Service-based businesses face a huge problem in the form of customer no-shows. No-show happens when a client makes an appointment but does not turn up for it. The average no-show rate is between 10% to 15% in most industries. This means a waste of time and money for small businesses.
What can you do to minimize no-shows while at the same time keep your customers happy? This article helps you with effective tips on the topics.
What is the impact of no-shows on a business? Let’s take a look at the effect as well as ways to effectively address this challenge.
You are robbed of precious time
When a customer fails to show up, you end up wasting time waiting for them. This time could be more productively spent on other paying clients. Research reveals that it is much more expensive to get new customers compared to getting repeat business from existing ones. This means you should focus your efforts on providing great service to existing customers and retain their patronage to maximize your revenue.
Your productivity is impacted
No-shows affect business productivity and can result in losses because you are not paid for the lost time. You have to refund the customer but still have to pay fixed establishment costs. In addition, you also need to pay your employees even if they were idle waiting for the customers. The solution is to implement an automated scheduling platform like 10to8 to minimize no-shows.
You are not able to engage your customers
To grow your business, you need to evaluate feedback and adjust your strategies accordingly. However, you cannot do this if a good percentage of your clients fail to turn up. Because of no-shows you are denied the chance to actively engage your customers and build closer relationships with them. This can prove costly given the cut-throat competition in most industries.
Use a simple solution such as 10to8 to engage your customers productively and build profitable long-term relationships with them. Stats show that businesses have been able to successfully utilize 10to8 to bring down their rate of no-shows below industry averages. Try the free forever plan for small businesses that includes unlimited SMS text reminders.
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You lose a lot of money
Businesses exist to make a profit and no-shows can make a significant dent on the bottom line. It has been estimated that no-shows can cause losses of as much as $26,000 for businesses that earn more than $120,000 in annual revenue. This means they end up losing a good 21% of their yearly revenue. Your small business can avoid this loss by making use of 10to8’s automated follow-up and reminder features to encourage your clients to show up for their appointments.
Your other customers are affected
Scheduling is interconnected and because of no-shows your entire appointment schedule can go for a toss. What happens if you have two or three now-shows in a day? You have to adjust your schedule and services to ensure you give the best treatment to your other paying customers who turn up.
A host of problems can be caused by no-shows: Are you willing to wait for the absent customer? What if they come in late and upset your whole schedule? How do you respond to your late or no-show client? What will you do if your other customers get upset because of the impacted schedule?
You need to think about and find feasible answers to these questions so that you are able to offer a delightful customer experience at all times. Lack of a quality scheduling system can aggravate no-show issues as your business can get affected by the wasted time slots.
Customer satisfaction and retention are vital to for the survival of startups and small businesses. Minimize no-shows as much as possible by using the popular method of sending text appointment reminders to show your clients how much you value their patronage.
For more information on 10to8 applications for small business check out our other article.
Your business growth is impacted
All businesses aim to grow at a healthy rate and make sustainable profits. But lost time, lost customer engagement, and lost revenue can throw a spanner in their works.
A study conducted by the BMC Health Services Resource analyzed the negative impact of no-shows on 10 healthcare organizations. It found that on average, a single customer’s no-show costs $196 – this amount can add up to losses of millions of dollars over a period of time.
This money can be spent to acquire new customers and boost business growth. Therefore, use an quality software platform that offers useful supportive and automation features.
How 10to8 can help to reduce no-shows
An effective online appointment booking solution such as 10to8 is the answer to your problems as it can help to maximize client engagement and minimize no-shows. With this app, you can send both SMS and email reminders to ensure the appointment is top on the mind of your customers, and reduce expensive last-minute cancellations.
In this regard, the ‘read receipt’ functionality is a big benefit for business owners. It lets you know that your client has received and read the automated reminder message. Because of this unique feature, you will get to know when a customer does not read the message. In that case, you can persist with more messages to make sure your reminders get across.
The advantage is you are able to offer personalized attention to each customer. Plus, you can give them a chance to reschedule the appointment if they are not able to make it. This ensures the rest of your schedule is not affected.
To sum up, 10to8 is an invaluable appointment scheduling tool that offers effective features such as online booking page, automatic reminders, and live dashboard. With this platform, you can enhance your customer base, boost customer lifetime value, and grow your business and profits.
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