What online appointment scheduling app do you recommend?

That’s one of the most frequently asked questions I see in Facebook groups.

And it’s always good to get recommendations but recommendations don’t provide you with details.

I use Acuity.

Calendly is my favorite.

I switched to vCita from Appointy.

The responses leave you with no more information than doing a quick google search for online appointment scheduling apps.

Whenever you are choosing a new program to use in your business, it’s best to do a comparison of the features and benefits. Sometimes you just don’t know what you don’t know until you start looking at all the details.

Unfortunately, that can take a lot of time. So we’ve done the work for you!

What to Consider When Reviewing an Appointment Scheduling App

Let’s jump in and review the top 5 online appointment scheduling apps recommended for coaches and other solopreneur business owners.

In this comparison, we are going to cover 9 of the most common features you might be looking for. These include price, calendar integration, group class scheduling, reminder emails, invoicing, phone apps, email system integration, # of appointments/people and website integration.

Price:

This one is pretty obvious. What is the price for the appointment scheduling app based on different levels.

Calendar Sync:

Does the app sync with your Google or another type of online calendar? This can be a two-way sync. First, does it limit the offered time slots based on the appointments on your calendar? Second, does it add the scheduled appointments to your calendar?

Group Class/Event Scheduling:

If you offer group classes, group coaching or other events that include more than two people, this may be a beneficial feature for you.

Reminder Emails:

Does the system automatically send out a reminder email to your meeting attendees to increase the chances of them not missing the appointment?

Invoicing:

Does the online appointment scheduling app have a built-in invoicing feature so that you can charge clients immediately upon them signing up? If not, you may need to set up a work-around such as having them visit your invoicing page first and then, upon completion of payment, redirecting them to your online calendar.

Phone Apps:

If you tend to do a lot from your phone, having an app might be a requirement for the program you use.

Download our Ultimate Guide to Delegating Here for More Tips & Tools on How to Delegate as a Solopreneur

Email System Integration:

While almost all calendar systems can integrate with email programs via tools like Zapier, it might be worthwhile to you if you can choose a program that already integrates with the tools you use.

Number of appointment types/people:

While you may be a solopreneur and only need to schedule appointments for yourself, do you have different types of appointments you want to set up? Maybe you have an appointment for your discovery calls and another for your actual coaching appointments. Or, maybe you even have calls scheduled for your podcast show and ones for “virtual networking meetings”. If you have different requirements for different appointments, you’ll want a tool that accommodates those requirements.

As an example, I don’t schedule with anyone other than my team on Mondays and I don’t schedule with anyone other than clients on Fridays. That means my prospect calls will only be scheduled on Tuesdays through Thursdays.

Website Integration:

And finally, does your chosen appointment scheduling app integrate smoothly with your website? If you want to offer times directly on your site, you may want one that plays well with the type of website you have. As an example, if you visit my Contact Us page, you can see how the calendar is built right in. As soon as you select a time, it will take you out to the actual appointment scheduling app to complete the process.

Other tools may have pop up bars or certain features. If you are specific about how you want it to look on your site, you may want to research that first.

There may be other factors you want to consider based on your specific business needs.

Let the Comparison Begin

While it’s not good to compare yourself to others, comparing one program to another can help you make a more informed decision.

Acuity

Acuity seems to be the most commonly recommended tool out there so we’ll start here.

Price

Emerging Plan: $15/mo (1 Calendar)

Growing Plan: $25/mo (6 Calendars)

Powerhouse Plan: $50/mo (36 Calendars)

Calendar Sync

Acuity offers 1 or 2-way sync with Google Calendar, iCloud, or Outlook.

Group Class Scheduling

Yes, you can schedule group classes or events using Acuity.

Automatic Reminder Emails

You can set up reminder emails on any of the paid versions of Acuity. You can also set up reminder texts on the Growing or Powerhouse plan.

Invoicing

Direct invoicing from Acuity is not available. However, Acuity does integrate with Quickbooks, Freshbooks, and Xero for invoice creation.

Phone App

Apps are available for both iPhone and Android to let you edit your availability and manage your appointments when you are away from the office.

Third Party Integrations

Acuity integrates with a variety of other apps and programs either directly or through the use of a service like Zapier. Please see this list to determine if your programs are included.

