The time spent answering the phone
A chamber, a parlour, a tuition centre or a servicing shop: everyone has the same problem.
The phone rings when you are in the middle of work. If you miss it, the customer goes somewhere else. If you answer, your hands stop.
And the serial is written on a piece of paper or kept in your head. Both are set up to go wrong.
A booking page reduces both. The customer sends a request in their own time, and you look at it in yours.
What the page needs
Information at the top, a form below.
For a doctor's chamber, start from the "Doctor's chamber" card in the BanglaCodes app page templates. Those parts are already laid out, and no doctor, fee or patient count you did not give will appear. For a parlour or repairs there is "Service booking", and for coaching there is "Tuition booking".
What goes at the top:
- When you sit, day by day
- The fee, and how much for what
- The address, and one well-known landmark
- A phone number for urgent needs
What you ask in the form:
- Name
- Phone number, required
- Which day, which time
- What they are coming for, in one line
Do not ask for more than this. Every extra box stops some people, and the rest you can find out on the phone.
How the request reaches you
There are two ways, and you should know which one you are on.
Without hosting: the form button opens a WhatsApp chat, and what the customer wrote reaches you as a message. It costs nothing, and you get it at once. The downside is that the requests stay inside the chat and do not become a list.
With hosting: requests are saved as a list in the inbox, each one has a status, and you get an email. This works from any link.
If you have a few serials a day in a small chamber, the first is enough. If you have twenty or thirty a day, you will need the second, because finding things in a chat becomes impossible.
Write one thing clearly
The biggest mix-up on a booking page is this: the customer thinks the serial is confirmed.
Write one line in large letters on the page: "After you send the request, we will call to confirm the time."
What this one line saves you from is a customer standing in front of you at a time you never gave.
How to set up the time box
A list to pick from is better than a box to type in, because then an impossible time cannot be chosen.
For the day, offer only the days you actually sit. For the time, make slots, for example 10 to 11 in the morning, 11 to 12.
And write your closed day clearly on the page. The number of calls that three words like "Closed on Friday" save is surprising.
What this page cannot do
We need to be honest here.
This is not a real booking system. That means if two people send a request for the same time, the page will not stop the second one, because the page does not know which slot is free.
Fixing the serial stays in your hands, and that is exactly why the line about confirming by phone is needed.
An advance fee can be taken by bKash, Nagad or Rocket. Add your own number in the site manager and the booking form gets a payment box with a place for the TrxID, free on every plan (the post on taking payments online). For cards, or your own bKash Merchant or SSLCommerz link as a button, you need the Business plan. The money goes to your own account, not through our hands.
Questions and answers
What happens if two people request the same time? Both requests will arrive, because the page does not know which slot is free. So confirming the serial is your job, and it is important to write that on the page so the customer does not come with the wrong idea.
Can I take the fee online? Yes. Add your own bKash, Nagad or Rocket number in the site manager and the booking form gets a payment box; the patient sends the money, types the TrxID, and it arrives with the request, free on every plan. To take cards, the Business plan lets you add your own gateway link as a button. We do not hold the money.
Is patient information safe? The less you ask in the form, the better, and it is best not to ask for health details in the form at all. Name, phone and what they are coming for is enough; the rest is for the chamber.
Can a customer cancel a serial themselves? Not from the page. For cancelling, put your phone number on the page and write how long before they should tell you. For a small service this is the simplest arrangement.
Can I send reminders by SMS? Sending SMS to customers is in the Commerce plan, but it goes through your own gateway. How is in the post on order SMS.
Will the page show up on Google? Once you publish, the page is open to Google, even on the free address; you do not need to buy a domain. For a chamber or parlour it helps more if the address and opening hours are given correctly, and the rules are in the post on showing your shop in search.
What do I do when the schedule changes? Change it yourself from the site manage page. You do not have to tell the AI, and it costs no Token. You can also put news of a holiday or a time change at the top of the page as an announcement.
What about several doctors or staff? Add a box to the form for choosing who they want to see, and in the information part at the top write each person's days and times separately. One page is enough.
In short
- Time, fee and address at the top; a small form below
- No more than four boxes in the form, and the phone number is required
- Without hosting requests arrive on WhatsApp, with hosting they become a list in the inbox
- Write "we will call to confirm" in large letters
- Give a list to pick the time from, not an open box
- This is not a real booking system, and blocking slots is up to you