14 Hidden MarketBox Software Features You Need to Know About

As any MarketBox user will know, the service scheduling software is packed full of useful features like online booking capabilities, support for travel zones, and a provider mobile app. But what users might not be so familiar with are the software’s so-called “hidden features.” Now, of course, these features aren’t really hidden — in fact, they’re just as easy to implement as all the others — but since you won’t find them in your run-of-the-mill field service software, they might come as a bit of a surprise. 

So if you’re ready to take your business to new heights and start making more of the MarketBox software, here are the 14 “hidden features” you need to know about. 

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1. Direct Booking Links to Service Provider Pages for Improved Marketing and Sales

2. Additional Charge Feature for Expanding Revenue Streams and Upselling

3. Regional Pricing Options for Growing Businesses or Incorporating Travel Costs

4. Support of Multiple Currencies for International Expansion

5. Accept/Decline Options for Service Providers and Access to Data for Better Employee Management

6. Customizable Order Summaries for Improved Communication with Customers and Faster Checkout

7. Daily Agenda Emails for Easy Scheduling Updates

8. Customer Waitlist Features for Integrated Customer Research and Contact Information Gathering

9. Customizable Cancellation Periods for Deterring No-shows

10. Job Completed Button for Automatic Time Tracking and Easier Payroll

11. Ability to Turn Customer Ratings On or Off for Control Over Your Business's Trust Features

12. Optional Provider Tipping for Cashless Payments

13. Ability to Upload Custom Terms of Service Agreements for Industry-specific Legal Compliance

14. Ability to Sell Gift Certificates Alongside Services for Revenue Stream Diversification

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#1. Direct Booking Links to Service Provider Pages for Improved Marketing and Sales

Every time a new service provider is added to the platform, the software generates a personalized booking link. This link can be used to go directly to the individual provider’s booking page, streamlining the appointment scheduling process even further. 

There are two main ways to use personalized booking links to aid your marketing efforts and secure more bookings. But really, this is just the beginning.  

1. Encourage providers to directly market themselves, sharing their personalized booking link via their social media channels, websites, business cards, and email signatures. This will allow their clients to book directly without going to your website and selecting their preferred service provider. By making the booking process easier for those that know what they want, you’re more likely to secure more sales. And as an added bonus, allowing service providers to market themselves takes some of the pressure off of your marketing efforts, freeing up valuable time to dedicate to other tasks. 
   

2. Use a personalized booking link to highlight specific providers in your email newsletters/correspondence with customers. MarketBox stores client contact information, helping you to build up an email list that can be used for marketing offers and business updates. Highlight top-performing providers or introduce new hires in your emails and include links that let clients take immediate action. It’s also useful if you’re announcing providers in new coverage areas as waitlisted customers can quickly identify their nearest option.

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#2. Additional Charge Feature for Expanding Revenue Streams and Upselling 

One of the great features of MarketBox is its intuitive automated booking process that updates the relevant schedules and service provider availability with each new booking. But what many users don’t know is that admin can also book services manually via the platform and additional charges can be made to a client’s account via the mobile app. Why would you want to do this if everything’s normally done automatically? Well, the main reason is that it allows you to upsell. 

With the additional charge feature and manual booking options, you can sell a range of products that compliment your offerings or upsell other services to capture more sales and expand your revenue streams. The following are just a few examples of when you might use this feature.

1. Your business offers body treatments like massage or tanning. With the additional charge feature, you can sell versions of the products you used in the treatment, allowing clients to extend the experience. 
2. The client booked a pedicure but later enquires if you can also do their friends at the same time. With the option to manually book an appointment, the additional service can be credited to their account, and the service provider’s schedule automatically updates to prevent double bookings. 
3. Your business offers lawn care, and the client booked a regular mowing service. Upon arrival, you discover they have a major weed problem, and the client agrees to herbicide treatment. With the additional charge feature, adding this one-time extra to their booking without affecting the rest of their scheduled services is easy. 

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#3. Regional Pricing Options for Growing Businesses or Incorporating Travel Costs

MarketBox is designed to help you grow your business to the level you want. For those with national expansion plans, regional pricing lets you set different prices for each location, allowing you to compete with the local businesses in that area. For businesses looking to keep things a little smaller, you can also use this feature to set custom prices for mobile services in different zip codes. This enables you to incorporate the additional travel costs for services in neighborhoods outside of your core zone, so you’re not compromising your profit margin. 

For users on the Professional or Enterprise plans, you can also take advantage of automated tax calculations when setting prices. For businesses operating in countries like the US and Canada, where tax varies by state/province, this feature saves a lot of time and ensures your prices are always accurate. 

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#4. Support of Multiple Currencies for International Expansion

If regional pricing wasn’t enough and you’ve got your eyes on international expansion, MarketBox also supports multiple currencies for easy operating around the globe. Depending on where a customer logs in from, the software automatically updates to their local currency and displays pricing accordingly. 

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#5. Accept/Decline Options for Service Providers and Access to Data for Better Employee Management 

Another useful “hidden feature” for users on the Professional or Enterprise plans is the accept/decline options for service providers. As the name suggests, when a customer books a specific service provider, they’ll get notified via text and can choose whether to accept or decline the job. As the admin, you can set a custom response time, and if the service provider fails to respond, the job request is sent to up to 10 other providers offering the same service. 

Not only is this a great feature for giving your employees more autonomy over their work but it also provides valuable insights for you too. As part of the feature, you get access to data like average response time, acceptance rate, etc. With this information, you can then promote your best-performing employees, troubleshoot where necessary, or let go of employees who repeatedly fail to take on jobs without prior warning. 

