Each service lets clients pick times that work for them, and then it sends automatic reminders to reduce no-shows. You choose between a solo plan (to support a single owner) or a multiuser plan (to support an unlimited number of staff members who have access only to their own calendar. Since the services function entirely online, there’s nothing to install on your computer; and you can access your calendar from any computer that has a browser. Each service also maintains a mobile-friendly website, so you can manage your calendar from a smartphone.
But there’s more beneath the surface. Each service has unique features such as promotions, analytics, and the ability to accept prepayments. Which tool is right for your service-based business? Let’s take a look.
Schedulicity
Signup and Setup
The straightforward setup process walked me through the steps of creating a profile for my music lessons business, defining the types of lessons I offer (including pricing and duration), and specifying the times that I’m available. During sign-up, a pop-up window offered help from a live chat support team, though I found the steps easy to follow without additional consultation; Schedulicity also has lot of videos and even free webinars.
Calendar Management
Another option is to add appointments or block out personal time from the management page. When you create a new appointment, you can select from current clients or add a new client, and you can create a one-time appointment or a series of recurring appointments.
You can subscribe to your Schedulicity calendar via Outlook, iCal, or Google calendar. Because the subscribed calendar is read-only, you must make changes from the Schedulicity website.
Client Management
Importing my current client list entailed rearranging my spreadsheet to match the columns that Schedulicity needed, but all of the data imported without error. You can rate each client’s reliability, and you can define whether individuals can book appointments online or must contact you to set up an appointment. A client history report shows past bookings, deals, and promotions.
The one thing that Schedulicity won’t track is money. Clients can’t use the service to pay in advance for services, and you can’t use it to keep track of deposits that you may require clients to pay in order to hold a time slot. This limitation isn’t a big deal if your policy is for clients to pay at the time that they receive your service, but if you require a deposit to secure a time, you’ll have to track that separately.
Deals, Promotions, and Marketing
News media have reported many instances where businesses that use services like Groupon to offer a deal have lost money when overwhelming response to a promotion has forced the company to provide too many discounted services in a day. Schedulicity helps protect your business from this misfortune by letting you set caps on how many times clients can redeem a particular promotion, and on how many discount-claiming clients can schedule a service on a given day.
Price: $19 per month for a single user; $39 per month for 2 to 20 users; personalized business plans are available for larger numbers of users; 30-day free trial
Pros: Clean, easy-to-understand design; robust marketing tools; lots of support documentation
Cons: No money management
Bottom line: Schedulicity is easy to use despite incorporating lots of options, especially in connection with its robust promotional tools.
Next Page: Genbook
Genbook
Signup and Setup
Getting started with Genbook was quick, though not as visually pleasing or easy as with Schedulicity. The management end can be more difficult to work with, but the customer-facing booking process looks professional.
Genbook walked me through the basics of receiving appointments, including setting up staff and services, identifying business details, and listing operating hours, but it skipped some of the setup options.
One default option along the way is Genbook Promote, a service that publishes your business information to partner sites such as local guides and search engines. This feature is free as part of the trial, but it costs an extra $15 per month for solo users and $25 per month for standard subscribers. I’m not a fan of being opted in to things that cost extra.
Calendar Management
When you get to the pop-up for creating a new booking, selecting a service from the drop-down menu will trigger the program to fill in most of the other fields. Though there’s no indication that you can search your existing client list, typing a name in the client name box does launch a search. If you choose a preexisting client, the remaining fields will fill in automatically.
The new appointment pop-up also lets you add credit-card information and set up options for recurring appointments. The ability to associate credit-card information is a great feature if you want to charge fees for no-shows. Another possibility is to require individual clients to provide their credit-card information in order to confirm when they book online.
Client Management
Genbook will import a client list from Web email accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail, or from email applications like Outlook or Apple Mail. You can also upload a contacts file from Outlook, Windows Address Book, or LinkedIn, but when I tried to upload the spreadsheet I already had, the operation yielded a list of email addresses with no names.
Adding new customers through the management interface is straightforward. You can choose whether to permit customers to book freely online, to book online if they supply a credit card number, or to book only by phoning for an appointment. You can also leave notes about particular clients and see a list of services or appointments they have booked.
Unless you opt out of the feature, Genbook will send clients a request to leave a review at the end of their service. You can view and manage the resulting reviews, choosing which to publish and which to hide.
Marketing and Analytics
An analytics tools shows revenue and appointments, sorted by service or by staff member. This can help you identify sales trends, forecast future performance, and see which employees and services are doing well. Staff members won’t see the analytics tab when they log in to manage their own schedules.
Price: $20 per month for a single user; $40 per month for an unlimited number of staff members; 30-day free trial
Pros: Can store credit-card information to enforce cancellation and no-show policies; powerful analytics
Cons: Confusing interface; no promotional tools
Bottom Line: Genbook lets customers book online while protecting your business from no-shows and fake appointments, but there’s no way to manage deals or promotions. Its strong analytics tools can help you stay on top of what’s working well for your business and what isn’t.
Next Page: Appointy and conclusions
Appointy
Signup and Setup
Appointy’s setup process was similar to that of the other services, but Appointy includes a tags section for SEO purposes. It also lets you provide much more information about your staff, such as education and languages spoken, so that clients can choose the right person to work with. I found that setting business hours in Appointy was easier than in any competing service.
Another great option: Appointy lets you accept–or require–prepayment through PayPal or Authorize.Net. This feature enables you to require deposits or to accept prepayments without having to store credit-card information.
Calendar Management
The intuitive calendar interface offers daily, monthly, and agenda views. A dashboard view shows reports on performance, appointments, and marketing.
You can use two-way sync to link your Appointy calendar with Google Calendar.
Client Management
Appointy will maintain a basic list of your clients and their contact information, but it doesn’t provide a way to import your current list. Customers can submit reviews and you can choose whether the reviews will display their name or appear anonymously.
Promotions and Reports
Like the other two services, Appointy provides a scheduling widget for your website and a link for your Facebook page. You can post updates to Facebook and Twitter, or you can send customers an email message to let them know that they can book their appointments online.
Another option is to create discount coupons and offers for clients to use when they sign up for services. There’s no way to restrict how many discounted appointments clients can schedule on a given day, but you can limit coupons to a single use or a first appointment.
Price: Free basic plan; $10 per month for Plus plan (adds Google Calendar linking); $20 per month for Pro plan (adds customizations, analysis, prepayments, and recurring bookings); $40 per month for Business plan (adds separate staff logins); 14-day free trial of Business plan
Pros: Free option; prepayments; very customizable
Cons: Promotional bookings can’t be restricted to a certain number per day; no client list import
Bottom Line: It’s hard to beat free–but the great customization options, the capability to take prepayments via Paypal, and the various promotional tools make the paid tiers of service worth the extra expense.
Conclusion
Though any of these services will provide your clients with an easy way to book their own appointments online, each has its own unique capabilities. For businesses that like to offer deals but want to keep them under control, Schedulicity is a great match. Businesses that need the security of having a credit card on file will appreciate that Genbook has that feature built in. If you want to be able to accept deposits and to offer discounts, check out Appointy.
Overall, I rate Schedulicity as the most convenient and most robust service for businesses that don’t mind tracking payments separately.