Website Integration

There are a number of sites that allow you to integrate Acuity directly. However, tools such as pop-ups and booking bar are somewhat limited without having a knowledge of advanced coding.

The Numbers

With Acuity, you can have an unlimited number of appointment types and individuals scheduled on any of the paid accounts. What is limited is the number of different calendars available.

TimeTrade

TimeTrade isn’t as commonly recommended in the solopreneur business world but it’s the one Virtual A Team uses and recommends. It is often marketed to larger businesses but has an individual plan that is much less expensive than the competition.

Price

Individual Plan: $78/Yr ($6.50 per user/mo)

Business Plan: $149/Yr ($12.42 per user/mo)

Business Plus Plan: $300/Yr ($25 per user/mo)

Calendar Sync

Timetrade offers 1 or 2-way sync with Google Calendar, iCloud, or Outlook.

Group Class Scheduling

Available but not in one of the preset plans.

Automatic Reminder Emails

Customizable reminder emails are available in any of the versions. Text messaging is an add on service.

Invoicing

Direct invoicing from TimeTrade is not available. However, we’ve set our TimeTrade up to be linked after payment is submitted rather than the other way around.

Phone App

Apps are available for both iPhone and Android to let you edit your availability and manage your appointments when you are away from the office.

Third Party Integrations

TimeTrade integrates with a few programs directly and many more through the use of a service like Zapier.

Website Integration

Timetrade provides embed codes to add your online calendar to your website or app.

The Numbers

With TimeTrade, you can have an unlimited number of appointment types and individuals scheduled.

vCita

When I started out with online appointment scheduling apps, I started with vCita. It definitely has some advanced features not available in the other programs but those features come with a hefty price. That’s because vCita offers more than just online appointment scheduling. You can use it for events, customer relationship management, and more.

Price

Scheduling Only: $15/mo

Essentials Plan: $29/mo

Business Plan: $59/mo

Calendar Sync

vCita offers 1 or 2-way sync with Google Calendar, iCloud, or Outlook.

Group Class Scheduling

Available on all plans.

Automatic Reminder Emails

Available on all plans. Text messages are also available for an additional charge.

Invoicing

The Essentials level and above includes billing and invoicing.

Phone App

Apps are available for both iPhone and Android to let you edit your availability and manage your appointments when you are away from the office.

Third Party Integrations

Integrations are available in the Essentials Plan and above.

Website Integration

Website widgets are available in the individual plan and above.

The Numbers

With TimeTrade, you can have an unlimited number of appointment types for up to 300 clients. If you wish to have additional team members, they charge an additional $15 per month.

Calendly

Calendly is often recommended as a basic starter system. It’s inexpensive and easy to use. I just happen to have a personal issue because I can never spell it right! 😉

Price

Basic Plan: Free

Premium: $8/mo

Pro: $12/mo

Calendar Sync

2-way sync is available with Google Calendar, iCloud, or Outlook.

Group Class Scheduling

Calendly offers group events on all paid plans.

Automatic Reminder Emails

All plans offer notifications. Calendly offers custom notifications on paid plans. Text messages are available on Pro plan.

Invoicing

You can’t directly invoice with Calendly but the Pro plan includes integration with Paypal and Stripe.

Phone App

This one might be a deal breaker. At the time of this writing, there is no phone app available for either iOS or Andriod. The company says they are working on it.

Third Party Integrations

On the paid programs, you can use Zapier to integrate with other programs.

Website Integration

Calendly offers an API that can be used to integrate with various websites.

The Numbers

With the free program, you can have one appointment type. This is not limited on the paid versions.

YouCanBook.me

YouCanBook.me is not as often recommended but still offers some good options for those just getting started with online appointment scheduling apps.

One feature it seems to have that many of the others do not include is appointment duration variation. You can set a minimum, average, and maximum times for booking.

This program also allows you to set appointments as tentative requiring your approval, a nice feature if you want to have more control over your calendar.

Price

Basic Plan: Free

Paid: $10/mo/per calendar

Calendar Sync

2-way sync is available with Google Calendar, iCloud, or Outlook (this one is still in beta at the time of this writing).

