Business Automation – Reducing Costs
Automating certain day-to-day business tasks is a smart decision because it can save your organization both time and money. It can free up more time for you and your employees to focus on other, more important activities and projects. Focusing the most on these activities that add the most value will allow you to have a better competitive advantage and to improve your bottom line. Completing projects that are creative and strategic will help set you apart in your specific industry and get you noticed by more potential customers. Since there are only 24 hours in each day, business automation will free up more time for you to accomplish this.
Some tasks that can be easily automated include collecting customer data, updating orders, scheduling shipping times, and processing submitted payments. Most routine tasks related to inventory ordering and tracking can also be automated in many cases. Any of these groups of business activities don’t generate revenue, and it’s a smart business decision to automate them. Automation technology is additionally available for booking and scheduling repeat customer appointments.
Automating Booking and Scheduling
By switching to automated appointment-setting, you create valuable time-savers for both your customers and your business. Automatic booking and scheduling software allow your customers to set up their appointments and receive reminders with any back-and-forth emailing or phone calls. Automatic reminders can eliminate as much as 70% of these communications, and they can cut the time your employees need to spend on the phone or answering emails by up to 40%. Self-service appointment setting tools allow your customers to set their own appointments, make any needed payments up front, and receive confirmations by email or text message.
Automated scheduling software can also include lists of fees and services, as well as scheduling options. This available information is convenient for your customers, eliminating the need for them to ask your employees questions about it over the phone. Many of these tools can be added to your website and are also available as mobile apps where your customers can receive reminder alerts and update their appointment times from anywhere. On your business’s end, this will free up time for your employees to work on other value-adding tasks. Automation also allows you to customize the scheduling process for each client, and reminders can reduce the numbers of no-shows by a significant percentage. It also makes your service available 24 hours a day, and it can cut down on wasted time or customers frustrated waiting for a returned phone call or email. Automated scheduling frees you to generate more promising leads and find further business opportunities.
Tools for Automation
Business process automation software will free you and your employees up from three activities that don’t earn you more money, namely manual appointment-setting, follow-up phone calls, and answering emails related to rescheduled appointments or no-shows. Business automation software will get rid of these time-wasting processes, and it will also make the appointment process run smoother for your repeat customers. Many of these software programs can send scheduled emails or follow-up texts. Some even allow you to schedule messages to your customers asking them to rate and review your business based on their latest appointment.
Adding business automation processes can even help your marketing efforts, by giving you more time during the workday to create more meaningful, effective promotional campaigns. Some types of automation software even include tools that let you schedule email newsletters, drip campaigns, and posts to your social media pages. Automating these tasks whenever you can will ensure your message reaches your target customers when they’re most likely to be online to see it. Business automation can help a great deal with managing the data you gather about your customers, so you’re able to create meaningful connections with more of them within a shorter time frame. The effective and efficient use of these technologies will both help increase your bottom line and cut unnecessary costs.
Using an Automation SAAS
Some automation software suites are known as SAAS programs, which stands for “software as service.” This type of program can be set to launch specific tasks at certain times, dates, or intervals. Reminders can be set out to all customers all at once at designated time of the day, or they can be spaced out at different times throughout the workday. Tasks in one of these software programs can also launch in response to specified events, such as a customer scheduling a future appointment. Automation software works well with any number of calendar programs, such a Outlook or Gmail. When new information about repeat customers is added, automation programs can detect and update these new entries before the next reminders are sent out. Many automation programs can also integrate with your business website, launching a chat window each time a customer clicks on a certain page. This feature provides a convenient way for new and returning customers to ask questions without the need to search for an email address or phone number for your company. The initial cost of automation software largely depends on the brand and features. Some programs may also come with a small monthly subscription fee as well. Before selecting one, it’s important to make sure it fits all your organization’s needs and objectives.
Automation software allows you to set up a customer reminder schedule based on your unique business needs. You can set up reminders to be sent to your customers at times you decide, whether it’s a couple of days or a couple of hours before their next scheduled appointment. You can also select whether your customers receive their reminders via email or text message. Once you set up your account, integration with your business website is a quick and easy process. You can even customize your online calendar to with your own color and font choices that match your company logo.