Experiential marketing, aka event marketing or field marketing, can be some of the most persuasive campaigns you can invest in. They increase loyalty, revenue, and customer lifetime value when done right. And for events that require guests to pre-register, such as classes or tours, part of that success comes from bookings.

Managing bookings can be tricky for any business that relies on appointments, classes, or reservations. Luckily, plenty of online booking solutions can save time, streamline processes, and make your guest experience full of surprise and delight. Booking software is an excellent investment if you want to scale your events.

However, how do you find the best one for your business with so many options? In this post, we will share some essential tips on choosing the best online booking system for you and everything you need to make your experience pop.

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What is an online booking system?

An online booking system is a scheduling software where visitors can go to a booking page, get tickets for your event, and even make online payments. It’s vital to keeping your calendar tidy; scheduling software can also serve as a data collection tool and a smooth first welcome for your guests.

Regarding experience marketing and events, scheduling software is strategically vital. It’s the next step up from pen-and-paper registration that may get the job done but means more manual data entry down the line. 

How does scheduling software work?

Automated booking and scheduling software reduces a lot of time and effort from the booking process and everything that comes after, including marketing efforts and retargeting. You can use the software across the board to capture data and manage your experiences online.

Booking pages

When your experiences require guests to book their tickets ahead of time, you can offer an online booking page directly on your website. Guests can browse the different events or experiences you offer, select the event, date, and time they want to attend, and submit payment to complete check-out.

During check-out, you can ask attendees to fill out an NPS survey and key demographic information and even throw add-ons into their bundle to increase revenue. Make sure whatever solution you pick can accept payments online. That will help eliminate the middleman; customers can immediately buy or use gift certificates directly on the site.

Walk-in Bookings

If you use an online booking solution that can’t support walk-ins, you’re missing out on data in a big way. What you’re collecting online isn’t able to connect with walk-in data for a holistic view of your guests or the success of your event.

This is where that pen and paper collection method does you a disservice. A more seamless option for your walk-in guests is to enable self-service on-site booking by offering a QR code or an iPad that walks them through self-booking at crucial points before the experience starts.

That way, you’re still able to collect the data you need from your scheduling software, like age, name, location, and gender, so you can better understand who’s going to your events and any trends that emerge.

Some booking systems are full experience management solutions that can cover everything from online bookings to walk-ins and manage feedback. AnyRoad falls into that category and is a great solution for those looking for one-stop analytics that covers the bases.

Step 1: Evaluate Your Scheduling Software Needs

Before researching online booking systems, evaluating your business needs is essential. After all, you don’t want to overspend on bells and whistles when you only need an online form. For newer events looking to scale, a more sophisticated system might be the goal but not the starting point. 

Consider the type and size of your business, the nature of your services, and the volume of transactions you handle. For instance, if you run tours and tastings, you should look at solutions meant for high-volume enterprises that can include add-on shirts, beer steins, and more.

Scheduling Software Flowchart

We made a helpful flowchart to help you decide if you’re ready to invest fully in online bookings or look into a free scheduling app, like Google Forms, as a better starting point. 

As someone trying to make smart investment decisions, you don’t want to buy a booking and ticketing solution that doesn’t meet your needs. Use our guided questions to determine where you are in your investment journey. 

2. Compare Booking Page Features and Pricing

Booking Page Features

Once you have a clear idea of your business needs, you can compare online booking systems that meet your criteria. Have a list of your most essential needs and what would be nice for you to have. Some features you should consider including on your list include:

• Website integration
• Branded booking page
• Configurability to match your brand
• Payment processing and add-on sales
• Automated reminders
• Automatic data analysis
• Feedback collection and analysis

Rank these on a scale of one to ten, with one being the least important and ten being the most important. That way, if you need to sacrifice a feature for a must-have, you’ll know exactly what you can do away with and what you can’t do without.

Scheduling Software Pricing

Besides shopping around for the right features, factor pricing into your decision. You want to use the scheduling software that gives you the best return on investment. So don't choose to sign up for the most expensive or cheapest option right off the bat — many times, you will need to look into more than just pricing on the surface.

Look at the range of available pricing options, from free to paid, before choosing online bookings that ensure affordability and quality. Some questions you should consider asking reps or taking note of during your research include:

• What is your average transaction fee?
• Do I have the ability to pass my fees off to my guest?
• Are there packages that I can start with to offset initial costs and work my way up?
• Are there integrations that are added costs I might not see coming?
• If I offer events in multiple locations, do I need to pay per location for this scheduling software?

Remember: get on the phone with someone when you’re doing discovery. Talking through your goals and needs with educated sales reps helps you learn what options you have with each solution down to a granular level. That way, you don’t have to make a list of pros and cons from a site alone.

