Should customers book online? A practical guide for trades

Why customers want it

Homeowners often sort out house problems in the evening, after work, when your office is closed. If the only way to book is to call between 8 and 4, they either wait until tomorrow or book with whoever let them do it tonight.

Online booking lets them choose a time when they're ready, without a single phone call. For you, it means fewer rounds of phone tag and fewer interruptions on the job.

What to offer online, and what not to

Online booking works best for visits that are predictable in length and don't need a conversation first.

Good fits:

• free estimates and consultations;
• seasonal tune-ups, such as furnace or air-conditioning maintenance;
• inspections, such as a roof or drain camera inspection;
• simple, fixed-scope service calls.

Keep these on the phone or behind a quote form:

• emergencies, like no heat in January or a burst pipe, where someone should call right away;
• large or unusual jobs that need questions answered before anyone visits;
• anything where the price or the length varies a lot.

For bigger jobs, a step-by-step quote form usually works better than a calendar. See quote request forms that bring better leads.

Set it up so it doesn't run your day

The worry most trades have is losing control of the schedule. A few settings fix that.

• A short list of appointment types. Each with a realistic length: a furnace tune-up isn't the same as an estimate for a new roof.
• Buffers between visits. Time for travel and for the job that runs long.
• Minimum notice. For example, no bookings less than a day ahead, so nobody books a 9 a.m. visit at 8:45.
• Operating hours. Only offer times your crew actually works.
• Two-way calendar sync. If online bookings and your own appointments live in the same calendar, such as Google Workspace or Outlook, a slot that's taken can't be booked twice.
• Ask where they are. A town or postal code on the booking form tells you before the visit if it's outside your area.

Arrival windows instead of exact times

Few trades can promise to ring the doorbell at exactly 10:00. Many offer arrival windows instead, such as 8 to 10 a.m. or 1 to 3 p.m. Customers know what to expect, and your schedule has room to breathe.

Confirmations and reminders

Every booking should get an instant confirmation by text and email, with the date, the time or window, and what to expect. Then remind them before the visit. A common pattern is one reminder the day before and another about an hour before you arrive.

Reminders help with no-shows and with the customer who forgot to unlock the gate. Make it easy to reschedule, too: a customer who can move the visit is less likely to just not be home.

Booking confirmations and reminders still need to say who they're from and include a way to opt out of texts.

Start small

You don't have to put your whole schedule online. Start with one appointment type, such as free estimates, with generous buffers. Once you see how customers use it, add more.

This article is general information for business owners, not legal advice. Survey figures are US consumer research where noted; we are not aware of equivalent published Canadian surveys and do not present them as Canadian data.