Find out how the school website with booking plugin helps everyone
All around the world the school is seen as one of the most important organizations in society. That is why every school’s administration team must be as efficient as it can be to accomplish the objective of the school which is very often to impart knowledge and prepare students to become useful members of the society. In an age of technology where most businesses and organizations require an online presence to survive, a school library website has become a necessity and many schools have benefited from having one.
However, if your school currently uses WordPress for school website without a booking plugin, you may be missing out on many opportunities. An online appointment system makes things easy for everyone including the staff, parents and the students. Consider how a booking plugin can help everyone using your website.
1. Saves Time
Time is of the essence when running an organization. Time must be spent wisely if you want to increase productivity and stand out among your competitors. Most school admin teams have limited manpower hours and if they spend most of it making and rescheduling appointments for parents, students, teachers, and the school directors, they will not be able to perform many important tasks. Scheduling and managing appointment the old fashioned way is time-consuming and sometimes inefficient.
An online booking system, however, can help you manage your appointments and can produce the best results. When parents, students or teachers want to book an appointment, they do not need to put a call through. All they need to do is go to the website and schedule a meeting for a convenient time. With an appointment system in place, your staff will have the time to carry out other activities that will help the school reach its objective.
2. Eliminates Miscommunication and Errors
One of the major disadvantages of booking appointments over the phone is the issue of miscommunication. Sometimes your employee who is in charge of bookings may be stressed from picking different calls, responding to emails, and answering client’s questions. They may not be very attentive at the time when some parents call to book an appointment. This can lead to error in the personal information of the client. The time is chosen and even the name of the nonoclient may not be correctly written, leading to confusion when the client eventually comes.
If your school website has a booking plugin, you will not need to worry about miscommunication issues as parents will enjoy the flexibility of going to your website and booking appointments by themselves. No one will ask them questions over the phone, reducing the chances of a mistake when taking down information.
3. Saves Cost
A lot of appointment scheduling goes on in school and you may need an extra hand to manage these appointments. Hiring another staff will mean an addition to your payroll. Instead of getting a person to handle your appointment, use a school website WordPress plugin to make appointment scheduling fast and easy. Your receptionist will not always be in the office to receive phone calls from those who want to schedule an appointment. Once she is gone, there will be nobody to attend to callers.
With a booking plugin, your receptionist would not need to spend extra hours in the office because there was no time to do other things during office hours. When there are fewer phone calls to answer and fewer emails to respond to, your staff will have sufficient time to attend to school-related matters.
4. Increases Engagement Rate
Every school needs to adopt communication standards that everyone understands and accepts. When parents know what to expect each year, it becomes easy for them to use the method of communication you have chosen and this will boost engagement.
If you decide to use the online appointment system as the only method of scheduling appointment, parents will learn how to use it if they aren’t already familiar with the process. Over time, they will find the process more convenient and they are likely to repeat it. All the teachers in your school must use one method of appointment scheduling. When deciding on how to make school website, ensure you choose the automated scheduling option and ask everyone to cooperate with the arrangement. No teacher should make an appointment via email as this will defeat the purpose of the systemized scheduling.
5. Reduces Missed Appointments
Sometimes people book appointments and forget to show up on the scheduled date. The other party is often kept waiting and this can be frustrating. Having a website with a booking plugin decreases the chances of missed meetings as your calendar can be seen by those who visit your site. These people can then select a time that is convenient for them. When they make the appointment in the system, they will get an automatic reminder before the scheduled date notifying them of their upcoming appointment. These reminders help clients to prepare for their appointment and clear up their schedule to be there and where they can’t meet up, they have the opportunity to cancel.
6. Decreases the Workload of Your Administrative Team
The online scheduling system eliminates the need to pick calls, reschedule and remind parents and teachers about their appointment. Your administrative staff will not need to be distracted by calls and will not need to answer questions about appointments that they are most often not a part of.
With the booking plugin, parents can book appointments directly with teachers and choose a time that both parties will be available. Even when the parent needs to change the appointment, they will not contact your administrative team or the teacher to cancel their meeting. The booking plugin allows parents and teachers to edit and cancel appointments in the system. When an appointment is modified or canceled all parties involved will be notified of the changes.
7. Allows Parents to Meet With Teachers Whenever They Want
Many parents are concerned about their kids and they may want to talk to their teachers in school about the child’s performance or behavior. Since most parents take this kind of issue seriously, they will want to meet with a teacher as quickly as possible.