Group Class Scheduling

YouCanBook.me allows you to take more than one booking per time slot to allow for groups, meetings or events.

Automatic Reminder Emails

Paid plans allow you to customize your calendar appointment and reminder emails.

Invoicing

Integrates with Stripe to add a payment form to your booking request form.

Phone App

This is another program that does not currently have a mobile app. The company says their website is fully mobile responsive.

Third Party Integrations

On the paid programs, you can use Zapier to integrate with other programs.

Website Integration

As with most other options, YouCanBook.me can be embeded onto a website using code. It does not offer a direct integration.

The Numbers

With the free program, you can have one appointment type. This is not limited on the paid versions.

Appointy

We can’t forget Appointy in our review. This is another often recommended option when people ask for online scheduling app recommendations. However, it also falls into the higher price point category. Let’s see how it stacks up for the extra cost.

Price

Basic Plan: Free

Growth: $29.99/mo

Professional: $59.99/mo

Enterprise: $99.99/mo

Calendar Sync

2-way sync is available with Google Calendar, iCloud, or Outlook (via iCal) on Paid versions.

Group Class Scheduling

YouCanBook.me allows you to take more than one booking per time slot to allow for groups, meetings or events.

Automatic Reminder Emails

Paid plans allow you to customize your calendar appointment and reminder emails.

Invoicing

Appointy appears to offer one of the best options if accepting prepayments for services is important to you.

Phone App

Available for both iOS and Andriod

Third Party Integrations

You can use Zapier to integrate with other programs.

Website Integration

Appointy offers several options for integration onto a website or even your Facebook page.

The Numbers

Appointy’s pricing is based more on the number of staff than the number of appointments or calendars used. If you are primarily a business of one, then the Growth plan will probably be sufficient for you.

Which appointment scheduling app do you like?

While some people say that all programs are about the same, that’s only partially true. If you have specific needs that a program doesn’t meet, that make doing business with them very frustrating. After reviewing some of the top features of online scheduling apps, there are some clear differences.

Now that you know WHAT to look for in online appointment scheduling apps and have seen how some of the top programs compare, have you made a choice?

Did we miss your favorite app? Did we forget a feature that’s important to you? Let us know!

And, if you are ready to implement an online scheduling app in your business but need some help, schedule a call with Virtual A Team. We are here to help.

As a coach, your client onboarding process is the first impression a new client will get. It helps them to know exactly what to expect from you and your business. If it isn’t a great first impression, you’ll have a lot of recovery to do.

Most coaches start out with only one or two clients at a time. They don’t feel that a formal client onboarding process is necessary. However, there’s a lot of power in a concrete set of steps that a client will take. It helps eliminate potential buyer’s remorse. It helps facilitate a level of confidence and it starts the coaching process from the instant they hand over their payment.

And, eventually, you’ll want to spend more time finding and working with clients rather than dealing with getting new clients all set up.

Here, we will reveal to you how to successfully onboard new clients. But let’s start by explaining what we mean.

What is a client onboarding process?

Client onboarding is the act of welcoming a new client to your business. It's a chance for you to promote a healthy relationship, treat pressing matters, help the client set up and start the relationship on the right path.

After all, we all want our clients to feel confident about hiring us to help them meet their desired goals. A client onboarding process can make that happen.

However, remember that client onboarding differs from lead generation. In fact, client onboarding comes after lead generation, it starts when a prospective client is ready to become a real client for your business.

The client onboarding process functions as a channel to understand each other well. That understanding will enable you to give in your best while the client also provides necessary assistance to help you provide the best service.

To make it simpler, we have divided the client onboarding process into different parts.

What to Include in Your Client Onboarding Process:

• Getting Started Email
• Contract outlining terms and agreements
• Payment options
• New Client Intake Form
• Welcome email
• What to expect message
• Additional emails with tips
• Getting started/next steps

First Steps

The first steps consist of the actions that take place immediately after the prospective client agrees to work with you but before the working relationship begins.

Download our Checklist for Onboarding New Clients

New Client Email

Your first email in your new client onboarding process will consist of a few getting started steps. You will want to explain to them how to complete these steps based on your process.

• Information about Contract
• Payment information
• New Client Intake Form

Take a look at the sample email below.

