Online booking for tradies: is it worth it?

What online booking does well, and where it does not

Customers increasingly expect to book without ringing. Many enquiries arrive in the evening, when you are not answering the phone, and the first business that offers a real time often gets the job.

Online booking also cuts the back-and-forth of “does Tuesday work? what about Thursday?” and puts the customer’s address, details and job notes in writing before you arrive.

Where it struggles is with jobs you cannot size without seeing them. A customer who books a one-hour slot for what turns out to be a day’s work wastes your day and theirs. The fix is not to avoid online booking, but to be choosy about what you offer.

Which jobs to open for booking

A useful test: could you give a fixed price and a time estimate over the phone without seeing the job? If yes, it can probably be booked online.

Request or instant booking

You can offer each service one of two ways:

• Request. The customer picks a preferred time and sends it, and you confirm, move or decline it. You keep control and can call first if something looks off. The trade-off is a delay before the customer knows they are booked.
• Instant. The customer picks a time and it is booked straight away. It feels best for the customer and suits standard, repeatable jobs. It needs your calendar to be accurate, because a wrong free slot becomes a real booking.

Many businesses start with requests for everything, then switch their most standard services to instant once they trust the setup.

Decide where you will go

Limit bookings to the postcodes or suburbs you actually serve. Without a limit you will get bookings from the other side of the city that cost more in travel than they earn.

Think about travel time too. A slot length that includes a little travel buffer, or fewer slots per day than you could fit in theory, keeps the day realistic. It is better to show fewer times and keep every one of them.

Only show times that are really free

The fastest way to lose trust in online booking is to accept a booking you cannot keep. The times on show should come from:

• Your business hours, including any days you do not work.
• Everyone’s existing jobs and appointments, not only one person’s.
• Approved leave, so a time is not offered when the only qualified person is away.
• Public holidays in your state, if you close on them.
• A cutoff, so nobody books a slot starting in 20 minutes.

Show prices the right way

You can show a fixed price, a “from” price or no price. If you show a price to consumers, the ACCC says it must be the total, including GST and any unavoidable fees, as a single figure. A call-out fee that only appears at the end of the booking is the kind of thing the ACCC warns about.

A “from” price works well for jobs that vary a little. Say clearly what the price covers, such as “split system service, one indoor unit”, and what would cost more.

Let customers move or cancel, within limits

Customers will need to change times. Letting them move or cancel through a link, up to a cutoff you set, saves calls and frees the slot for someone else. Putting a sensible limit on how many times one booking can be moved stops the same slot bouncing around all week.

If you want a cancellation fee, put it in your terms before the booking and keep it in proportion to what a late cancellation really costs you. Since November 2023, unfair terms in standard-form contracts with consumers and small businesses can attract large penalties.

Put the link where customers already are

• A “Book online” button on your website.
• The booking link on your Google Business Profile.
• A QR code on the van, your flyers and your business cards.
• Your email signature, quotes and invoices, for repeat bookings.
• Your Facebook page and other social profiles.

Stop junk bookings

A public booking page will attract the odd prank or mistyped booking. Asking customers to confirm with a one-time code sent to their email cuts most of them out. Request mode is the other safety net: nothing is confirmed until you have looked at it.

Online booking in Karya Falak

Karya Falak online booking gives your business its own booking page:

• Customers pick a service from your price book, with a price, a “from” price or no price shown, as you choose.
• Times come from your business hours, the Calendar of each person who takes bookings, their time off (including leave still waiting for approval) and your state’s public holidays.
• Each service is a request the office confirms, or an instant booking confirmed with a 6-digit code.
• Bookings can be limited by postcode or suburb, with the minimum notice and how far ahead customers can book set by you.
• Customers can move or cancel from their confirmation link, up to your cutoff and a limited number of times.
• Each booking arrives as a card on your board with a visit on the Calendar, assigned automatically or by the office.
• Share the page with a QR code or a link for your website.

A setup checklist for your first week

• Pick two or three standard services to start, each with a duration and a GST-inclusive price.
• Set your business hours and service area.
• Make sure everyone’s jobs and leave are in the calendar.
• Start in request mode, and book a test job yourself from your phone.
• Add the link to your website and your Google Business Profile.
• After a month, move your most standard service to instant booking.