Do you have a website where you promote your service business? Do you want your customers to book their appointment through your website? Is it even possible? You can bet your tax return that it is! This is what a booking widget is for. A booking widget (like PocketSuite’s own booking widget) is a plugin used for websites. When embedded on a website, your customers can just click and they will be redirected to your booking page where your availability and schedule is shown.
Is it free? Yes and No.
You need to have an appointment app subscription in order to get a booking widget plugin. The booking widget plugins differ for each scheduling app, and so are the ways and methods of utilizing them for your business and setting them up.
Before picking a booking widget, check first if you can easily set it up on your own.
Things to Consider When Choosing a Booking Widget
There are a lot of questions to ask yourself when it comes to choosing a booking widget. The problem is choosing the right booking widget that will work with your service business. Before adding a booking widget to your website, you should consider these things first.
- The type of service business you have
- The features of the booking widget
- The compatibility of the booking widget with your service business website
- Ease of use
- Number of access points for team or logins available
- Flexibility to customize
To help you make a decision, we searched for the top booking widgets on online. Considering features and ease of use, here are the top 10 booking widgets that we found.
Squareup
Squareup is a booking widget that you can add to any website. It works with Squarespace, WordPress, Wix, and Weebly. This booking widget makes booking easier for people who need to schedule their dental checkup or for house cleaning. This booking widget is easy to use. Once you’ve added it on your service business website, your customers can simply click on it if they want to make an appointment. All available schedules will be shown on the booking page. An indicator shows if the date and time are available.
Features
- It comes with a personalized ‘book now’ button
- Easy to use even for elderly folks and non-tech savvy individuals
- Provides options like highlighting the names of your service business team (for customers to choose from)
- Sends out automated reminders to customers with upcoming bookings
- You can personalize the calendar
Mindbody
This booking widget is easy to add to any website and is easy to use. Mindbody also allows widget customization so you can change the calendar’s color or the font. The limiting aspect of this booking widget is that it only allows one booking at a time. If two of your customers booked at the same time, chances are, it will not work or they will get an error.
Features
- It allows your client to choose their preferred team member from your service business
- It has neat options for listing team members names (alphabetically or by availability)
- The booking interval option can be turned on for this booking widget
Bookly
Bookly is a booking widget with full features. It’s basically like having an appointment app on your website. However, this booking widget is not cheap. It is a good widget app choice to use if your website’s platform is WordPress.
Features
- A booking widget that sends SMS notifications automatically
- Processes payments
- It syncs with Google calendar
- Your clients can book multiple appointments at once
- It is available in 10 languages (translation-ready)
Launch27
Launch 27 allows your customer to choose their schedule when booking an appointment with you. This booking widget can be embedded as a booking form to your service business site. You can also add a link to the Launch27 booking page if there is not enough room on your service business website to fit the booking form.
Features
- Easy to use
- Minimal design to make booking easier even for non-tech savvy folks
- It sends automatic reminders to booked customers
Jobber
If you are running a service business where your team is always on the go, you should check out Jobber. Service business providers that do home service (technicians, cleaning) can use Jobber on their phone to check their next job order.
Features
- Integrated with other apps like payment apps or any marketing tools
- Easy to use
- Send out automated reminders to both team members and clients
BirchPress
BirchPress is a popular WordPress plugin and booking widget that offers professional booking management assistance. This booking widget can be embedded on the WordPress platform. Once a customer books a service on your website, you can add an option to collect payment via PayPal or credit card.
Features
- Customers can book appointments easily
- It syncs with Google Calendar and Outlook
- You can choose to have a customized email notification sent to your clients regarding their booking
- This booking widget also has a reminder feature about your upcoming schedule
Booki
If your service business deals with reservations and appointments in order to run smoothly, you could check out Booki. Booki is a booking widget that can be used by service business providers in the industry of hospitality, resorts, driving lessons, hair stylists, and more.
Features:
- Unlimited booking options
- This booking widget syncs with Google calendar
- Sends automated confirmation for every booking
- Comes with different calendar modes
- Can process payments
- Sends a reminder for each appointment (customized or automated)
Bookeo
Bookeo is a booking widget that you can integrate with your service business to make scheduling of appointments easier. Your customers can just click on the ‘book now’ button and they will get directed to the Bookeo calendar page. When integrated, your page URL or domain name won’t be affected hence your customers can still see your website’s name and not the Bookeo booking widget URL. Note: You cannot use Bookeo appointment app on your service business website if you have a Bookeo booking widget or vice versa.
Features:
- Customizable booking widget on your website (you can even change the color and font size)
- Customizable calendar page for booking (only shows what you want to show like available dates for the day, week, or month)
- Customizable booking page
- Easy to use for service business customers
Bookme
For a streamlined and easy to use booking page, you can try Bookme. Bookme is a booking widget that works across different platforms. By clicking on Bookme, your customers can check if there are available booking slots that they can reserve. For example: Say you are a cleaning service business provider. Your customers can easily check your availability and book right onto your schedule. Presto!
Features
- Available appointment dates are made visible while taken dates are greyed out (to avoid double booking)
- Provides access to multiple service business team members, if needed
- Sends out a customized email notification
- The appearance of the ‘book now’ button for this booking widget is customizable
PocketSuite
The PocketSuite booking widget allows service business websites to have a customized ‘book now’ button. With a customized booking widget, your clients or new leads can easily pick an appointment. With PocketSuite, your customers won’t have to call anymore to make their bookings. A click of their mouse or a tap on their phone can easily lead them to your booking page where they can schedule an appointment, register for a class, or purchase a package from you.
Features
- Allows multiple booking widgets in a single service business page
- This booking widget allows you to have customized online forms and e-contracts
- It provides a unique booking widget code that you can place on your email or your service business Facebook page, Instagram page, or website
- Can process payments
- Compatible with different hosting platforms like Wix, Weebly, WordPress, Webs, GoDaddy, and Squarespace
- Overall has the most features for the best price.
When it comes to a booking widget, there are at least 100 options out there. Before you pick a booking widget, make sure to learn more about the features.
There are booking widgets that are specifically designed for a particular service business only. So make sure you check out one of our recommended ones first!
Ready to accept payments from customers with your brand spankin’ new booking widget? Great, now it’s time for a victory dance!
Like this article? You’ll love our guide on how to generate leads for service businesses in 2022, and of course our Frustrations with Square article!
