Explaining Conversion Rate for Online Bookings
The conversion rate for online bookings refers to the percentage of website visitors who complete the whole customer journey of booking an appointment or service from your business.
Online booking conversion rate can be calculated by taking the number of people who completed the entire booking process and dividing it by the total amount of visitors that enter your booking page.
There are many factors affecting the conversion rate that include, but are not limited to:
- Exit Rate
- Number of Bounces
- Average Session Duration
- Cart Abandonment Rate
- Funnel Drop-Off Points
To boost your conversion rate effectively, it’s important to have a clear picture of the entire customer journey right up to the point of conversion, including any bottlenecks that might occur along the way.
Keep in mind that conversion rates can vary based on several factors, including the kind of traffic you’re getting, when your customers visit, the devices they’re using, and the particular industry your business is part of.
Take, for instance, a restaurant’s conversion rate from search engines such as Google is typically much higher due to the intent factor.
The quality of traffic from search engines is superior because those searching are more likely to have the intention to buy compared to traffic from social media platforms.
Additionally, restaurants tend to have a higher conversion rate partly because the average expenditure is less than in other sectors, like clinics.
The act of increasing the conversion rate is also called Conversion Rate Optimization.
What is a Good Online Booking Conversion Rate?
A good online booking conversion rate is generally 5 to 25%, depending on many different factors – like the type of industry you’re in, location served, quality of traffic, etc.
The general rule of thumb is that the more expensive your service is and the more customers have to commit, the lower your conversion rate is going to be. A restaurant should see a better conversion rate than a plastic surgeon.
The quality of traffic and your location served is also a consideration, as better quality traffic (from search engines) usually means higher intent to convert.
Generally, customers from more affluent neighborhoods show higher conversion rates, as they are less deterred by pricing factors and more likely to engage with the booking process.
How to Improve Your Online Booking Conversion Rate
Map Out Your User’s Customer Journey
Mapping out your user’s customer journey is the very first thing that you should do to understand your customer, and really increase conversion rate. Put yourself in their shoes, and predict what they will do and where they’ll get stuck.
If you make everything easy and logical, customers will gradually know what to do and will want to continue on without you needing to do too much.
A good booking platform will have good templates and resources in place just in case you don’t have a solid idea of where to start.
Optimize Your Website Branding & UI/UX to Increase Trust
Branding is important, especially since competition in many industries has skyrocketed. That is why we recommend using branding as a way to stand out, especially through your online booking system.
It could be something as using as using your brand elements, mascots, colors, or even having a brand ritual. Brand rituals are memorable and engaging to customers.
Think of brands like Starbucks, part of the reason why they’re as big as they are today, is also because of their brand ritual of asking for your name, writing it down, and calling it out when your name is ready.
You might not realize it, but you probably automatically think of Starbucks when imagining a coffee shop barista calling out your name!
UI/UX is also an important part of it. To keep it as straightforward as possible, UI is what the user sees (aesthetics, color, font, etc.), and UX is the user experience (page load time, button responsiveness, etc.
Good UI/UX makes it pleasant for users and will keep them on the page longer. Don’t believe us, here is a statistic stating that 88% of users will not consider coming back to a website if the UI/UX is bad – that’s not a small figure!
Implement a Chatbot or Customer Support Widget
The next thing to consider is to implement a chatbot or maybe a customer support widget. There are 2 ways to go about this, which are:
- Having a widget popping to give tips in particularly confusing parts of your booking system. You can have it auto-prompt if users spend more than a certain amount of time on a particular page.
- The second option is to have a chatbot button available for customers to ask questions if they’re having problems navigating. You can opt for an AI chatbot that can answer the most common questions that your users might have.
However, your chatbot should not be too intrusive, as that can impact your overall UI/UX and user experience.
Include Client Testimonials as Social Proofing
Client testimonials are powerful for boosting conversion rates of not just your booking system, but also your landing pages and social media pages.
The idea behind this is social proofing, which is the next best thing to word-of-mouth.
Humans tend to trust the words of other humans and show that you’re a trustworthy business that has had a good track record with clients, that’s why reviews are important on platforms like Google or corporate landing pages.
They’re so important in fact that many large companies have their own testimonial landing pages, just to showcase their current!
If possible you should also showcase the benefits that you can bring to your clients if they do go through with the booking.
The easiest way to do so is to get reviews from your Google Business Profile or social media profile. Make sure to get permission from the reviewer first though, since Google mentioned that you need consent to do this.
