Did you really think we were done telling you how great GladstoneGo is? Not a chance! We’re carrying on the theme by giving you an insight into another specific function of our new SaaS solution. The joining process was covered in our previous blog post, so this week it’s all about booking!
We’ve reimagined the typical leisure browsing experience and made it fully accessible to members and non-members alike. No need to input any personal details until a selection has been made – customers can browse all available classes and activities with prices fully visible from the get-go.
How does this benefit…
Your customers? They know exactly what they’re getting before they checkout. It gives them the modern booking experience that they’re used to in other aspects of their day-to-day lives. With all prices and details fully visible, they don’t have to go through the faff of creating an account before browsing and booking.
You as an operator? Show off your offerings in an open and accessible ‘shop window’ format. After all, if you’ve got it, flaunt it! Having a friction-free booking process will help reduce basket abandonment and ultimately increase your revenue. Win-win. Plus, when customers checkout, they are automatically logged in the system as a prospect, meaning you can keep track of their booking frequency and work your magic to keep them coming back for more.
And the booking options are totally configurable by you. Add class descriptions to let customers know exactly what to expect in a class, including anything specific they might need to bring along. This will save you answering a load of phone calls and emails from first-timers!
Your customers can now book on the go! GladstoneGo is completely mobile-responsive and scales to fit any mobile device. This means that users can book wherever and whenever is convenient for them. Mobile booking is often much handier than booking from a laptop or desktop, especially when you can search for exactly what you’re looking for…
Search sits at the core of GladstoneGo and makes things a whole lot easier and quicker. Users can search by centre, day, class or activity, refining results down to a select list. There’s no need to scroll through all available options if they know what they’re looking for. And they can also search for multiple things at once to save time performing individual searches.
Once results have been refined, consumers can view available spaces in a class and grab a space before it’s gone!
See just how easy it is to search for classes and activities in the video below:
You talked and we listened. Following in-depth discussions with our SIG – Special Interest Group (a small group of operators who have been helping us shape our new platform through valuable feedback), we realised that activities needed to be displayed in a different way to classes. This led to the creation of our unique timetable view:
Operators can configure the booking window to only allow customers to book a specified number of weeks in advance depending on your individual booking policy. But customers will still be able to view which activities will be available in the coming weeks even if they can’t book them yet, so they can start planning their future activities.
What about a customer who wants to book tennis on Monday and Wednesday and Indoor Cycling on Saturday? Not a problem! Users can book multiple classes and activities in the same booking – they can simply add items to their basket and keep browsing until they’re ready to checkout.
We’ve decided to do things a bit differently when it comes to traditional waiting lists. Introducing alert lists! When a class or activity is full, customers can add themselves to the alert list, so they will be notified if a space comes available.
Keep reading for a sneak peek into some ideas we’ve had for bookings going forwards!
Shaking up midnight offset
Staying up late to book a class isn’t everyone’s cup of tea so we’re thinking of replacing the typical midnight offset rule and instead basing it off the time of the class (eg. a 4pm Bootcamp class on Wednesday might be able to be booked the week beforehand on Tuesday at 4pm).
How will this benefit…
Your customers? No more setting the alarm for midnight, humans are creatures of habit and if you always know you’ll have to book your Ab Attack class for next week, this Tuesday at 6pm, you’ll get into a routine and are less likely to forget (or be asleep!).
You as an operator? Bookings will be spread out throughout the day, and you won’t get an influx of bookings at midnight. Hurray! It also gives all your customers a fair opportunity to nab a space in the most popular classes.
Book for others
We’ll also be working on making booking for others a possibility. Whether that’s for friends, partners or children, we know that this would be really handy for many customers.
And much more to come! As we’ve mentioned before, GladstoneGo is a true SaaS product so updates will be released continuously as we develop new features and functionalities, so stay tuned for lots of exciting things to come.
After all this talk about booking, why not book a GladstoneGo demo to see for yourself just how simple joining and booking can be?
Keep an eye out for our next blog post which will cover the My Account area!