Designed for fitness, health, and wellness businesses, Square Appointments (SA) is a web-based platform that solves appointment management, customer data, and payment processing – all from a single, easy-to-use interface.
The company claims to handle all the administration tasks on your behalf, allowing you to do more of what you love. But what features does Square Appointments have, and how does it work compared to similar software?
From Scheduling to Payment Processing: What Can Square Appointments Do?
Salons, spas, fitness centres, and coffee shops can use Square Appointments software to streamline all operations, to better manage their business, and help them retain and grow their business.
Primarily, SA aims to simplify booking appointments and create an automated schedule for business owners. They actually offer that for free, but it’s only limited to one location. Businesses with more than one location will have to start a paid plan.
Customers can use the software to book, pay, and set recurring appointments, as well as select the specific service and staff member they want. One of Square Appointments’ interesting features is the ability to take notes on the software, helping your staff customize customer experience and be prepared for each appointment, no matter how busy they are.
Cancelled appointments? Square Appointments software will readjust your schedule instantly and sync the changes with your Google Calendar. In addition, SA helps businesses curb losses with no-show fees, which are only available in the paid plans.
Square Appointments also send automated notifications to clients about their appointment via email or text message. This way, you don’t need to run confirmation calls all day long, giving you the freedom to deal with other aspects of your business.
For every transaction done through the software, SA has a commission fee, like all other similar software. For example, when a customer taps, dips, or swipes their card in person, you pay 2.6% + 10 cents per transaction. Meanwhile, if you enter the card information manually, the fee increases to 3.5% + 15 cents. They have a fee calculator on their website to help you do the math.
According to Square, 97.05% of your sales will remain in your pocket, which is not bad. After all, any other service that allows you to manage an unlimited number of clients without having to handle confirmation calls one by one will end up costing you some money.
Most similar software provide many marketing-related features, and Square Appointments is no exception. For starters, the paid plans include a built-in marketing strategy with customer loyalty programs, and Square claims it increases customer spending by 43%.
Secondly, it also offers Email Marketing as an add-on even with the free plan. You can choose from their customizable email templates, and send promotional offers of your products and services straight to your customers’ inboxes. In today’s small business landscape, this is a valuable tool to take advantage of.
Square Appointments has an extremely user-friendly interface for both you and your customers. You can easily monitor your daily and weekly schedules as well as identify your busiest staff members and most popular services. This can save you time and frustration compared to other appointment-scheduling software that are more complicated to use.
Another excellent feature for small to mid-size businesses that will save both time and resources is Payroll Management. You not only can set and send staff payments but also do tax filing and add employee benefits.
Additionally, Square Appointments offers a Buy Now, Pay Later option that allows customers to obtain a product or service without having to pay in full. The business receives full payment, while the customer can pay later. The Afterpay processing rates are a bit high though, at 6% + 30 cents per transaction.
Lastly, we want to touch upon the SA hardware, something we are a fan of. In addition to the Square POS app, they offer a compact and stylish Card Reader that can be plugged into your phone to read credit and debit cards. Square Appointments also offers a contactless card reader, a mobile credit card machine, and the Square Stand, a powerful iPad POS that can be added to your countertop.
Main features of Square Appointment Scheduling Software:
- Online appointment booking, available 24/7 with an easy-to-use website
- Somewhat customizable to help you preserve some branding guidelines in the platform
- Automated email and text reminders via SMS or email
- Google Calendar and Apple Calendar sync
- Cancellation policy and no-show fee
- Member loyalty options to help you with marketing, e.g. gift cards
- Website integration
- Square Assistant 24/7
- Multiple locations and multiple time zones
- Multi-staff appointments and tip splitting
- Processing time
- Customer marketing email campaigns
- Individual employee accounts
- Contactless payments with integrated POS
What technical support does Square Appointments provide?
Square Appointments offers a variety of support options, including Phone Support, Email/Help Desk, Community Forums, and Live Chat. If you have any hardware issues, the platform provides round-the-clock phone support and the option for next-business-day hardware replacement.
How much does Square Appointments cost?
Square Appointments offers a solid set of features for free, but it is restricted to a single location. There are two alternative pricing plans available:
- Plus Plan: AU$40/month per location
- Premium Plan: AU$90/month per location
In addition, if you’re processing more than $250,000 every year, you can have a custom pricing plan designed for your business.
What apps does square appointments software integrate with?
Square Appointments offers a cohesive user experience by integrating with a variety of platforms and apps:
- Weebly and Wix – Website customization
- ProsperWorks, Zoho CRM, and Salesforce – CRM
- QuickBooks, Xero, and FreshBooks – Bookkeeping
- Google Calendar and Apple Calendar – Scheduling
- Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and Campaign Monitor – Email marketing
Here’s the complete list of app integrations for Square Appointments.
Conclusion
Business management can be a challenging task, especially when dealing with multiple tools for different functions. Square Appointments software, on the other hand, can help to alleviate this burden. This software includes all the basic but crucial features that can help you streamline your business operations and improve client satisfaction by leveraging online booking, appointment reminders, staff management, and calendar app integration.
PushPress Gym Management Software: Revolutionising Fitness Business Management for Australian Gym Owners
In the dynamic and competitive landscape of the Australian fitness industry, effective gym management plays a crucial role in ensuring the success of both fitness professionals and gym owners. The right management platform can make the difference between a seamless membership experience and something that’s clunky and inconvenient for the manager, staff, and members. PushPress
MindBody Gym Management Software: Read this before buying.
Since its founding in 1998 and acquisition by Vista Equity Partners in 2001, Mindbody has been a pioneer in the health and wellness software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry. According to Get Latka, in 2022, Mindbody hit $350M in revenue with 65 thousand of clients, including gyms, boutique fitness studios, salons, spas, and other health centres. Unlike other
Leading AI Tool Creator Keepme Expands In Australia
Member Retention experts Keepme, appoints three new territory managers across Australia, USA and Spain. The appointments come during a major growth period for Keepme, the leading AI Tool created to improve member retention, has recently appointed three new country leads across Australia, USA and Spain to support and lead its growth plans. Mark Munday will
Links Modular Announce Bold Plans For 2019
Club management software Links Modular Solutions has announced a number of new initiatives for the year ahead, strengthening its leadership position. The software solution for large multi-site facilities currently combines software, access control and marketing. The introduction of an Industry Advisory Group, technology upgrades, a new partnership, and boosted support resources are all on the
Enhance Your Club Software Experience
Leading fitness centre management software Clubware is enhancing its user experience with a suite of new and improved features around members, reporting, access control, administration and the web API in its latest version. Originally launched in 2001 with several upgrades over the years, Clubware 4.2 is distributed by Debitsuccess and PaySmart in Australasia, DFC and
How Software Integration Can Improve Customer Satisfaction
When we think about the customer experience, it’s easy to focus on the tangible – like how a customer was greeted by staff, whether the instructor was pleasant and supportive, if the resources and equipment were up to standard, and how the customer felt after spending time with your business. However, there’s so much more