Start by replying to the review and simply asking for permission. On social media platforms, feel free to send a message to the reviewer to ask for permission!
Keep it Responsive Across Platforms, Especially Mobile
This might come as an obvious point, but you’ll be surprised how many platforms are not as mobile-friendly as possible.
Data shows that about 82% of clients book their appointments through mobile phones, so it’s more important than ever for your booking system to be mobile-friendly.
If you want to learn more about website mobile-friendliness, check out this guide from Wix that makes it easy to get started.
Reduce the Amount of Steps & Make It Easy
Another way to increase the conversion rate for your booking system is to simply reduce the total amount of steps needed before confirming their booking.
This could be as simple as combining relevant steps into 1 page instead of separating them into 2.
So if you’re running a hair salon, for example, this could be having a drop-down menu pop up when users click on the barbers, instead of having it on the next page.
Another great tip to show users what page they’re at, much like pages on a book. This allows users to know exactly how many more steps are required before completing, which is shown to increase conversion rate organically.
Focus on Quality Customers & Match Search Intent
Increasing the traffic quality is another thing to consider to improve your conversion rates.
High-quality traffic usually refers to mid-to-bottom funnel users, where users are more likely to convert because they already have a higher intent to make a purchase.
You can do this by focusing your efforts on search engines like Google. Google traffic, whether paid or organic is great because people searching for a particular service usually have the intention to convert, without you needing to do much other than you’re the best choice.
On the flipside, traffic from social media can vary. If you show ads on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram, they might not be immediately ready to make a purchase, despite their being interested in the service.
So, you’d ideally want to focus more on search traffic, that will convert a lot easier. Here’s a quickstart guide to get started on Local SEO!
Ask for as Little Information as Possible
Lastly, you should aim to ask for as little information as possible. There are many times when businesses want to fill up their customer profile data, perhaps too quickly – which leads to them asking their customers for too much information.
Remember, put yourself in your user’s shoes. Would you give your address, date of birth, phone number, income, marital status, etc., when all you’re looking for is to book a haircut? Probably not.
If you’re looking for better conversion on your booking system, definitely try to just ask for 3 three things first, which are:
- Customer’s Full Name
- Mobile Number
- Email Address
In our experience, these 3 are all you need to get started and provide the best balance.
Despite this, this doesn’t mean that you can’t fill up your CRM’s customer profile. The key is to gradually add to it, through interactions like events, giveaways, vouchers, etc.
If you’re interested in an all-in-one solution, feel free to check out our product page to check out our booking solution!
Why is Conversion Rate Important for Online Booking Systems?
Conversion rate is important for any business using an online booking system because it affects the number of bookings a business gets, while not costing the business any more money in terms of marketing expenses.
This ultimately means that the cost per lead will decrease significantly. Each percentage point increase in conversion rate could lead to dozens more leads or bookings, assuming the amount of traffic stays the same.
Moreover, from a technical standpoint, the conversion rate serves as a benchmark of the efficacy of the user interface.
It provides you with more information about whether the product and booking page effectively meet customer needs.
A higher conversion rate is a gauge of website performance and customer satisfaction with the offered services or products.
Check out Click2Book (our own appointment scheduling software) to learn about how it can help you increase conversions!
Hey there! I’m Jeffrey Hau, and my journey in the digital world started after I wrapped up my psychology degree at UCLA. Imagine coming back to the bustling streets of Hong Kong from the tech haven of Silicon Valley – it was a whirlwind of inspiration! Seeing how social media platforms were evolving at breakneck speed and realizing the limitations of traditional advertising in this digital age, I decided to dive in.
In 2012, I laid the foundation of Prizm Group. From our humble beginnings, we’ve now blossomed into a global powerhouse with a team of over 200 passionate professionals. Our HQ is right here in Hong Kong, and we’ve spread our wings to SG, AU, NZ, JP, and China.
As a digital problem solver, our team found that several industries are in need of reservation systems, especially for F&B, Hotels, Beauty, and Medical sectors. Our digital magicians started crafting reservation systems tailored to cater to these specific needs. We extended our expertise to e-commerce, voucher management systems, and campaign management systems, combining them into KlikNRoll – an all-in-one solution. We deep dive into various industries, understanding their unique challenges and developing innovative solutions.
We’re not just a company; we’re your dedicated partners in transforming how you navigate the digital landscape. Our passion lies in providing businesses with intuitive and tailored solutions using KlikNRoll’s powerful capabilities.
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