After months of waiting, we can finally welcome back indoor classes and activities again!
It’s likely that class-based businesses and those that operate using bookings in the fitness industry are going to be swamped with customers wanting to get back to normality with their indoor activities.
To make sure everything goes smoothly, it’s wise to prepare your booking system and make sure it’s robust enough to handle the busy period that’s coming up. In this post, we’re going to take you through the key things that we think your bookings software should be able to take care of!
Your booking system should save you (and your customers) time.
When evaluating your current booking system or searching for a new one, the first question to ask yourself is: will it actually save your time?
After the system has been set up, it should effectively run itself without too much human intervention. The goal is to reclaim the hours that you would usually spend manually booking your customers into classes, not make it worse by piling on more admin. It should make it easy for you to manage class numbers by settling limits on the number of people that can book in, as well as manage your waiting list for you and contact those who are waiting for a space.
A booking software should also make it quick and easy for your customers to browse, book and purchase the activities you have on offer. Remember, the more barriers there are in this process, the more likely it is for customers to drop off before they complete their purchase. It should be possible for them to browse activities by activity, instructor and location, and it’s a bonus if their booking automatically appears in their own diary as well as their online portal. Empowering your customers to take charge of their bookings enhances their experience and makes them feel in control of their experience.
Other things to look out for:
- Day, Week & Month view for your activity diary
- The ability to make bookings available from a certain time to increase demand
- Automated confirmation can be sent to the instructor to make them aware of the booking
It should make it easier for you to earn more money.
There are only so many hours in the day, so it’s important to make sure your booking system is as efficient as possible. Improved efficiency means more opportunities to generate some extra revenue.
The software needs to present your activity diary in a way that means you can clearly see what classes you’re holding and when, who’s attending, who’s instructing and if there are any opportunities to sell class spaces to your customers. Your system should be intuitive enough to spot sales opportunities for you, which allows you to focus on delivering a top-notch service to your customers.
It should also be easy for you to sell additional products to your members in a few clicks. For example, Bolt-ons and Bundles are an excellent way to upsell and generate some extra monthly income. However, many club owners can be put off from offering them either because their management software doesn’t offer the functionality at all or it’s too complicated and time consuming for them to set up. Make sure your management software isn’t holding you back!
Other things to consider:
- Think about value. Are you getting a positive return on investment from your booking software? Could you be overpaying for a below-average service? Use our Switch & Save calculator to find out.
- Does your membership software allow you to set member and non-member pricing for activities?
- Does your software have a free member app so that your customers can book activities and make purchases on the go?
Your booking system should be branded to your business.
Something that club owners often forget to consider is how your online booking system looks to the customer. Does your software allow you to customise your online portal to your brand so that it’s a seamless transition from your website? Having a strong brand is crucial because it shows your customers that you’re professional and makes sure they remember you.
It’s important that you’re able to add photos and descriptions to your activities because it’s a prime opportunity to sell those activities to your customers. Make sure you’re telling them exactly what they’re going to get out of that class and why they should book it. Without that feature, your customers could be in for a pretty boring buying experience.
Ask yourself:
- Are you able to easily add images and descriptions to your activities in your online portal?
- Do those images look good on the member’s app?
- Are your customers able to see how many people are already booked into that class? Can you turn that function on/off?
There’s a lot to consider when evaluating a booking system for your business, whether it’s your existing system or a new possible solution. Hopefully, this post gave you a good starting list of things you need to think about and showed you what’s possible with the right software.
If that wasn’t enough, you can click here to download your free checklist of features that will help you spot a good member management system. Feel free to print it out and use it as your failsafe guide to choosing the right system for your business.
Now seems like a good time to mention that ClubRight can take care of everything we’ve mentioned in this blog post, our checklist and so much more – why not reach out to us and see how we can help you? Give us a call on 0203 884 9777 or click below to book a chat with one of our experts!
