What’s new: Empower customers to confirm, reschedule or cancel their appointment

Customers are used to the on-demand economy. They expect service appointments to work around their schedule. But confirming, cancelling and rescheduling appointments by telephone uses valuable contact centre resources while wasting customers’ time.

Manage My Appointment helps to automate the rescheduling process while also empowering the customer. Customers can opt to confirm, reschedule or cancel their appointment all within a browser-based customer portal.

Customers regain control of their day, while contact centre staff have more time for customers who really need a human conversation.

Businesses benefit from:

• Lower call-centre volumes, reducing costs and freeing up contact centre staff to talk to customers who need a human conversation.
  
  
• Fewer missed appointments, as customers can choose a convenient time that's for them to attend.
  
  
• Increased first-time access, as customers can confirm that they’ll be on-site.
  
  
• Empowered customers with increased certainty and control over their day.
  
  
• Better customer experience as it's easy to confirm or reschedule without the need to make a phone call.

What’s new at a glance

Manage My Appointment provides a simple online tool for customers to confirm, reschedule or cancel their appointment. Customers can access the portal through their browser to conveniently manage their appointment from any device.   

• Contextual appointment options: Provide different options for far-out or imminent appointments.
  
  
• Confirm, reschedule and cancel: Customers can manage their appointment via the customer portal.
  
  
• Confirmation messaging:  Confirm the customer’s choice in the customer portal and via SMS.

Contextual appointment options

Send automated confirmation reminders as the appointment approaches, with links to the Manage My Appointment portal. Give customers the most appropriate options depending on whether the appointment is far out, soon, or imminent.

• When the appointment is booked, give customers the option to reschedule or cancel. Don’t give a ‘confirm’ option if the appointment is too far in the future.
  
  
• As the appointment gets closer, remind customers to confirm that the time still works for them, while still allowing them to reschedule or cancel.
  
  
• When the appointment is imminent, provide the option to confirm that the time still works. If it’s too late to easily cancel or reschedule, you can remove these options and provide contact details instead.

Confirm, reschedule and cancel

Within the portal, customers can choose the most convenient option for their appointment:

• Confirm: Customers can directly confirm that they’ll be available for the appointment.
  
  
• Reschedule: Allow the customer to choose their preferred time slot within your chosen parameters.
  
  
• Cancel: Customers can opt to cancel the appointment and provide their reason for cancelation.

Confirmation workflows

Thanks to confirmation messaging, customers can rest assured that their request has been confirmed. The customer’s choice is validated within the web-based portal, and they’ll receive an SMS for further reassurance.

Confirmation status is also visible in the management dashboard to indicate that the customer intends to be present.

If the appointment is getting closer and the customer hasn’t yet responded, Localz can trigger an additional reminder SMS. This prompts the customer to confirm the appointment, and increases the likelihood of first-time access.

How to get started

Manage My Appointment is the perfect complement to Localz’ existing Track My Appointment solution. In addition to self serving appointment details and tracking their operative, customers can take control over the time of their appointment. This results in happier customers, efficient contact centres and reduced operational costs.

The module is built to work with top scheduling platforms to provide a streamlined experience for your customers and staff.

• Already using Localz? Ask your customer success manager how Manage My Appointment could work with your scheduling system.
  
  
• Partnered with Localz? Ask us how Manage My Appointment could boost end-customer experience for your clients.
  
  
• Want to learn more about customer empowerment? Book a chat with one of our experts to find out how Localz can help.