such as booking an appointment with the orthopaedic, gynaecologist, radiologist, physician, etc.
Add Services
The next important feature is to allow the customers to add services that directly display in cart. Clicking on the ‘+’ sign helps the user to add services and then together after adding the various services, the customer can checkout with the payment process.
When we are talking about the online scheduling app development feature for adding services, we refer to allow the customers to add multiple services before checking out. For an, e.g., a customer will add sofa cleaning 3-seater, sofa cleaning 2-seater, dining chairs cleaning 5 chairs, etc. and check the cart before doing the payment process. In applications like Urban Clap, the company gives attractive discounts for more numbers of services added in the cart.
Check Appointment Slots
Definitely, the customers need to check the slot before booking an appointment. Here when we are talking about the appointment booking applications feature, we are referring to conveniently helping the customer to choose the most convenient time slot. For the same, the application needs to be developed precisely where the available time slots are clickable for booking. In contrast, the non-available time slots are shown in a different colour with a non-clickable option. It helps the customers to choose only those time slots that are available.
Reschedule Appointment
This feature is highly crucial to avoid any confusions over the phone call or before the last minute service. It helps the customers to cancel the existing appointment and reschedule it, choosing another available time slot by viewing the calendar details on the application scheduling tab. Having this feature on the booking app is must because it keeps the customer care centre free from issues like rescheduling and cancelling the application. Customers can manage it via the application and are relatively easy and quick as well.
Generally, the time for booking an appointment is more than four minutes via the phone call, and if it includes holding the call with the customer care centre, they might be more. When you design an app for your service or profession, the same can be managed within 1 minute or less. So, customers choose to use the app as it is time-saving and easily manageable without involving any third person.
Cancel Appointment
The cancel appointment button on the application allows the user to cancel the booked appointment by either selecting the available reasons or specifying one by typing it. The cancel appointment feature also helps the user to get the refund instantly for the service amount paid in advance. It helps your customer team to stay free from the calls for cancelling and refunding the paid service. Just click on the button, do all the work for the customer via the smartphone online appointment scheduling app.
Payment Method
Payment method is essential for helping the customers to pay for the service at the time of booking or to select the COD option for paying after the service. The payment method is designed with the help of third-party payment API integration where the different debit and credit options are available for paying for the service, including the net banking, UPI, and COD option.
So, these are the top few features that we have listed for helping you understand how appointment booking app development enhances your business. In a nutshell, designing the application will help your business with proper time management, automation of tasks such as cancelling, rescheduling, booking the service; and will save expenses on human resources as the application manages everything.
The Crucial Role of Backend Management System: Admin Panel
Next, let us talk about the crucial role of the backend system that is the ‘Admin Panel’. The backend panel helps in managing your business with ease. At iCoderz Solutions, we emphasize on the importance of the admin panel for helping our clients with the following benefits.
- Control on customer data – data management
- Defining a customer support system digitally
- Introduce updates and offers quickly from anywhere in the world.
- Manage earnings
- Check the ongoing service list
- Respond to customers when they cancel services
- Download reports and analysis
Appointment Booking App: Pricing and Hiring Model
The cost of appointment booking applications depends on various factors. Before I shed some light on the factors affecting the costing part, let me share the requirements first to run an online scheduling service like Urban Clap.
Three applications need to be designed. First is, of course, the customer app, second is the partner or professional app that will take care of the service, and third is the service management backend admin dashboard. When you are running the service like Urban Clap, the above mentioned three requirements are a must. Also, if you are a professional and are designing the application for your brand itself, then you shall also require the professional app for managing your services.
Pricing factors are:
- Design Interface
- Features
- Team size
- Platforms selected
- Third-party APIs
- Development Company location
- Developer’s expertise
Considering the factors mentioned earlier, the cost of the appointment booking app development in India would be approximately 15,000 USD to 20,000 USD. If you are considering any Internationally headquartered firm for development, then the cost would be 25-40% more.
How to Hire Developers from iCoderz Solutions?
iCoderz Solutions has different developer models for designing and developing an appointment booking application like Urban Clap. Our clients can choose from the following list of models for developing the app with iCoderz:
- Part-time developer model (Developers work for part-time, and the amount will be calculated as numbers of hours * per hour development cost)
- Full-time developer model (Developers work for full-time, and the amount will be calculated as numbers of hours * per hour development cost)
- Fixed Cost development – A fixed cost of development will be decided and negotiated between the client and the company.
Final Crux
In 2020 and beyond, the craze of smartphone usage shall continue to surge. It is the right time to help your business in going viral with the help of a digital smartphone application. Considering your service segment, we highly recommend appointment scheduling app development for enhancing your business reach and market size.
If you would like to have an online consultation with our business team for the same, please click here.
