BookSteam is an all in one cloud based appointment scheduling software.
Target Audience: Small and Large Businesses
Website URL: https://www.BookSteam.com
No. of Feedback Providers Requested: 3
Note to Feedback Providers:
Please note that businesses are looking for in-depth feedback that gives them thorough, insightful and actionable input. A ‘superficial’ submission that does not add value, is not thorough (i.e. written in a hurry, with poor grammar, punctuation etc.) and does not offer any concrete, constructive feedback is not helpful and will be rejected.
Feedback sought:
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see? What do you like? What do you find confusing?
2) Look around Features page – what is your initial impression of what you see? What do you like? What do you find confusing?
3) Who is Booksteam for?
4) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
I really like overall how the entire home page is laid out. I like the background water that is blue, this is nice and pleasing on my eyes.
What do you like? I like the free trial available! That is always a plus in my book. I also really was pleased to see that you have customer testimonials as well. I like that you have it available for mobile devices as well.
What do you find confusing?
Nothing appeared confusing to me.
2) Look around Features page – what is your initial impression of what you see?
I am very pleased with this page. You have all the features set up in a nice order and easily view able at a glance.
What do you like?
After reading through all of the different features, I would say that I like every single one that is available and so I would say all of them.
What do you find confusing?
Again, there is not anything confusing at all on your site. I have clicked on several different pages and everything is easy to understand.
3) Who is Booksteam for?
I would say that any person/business that does scheduling could benefit from using Booksteam.
4) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
I would slow down the animation part that changes the pictures automatically, just to give your viewers a chance to actually read each section before it automatically goes to the next one. I think I would also enlarge most of the text overall. While I don’t normally need reading glasses when I am on the internet, I would need them for your site. Since I don’t have a pair handy, I had to use my “ctrl” and “+” to enlarge the site to 125%.
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see? What do you like? What do you find confusing?
The home page is neat, clean, and states clearly the purpose of the site. I like the coloring.
Question: Are you really the “leading online appointment solution”? I’m a coach and whenever there’s a discussion about online schedulers in LinkedIn groups, the most popular seems to be TimeTrade.com.
Even on the home page, I want to know what makes you unique? Are you the only one that excepts payments? Are you the only one that makes having online webinars/classes easy? Why should I use your services over another site’s? Please, don’t make me guess or have to look at other sites to know.
And what about organization of the site? Do you make it easier to use?
2) Look around Features page – what is your initial impression of what you see? What do you like? What do you find confusing?
This Features page is clear. However, it is flat, literally and figuratively. I would prefer having/adding videos showing how easy it is to use or how well organized the site is.
One thing you don’t mention is customer service.
Another thing that I would be interested in knowing is re. credit cards. Can people pay via PayPal or ApplePay?
3) Who is Booksteam for?
Businesses that schedule appointments, classes, or other events on a regular basis.
4) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
Four things.
1) From the home page, I clicked on “view more” under “Who Uses BookSteam?” When I clicked on “Accountants” or “Dental Practices,” etc. I expected to be taken to a page with a list of your customers in the specific industry, possibly with more recommendations. Instead, you are telling me why I should use the software if I’m an accountant or dentist or educational institution. Providing benefits is a key to selling. But in this case, it feels like you’re pushing. If I were you, I would let others in a specific industry, share their experiences instead.
2) What makes a premium feature “premium”? It looks like they are all standard for all the packages.
3) Going along with #3, your pricing all seems to be based on numbers and starts at a pretty hefty price of $19.95 per month for the start-up of a one-person business. May I suggest that you will get more business with start-ups, especially self-employees, if you have a free package with fewer features and let them grow into the other packages. In other words, you are only going to attract businesses that are already making money. Encourage those who are in the early stages to use your services and they are likely to stay with you as they can afford to pay more.
4) I have a specific challenge for using scheduling software. I only want one appointment in the morning and another in the afternoon. However, the time is flexible within those parameters. Therefore, I suppose I would need to know immediately when an appointment is booked, so I can close that that entire window. Is that something that your software does?
1) Look around the home page–what is your initial impression of what you see? What do you like?
What do you find confusing?
When I look at the home page I find the facts very impressive. You are able to schedule in real time and the email reminders would be a big bonus for someone who has a very hectic schedule. I really like the fact that they give you the 30 day free trial so you can make your own opinion before really purchasing. Having testimonials to read through is always a plus also.