Hey! (Insert client's name),

I'm very excited to hear that you are interested in collaborating with me! I'm honored to work with you and look forward to seeing your magic come to life!

Here is a checklist of next steps to complete before we get started.

• Sign the agreement. Your contract will be sent via HelloSign for your signature. Please review and submit as soon as possible.
• Attached is a copy of your invoice. Please submit payment via this Paypal link.
• After you have completed those steps, you can now proceed to fill out the new client intake form: (Insert link to form).

Once you have completed the tasks above, I'll forward a link to you to arrange our first meeting! And a welcome package that will help us get to know each other better.

If you have any questions, suggestions or change you want to make within the terms and agreement. Feel free to contact me.

Looking forward to work with you!

Warm Regards,

(Insert your name)

Contract

Once your prospective client has agreed to work with you, the first step is to get them to agree to your specific terms.

A contract is a document that helps to legally establish the rules for engagement between your client and you. While a lot of new coaches opt not to get a signed contract, we highly recommend that you get a written agreement before moving to the next level in your relationship. In the absence of that, your client may become disillusioned with their results and demand a refund in full.

Some important things to consider when creating a contract include:

• Description of services
• Length of relationship
• Financial compensation
• Expectations
• Confidentiality agreements
• Release of Liability

Please note: We are not attorneys and highly recommend you work with a qualified professional to avoid any potential liability.

You can use tools like HelloSign or Docusign to create your contracts and send them out for signature. It’s much more effective than sending a word doc and hoping they can scan and fax it back to you.

Payment

Upon completion of a signed contract, you will want to secure payment.

There are many different ways you may want to consider receiving payments.

• Paypal
• Credit card processing (such as Stripe)
• Check
• Venmo

When looking at the options, consider whether you want to have the option to take payments. Some payment processing services allow recurring payments made over a period of time while others don’t.

Include a link in your welcome email with instructions on how they can make payments.

New Client Intake Form

In many cases, you’ll want to gather some information about your new client before you begin the coaching process. This may include what they expect to gain from working with you, what are their goals, or what have they done to improve their situation in the past. It might also include things like their birthday (so you can send a card) or how to best reach them.

Some of this may have been gathered prior to your discovery call with them but now is the time to fill in any gaps.

Having this information all in one place at one time saves you from appearing unprofessional when you have to go back and ask things over and over.

Tools like Google Forms, JotForm or NinjaForms (for Wordpress) are extremely useful for gathering this detailed information in one place.

Let’s Begin

Now that the “paperwork” is out of the way, it’s time to get started! This may be your client’s first impression of your ability to coach so make it a good one!

Welcome/What to Expect

It’s time for the official Welcome! If you have a name for your “tribe” members, welcome them in that way. I simply welcome my new clients to the “family”.

"What to expect message" is an email explaining the next event on the list. A sample of what to expect message is shown below.

Subject line: Welcome to the tribe!

Hello (Insert client’s name)!

It’s official and I’m so glad that we are on the way.

The next step is to schedule your 6 months worth of calls with me. You can use my online calendar at (insert link) to get those set up. I recommend scheduling them all in advance. If something comes up and we need to move one around, we can handle that individually.

Here’s your first homework assignment. This prep work will help us get right to the heart of things on our first call. Don’t worry, it will take you less than 10 minutes to complete this task.

Regards,

(Insert your name).

Additional email with tips

Additional emails in your welcome campaign can help the client onboarding process by allowing new clients to get better prepared for expectations.

Consider how much information you want to share up front and break it into a series of emails that go out over several days or weeks.

Below is what the message can contain.

Subject line: Mark your calendar

Hello (Insert client's name)!

One of the awesome benefits of the coaching package you selected is an opportunity to join our live retreat in Sedona, Arizona June 15th through the 18th.

Be sure to block your calendar now. We will be sending more information as the date approaches.

Warm Regards,

(Insert your name)

or…

Subject line: Did you know

Hello (Insert client's name)!

Many of my clients struggle with a new coaching relationship in the first few sessions. It’s totally normal to have some hesitation when beginning. Here are some tips that may help make the process run a little more smoothly for you:

(Share your tips here).

And please let me know immediately if you have any concerns whatsoever.

