Why you should use a chatbot for appointment booking

It’s the age of the chatbot: a Tidio study found that 88 per cent of customers have had at least one conversation with a chatbot over the past year.

They’re also changing the way we communicate online. Zendesk’s CX Trends 2023 Report revealed that 77 per cent of consumers say that bots are helpful for simple issues. And appointment bookings would certainly fall under that category.

Put simply, manual appointment ‌booking is error-prone, tedious, and labour-intensive. Whereas chatbot systems offer instant solutions with the potential to make this process easier than ever before. So let’s uncover why you can and should use a chatbot for appointment booking and touch on some of the benefits this can bring for both customers and businesses.

First, a little background: chatbot systems use natural language processing to understand messages, and machine learning to generate responses tailored to each user and context. They’re designed to answer simple questions, understand conversations, and provide the information users need quickly. They’re trained to recognise specific commands and respond accordingly, which makes them perfect for simple tasks like appointment booking.

The actual process is simple: you tell the chatbot what you want to book and when would be most convenient. The chatbot then checks availability and suggests possible options. All you have to do is confirm and that’s it—appointment booked. No searching websites or making awkward phone calls. Just a great conversational experience.

Chatbot systems are designed to make our lives more efficient by streamlining processes. As such, they hold the potential to transform how we go about scheduling appointments. Whether you need to book a visit to your dentist or a meeting with your attorney, chatbots can make the process a whole bot easier.

When you use a chatbot for booking and scheduling, visitors to your site or app can book appointments without any back-and-forth conversations about availability. This saves time, energy, and money because it takes all the work out of finding an available slot.

Needless to say, this is great for businesses, particularly when it comes to costs. For example, Juniper Research estimates that each chatbot interaction saves 0.7 dollars on average, making them a convenient and cost-effective alternative to traditional methods.

But booking appointments and checking availability using a chatbot is also great for customers, saving them unnecessary hassle. With that in mind, let’s run through the key benefits for both customers and businesses to help you decide whether a chatbot is right for you.

Benefits for customers:

Easier

Chatbots offer unparalleled convenience because you don’t even have to pick up the phone to make an appointment. Instead, customers can simply type in their request and the chatbot will do the rest—no need to leave the sofa. Just a quick chat with a chatbot.

Faster

Zendesk’s CX Trends 2023 Report found that 71 per cent of consumers believe bots help them get faster replies. And that’s exactly what chatbots for appointment bookings do. No waiting on hold or wasting time searching through endless online forms. Just quick and easy bookings.

More accurate

We all make mistakes—we’re human. But chatbots are different. In fact, they’re far less prone to errors than traditional systems, which means customers can rest assured that their appointment is booked correctly every time.

More private

When booking appointments, chatbot systems collect essential details from customers, e.g. contact information, securely. Customers therefore have peace of mind, knowing that their information is safe and hasn’t been exposed to any third parties or even employees.

24/7

Chatbots never sleep. This means they’re available round the clock, so it’s never too early or too late for your customers to book appointments. Always-on availability helps you better serve your customers—whenever suits them—for an amazing customer experience.

Benefits for businesses:

More appointments

When it’s difficult, time-consuming, or complicated to book appointments, many customers will simply give up. And that’s the last thing you want as a business owner. Fortunately, chatbot systems make the process a breeze, ensuring everyone can get an appointment.

No more back and forth

Chatbots save teams huge amounts of time as they don’t need to call or email customers back to organise or finalise arrangements, which is hugely inefficient. Instead, your team can focus on more high-value tasks, e.g. addressing complex customer issues.

KPIs

A chatbot for appointment bookings can provide a wealth of data, from peak periods to your most frequent customers. This makes it easy to assess important KPIs and adjust your sales strategy to ensure you’re delivering the best possible service and customer experience.

Avoid double bookings

Bad experiences create unhappy customers. So if customers are turning up for non-existing appointments due to admin errors, you’re on the fast track to a less-than-flattering CSAT. Fortunately, chatbots help you avoid this situation by managing schedules perfectly.

Fewer cancellations

When the booking process is clear, easy, and efficient, customers can book the dates and times that suit them. This means they’re less likely to cancel and ensures you’re using all your available time—boosting productivity and ultimately revenue.

Chatbots offer a great way to book appointments without having to go through the hassle of picking up the phone and speaking to someone. It’s easy, fast, and convenient—perfect for anyone on the go.

Zendesk helps companies create better experiences for customers using conversational AI. For example, our AI-powered assistant Answer Bot can help you respond to customers quickly and effectively on every channel. But you can also integrate a third-party chatbot solution from the Zendesk Marketplace or add your very own chatbot system using our powerful APIs.

In short, Zendesk gives you the flexibility you need to arrange a chatbot and follow up on your potential. Make booking appointments easier than ever before to make a point your customers won’t forget.

But don’t just take our word for it. Here are two top companies that used different chatbot approaches to achieve success with Zendesk.

Dollar Shave Club

Back in 2011, Dollar Shave Club burst onto the scene, offering affordable razors delivered directly to customers’ doors. The company quickly took off. But as it scaled, Dollar Shave Club struggled to provide the same world-class support experience.

The company therefore turned to Zendesk, starting with Zendesk Support and Guide but later also adding Zendesk Live Chat software. The support team love that they don’t need loads of tabs open and don’t need to keep clicking back and forth. All interactions now flow into Support, so agents have all the information they need in one place. Plus, the team currently boasts an impressive CSAT score between 94 and 96 per cent on live channels.

As a direct-to-consumer subscription service, Dollar Shave Club places a lot of emphasis on self-service with Guide. But they also use Answer Bot, which now deflects between 12-16 per cent of all tickets, providing quick answers to simple questions. Answer Bot has given agents more time to focus on creative ideas to improve support even further. What’s more, the company hasn’t had to take on any more staff since they started using Answer Bot.

“Zendesk is an amazing tool for us thus far and we don't see that changing. It allows us to continually improve our Members’ experience.” - Trent Hoerman, Senior Programme Manager at Dollar Shave Club

Read the full customer story

Tile

Tile was founded in 2012 as a crowdfunded project to help people locate lost items. With customers in more than 230 countries, the company now helps millions of people locate millions of items every day—remarkably finding more than 90 per cent of items reported lost. But explosive growth came with real challenges—especially for customer support.

Zendesk enters the fray. Tile used Zendesk’s Agent Workspace to reduce its average ticket handle time by 40 per cent and customer wait time by 28 per cent. This was great for customers but also the company’s agents, as they didn’t have to constantly click back and forth between different interfaces.

The team also reduced contact volumes by implementing a chatbot. Tile launched Ada, which is available in the Zendesk Marketplace, to assist customers quickly and prioritise tickets. They also customised the workflow with the chatbot to include relevant recommendations up front, which often helps solve customer issues immediately.

“Zendesk’s greatest strengths versus other solutions I’ve used is its simplicity and ease of customization, which lets companies create the perfect workflow for their unique situations. You’re not pigeonholed into having certain features work a certain way.” - Justin Michaud, Senior Customer Support Manager at Tile

Read the full customer story