3. Read the Reviews for Booking Solutions

Checking out online reviews from users with similar business needs can be a helpful step when deciding which booking software to commit to. Reviews will give you an insight into the strengths and weaknesses of any given solution, as well as tips specific to your industry.

Keep an eye on industry-specialty sites. For example, G2 is a review site continuously updating its best software rankings. Every season, they release a new report for consumers in the market for tech solutions from scheduling software to marketing automation and beyond. They award the top performing and most highly rated tech solutions special badges so potential buyers can see who the top picks are before they dive into the more wordy reviews.

Take special notice of any praises and criticisms of features and insights on customer support.

Who’s currently the best appointment scheduling software and booking software on G2?

As of writing this in Spring 2023, the current top runner for appointment booking and other event marketing business tools is AnyRoad! We’re not just including that because we want to brag (ok, we want to brag a little bit).

Rather than let you know what we do, we’ll let a reviewer tell you:

4. Test Out Different Scheduling Software Platforms: 

Another crucial factor to consider is how user-friendly the platform is. Do a test run of the system while considering the user experience from not only an admin level but for staff members and customers. 

For example, Anchor Brewing Co. in San Francisco uses AnyRoad to accept new bookings for tours, that’s useful and sets the stage with their company brand on their booking page.

“I’m pretty sure the tech we used before AnyRoad was from 1896. Everything was very manual and cumbersome. If you don’t have an easy user flow, you’ll have folks who opt out.” - Angela Knotts, Director of Brand Marketing, Anchor Brewing Co.

Check if the navigation of the software is straightforward, the features are intuitive, and the interface is aesthetically pleasing. You may compare your experience across different systems. And don’t forget your list of must-haves we worked on a few pointers back! Your scheduling tool should match your needs first and wants second and have the business tools to back up your event marketing goals. 

5. Make a list of the features you need.

Sometimes, a simple booking system isn’t going to cut it. You might be looking for a more cohesive solution that includes more features than a registration page and goes deeper than bookings.

An experiential marketing solution like AnyRoad is a great way to elevate your event marketing game. If you’re diversifying your event marketing, you need a platform to support every event, not just those requiring bookings. That can look like anything from field activations to sweepstakes and sponsorships.

These solutions (including AnyRoad) come with:

• Out-of-the-box reporting to understand program performance
• Guest feedback collection and analysis
• Data collection to break down trends in customer purchasing behavior
• And more!

Features like these can support events that require bookings or don’t have a sign-up required. 

6. Get Customer Support for Staff Members: 

We’ll let you in on a secret: whether you’re using free booking software or paying for a full suite of booking tools, you need to consider the product and the full extent of the service you’re getting. 

Customer support is essential in setting you up for success from start to finish. When learning more about scheduling software, ask about the customer support you’ll receive. Evaluate if the support provided is immediate, knowledgeable, and can provide personalized training instead of using a chatbot, which often leads to product delays and issues. Make sure you sign up for a company that values customer support as much as innovation and technology.

Some questions you should consider asking when learning more about service-based businesses' customer support include:

• Do you have 24/7 customer support?
• Will I be assigned my support team member?
• Does customer support use a phone number I can reach through call or text, or are they only available by email?
• Does your customer support team have any certifications? What kind of training do they undergo to help your customers?
• How fast is the average response time for questions to customer support?

The last thing you want is to invest in scheduling software and suddenly never hear from the company again when you have problems.

7. Consider Integration with Other Systems 

Finally, before committing to any online booking system, evaluate how well it integrates with other systems in your business. An excellent online booking system should seamlessly integrate with your calendar management tool, including a customer’s personal calendar, without requiring additional work.

Integration with your CRM is a must to ensure that all of the guest data you’re collecting helps create a comprehensive, up-to-date customer profile. You can even ask if they have in-house analytics or if they connect at all to Google Analytics!

Also, if the scheduling software you’re considering doesn’t have the integrations you need now, ask where it is on their roadmap.

When a vendor hears from prospective customers that a specific integration may add more value to their product, they will often be willing to consider adding it to their roadmap to meet their needs. So don’t be afraid to ask if you don’t hear your needed integrations initially.

Scheduling software for event marketing can be worth the investment.

It depends on whether you’re ready to commit at the level many software options offer. Choosing a booking system can be challenging, but by following these simple tips, you can find the most suitable one for your business needs. 

Remember to evaluate and rank your needs, research thoroughly, read reviews, test different platforms, get customer support, and consider how the scheduling software integrates with other systems. With this knowledge and an understanding of what makes sense for clients, you'll get a booking system that will save time, streamline your operations, and provide attendees with the best user experience.