“Can you do 10am?”
“No, I’m sorry. How about noon?”
“That doesn’t work for me. Let’s try Wednesday, 10am?”
“Sorry, Wednesday won’t work for me.”
Does this sequence look familiar to you?
It’s the problem that appointment scheduling apps fix. They’re designed to take the pain out of scheduling meetings.
So which are the best appointment scheduler apps?
Glad you asked 😃
Table of Contents
- The Best Online Appointment Scheduling Apps
- 1. Calendly.
- 2. Chili Piper.
- 3. Harmonizely.
- 4. Bookafy.
- 5. HoneyBook.
- 6. Acuity Scheduling.
- 7. MeetFox.
- 8. SimplyBook.me (for service-based businesses).
- 9. Jobber (for service appointment scheduling).
- 10. Genbook (for local small business appointment scheduling).
- 11. Booksy (for local small business appointment scheduling).
- 5 Reasons To Use Appointment Scheduling Apps
The Best Online Appointment Scheduling Apps
Here are the best appointment scheduling apps available:
1. Calendly.
One of the top names in the industry is Calendly, which is designed as a central hub for meeting and appointment management. It’s been used to schedule more than 200,000,000 meetings for major brands like eBay, Dropbox, and Gartner.
I personally use Calendly and love it. It has automated follow-ups and plenty of customizations so I can get exactly what I need out of it.
And it’s got embeddable website widgets to make it easy for people to book demos with you right through your website, making it a great sales tool as well!
2. Chili Piper.
Next, there’s Chili Piper, a meeting scheduling app for B2B companies. It’s mostly focused on helping salespeople schedule meetings and follow up with prospects.
It also has built-in delegation tools and “handoff scheduling” to make it easy to follow through with each deal.
3. Harmonizely.
With Harmonizely, you can boost conversion rates and eliminate manual emails entirely from your appointment-setting process.
You can delegate scheduling, send an invitation link to everyone you want to join the meeting, and conveniently find the best time to meet.
It also integrates with almost every calendar.
4. Bookafy.
Bookafy is one of the free options on this list (though there are paid versions of the product with more features).
Even with the free version, you’ll have access to calendar syncing, automated scheduling, text reminders, and more.
And if you get a subscription, you’ll gain access to payment processing, group events, more customization features, and more.
5. HoneyBook.
HoneyBook attempts to serve several niches simultaneously, allowing you to manage clients, manage projects, and even send invoices – all on top of its core meeting scheduling functionality.
It also comes with a number of templates you can use to draft emails, create meetings, and more.
6. Acuity Scheduling.
Acuity Scheduling is a scheduling software tool from Squarespace, functioning like an automated online assistant who’s available 24/7.
It’s easy to get started, even if you’ve never used scheduling software before, and it comes packed with features like calendar syncing, automatic follow-ups, and more.
7. MeetFox.
MeetFox is another free appointment scheduling option, with built-in functionality for hosting video calls, collecting payments from customers, and more.
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8. SimplyBook.me (for service-based businesses).
SimplyBook.me is designed for all service-based industries, allowing you to collect incoming customer requests and schedule meetings 24/7.
Additional features include automatic notifications, different client and admin apps, and loads of integrations with other software tools.
Plus, you can create an account for free.
9. Jobber (for service appointment scheduling).
If you’re scheduling service with your customers, you’ll benefit from an app like Jobber.
Jobber helps customers automatically schedule service appointments, streamline customer communication, and follow automatic workflows.
10. Genbook (for local small business appointment scheduling).
Genbook is designed to be a simple, accessible scheduling solution for small businesses.
It comes with most of the scheduling features you’d expect from any scheduling app, but you’ll also have built-in review management, client management, marketing, and payment processing.
It’s also flexible, so you can customize it (to an extent) to serve your needs.
11. Booksy (for local small business appointment scheduling).
5 Reasons To Use Appointment Scheduling Apps
Why is it useful to have an online appointment scheduling app?
1. Convenience.
Let’s face it. It’s kind of annoying to call in and schedule an appointment. You might have to wait on hold. You might have to go through several possible days before you find one that works for you and your needs.
It’s so much faster and easier to just schedule your appointments online in a few clicks.
2. Transparency.
The tool also makes it easy to make your schedules more transparent, both internally and externally.
When a customer or point of contact attempts to book time, they can see exactly which time slots are available.
When you’re managing a sales team, or a team of service providers, you can see whose calendars are most open – and who’s in need of more appointments.
3. Automated meeting reminders.
Most appointment scheduling tools provide some kind of automation to make life easier. For example:
- Customers book appointments which get added to calendars automatically.
- All participants get reminders as the meeting comes closer.
- You can automatically send follow-up email sequences after a meeting.
4. Fewer mistakes.
Even the best secretaries and salespeople are going to double book themselves accidentally or scheduling on the wrong day by mistake – at least on occasion.
But with a fully automated system where customers are in control, you can almost eliminate the possibility of an error impacting your business.
5. Easier rescheduling and cancellations.
Most online meeting scheduler apps make it super easy to reschedule meetings or cancel them outright.
With one of these online appointment scheduling apps, you probably won’t have to worry about setting appointments anymore.
But you’ll still be relying on email for most of your ongoing communications – including conversations with colleagues and clients alike.
And if you’re like the average professional, you spend 25-50% of your workday in your email inbox.
Wouldn’t it be nice to visualize what’s going on in there?
I mean, that’s a lot of time to spend on email every day!
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Jayson is a long-time columnist for Forbes, Entrepreneur, BusinessInsider, Inc.com, and various other major media publications, where he has authored over 1,000 articles since 2012, covering technology, marketing, and entrepreneurship. He keynoted the 2013 MarketingProfs University, and won the “Entrepreneur Blogger of the Year” award in 2015 from the Oxford Center for Entrepreneurs. In 2010, he founded a marketing agency that appeared on the Inc. 5000 before selling it in January of 2019, and he is now the CEO of EmailAnalytics.