A scheduling system helps you to know when the teacher will be available for a meeting. This way you do not show up unannounced and wait around until the teacher is free to attend to you. When the teacher is aware of your coming, you will be given all the attention you need because the teacher will be relaxed and ready to have a conversation. Plus if you have more than one child enrolled in the school, you can go through the appointment schedule of each of their teachers and meet with all of them on the same day.
8. Allows Teachers to Prepare for the Visit
When a teacher knows that a parent is coming, the teacher will prepare for the visit. If you come without letting the teacher know, you may not be given immediate attention especially if the person is busy with other important activities. And when they are eventually ready to speak to you, the meeting might be brief.
Scheduling of appointments online helps to ensure that you have a fruitful meeting with the teacher. The reason is that the teacher will have prepared his or her thoughts and will have come up with talking points that will help you have a more thorough conversation.
9. Encourages Students to Book Appointments
Teens care about what their peers think of them. If they have to fill a sign-up sheet before they can see a school counselor or a teacher they will most likely never bother to have a meeting even when they have a lot to say. This is because they may be scared that other students will know that they met with a counselor from the sign-up sheet that is often placed outside the teacher’s or counselor’s door. They may also shy away from enrolling in a study group or other activities for fear that others may know about it.
However, when students are allowed to book appointments with their teachers or the school counselor online, they embrace it wholeheartedly and they will be moved to use it. For one thing, other students will not know that they met with the school counselor. Students who book an appointment will get email reminders and if they fail to show up without canceling beforehand, they can be held responsible. The good thing about the online appointment system is that teachers know exactly who has booked an appointment with them. So if the student is not there on that day, the teacher can follow up on the child. Again if your school library website has a booking plugin, more students will use the library and this will mean improvement in grades. A booking plugin can also help you utilize the school library checkout system.
10. Boosts Potential Enrollment Visits
If you want more students to enroll in your school, use the online appointment system to make appointment scheduling easy. The fact that you are trying to make things easy for parents, students and teachers say a lot about your school. Create a calendar on your school website to allow potential students to schedule a visit to your facility. This will help parents and students know when they can come for a tour of the school and will enable your team to prepare for the tour.
11. Organize Mass Activities With Ease
When your school website has a booking plugin, you will not need to worry about organizing mass activities like lining up photo sitting times. Instead of keeping students waiting in long queues when they should be in class, you can use automated scheduling to book appointments with the students. This way you reduce rowdiness and disorganization.
No doubt, there are compelling reasons why your school website should have a booking plugin. If you haven’t switched to automated scheduling yet, you may want to review the effect that the old-fashioned method of scheduling has on your team. If your current method of appointment booking isn’t bringing you the benefits listed above, then do away with it and opt for a digital means of scheduling. You need to know that there are different types of booking plugins but not all of them will bring you the desired result. The Bookly plugin, however, is designed to help you take your organization to the next level.
Here’s why Bookly is your best option
1) Allows You to Customize Your Site
Bookly plugin allows users to customize their site with ease. The good thing about Bookly is that it is easy to set up and you do not need design skills to achieve a professional and customized look for your school website. You can adjust colors, insert your school logo as well as a background image that suits your brand.
2) Offers a Variety of Templates
You can choose from the numerous templates that Bookly provides. They are beautiful and fully responsive. No matter the type of school you run, you can be sure that you will always find a template that suits your brand.
3) Choose How You Want Parents to See Your Booking Availability
With Bookly, you can choose the most convenient way for parents to see your booking availability. Bookly has got you covered whether you want them to view your availability by class, staff or time.
4) Allows for Group Bookings
One person can book an appointment for many students at the same time. So if the students decide to see a teacher in a group, they can make reservations and meet with the teacher at a time and place convenient for them.
5) Automatic Text Reminders
Bookly sends out reminders to parents and students who have booked appointments to help them remember their meeting with a teacher or school counselor. This helps to decrease no-shows. In situations where the parents or students can’t show up, Bookly allows them to cancel in advance.
Conclusion
Coming up with ideas for school website is not as overwhelming as choosing the right booking plugin for your site. There are a variety of plugins out there that are not suitable for school websites. A booking plugin like Bookly, however, eliminates the stress of scheduling appointments on the phone and through emails. Not only will your staff concentrate on more important matters, but they will also feel in control of their time.
The booking plugin is designed to make appointment scheduling easy and quick for everyone. If you want to make parents, teachers, and students happy, install the Bookly plugin today and watch more and more people schedule and show up for their appointments.
