Love is in the air, and the team here at Flip have been pouring our hearts into building helpful new features.
One of our most recent labors of love? Serious support for brands whose phone channel revolves around managing appointments.
In fact—when it comes to our appointments capabilities—we’ve got more than enough to justify not one, but TWO product releases!
So, without further ado, let’s dive into Part I: Scheduling Appointments.
Flip: Your New Fav Scheduling Assistant
One of the coolest things about our new appointments capabilities is that Flip can build them out to be configurable to the types of products you sell and appointment services you offer. (Read that again.)
But, as a nod to one of our favorite customers, Madison Reed, let’s pretend you own a hair salon. We’ll call it… oh, I don’t know… Buffy’s Salon. Located in Sunnydale, CA (IYKYK).
SMS Support Options
One of your customers there at Buffy’s—let’s call her Willow—rings in wanting to make an appointment.
If she doesn’t have an account already set up with Buffy’s Salon (one that includes the phone number she’s calling from), Flip can either:
- Offer to send her a text with a link to the Salon’s site where she can create an account, and then encourage her to call back once that’s completed, OR
- Forward the call to an agent.
In addition, if you’re a brand that requires a card on file, and Willow doesn’t yet have one in your system, Flip can let her know.
“Hey, it looks like you don’t have a payment method on file. Would you like me to send you a text message with a link to where you can add that to your account?”
If she says “yes,” we’ll immediately text that to her. If she says “no,” we’ll escalate the call to an agent.
BUT…
If Willow does have a customer ID associated with her number (she does) and a card on file (yep), Flip can dive right into scheduling her appointment.
Starting The Conversation
“Hi, Willow! Welcome back to Buffy’s Salon. Let’s get you taken care of. Tell me, what is the reason for your call?” Willow says she’d like to book an appointment, and we’re off to the races.
- First, Flip will confirm the location, based on data connected to Willow’s phone number. I.e. “Are you looking to book an appointment at our Sunnydale location?” Yes? Sweet. Moving forward…
- Second, we’ll ask her what service she’d like to book. In our pretend scenario, Willow wants to get her roots touched up, and she says so.
- We’ll then confirm the service by name: “You’d like to book our roots touchup service, correct?” When Willow confirms…
- Flip can then ask her if she’d like to add on a service, such as a blow dry. Yes or no, Flip can update the order with that information. In our story, let’s have Willow spring for the add on.
Finding An Ideal Date & Time
Then—because we’re integrated with your system—Flip is able to suggest the first date you have available for an appointment. We ask Willow if she’d like to book for that date.
- If Willow says “no,” Flip will ask her what date she’d like. If there are appointments available on the date she suggests, we’ll let her know and move forward. If not, we’ll offer her alternatives as close to the requested date as possible. Flip will go back and forth in the find-a-date dance twice through before forwarding the call to an agent.
- If Willow says “yes,” we’ll continue on. So, let’s go ahead and say we’ve landed on the perfect date – April 25th.
Flip then asks Willow what time she’d like to come in. She’ll tell Flip her ideal slot, and—if we have that time available—woo hoo! Green lights, all rights. If not, we’ll let her know and offer 3 different options that are as close to the initially requested time as possible.
And, again, we’ll communicate options back and forth at least twice through before forwarding the call to an agent.
Luckily, Willow’s great with 3:00 PM on Thursday.
Confirming The Appointment
To wrap up the call, Flip will share summarized details: “Ok, we have you down for your roots touchup plus blow dry at our Sunnydale location on April 25th at 3:00 PM. Would you like to go ahead and confirm this booking?”
Willow says yes, and—boom—Flip officially books the appointment. No agent required.
We could go on (and we will), but that’ll do us for this week. Keep an eye out for next week’s release – where we’ll lay out more Flip capabilities lovingly built to help you manage your appointments.
And, if you’d like to learn more about what else Flip can do for your brand, let’s chat.
