In 2019, the social media sharing app Buffer published a report on the state of remote work.
Not surprisingly, one of their conclusions is that remote work is not a fad.
According to the study,
“Of our respondents, 99% said they would like to work remotely at least some of the time for the rest of their careers. This is a notable stat to have discovered; while remote work is sometimes portrayed as a trend, these results seem to infer that this way of working is here to stay. Out of all the data we collected, no response was as powerful as this one.”
Automattic, of course, is known for having remote workers.
As WordPress designers and developers, we are remote. We work in our place of residence and have clients across the globe.
If you are like me, you have even worked with someone in a different country. That’s the nature of this gig economy. Even so, there is still a need to meet clients. We have onboard them to our process, interview to see if they are a fit, go over reports, and much more.
Because we are meeting with a client remotely, there is a need for help with scheduling our virtual meetings.
There are several pieces of software available to help with the process. Today we take a look at seven appointment scheduling software to help manage your meetings.
10to8
10to8 is a robust online appointment scheduling software. The platform works well with small businesses up to enterprise-level companies. The software was founded in Cambridge by a surgeon named Bruce. It launched to the public in 2014. It compares really well to the other major players in the market.
Appointlet
Appointlet has two plans, Free and Premium. You will notice that it integrates with Zoom, but only in the Premium plan. However, the Premium plan is just $8 per month per member when billing annually.
Appointlet seems like a solid platform for small business teams. Although I am unsure where they began, I did find a post on Reddit from 8 years ago asking users to give feedback.
SimplyBook
According to Jill Diffy at the Zapier blog, SimplyBook is the best option for international businesses.
She says, “SimplyBook is available in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (European and Brazilian), Russian, Spanish, and Taiwanese.” That is something you might keep in mind if you are working with clients in those areas of the world.
SimplyBook offers four plans, including a free plan that includes limited features. The platform does list several ways to book from multiple channels according to its homepage. The original company, Notando Iceland Ltd, launched in 2001. The application started slowly but really began to grow after 2011.
Meeting Scheduler for Gmail
We aren’t always made up of multiple team members. The Meeting Scheduler for Gmail by cloudHQ is an excellent option for smaller teams that run exclusively through Gmail.
The app has two plans, Free and Premium. The Premium plan is just $6.99 per month. If you need something very basic and you aren’t worried about a plethora of integrations, this might be a great option.
Book Like a Boss
Book Like a Boss is a popular option for many in the WordPress community. Like many other appointment scheduling software, the founders could not find what they were looking for and launched their own.
The founders began building the platform in 2016, launching the beta version in 2017.
Prices are named after a drink in a coffee shop with the espresso being the smallest price point. Unfortunately, they do not use Aeropress (my favorite coffee drink!) anywhere.
Picktime
Picktime claims to “Make Appointment scheduling a piece of Cake.” That sounds fantastic as I love cake.
The app has a good amount of integrations and is currently free. The company is self-funded according to a response I received on Facebook.
It appears the company is early on in its lifecycle. According to a blog post, they are “giving legacy accounts for all of our early business users.”
According to Crunchbase, the Picktime was founded in December 2017.
It might be worth it to get your free account now as you will always have a free one.
HubSpot meeting software
Hubspot has its own free software with upgraded plans. My guess is that the real benefit of using their software are those teams who are already using HubSpot.
HubSpot also has a CRM, so if you are using that, it might be worth it to look into this platform.
The app does boast integration with Gmail, G Suite, Outlook, or Office 365, as well as the HubSpot CRM.
Two more apps
Two more that I did not list are Calendy and Doodle. When researching various types of scheduling software, these two almost always made the list.
Doodle has been around since 2007 and was acquired in January of 2014. The platform has four plans, including the $4 per month starter.
Calendy was founded in 2013 and is a staple in our industry. The Georgia based company has a good following among solo and entrepreneurs.
Wrapping it up
What kinds of things do you need with an appointment scheduler software? A few of the things you might consider are how you take payments for appointments (if you do take payments), does the software integrate with your video conferencing software. Another thing to consider is if the software sends reminders to your customers.
If your needs are not very comprehensive, you can certainly get started for free with most of these applications.
Other features are up to you.
Which appointment scheduling software do you use? Let us know in the MainWP Facebook Users Group or the MainWP community.
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