Have you ever tried to keep up with planning meetings and found it very hard, especially during busy days?
While running a business, the organization of your work might be a big challenge. In the rush of meetings, new ideas and strategies, you need to remember various things. But how can you write this all down?
There seem to be automated tools that can easily make that smoother; we have set two of them, and hopefully, one will be your match.
What is Acuity scheduling?
Acuity Scheduling is a cloud-based tool customized for planning and managing your online meetings. It is mainly recommended for small and midsize businesses like coaching, consulting, tutoring centers, fitness studios, and health clinics.
Acuity enables your customers when you are available in real-time.
In its features, we can distinguish things like:
- Embeddable calendars
- Customizable intake forms
- Group scheduling for workshops
- Synchronize calendar
With Acuity Scheduling, you will easily synchronize your customers’ calendars even if their time zones are different. Also, you can use alerts and reminders for you and users about meetings.
Acuity Scheduling Pros
From its many features, we choose the most significant ones in the name of work schedule.
Simple booking process
You can easily use Acuity as your online booking software. Your clients don’t have to reach you first, but they can quickly make an appointment without back-and-forth communication. It will save some time for both of you. Also, the clients can promptly reschedule or cancel the meeting by themselves and pay online.
Alerts & Notifications
With Acuity Scheduling, you won’t miss any critical information about your meetings. It will always alert you if an appointment is rescheduled, booked or canceled. You will get your notification via mail or a text message.
With more expensive packages, you can send reminders after and text after bookings. For example, the system can remind your client about an appointment three times. Also, you can send the text to various clients at once.
Calendar sync
The tool offers you synchronization features with apps that manage calendars like Google, iCloud, Outlook and Office365. These actions are placed in real-time, eliminating errors and double bookings. In addition, your clients will quickly check your availability, even those who live abroad, adjusting to their time zones.
Social media integration
Acuity scheduling enables you to create integrations that may help you extend the group of viewers. You can add a call-to-action button, for example, on your Instagram account.
Thanks to this, your customers will quickly book a meeting from Instagram or other social media platforms like Facebook. But unfortunately, you can’t use the Facebook option from its mobile app.
Acuity Scheduling Cons
Even if the tool is up-and-coming and innovative, it has some flaws which need to be emphasized.
First, the interface may confuse some users because of the problematic navigation and limited options of visual features.
Secondly, there seem to be difficulties managing more than one calendar because it doesn’t work fluently. Thirdly, it doesn’t deduct tax; you have to include it in every service cost.
Another flaw is the inability to set default values for some integrations, for example, Zoom (which means you may forget to turn some features on and off.
Some users complain about deleting meetings because you have to open every appointment instead of just checking your list and picking the elements you want to remove. And last but not least, there is no telephone assistance, only the online way.
Why should you look for an Acuity Scheduling alternative?
Sometimes, even if a tool is top-rated, it’s not necessarily mean that It will meet your expectations. Every brand needs a different solution to adjust to its needs. You need to take into consideration various aspects. For example, you need to seek an alternative that will be appropriate for your funds.
You don’t want to spend too much money on features you don’t need. The ability to point out crucial functions for you is the key to finding the right scheduling tool. Let’s have a look for an excellent Acuity Scheduling alternative- Calendesk.
Calendesk: What do you need to know?
Calendesk is another booking system that enables you to accept bookings and payments and generate landing pages. It will adequately replace manual work, making everything faster and easier.
With Calendesk, you can send emails, create a newsletter, share content and encourage customers to participate via push messages. Also, its system is cloud-based. It is highly recommended for small companies and individuals
The number of customers is not significant here; for example, you can have 20 or 7000 customers. You can make use of it without caring about the amount. Calendesk doesn’t have a free version, but it offers a free trial.
Advantages of using Calendesk
Easy-to-use Calendar
The interface is unproblematic! You will quickly see your daily and weekly plan and manage it even from the mobile version. Adding, rescheduling, and canceling appointments is no longer an issue; you will quickly do that with a few clicks. Also, you can share your calendar with other employees, making sure they can reach you when you are available.
Stay in touch with clients
With Calendesk, you are gaining a list of statistics, email addresses, names, and phone numbers on one platform! This client base will enable you to quickly filter, research and sort. In addition, you will easily monitor your data from online booking, payment updates, and contact information to notifications and private drafts.
Customized Notification
No more stress about reminding someone about a meeting. Calendesk will do that for you. No matter where you are, the notification will be sent via email, sms or push messages, depending on your or your clients’ preferences. In addition, you can easily send an email group if there is a needed one.
Flexible payment process
Accepting payments is no longer a complicated process. With Calendesk, you can give your customers an option to pay online with Google Pay, credit card, Apple Pay and many more! It increases your chances of buying your services because they are available. You don’t have to worry about the payment process because the platform will do everything. Also, Calendesk will automatically issue a VAT invoice.
Mobile Version
And last but not least, the platform is available on your smartphone. So wherever you go, you can take it with you. In that way, you will constantly connect with your clients, sending them to push notifications directly from your mobile.
You can choose colors, descriptions and photos using a very easy-to-use interface. With Calendesk, it’s easier to book, search and pay for meetings worldwide.
When should you choose Calendesk over Acuity Scheduling?
When choosing a good scheduling platform, you need to consider several things.
First, you need to look at the cost of the tool and think if this is adequate to your allocated funds.
Secondly, you need to compare their features. For example, you may want to focus on a user-friendly interface and customize your calendars.
Pay attention to offered payment options, functions of reminders and notifications. Some features will be extended or much shorter with operations, and you choose which one will be your match.
Finally, you should focus on your type of work and what is needed to improve it.
Benefits of choosing automated scheduling
Some of you might still wonder why you need an automated tool for scheduling and organization. Let’s have a look at examples to clear up doubts.
Save your time!
Having your own business might be confusing and all the responsibilities on your back. Planning is always a good choice when you feel like gaining some more control over your work. With the Scheduling platform, you don’t have to worry about missing an appointment or figuring out when you can reschedule it.
Finally, you will be able to spend that time doing something else; making new marketing strategies, developing each area of your brand and boosting your activities in the media.
Consistency in actions
Thanks to scheduling, you can easily see your company’s level of recognition. What meets the clients’ interests brings the most significant or minor benefits. You can easily estimate how much time per week you spend on specific tasks and how it is reflected in real life.
Credibility & customer trust
Let’s face reality, the more organized and reliable in the actions you are, the more trust you gain from your customers and viewers. Communication is a great way to build satisfying brand awareness and image. You can be more effective and productive with a bit of help from the scheduling platform.
