The evolution of booking appointments and scheduling services has experienced a major transformation over the past 20 to 30 years. Until the late 1990s, consumers had one option: Pick up the phone.
In the early 2000s, companies began allowing customers to email a request for service, followed by using online forms on their websites, which are really just “emails wearing a mustache and a trench coat,” says Richard Kohberger, founder of Blue Collar Nerd, a popular YouTube channel, and the former director of operations at Comfort Control Heating and Air in Atlanta.
Kohberger explains how, by the 2020s, many businesses, and 70% of homeowners, now prefer the autonomy of booking services online.
“Integrated online scheduling is something you've probably all used at this point,” Kohberger says. “It has penetrated through all sorts of different markets, different verticals, and different industries. It's how we hail a taxi with Uber or Lyft. It's how you make a reservation at a restaurant or schedule a doctor’s appointment—it's how you book appointments.”
In a recent webinar, Kohberger and Jordan Neiman, ServiceTitan Senior Product Manager, introduce Scheduling Pro, ServiceTitan’s new online scheduling tool that allows customers to self-schedule directly from your business website, Google Maps, and across all marketing channels. ServiceTitan Content Marketing Lead Josh Lu moderated the event.
“The whole idea here was really to make it as easy and streamlined as possible for your customers to book,” Neiman says. “It needs to be quick. It needs to really feel like an in-app, seamless mobile-first experience.”
Walk through the customer experience of booking an appointment with Scheduling Pro and discover how integrated online scheduling increases bookings and enhances the customer experience.
A Seamless Booking Experience with Scheduling Pro
Before diving into the demonstration, Neiman clarifies how the new Scheduling Pro replaces the beta version, and phases out Schedule Engine entirely for ServiceTitan users. Scheduling Pro is part of ServiceTitan’s suite of Pro products and must be purchased as an add-on service.
"This is a new version of Scheduling Pro. If you're already on Scheduling Pro, this is going to be something a little bit different. This is an upgraded, rebuilt experience,” Kohberger says.
The upgraded tool includes several features to simplify onboarding, enhance the customer booking experience, and maximize conversion rates.
Key Scheduling Pro features include:
Integrated online booking on websites, social media pages, and Google
Self-onboarding a seamless setup
Capacity controls to match your business hours
Full customization of the scheduler widget
Performance metrics on booking rates and other KPIs
Next, Neiman explains how customers can book an online appointment through Scheduling Pro in six simple steps.
1. Customer enters ZIP code
To begin the process, the customer simply needs to enter their ZIP code into Scheduling Pro.
“The reason for that is we want to identify if this customer is in the right location from the outset,” Neiman says. “If they're accessing via mobile device, we'll actually pre-populate this ZIP or postal code information if they're sharing their location on their device.”
2. Choose service type
Next, the customer chooses the service type, such as plumbing or HVAC. The service options appear in a single pane, so customers don’t need to click through a slideshow. Business owners can include a prompt for emergency service on this page in case a customer needs immediate assistance.
“That said, this is an entirely optional feature, and you can remove it if you just want this to be purely online booking access,” Neiman says.
3. Provide additional information
Customers choose the specific reason for their request, such as fixing a leaky faucet or unclogging a sewer line. Different service options automatically appear depending on the trade the customer selects. Business owners can customize follow-up questions, such as “What issues are you experiencing?”
4. Select a date and time
Next, the customer chooses a date and time. Customers have the option to choose “First Available,” which shows the first four available time slots based on your capacity, or “All Appointments,” which allows the customer to schedule at a later date.
5. Enter contact information
Next, the customer enters their name, phone, email, and address. Scheduling Pro auto-populates the address as the customer types, ensuring accuracy and uniformity.
“This way we can try to keep the addresses standardized and clean as you're giving us information from your customers into your ServiceTitan account,” Neiman says.
Business owners can also allow customers to upload photos and videos, PDFs, and previous contracts or other documents applicable to the job.
“We also have a customizable dispatch fee section,” Neiman says. “You can remove this section entirely if you don't want to use it, but this lets you set proper expectations with your customers if you want to clearly communicate any sort of dispatch fee they might be responsible for to send a tech out for service.”
6. Finish booking
Finally, the customer confirms all project information and appointment details are accurate, then clicks the “Finish Booking” button. The customer then receives a prompt to add the appointment to their calendar.
“At the same time, this job is making its way to you in ServiceTitan,” Neiman says. “By default, we have that job sent to you right in the unassigned tray of your dispatch board. We assign a Scheduling Pro tag to the job, and you get all of the customer information and campaign assignments.”
Neiman says ServiceTitan makes it easy for customers to pick back up if they abandon a session for any reason, as Scheduling Pro remembers where the customer dropped off in the process. The software also flags abandoned sessions for easy follow-up.
