Scheduling in-home and virtual tutoring lessons can be quite a challenge. As your business grows and you take on more students and employ more tutors, this problem only amplifies — or maybe it’s stopping you from growing in the first place.
Luckily, there’s a simpler way to schedule tutoring sessions and some small tweaks you can make to your website and booking process that will make scheduling in-home tutoring lessons easier. These tips will also make organizing virtual tutoring easier, so there’s something for everyone in this article.
Implementing tutoring software into your business is the best way to make scheduling in-home tutoring sessions easier. Tutoring software automates your bookings and scheduling, making organizing appointments and assigning work to tutors easier.
Scheduling software for tutors handles everything from customer bookings and payments to scheduling employees, optimizing calendars, and organizing travel routes and time spent on the road.
One of the most significant advantages of using tutoring software is that you can introduce online booking options. 70% of customers prefer to book and manage appointments online, so allowing customers to book virtual or in-home tutoring sessions online is an easy way to increase customer satisfaction.
Introducing online booking also helps to increase bookings. It enables you to capture the 40% of sales that now come after business hours that you would have missed out on if customers were restricted to booking only when your office is open.
When comparing tutoring software, look for one that lets customers schedule multiple tutoring sessions at once — either on a recurring basis or by selecting different times/dates for each. Many customers will require more than one session to understand their chosen topic, so the ability to book multiple sessions at the same time is more convenient for customers and will help increase sales for your tutoring business.
For in-home tutoring, look for scheduling software specifically designed to handle the complex requirements of scheduling in-home appointments, like MarketBox. MarketBox’s intuitive booking flow lets your customers select their tutor based on skills, availability, and location, only ever showing them tutors who are available in their area for a fast and convenient way to organize their tutoring sessions.
The software also supports all video conferencing software, so if you offer online tutoring options, the same SmartMatching filters apply, only showing customers the providers who offer virtual tutoring.
Another benefit of using software for tutors is the ability to take payments online. 75% of customers want to pay online because it’s a fast, convenient, and secure way to pay for tutoring services. Online payments also offer some great benefits for your employees too.
Introducing online payments means you don’t have to worry about chasing late payments or generating invoices, as the tutoring software takes care of that for you. Your tutoring business can get paid upfront instantly or securely store customer payment information to be charged once the lesson ends.
Additionally, with online payments integrated into your online booking flow, it’s easy to set up promo codes and special offers to drive sales. And you can set up packages to offer your customers discounted rates on tutoring lessons when they purchase multiples upfront.
For tutoring businesses offering in-home appointments, using scheduling software that allows you to establish service areas will make scheduling mobile tutoring sessions much easier.
Service areas make assigning tutors to new jobs more straightforward and can help reduce unnecessary travel time between in-home appointments as you can group bookings by location.
To go alongside service areas, MarketBox lets providers set up travel zones and assign availability to areas for more control over when and where they work. These travel zones then determine which providers are shown to customers during booking, based on their location, to ensure a perfect match every time.
Another easy way to simplify scheduling in-home and virtual tutoring sessions is to automate customer communications. Most tutor software has automated appointment reminders as standard, which is good because they reduce no-shows and last-minute cancellations by up to 40%.
Automating appointment reminders, order confirmations, customer invoices, and daily schedules for your tutors will save your team a lot of time. This free time can be put towards customer service and marketing your tutoring services to help you increase customer satisfaction and grow your business.
If you’re trying to make scheduling tutoring sessions easier, consider how you currently describe your services on your website and chosen booking process.
To reduce the number of support requests your team has to deal with and make it easier for customers to self-serve, clearly describe what tutoring services you offer.
If customers can find all the information they need, including topics covered, ages catered to, and prices, they can book themselves online and won’t need to submit questions that delay the booking process. (Or worse, jump to a competitor who makes this information readily available.)
Tip: Look for an online booking software that lets you include descriptions for each of the services you list to remove friction from the booking process for customers.
Avoid back-and-forth communication with customers and ensure they receive a great experience from your business by allowing them to include notes on their skill level and goals at the time of booking. This will help your tutors develop appropriate lesson plans and maximize their time with the student.
If you offer virtual lessons, don’t tie your providers and customers to one particular video conferencing software because that’s the only one your tutoring software supports. Stay flexible by opting for tutoring software that supports all video conferencing software so your students can learn via the most appropriate platform for their needs.
If you’re looking to make scheduling virtual and in-home tutoring easier, book a call with one of our experts to discover how MarketBox can help take your tutoring business to new heights.
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