Image
Top
Navigation
October 12, 2010

OpenCal – Effortless Appointment Scheduling

Interested in reducing the number of phone calls your receptionists answer each day, thereby freeing up their time to tackle more important jobs and tasks? How about reducing the number of no-show appointments at your salon, thereby increasing the number legitimate clients who you can serve each week? OpenCal is an application that can improve the way any service-industry business is run by automating the scheduling process and making it easy for clients and customers to book appointments online at any time, day or night.

Whether you run a nail salon, a doctor’s office, or a plumbing company, you can use OpenCal to streamline your booking and scheduling process. When you sign up for a plan and start using OpenCal, you’ll be asked to add the application’s “Book Now” button to your preexisting website. For companies that don’t already have an online presence, the app will guide you through the process of creating an SEO-friendly website complete with your business’ hours, services, and staff information. Using the OpenCal scheduling system, clients can select a service from a list of options, select a time that works for their schedule, and select a preferred staffer to handle the appointment. You’ll receive an email notice whenever a new client has made an appointment, which you can then manually confirm with the push of a button.

Of course, not every client is going to want to schedule his or her appointments online. OpenCal knows this, which is why the application also makes it easy for front desk employees to add appointments scheduled over the phone or in person to the schedule at any time. The application’s client management system and extensive calendar features make it the ideal solution for businesses that are looking for a way to expand their clientele base without increasing the amount of work for overloaded staffers.

Practical Uses:

  • Let your clients book their appointments online
  • Lessen the workload for your receptionists and front desk clerks
  • Send out automatic reminders to your clients before appointments
  • Keep track of client contact information for marketing purposes

Insider Tips:

  • Create a new website with the help of OpenCal
  • Manually accept or deny appointments before they are confirmed
  • Block off hours when certain staffers are unavailable in the scheduling calendar
  • Allow customers to reschedule their appointments online

What we liked:

  • Clients can schedule appointments even when the office isn’t open
  • Email reminders are sent out before each appointment
  • OpenCal will stop spammers who try booking too many appointments at one time
  • New clients are automatically added to your growing list of customer contacts

What we didn’t like:

  • Nothing

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: September 2010
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Vancouver, British Columbia
  • Founded by: Arash Shiva and Simon Vallee
  • Web site: http://opencal.com

Costs:

  • Solo plan is $19/month
  • Team plan is $39/month
  • Premium plan is $59/month

Submit a Comment

Posted By

Categories

Be Social