A few years ago, a customer asked us the best way to manage appointments with their Zoho products.
We didn’t have an answer.
Sure, there were plenty of scheduling software they could integrate with Zoho products like CRM, Meetings, Calendar, and even Sites. However, none of those schedulers worked just right. Over and over again, our customers reported unsuccessful product trials and cross-integrations.
Two years ago, we decided to make a change. We decided to create our own scheduling software that could speak to Zoho apps in such an ingrained way that you wouldn’t ever have to worry about appointments going astray.
To be honest, it wasn’t easy. We ran into more challenges and delays than we anticipated. But even when we felt overwhelmed, we kept hearing positive feedback from our partners and beta users. We weren't perfect, but we had potential. That was enough to keep us going. We conducted demo sessions at various Zoholics events across the world to gather suggestions. Thousands of attendees told us what they wanted.
Fuelled and motivated, we opened up service a few months ago on what we called Zoho Bookings. Since then, we’ve been growing steadily. While a few select partners tested our product, we tried to fit Bookings into our own internal processes. After considerable hits and misses, we now use our very own appointment scheduler to book demos and calls with our customers. That's the power of internal testing—you see so many possibilities you wouldn't have seen otherwise.
So today, we’re ready for you to try Zoho Bookings.
More than just appointment scheduling
Even though our goal was a simple scheduler, we ended up with something even bigger. We created a comprehensive booking tool. We now cater to three different types of bookings:
Appointments
List out your services, set up working hours, and get a shareable, embeddable booking page. Your clients can schedule time with you online any time they want.
Class registrations
If you’re conducting workshops or recurring classes, you can configure dates and times so people can sign up.
Asset rentals
Whether you're managing a motel or renting out trade equipment on a regular basis, you can add your resources into Bookings for people to borrow.
From various discussions with customers, we learned that people wanted versatility. However, we also realized that you need additional capabilities to complement your booking system.
Payments
Zoho Bookings integrates with seven of the world’s popular payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, RazorPay, and Authorize.Net.
Calendar sync
A competent scheduling system shouldn't mess with your other schedulers. Bookings connects with your Google calendars, as well as your Zoho and Zoho CRM calendars, so you never get double booked. If you have an event on your Google Calendar for a parent-teacher meeting on Friday from 10 to 12, that time will be automatically blocked off in Bookings.
Zoho CRM
Pushing and pulling customer information to and from Zoho CRM was a critical integration for our customers. It was one of the most requested (and, frankly, trickiest to implement) features during our testing period. But now we've made it so that every new appointment added to Bookings automatically shows up on your Zoho CRM. In case of first-time bookings, they will be added as new customers, and returning customers’ details will be updated as required.
Zoho CRM Plugin
We’ve also created a plugin for Zoho CRM users. This will allow you to schedule meetings with your Contacts and Leads, as well as access all your appointments in one place.
Pricing
Zoho Bookings is available in two pricing plans. When billed annually,
- Basic: $15/month for 3 calendars (staff or rental assets) and 1 workspace (location/department/branch)
- Premium: $40/month for 10 calendars and unlimited workspaces, with $4 for every additional calendar.
Check out our complete pricing.
Of course, we're part of Zoho One!
If you’re subscribed to Zoho One, you get complete access to the Premium plan of Zoho Bookings.
We can't wait to hear your thoughts on Zoho Bookings. Try it out.
Comments