Why Booking Online is Important (and How to Add It to Your Ecwid Store)

6 min read

Booking online is a real timesaver.

As a typical millennial, I appreciate when companies use technology that makes my life easier. In all cases, I prefer the simplest way to get a product or a service. I’m used to buying whatever I need in one click. So why should booking an appointment at my hairdresser’s be any more complicated?b

If you offer services, your older customers may be used to calling, emailing, or sending homing pigeons to schedule time with you — on the condition that they love your company. But for new visitors, not having online booking might be a source of stress or simply a waste of time. They might check out another website that offers easy bookings instead.

So let’s see if your business needs a booking upgrade. Even if you don’t currently offer services, with online booking, it’s much easier to start offering them when you’re ready to do so.

Why Booking Online is Important

Is booking online so drastically different from setting appointments over the phone? On the surface, it might seem that the difference is negligible — either way, you’re scheduling time with customers and furthering your business. But in fact, you get much more from booking online, both as a customer and as a business owner. Let’s review some of the benefits:

	Traditional Booking	Booking Online
Open 24/7	–	+
Collects all required customer information at once	–	+
Automatically updates availability, preventing double-booking and other mistakes	–	+
Frees up staff to do other business-related activities	–	+
Sends automatic confirmation and reminder emails to prevent no-shows	–	+
Compiles customer email addresses and other data useful for future promotions	+/–	+
Recommends products/services from your store in appointment emails	+/–	+

With all of these advantages to booking online in mind, booking appointments and selling events could become a valuable new revenue stream for your business — and maybe even your new favorite thing to sell!

What Services Can I Offer for Booking Online?

Basically, everything you already offer as a bookable appointment by phone will work. Online booking is perfect for:

DJs
Caterers
Babysitters
Hairdressers
House cleaners
Gardening services
Handyman services
Interior decorators
Rental services

If you’ve never offered services in your online store before, there is a wide range of things you can do, based on your specific business.

For instance, you can offer different types of events that pair well with your business — from helpful classes and workshops to product demos and tasting parties. All of these services and events help to establish your brand, attract customers, and build customer loyalty. And you’ll also earn more money, too.

Here are just a few examples of how services can complement some of the products your business offers and give you new opportunities to sell:

Product	Service
Handmade furniture	Workshops
Craft beer	Tastings
Sport clothes	Training classes
Cosmetics	Beauty consultant/stylist
Fashion items	Rental service
Electronics	Repair
Food	Booking tables
Photography	Photo sessions
Science books	Lectures
Honey	Apiary tours

It doesn’t mean you can only earn from services directly, though. Hosting a free event at a pop-up shop or party likely won’t make you money on its own, but it can increase awareness about your products and lead to sales in the future.

How to Offer Bookings Online in Ecwid

In Ecwid, you can set up a service as a product. Go to your Control Panel → Catalog and create a new product. Add a calendar and variables with the Product Options feature:

product options

Adjust price-modifying options, if any:

price modifyers

Then save your product. If you want customers to pre-pay, enable online payment methods (just like in the tours example above), and if you allow customers to pay at the time of appointment (like for a hairdresser’s, for example) enable offline payment methods.

People want new and exciting ways to interact with your business. Spend some time “thinking outside of the box” and see if you can come up with some new ways to build customer interest in your business.

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Selling Online

Jul 24, 2017

About the author

Vitaly works with 3rd party app developers to bring the best experience to Ecwid users. In his free time, he enjoys watching YouTube videos and long walks with his friends.