Smart communication with customers

For businesses with a field service that schedule appointments on-site at companies or private residences, it is crucial to ensure that the scheduling process is efficient. Communication with customers plays an important role in this.

Scheduling itself can already be a very complex task. If you have to communicate and coordinate with the customer to schedule an appointment, it can slow down or complicate the process. Before you know it, you end up in a back-and-forth of phone calls and emails between the back office and the customer, which can result in delays and misunderstandings. All of this can have a negative impact on the customer experience and the efficiency of the field service.

We will list the pros and cons of scheduling appointments via phone, email, or with the support of advanced scheduling software.

Scheduling appointments via phone

Many businesses with a field service choose phone consultations to schedule appointments with customers. This offers several advantages. For example, triage becomes much simpler and more flexible. With the right questions, the planner can identify the customer's needs or problems. Based on the information received, a better estimate can be made of the duration and the necessary skills to perform the task. It is also possible to inquire about customer preferences, such as time slots or specific available days.

However, there are also disadvantages. When speaking to a customer on the phone, a planner must be able to act quickly under time pressure. If an initial appointment proposal is not possible for the customer, the planner must quickly find another suitable moment in the field service's calendars, ideally taking into account the efficiency of the scheduling to avoid excessive travel time.

If the back office itself calls the end customer for an appointment, there is a possibility that the customer may not be reachable. Voicemails are being listened to less and less, so the planner must remember to call back later. Maintaining this overview is a challenge.

To avoid no-shows, appointments should be confirmed via email or SMS, and customers should be reminded again the day before the appointment. Some administrative work is required to ensure that this is not forgotten.

Scheduling appointments via email

One advantage here is that in most cases, emails are read by the customer. You also don't have to call all customers, and you can use templates to speed up the process. The administration after confirmation is often simpler as well. Confirmation and follow-up emails can be sent to the same email address.

But due to the lack of personal consultation, you can quickly end up in back-and-forth emailing until the back office and the customer agree on an appointment. This leads to a longer time span between proposal and confirmation, and in the meantime, time slots in the field service workers' calendars need to be blocked. It is also a challenge to maintain an overview in this case, and there is a greater chance of losing efficiency in the scheduling due to the many reserved time slots.

Support by advanced scheduling software

The majority of phone calls and emails can be replaced if customers are allowed to schedule their appointments themselves. With good software, you can ensure that self-scheduling is done efficiently. If you still prefer to let planners take the initiative, you can allow customers to accept or reject scheduling proposals digitally. In the planning software, you can easily maintain an overview and quickly see which actions you may still need to take.

If it is necessary to have a phone consultation with the customer, for example, to obtain more information, the software can also be a useful tool to support appointment scheduling. With the customer on the line, you can get the most efficient appointment proposals in a few clicks that meet all requirements such as skills and requested time windows. So you never have to search for available slots in calendars or consult Google Maps.

You no longer have to worry about communication via email. Advanced software ensures that this happens automatically and at the right time.

You can easily avoid incoming customer calls asking if their technician is on the way by providing your customer with access to real-time updates.

In short, smart communication is an important part of efficient scheduling and can have a huge impact on the customer experience and customer satisfaction.

Movetex Planning Software

With Movetex Planning Software, it is possible to send automatic communication via email or SMS. This can include appointment confirmation, updates on the day of the appointment with an adjusted time window, or a summary of the completed task (PDF) afterwards.

In addition, Movetex Planning Software offers a customer portal for the end customer, fully customized to match your company's look and feel. Customers can schedule appointments themselves, linked to Movetex's smart planning algorithms. Alternatively, they can accept or reject a proposed appointment. On the day of the appointment, the customer has access to a technician's track & trace, allowing them to know exactly when your employee will arrive. After the task is completed, the customer receives a summary and the opportunity to provide feedback.

Movetex's smart communication is linked to the scheduling. The scheduling is continuously optimized, but an appointment will never be moved outside the communicated time window. This ensures that the customer always receives the correct communication, while optimization still takes place within these boundaries.

Movetex Planning Software's communication features can reduce the number of telephone calls to and from customers by up to 80%, while increasing the efficiency of scheduling. Moreover, your customer will be impressed by clear and effective communication. It's a win-win for everyone!

You can find more information about the communication features of Movetex Planning Software here.