March Newsletter: Queues, Activity Logs & Rescheduling

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As March fades and spring begins to make itself known in the northern hemisphere and vaccination schemes make progress on inoculating their most vulnerable citizens, hope and optimism have crept into our collective consciousness. We have plans for the future, new projects on which to embark and a genuine feeling of relief. After the past year, we can all use a little optimism in our lives.

It’s with positivity and an optimistic view of business renewal we have made some necessary and requested upgrades to our system, with a few surprises up our sleeves too.

New in March

So what’s new for you in March? Which of our updates will benefit your business?

High Server Load Optimisation

Have you ever experienced a website time-out when trying to book or purchase an in-demand item? Anyone who has tried buying Glastonbury tickets the moment they go on sale will know this feeling.

Now, when you have a flash booking sale or a highly sought-after service, the potentially high server loads that result from a large number of clients trying to access your site simultaneously will be mitigated with our queue management optimisation.

This feature is significant right now because of people trying to get appointments for their COVID vaccinations. However, it’s valuable for any business that entertains limited availability services or products—for example, the yoga studio with a limited capacity for classes taught by a famous visiting yogi.

By optimising the server load at times of high traffic, users are held in a queue, with a hold screen displaying their place in the line and the approximate time until they can make their booking. This functionality means no site time-outs, and users don’t get frustrated by their inability to access your booking website.

Additional Report Information (high loads)

Companies and organisations with a heavy booking load do need extra information in their reporting data. Massive numbers of bookings per day can be challenging to track without a little additional help, so we added the following information to the Detailed Booking Report:

• The number of bookings per day for today and the week ahead 
• The total bookings and total available slots per day.
• Ability to drill down each day (within the week view) into the number of bookings per service provider location with total bookings and total available slots per day.

And we added the following reports to the reporting tab:

• A 14-week overview report. Today, it starts with the total number of bookings and free slots per week to enable planning for follow-up appointments.
• A report showing individuals with more than one appointment going forward – no need to book a follow-up.
• A report showing individuals with only one booking, so you can contact them for follow up appointments.

We initially developed this functionality for the NHS and the COVID vaccination program. However, any company with significantly high booking numbers across multiple sites and areas can use this information.

API Enhancements

Our API is used quite frequently for developers building apps with SimplyBook.me functionality and companies wanting to integrate the system with their existing internal structures. As developers discover new integrations and request additional functionality, we continually update with new functions. This month’s new additions are:

• Search bookings by additional field values
• Locate by booking code – get the links for cancel, reschedule, and view booking, with client authorisation in the system.

Google Reserve is in Asia

Suppose you already use Google Reserve in combination with SimplyBook.me. In that case, you probably know that the reserve functionality for Google Business accounts is restricted by location and partner integration with a scheduling provider. We are happy to announce that Google Reserve is now available for the SimplyBook.asia server.

Rescheduling Package Bookings

When packages span a significant period, bookings made in advance may conflict with the events that life throws at us. It happens to everyone.

After much feedback from our users – and we do love our user feedback, we wouldn’t get half so much done without it – it is now possible to reschedule bookings purchased as part of a package bundle.

Fiverr Logo Maker

A logo defines your business at a glance across all communications and touchpoints. If you don’t already have one for your business, we have partnered with Fiverr Logo Maker to help you find and customise one to fit your company. 

With just a few details about your business, Fiverr’s designers will allow you to choose from a broad range of designs, which you can customise and purchase for a single one-off fee. You can choose between the essential and professional bundles. The “essential” package includes your complete design and two transparent backgrounds in both colour and greyscale, with full commercial rights. The “professional” package includes:

• The essential package plus editable and resizable designs.
• A social media kit.
• Brand style guidelines.
• Zoom backgrounds.

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Upcoming in April

I can’t wait for these new updates.

Custom Email Plugin

It’s been a common request for an easy and functional way to create beautiful html email templates for mass mailing to clients. Well, good news! It’s in development right now.

Coming soon, there will be a new way to create your emails to clients with simple Drag & Drop functionality to design mobile-optimised responsive emails. This integration will allow users to customise their company emails (reminders, notifications etc.). We have already created several predefined email templates for starters, and more will be ready soon.

Marketing Suite Updates

Your business can’t grow or even maintain its client flow without a bit (or a lot) of marketing. So we have a few updates to the Marketing Suite that will help you out.

• New additions to Marketing suite. One is the option to add Facebook event tracking pixel to the ‘success page’ of user booking pages. Allowing you to track the quantity of Facebook leads that end with a confirmed booking. It will work the same way as the Google Analytics tracking code. 
• 2) Marketing Suite will get a new look with its new additions

Booking page small enhancement

A slight enhancement to the booking site home page will be the sign-up link. Another request from our fabulous users – if anyone knows how to make the experience better, it’s the people who use it.

Previously, we have always displayed the sign-up or login link at the end of the booking process. However, sometimes it would be better for clients to login first before browsing or making a booking or purchase. Some examples might be for services and products only available to those with a login, membership, or booking history. Additionally, it helps out the business if they have sign-up information and the client fails to follow through on their booking. It’s great for retargeting and email marketing.

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Did you miss it?

We’ve covered some interesting topics in March, with business tips, trends and SimplyBook.me User guides appearing on our blog.

If we haven’t shouted loudly enough about it, you might have missed the big news. We’re ISO 27001 Certified! It’s okay; I’ll stop talking about it now. We are just so pleased that the months of work have finally come to fruition.

Our guest posters this month, Dustin Howes, Elea Andrea Almazora, and Meenz Nautiyal, have covered details on how to use affiliate marketing, AI in email personalisation and the benefits of unified communications in small and medium-sized businesses. Some valuable information there for growing companies and solving comms and marketing issues.

We also managed to talk to one of our clients this month. Julie at Talk Swansea let us know about how she has been dealing with remote therapy sessions and how she’s using SimplyBook.me

Did you check in with our feature updates? With a retrospective of 12 months with the mobile admin app, optimising Google Business Profiles, and making the most of the integrated POS, we have updated some information you might have missed.

We covered some crucial topics about client loyalty and retention and leveraging personal branding for your business. If you’re wondering about what might happen when you can open your company again, you might want to see what you should do about reopening and dealing with increased demand. 

And for anyone with a wedding business, those couples are about to come flooding in with their wedding demands, and you want them to choose you. Mitigate last years losses and attract as many clients to your wedding business as you can manage.

That’s all for March but stay in touch for new updates, enhancements, and some super developments you will love.