When clients can readily communicate with company representatives, a business grows. Your scheduling procedure can make or break your revenue for a service shop, consultancy, accounting firm, or any other business that relies on scheduled encounters with customers. Customers value their time and desire an easy way to book time with a consultant, technician, or other professional.

Microsoft Bookings is a scheduling solution that can help you increase client communication by connecting them with workers who can assist them. Here’s an overview of how Microsoft Bookings works and what you’ll need to get started.

What Is The Solution?

Microsoft Bookings is an app that allows users to plan appointments with businesses directly. Daily, roughly 319.6 billion emails are sent and received, according to Statista. Experts expect that by 2025, the figure will be closer to 376.4 billion. Bookings was built by Microsoft to cut through the clutter and red tape of all these notifications, with the goal of assisting businesses in better serving their customers and increasing customer retention.

Benefits

Many small and medium businesses still utilise a whiteboard in the office to communicate about scheduling because it works. However, there are a few additional options, and smaller businesses may use Microsoft Excel. Microsoft Bookings is a specialist solution that can increase client interaction while also offering a necessary service. Here’s how Microsoft Bookings differs from other scheduling software.

• Clarity: The most important advantage of Microsoft Bookings is its clarity. Customers are directed to a simple website where they may arrange meetings, reschedule appointments, and receive email reminders. Internally, there is a single location where all booked meetings are shown for all employees. In fact, because all staff can use the same calendar, you could find it easier to make Bookings appointments on behalf of clients.
• Simple Integration: You may use Bookings as a stand-alone application or embed it in your company’s website to make it appear as if you created the scheduler yourself. To create a uniform look and feel, Microsoft allows you to add custom branding. Custom fields can be added, such as a customer’s alternate email address or whether a down payment is required.
• Real-time Updates: Customers can monitor the availability of appointments in real-time. The system refreshes if someone snags a time while another person is trying to decide, so you don’t get double-booked.
• Confirmations and reminders can be automated: As machines grow smarter and more businesses explore ways to automate repetitive operations, solutions like Bookings can save time and effort for business owners. The programme delivers email confirmations and reminders, so you don’t have to waste time on something that’s already part of your calendar.

Features of Microsoft Bookings

All the available scheduling apps have certain similarities. However, there are several differentiating factors associated with the app. To better understand why Microsoft Bookings is an excellent proposition for your business, sign up for the free trial of Microsoft 365 Business Premium. It will let you check out and experience the scheduling app for yourself. If the trial does not impress you, then feel free to cancel the plan before getting charged. Regardless, here are the top features of the scheduling app that you should look out for when enjoying the free trial.

• Assign user permissions to team members based on their role and level of responsibility in the company. For instance, the app allows you to give permission to all employees to edit their calendars but restricts them from editing others. Moreover, the manager can be awarded permission to edit everyone’s calendar under them.
• Page customisation for better and easy identification using logos and brand colours.
• Allow easy view of the full calendar with multiple staff member appointments.
• Maintain a clean and organised client database.
• Mobile optimised and highly responsive.

However, not everything is great about the app. There are a few shortcomings that could be resolved in future updates. For instance, it can be difficult to reschedule, and the Business Premium version must be bought to maintain the higher flexibility. Nevertheless, such software works great for salons and spas.

How to Use the App?

Microsoft Bookings is a web-based calendar that allows you to plan appointments and manage teams. Establish specified office hours, available times, appointment lengths, and cancellation policies. You can use it to produce automated emails in Outlook or to add a Book Now button to your Facebook page. The main page appears when you first open Bookings. Customise by adding a logo or profile image if desired. You can see if there are any bookings and the projected revenue at a glance. Add appointments manually or connect Bookings to your website or social networking profile. Moreover, Microsoft provides a help button to ease your problems in case you ever feel confused and need some assistance. Simply press the help button and ask the question and find an online video resolving your issue.

Pricing Policy

The most important decision you’ll have to make concerning Bookings is whether or not you will continue to use a current spreadsheet or whiteboard. Some businesses have a hard time adopting new technology if their present system works. Thus, this should be factored into your review. The good news is that Bookings is already available if you use Microsoft’s 365 Business Premium, Business Standard, or Office 365. All Microsoft 365 plans are set up on an auto-renewal basis and renew once a year. Unfortunately, Microsoft Bookings is no longer available for purchase separately. Microsoft 365 Business Standard costs $12.50 per month per user, whereas the Business Premium plan costs $20 per month per user.