“We can get those sent to you directly as a booking in ServiceTitan,” Neiman says. “No longer would you have to monitor a leads table in a dashboard completely separate from the rest of ServiceTitan and do all of that manually. We are going to push those lead opportunities directly to you.”
Ultimately, Nieman says the new Scheduling Pro app gives customers fewer touchpoints and clicks, while allowing customers to book jobs directly in ServiceTitan.
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Onboarding Scheduling Pro for ServiceTitan Users
While much of the focus was on making it quick and easy for customers to use Scheduling Pro, Neiman says ServiceTitan also simplified the onboarding experience for users.
“For anyone that's experienced Schedule Engine, you know that setting up Schedule Engine has always been an experience that is very much divorced from the rest of ServiceTitan proper,” Neiman says. “It felt like a completely different platform. You had to manage a separate set of credentials and access it separately. In many cases, when you needed to make major changes to your scheduler setup, those controls were not in your hands.”
To launch Scheduling Pro, users only need to navigate to the marketing integrations page within ServiceTitan.
“I see Google Local Services and Reserve with Google, but now I’m seeing Scheduling Pro. We’ve done away with the idea that you need to go to a Schedule Engine dashboard to manage your online scheduler. No separate logins required. We've now baked it right into ServiceTitan for you.
After clicking “Configure,” the software automatically pulls in your business data.
“We're going to build you something right out of the box. You have your zones, you have job types. You have business set up already in ServiceTitan ready to go,” Neiman says. “We should be able to use that rather than you needing to copy and paste it from somewhere else.”
Next, users customize several aspects of Scheduling Pro to match their business. For capacity, users can select Adjustable Capacity Planning, business hours, or custom capacity, which allows users to define specific parameters around capacity, such as adding buffers.
“This lets you segment based on job type or zone. Let's say you're in your peak cooling season and you want to book out maintenance jobs a little bit farther in advance. You can set a buffer on that specific job type, so that it isn't shown as immediately available in your scheduler.”
Users can also set block dates to cordon off time for holidays, PTO, and company-wide training events.
From here, users can click “Review” to test drive Scheduling Pro based on their chosen settings.
“I'm taken to a page where I can actually interact with this scheduler and book a demo job right into my ServiceTitan account,” Neiman says. “Just to make sure that everything looks good and I'm comfortable with what this workflow looks like.”
Users can then set up Reserve with Google with only a few clicks, and even connect multiple Google profiles to unique schedulers.
“With the new Scheduling Pro, we wanted to really integrate the Reserve with Google experience right into your setup so your customers get the same experience booking with you on Google, using a book-online link on Google Maps or organic searches, just as they would on your main website,” Neiman says.
Users can return to the scheduler at any time to review settings and monitor performance. Real-time metrics on completion rates, overall booking volume, and other KPIs help users tweak their fields in the scheduler to optimize performance.
“What has previously been a lengthy process with a little bit of limited visibility into controlling things yourself is now all at your fingertips and available to you to do in an afternoon,” Neiman says.
Tips to Maximize Bookings in Scheduling Pro
Neiman and Kohberger say working in Schedule Engine was a time-consuming and arduous process. Yet the new Scheduling Pro gives users self-service capabilities to plan, refine, and adjust the scheduler at any time to optimize results.
They shared the following tips and best practices for using Scheduling Pro.
Use Enticing CTAs
“Obviously, a scheduler is only as effective as your ability to get it in front of your customers,” Neiman says. “We always recommend clear, high-contrast CTAs to ensure you have the most success.”
CTAs should always be prominently placed, and Scheduling Pro allows users to change the location of the button, so users can conduct A/B tests to improve results.
Eliminate Friction
Neiman says too many steps or a clunky experience can cause customers to abandon the booking process. He recommends using as few steps as possible and using clear language to make it seamless to schedule service.
Integrate with Marketing Tactics
To truly make the most of Scheduling Pro, Neiman and Kohberger suggest integrating Scheduling Pro with ServiceTitan Marketing Pro to increase bookings and enhance attribution.
“You can send out links to book in email, SMS messages, and also direct mail,” Neiman says. “If you want to include a link in a marketing communication as part of campaign outreach that directly opens the scheduler, you can do that here in the new Scheduling Pro.
“Whether it be through Google Maps or through organic searches, that book-online link is going to take your customers to the exact same scheduler that you'll see on your site,” Neiman adds.
Next Steps
Scheduling Pro will phase out Schedule Engine entirely over the next few months. Schedule Engine users will receive an email with next steps and support for migrating to Scheduling Pro.
Ready to see if Scheduling Pro is right for your business. Schedule a demo in the month of June and receive a $100 gift card.
Check out the full webinar on demand: Book More Jobs Anytime, Anywhere. Introducing the New Scheduling Pro.
