How an Auto Scheduler Increases Efficiency for Your Staff

For many businesses, scheduling appointments is a large part of the staff’s duties. Businesses like healthcare offices, dental offices, veterinarian offices, colleges, universities, government offices, and others are constantly making new appointments, rearranging appointments, and canceling appointments, all while trying to keep a back-to-back schedule without large gaps. Walk-ins, no-shows, and customers who are late to their appointments don’t make this task any easier. When multiple staff members schedule appointments, mistakes can be made. When customers are made to wait even when they had an appointment, they can get irritable. Take the stress of scheduling appointments off your employees’ list of duties with the QLess auto scheduler. 

Customers Can Schedule Their Appointments Online

By using your company’s website or an app on their mobile phone, your customers can complete scheduling their appointment without ever speaking to a staff member. Once they complete the line scheduling process, the QLess auto scheduler will send them timely notifications through text or voice messages on their mobile phone to confirm that they will make it to the appointment. This greatly reduces and discourages the occurrence of no-shows. 

When customers are running late, they can request additional time through the auto scheduler app. They will be moved back in the line scheduling queue, instead of having to reschedule altogether. Your staff will have access to a real-time dashboard that shows all appointments, no-shows, additional time requests, and other pertinent data for managing the schedule. They can use the dashboard to send direct notifications to customers’ mobile phones via a text or voice message, alerting them of line scheduling issues in a timely manner. When customers are informed, they can plan to arrive later and will be happy they aren’t waiting, even though they had an appointment. Customers can literally wait anywhere while they are in line for service. They can wait in the waiting room as normal, outside, in their car, at local businesses, or anywhere. The app will summon them and give them any necessary directions to get to the right service desk when it is their turn.

In addition to being able to use the QLess auto scheduler to make their own appointments, business owners and employees can send alerts to customers about promotions they are currently offering. And, as soon as they have completed their service with your business, the auto scheduler app will send a custom satisfaction survey straight to their mobile device. Surveys that are sent sooner have a higher response rate. The more time that has passed after the service has been completed, the less likely the customer will be to complete it. 

Existing Appointments Integrate with Walk-Ins

The QLess line scheduling app can also be used with a kiosk inside your place of operation. Kiosks help to grab the attention of walk-ins and assist them in finding a spot in line. No kiosk is necessary, though, for walk-ins to seamlessly integrate with existing appointments through the FlexAppointment software. With FlexAppointments, the app puts appointment holders first in any given time slot, ensuring they have first priority no matter how long the queue is. The auto scheduler is completely automated so your employees can relax and deal with individual customers as they arrive.

Cloud Technology

QLess auto scheduler software is 100% cloud-based technology. No hardware, local servers, or costly installation is needed. Updates are automatic and free. You will never have freeze times in your business due to lengthy software updates. And, the QLess software works on all standard web browsers used today. It’s fast and easy to get the system up and running. The system itself is easy to learn and manage, and your employees will quickly be able to master its functions and features.

Notifications of Delays Reduce Frustration

Normally, when your office is running behind, customers show up for their scheduled appointments expecting to be served in a timely manner. While they wait, and wait, their frustration grows exponentially. They start to question the competency of your staff and the quality of your business. “I had an appointment, why have I been waiting for so long?”, is what your patrons will wonder. Customers often have other things they need to get done in a day. As customers become dissatisfied, they may think about switching to another business for service, leave bad reviews online, or tell other potential customers not to visit your establishment.

Your staff will have the power to easily and quickly notify customers with upcoming appointments about delays in service. Customers can then use that knowledge to arrive later or rearrange their schedule for the rest of the day. Customers appreciate being kept ‘in-the-know’ and updated about things that will affect their service with you. When customers are happy and satisfied, they spread the word about the business to others, leave good reviews online, and keep coming back for more services. You can then use the QLess auto scheduler to convert new potential customers into repeat customers. Let’s face it, bad online reviews can be detrimental and irreversible to a business’s reputation. Good reviews grow your brand’s trustworthiness in the community.  

Powerful Data & Analytics

The QLess line scheduling app records data and analytics on your customers and relays it to you in easy to read graphs and reports that can be downloaded as Microsoft Excel, Access, and CSV file formats. Data on transaction types and times, customer preferences and experiences, walk-ins, walk-outs, and no-shows help you identify areas of the business that need optimization. Transaction times and types can help you address staff productivity issues and give them an incentive to improve their workflow. Customer survey information gives you important feedback on the services that you provide.

Boost Staff Productivity 

While the QLess auto scheduler manages your appointments, employees are left with more time to tend to customers and other office duties. One less stressful duty means employees can focus harder on the things that will give your business a good reputation, like friendly, helpful, and in-depth customer service. Taking stress and dissatisfied customers out of the equation for your employees means your can increase employees’ job satisfaction and help retain them as workers. Retaining quality workers is key to running a successful business. 

Applications of the QLess Auto Scheduler

Colleges and Universities

Colleges and universities have certain times of the year when many appointments for a large student body need to be managed. Students need to schedule appointments with student advisors, financial advisors, authorities for presenting portfolios for admissions applications, counselors, and other people who will help them navigate the college experience. 

The number of incoming and current students that need these services to reach their end goal, a degree, can be overwhelming. There is not always enough staff availability to satisfy everyone’s needs. College employees can get stressed and students can inadvertently get swept under the rug. When students feel frustrated from classes and a lack of help to navigate the system, they are more likely to drop out. When students wait less and are kept in the loop, they are happier and can use their wait time for studies, meal breaks, or relaxing.

Healthcare Offices

Doctor’s offices, hospitals, physical therapy offices, veterinarians, dental offices, and other healthcare businesses can benefit greatly from the QLess auto scheduler. When customers have the power to wait wherever they want to, they no longer have to be confined to your waiting room. Many people prefer not to wait in rooms where other potentially ill patients are also waiting. The line scheduling app can help keep sick patients from spreading disease and sickness to other people they come in contact with in your office. This makes for happy patients and employees.

Government Offices

Appointments for welfare, medicaid, medicare, and other government services can still result in long wait times and dissatisfied customers. Reduce gaps in service and keep staff members from needing to wait for the next appointment. While many government workers are used to dealing with irate individuals, wouldn’t it be nice to create more satisfaction on the whole for both citizens and your employees? Change the way people view waiting for appointments with the QLess auto scheduler. 

The QLess line scheduling app can also be used to quell queues in other businesses like theme parks, retail stores, DMVs, call centers, logistics, and many other industries. Empower your customers to wait anywhere they please while getting timely updates about their wait time and place in line. Boost your employees’ productivity, get valuable insights into your customers’ experiences, reduce walk-outs and no-shows, and improve business reviews with our auto scheduler. 

You can also read our success stories where the QLess auto scheduler has improved businesses and helped propel them into the future with our new technology. Stop scheduling in the dark ages and get with the times! Contact QLess today to request a free business demo.