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#6. Customizable Order Summaries for Improved Communication with Customers and Faster Checkout

The secret to securing more bookings is to make the process as quick and efficient as possible. 

Part of that is ensuring that customers have just the right level of information at the right stage needed to make their decision. You don’t pay the bill before you’ve entered the restaurant, so why overwhelm customers with information they don’t need before they’ve even booked? 

With customizable order summaries, you can request more detailed information or provide resources the client needs for their appointment after you’ve secured the booking. Not only does this provide a faster checkout and secure more bookings, but it also enables you to improve communication and set expectations with the client. 

A few examples of how MarketBox users utilize custom order summaries include:

1. Adding client questionnaires for things like make-up appointments to identify the look/colors the client envisions 
2. Including appointment preparation notes, eg. for waxing appointments, the minimum hair length needed, or for roofing work, a reminder that clear access to the building is needed for scaffolding, etc. 
3. Laying out a detailed treatment plan and if the process starts with a consultation, what to expect from the initial visit 
   

Standard order summaries, including time, date, and location of the booking, are included with all MarketBox plans. To customize yours, email us at support@gomarketbox.com to explore your options. 

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#7. Daily Agenda Emails for Easy Scheduling Updates  

Another of our unique “hidden features” is the MarketBox Daily Agenda Email. Every morning, service providers receive an email detailing their upcoming bookings for that day, along with any information each job requires. This automated email ensures that providers know exactly what’s happening each day without having to search out their name in the larger business-wide schedule. It helps to keep the business running smoothly and, as it’s all automated, reduces admin. If anything should change during the day, notifications can be sent to providers via the mobile app to keep them updated.  

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#8. Customer Waitlist Features for Integrated Customer Research and Contact Information Gathering  

As MarketBox offers unparalleled support for mobile businesses, it makes sense that we’d include a waitlist feature. When a customer goes to book and doesn’t have a service provider covering their location, they’re given the option to register their interest and leave their contact details via the waitlist form. There are two main ways you can then utilize this information to your business’s advantage. 

1. It provides a clear insight into where there’s demand for your services, helping you to discover new areas to expand into. 
2. You can use it to provide custom services and gain a reputation boost for your business. Many of our users reach out to waitlist customers to offer a special one-time service, which in turn gets their business talked about. If you’re shown to go the extra mile for your customers, your business will benefit along with your sales. And, with the option to add additional charges to cover the cost of the extended travel to that area, you don’t have to worry about losing out on profits while providing a superior service. 

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#9. Customizable Cancellation Periods for Deterring No-shows 

A canceled appointment not only results in lost revenue from that sale but from all other sales that weren’t made in that slot because it was unavailable. With MarketBox’s customizable cancellation periods, you can do whatever you need to deter no-shows. 24-48 hours tend to be the norm, but you have the option to set your own cancellation window and corresponding automatic charges for violating that. Just remember to make customers aware of it and clearly state your cancellation policy in your Terms of Service so they won’t be hit with surprise charges that keep them from rescheduling. 

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#10. Job Completed Button for Automatic Time Tracking and Easier Payroll 

MarketBox is designed to make every aspect of running your business easier, and the Job Completed button is just one of the many ways the software helps to simplify things. Once a job is completed, service providers can hit the button in the app, and the software automatically logs hours, so there’s no need for manual timesheets. When it comes to payroll, the whole process is easier because you have all the data you need right at your fingertips. Payments can be processed faster, and as hours are logged in real-time, you can choose when to pay providers — daily, weekly, monthly; it’s up to you.     

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#11. Ability to Turn Customer Ratings On or Off for Control Over Your Business’s Trust Features   

Customer reviews are just one of the many trust features available on MarketBox. While they can be helpful — not to mention persuasive — for on-the-fence customers, not every business wants to display ratings. That’s why with MarketBox, you can choose whether to show (and therefore request) reviews or not for complete control. 

If you do opt into the feature, you also have the option to personalize the contents of the text message request so it’s unique to your business. In addition, the optional notifications for 1-3 star ratings that could negatively affect your business enable you to reach out to the customer and deal with grievances quickly. 

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#12. Optional Provider Tipping for Cashless Payments 

Another “hidden feature” that’s available on the professional plan and above is optional provider tipping. This feature allows clients to tip providers via cashless payments and can be offered in the appointment follow-up text or processed at the point of sale as an additional charge. As is customary, you can set amounts (10%, 15%, etc.) or allow clients to choose their own tip based on the quality of the service. This is an increasingly useful feature as we move towards a cashless society and one that’s sure to make your service providers happy. 

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#13. Ability to Upload Custom Terms of Service Agreements for Industry-specific Legal Compliance

With MarketBox, you create and upload your own Terms of Service Agreement so you can ensure you meet industry-specific legal requirements and protect your business. When a customer goes to book a service, they are shown your custom agreement and must consent to your terms before confirming the booking. 

Crafting your own contract lets you include anything you need clients to agree to, including cancellation policies, limitation of liabilities, safety waivers, late payment penalties, etc., for maximum protection. If your business insurance has any specific clauses, now would be a good time to include them too. 

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#14. Ability to Set Up Custom Promo Codes & Run Offers

The last “hidden feature” you need to know about isn’t so much a feature as an option. To compliment your marketing efforts, you can set up customized promo codes. Promo codes are a great way to boost sales through sales, rewarding customer loyalty, and running introductory offers to attract new clients.

MarketBox grows alongside your business, ensuring you always have the support you need, no matter where life takes you. To find out more, book a 1-on-1 demo to discover how MarketBox can help you.