As a payment solution, Square (NYSE: SQ) is always looking to improve its platform by bringing the physical and digital world together for ...
As a payment solution, Square (NYSE: SQ) is always looking to improve its platform by bringing the physical and digital world together for a seamless ecosystem.
The company’s latest endeavor in this area is the integration of Instagram and Google with Square Appointments. This will allow users to reach more customers in two of the most popular digital platforms.
Square Appointments on Instagram and Google
For small businesses with a digital presence, this integration will make it possible to acquire new customers from their social media feed on Instagram or search results in Google. And if you don’t happen to have a website, Square Appointments still allows you to get discovered on Instagram and Google.
How Does it Work?
If you are a business with an Instagram account, you can add a call-to-action (CTA) button to your page. When a customer clicks on the CTA button, they will be able to instantly book an appointment through Square Appointments.
All this takes place without leaving the Instagram app, which adds to the user experience.
For Google, you have to opt-in to Reserve with Google. When a local customer searches for the services you provide it will allow them to create, cancel, and reschedule appointments directly from their Google Search and Maps.
This also takes place within the app, which removes another friction point for consumers when it comes making an appointment. When the appointment is finalized, the business will be notified of any new booking through Reserve with Google.
What is Square Appointments?
Square Appointments makes all of your services bookable by customers on your online booking website, through booking links and now on Instagram and Google.
The intelligent scheduling of Appointments syncs your personal calendar to ensure your availability is always accurate through a cloud-based platform.
With the cloud, you can access the appointment anytime and anywhere so you can keep track of all your bookings. And because Appointment allows the customers to reschedule, you will also be able to see any of the changes as they happen.
If you have a team of workers, each employee can see their individual calendar and see their schedule on any synced device. When they get an appointment, they will receive confirmation directly.
As an administrator, you can give employees different levels of access, adjust schedules, manage every location from a single account, and track all the schedules to see who is available.
With this solution in place, you will be able to attend to your customers’ needs with a personal touch. The platform gives you the appointment history, personal details, notes, and purchase history of each customer. This information lets you provide customized service for all of your clients.
You can also send friendly reminders to your customers or inform them about any changes which might take place.
According to Square, this integration has resulted in businesses experiencing an average of 34% year-over-year increase in reservations with Square Appointments.
Point of Sale Integration
It goes without saying Square has also built its point of sales feature right in with Appointments.
Customers can pay for items and services directly from an appointment, with sales automatically being attributed to the right employee. At the same time, you can track your stock in real time and get email alerts when items run low.
When a customer is ready to pay, the Square payment ecosystem accepts every kind of payment quickly and delivers your funds almost instantly.
Image: Square Appointments
This article, "Square Appointments Allows Businesses to Reach Customers on Instagram and Google" was first published on Small Business Trends
from Small Business Trends http://bit.ly/2R061jB
