Whether stores are open or closed, virtual appointments are proving a great way to increase online sales while keeping customers safe and happy.
But key to this is driving customers to discover your offering and to book appointments. Here are some suggestions on how to do this.
How do consumers prefer to book appointments?
In our USA consumer survey we asked which channels customers would be most likely to use to schedule a virtual or in-store appointment through and found that:
For appointment scheduling software:
- Consumers were most likely to schedule an appointment online (58%), followed by through the retailer’s app (56%) and via text message (55%). Other common channels included calling a store (50%), booking via a central app (47%), and through the call centre (43%).
- Half of customers (55%) said they were willing to give their mobile number purely to receive updates about their appointment. We found it interesting that this was equal to the 54% that said they would provide their email address for the same reason (our assumption had been that consumers would be more willing to provide email address over phone number).
- GenZ and Millennial consumers are noticeably more likely to schedule an appointment via all different channels than Baby Boomers. This difference is most noticeable when looking at younger consumers’ eagerness to use apps and QR codes compared to Baby Boomers.
- Higher household income groups are noticeably more interested in scheduling appointments across all methods. 66% are also willing to provide their phone number purely to receive text message updates about their appointment, and 67% are willing to provide their mobile number to receive marketing messages.
Promoting your virtual appointment booking offering
In order to drive traffic to your virtual appointment booking offering, it’s vital that you actively promote it across channels. Here are some ways to do so:
Your website’s homepage
Inside your nav bar
Promotional banners
Entry pop-ups
A dedicated appointment booking information page
Your store locator page
Store’s individual pages
Store’s individual pages
Your product pages
Page footers
Across social media 
On closed store signs
On closed store signs
On posters or window displays 
Read our guide on promoting your appointment booking offering
Creating effective signage for your virtual services
To create a clear and efficient customer journey for virtual services, it’s vital that retailers create effective and easy to understand signage.
To help our clients to create clear signage for their virtual appointment booking offering, we’ve pulled together a guide.