I really did not see anything confusing. Everything seemed to flow smoothly and be very informative with this site.
2) Look around Features page– what is your initial impression of what you see? What do you like? What do you find confusing?
I love that there is automatic backup of data. It also would be so helpful to have color coded blocks so that you could organize more efficiently and find what you are looking for so much faster. The ability to sync your Booksteam calendar with your personal calender would eliminate a lot of confusion also. Having scheduling 24/7 would help for those who travel a lot and work from different time zones. I really did not see anything confusing about this page either, very simplified and user friendly.
3) Who is Booksteam for?
Booksteam would be a definite tool for businesses but I could also see it being very helpful for a busy mom on the go, kid’s games, meetings, pick up times, etc. I would say it would be very useful from anyone from your average household to the busiest of executives.
4) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
I really would not have anything I could think to add to this site. It seems to have it all, plenty of things I would not have even thought of.
1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see? What do you like? What do you find confusing?
My initial impression is that you have a modular, uncluttered, easy to read home page. I really like the layout and the font as it is clear and spaced nicely. I would probably like to see the “Welcome to BookSteam” section font size a bit larger since this is the description for your product. Also the gray background color seems a bit dreary especially for a product that employs a color coding ability for easier recognition. I really like the modular arrangement and the rolling testimonials with faces to make it more real and personable. I’m not sure I would have both the rolling testimonials and the little section “What our clients have to say:”. It seems like a little overkill and redundancy using both.
I am unclear about what is Cloud based (program/app, appointment information, client data). Do I get a free business webpage that would eliminate the need for a separate website or is this just for scheduling appointments? I am assuming it’s just a page entryway into my scheduling detail but I’m not 100% sure. I’m confused about what is included in my basic subscription and what are additional fee/premium add-ons. The “Why Choose…” section doesn’t really tell me why I need BookSteam as much as it lists what it is and does. I would like to see how it’s going to free up my time or that of an employee to tackle other tasks, how it’s going to save me money and/or generate revenue, what benefit does this provide my clients that they are not getting from me now. I want to know how much better my life will be using BookSteam and how I ever got along without it!
2) Look around Features page – what is your initial impression of what you see? What do you like? What do you find confusing?
I like that the uncluttered, modular layout is consistent and used on the Features page as well. The icon with the description is nice for the easy to recognize visual association. I noticed that there is no “Home” link at the top of the page and that I have to use my browser’s back button. A “Home” link is a necessity for all supporting webpages. I am confused about the inclusion of premium features in the basic subscription fee or if they are an additional cost.
The caplitalization of BookSteam is not consistent (Booksteam vs BookSteam) on this page. When I sync my calendar, do my appointments/classes appear in my personal calendar or does it just add to my BookSteam calendar? What kind of business statistics and activity can I access and use? I have no idea what useful statistics other than cancellations I could get from a calendar app. I get the impression this will give me more than what it probably does? As far as data backup, what exactly gets backed up and from which database? Is it the whole database, just the data and are there restrictions as to the type of database? Is this the calendar data only? The wording is confusing, “Automatically backs up all of your database to our cloud server. So you can be rest assured, your database will be safe and secure.” I saw in the client testmonials on the home page where BookSteam will automatically email an appointment reminder the day before the appointment. That is a fabulous feature but I don’t see it on the Features page, only the instant notification. The use of “Classes” even if I can rename it (maybe use the term “customizable” instead of “rename”) gives me the impression that this was designed for businesses that hold classes and may not be as easy to use or useful to businesses that are not class oriented. I’m confused as to what client information will be stored in this app along with what will be backed up.
3) Who is Booksteam for?
BookSteam appears to have been created for businesses large and small with class scheduling at the heart. Some of the labels are customizable so they can be renamed and used by businesses for uses other than class scheduling.
4) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
I would also like to see some consistency in the Features. For each feature maybe a short description of what it does and a benefit. It is my personal preference and helps me to easily compare features when I have consistent themes and statements to compare to one another. The overall layout, flow, and look/feel of the pages allow emphasized details to be read without having to dig to find them…the listed features are a perfect example. BookSteam’s website definitely has a great layout and is easy on the eyes. There were just a few clarification items from me and my personal preferences. Thank you and good luck!