Warm Regards,

(Insert your name)

A Little More About Tools

Now that we know what the steps include, let’s make the process a bit easier to manage. A new client onboarding process can be automated and streamlined with the use of the right tools.

But why automate? Why set up processes?

Your automated process helps eliminate the need to think about what you might be forgetting. At its most basic, an automated process is a simple checklist for each client. A list that helps you not forget.

Cloze.com can help with this kind of a checklist with their Next Steps feature.

However, there are tools that can work together so that you don’t even have to check a box!

Let's quickly walk through some of them.

Online forms

Online forms are great tools used to gather information, understand client's preferences, or receive feedback from clients. They can be used to create survey or questionnaires as well. Examples of tools used to create forms include JotForm, Google Forms, Ninja Forms and many more.

JotForm is one of the easiest ways to create online forms. Whether you want to generate leads, carry out client survey, register guests for an event, or collect order payments; JotForm is one of the best options. It is a user-friendly form builder that allows you to create a custom online form that best suits your specifications.

Google Forms is great for creating surveys. However, one of the disadvantages of using Google Forms is that your client will need to use a Gmail address, something they may not want to do.

Ninja Forms is another tool for creating online form free of charge. With Ninja Forms, you can create forms directly on your Wordpress website. We recommend it for beginners because it doesn't require code. Hence, they can quickly build complex forms with ease.

Esignature tools

Esignature tools makes it easier and faster for clients to sign documents. Examples are HelloSign, DocuSign and the likes.

HelloSign is an easy and classy way to sign, edit and scan a document with your mobile device. If you need to sign a document or you want your client to sign a document immediately, just use HelloSign.

DocuSign is very similar to Hellosign. It is also a kind of esignature application that allows you to sign documents on the go. You can also use DocuSign to dispatch documents to clients so they can append their signature on it.

Email autoresponder

An email autoresponder is a sequence of emails, usually targeted for a particular purpose, sent one after the other at predetermined intervals. We recommend that you start sending the emails when a client clicks the subscribe button to receive emails from you.

It is also a series of automated emails delivered to a particular set of people on your email list. It is activated by a specific action, like subscribing to your email list, browsing activity, purchasing a product online, downloading a PDF file and the likes.

ActiveCampaign is a good example of email autoresponder tool you can use to forward automated emails to your client at a predetermined period.

Online calendar system

The online calendar system is a proficient method to manage your day to day activities at home or while at work. They come with other amazing features such as address books, photo manager and others. Some of them support uploading and sharing of documents as well.

Guess what?

You can also schedule meetings with your clients using the online calendar. Examples of such online calendar include Calendly, Timetrade, Acuity and many more. Check out our review of the best online scheduling tools.

Invoicing system is a tool that creates automated invoices which contain the cost of products and services offered to a client. Paypal and Stripe are examples of an invoicing system for online businesses.

Zapier or IFTTT

Once you know what systems you’ll be using, you can use a tool like Zapier or IFTTT to integrate the process. For example, upon receiving a signed contract from HelloSign and payment via Paypal, Zapier can add the contract to Active Campaign, log the payment and trigger a welcome email to be sent.

Should You Automate or Delegate Your Client Onboarding Process?

Now that we've presented all of the ways you CAN automate, let's consider whether or not you SHOULD.

It’s always interesting when we have clients that want to set up complex automation systems. It seems like a great idea in theory. If they have a great automation in place, they won’t have to continue paying someone to handle the details.

Unfortunately, that’s only great in theory, most of the time. You see, automations require a babysitter. They break down each time a system or program changes and someone needs to know how to go in and make sure everything is still working. So, they still require human power.

There’s a point where automations make sense but it’s important to evaluate the cost/benefit of setting up the automation.

If you are onboarding MANY clients at once, then automation probably pays for itself. If you only have a few new clients at a time, then it might make more sense to create a process and hand it over to your Virtual Assistant to handle.

Conclusion

A new client onboarding process that is designed to impress will include all of the following:

• Your contract or agreement,
• Automated payment options,
• Detailed new client forms,
• Simple scheduling systems, and
• A series of welcome emails.

In case you don't have the time to do it yourself or still experienced some difficulties, don't hesitate to request the service of the Virtual A Team.