Recurring appointments and regular clients: a steady calendar
A standing appointment is a series: the same client, day and time, booked once. Why regulars are worth more, which businesses it suits, and the rules that work.
Bu rehber şimdilik tek dilde mevcut: English.
Kısaca
- A standing appointment (in the system: recurring appointments) is a series of appointments for the same client at a fixed interval, booked in one action and behaving like ordinary appointments: every occurrence gets a reminder, and one can be moved or cancelled without touching the rest.
- A regular client is worth more than a new one: cheaper to bring in, less likely to cancel, and the backbone of a steady calendar. The calendar is built from this, not from advertising.
- You offer a standing appointment at the end of the visit, in one sentence, while the client is happy. Whoever agrees leaves with an appointment in hand; whoever does not gets a reminder to book in a few weeks.
Why regulars are worth more
Every business owner knows it in their gut, and there are numbers too. Research by Bain published in the Harvard Business Review found that acquiring a new customer costs several times more than keeping an existing one, and that a 5% rise in customer retention raises profitability by 25% to 95%, depending on the industry. The exact figures vary from business to business; the direction does not.
In an appointment business it looks like this: a regular needs no advertising and no explanation, cancels less because they plan around their appointment, and brings friends. A calendar built on regulars is a calendar you can plan by, money and holidays included.
What a standing appointment is
A standing appointment is one that repeats at a fixed interval: every Tuesday at 10:00, every other Thursday after work, once a month on the first. In appointment scheduling software it is called recurring appointments, and it is a series created in one action: you choose a client, a service, a day, a time and an interval, and the system opens all the occurrences ahead.
What matters is that every occurrence in the series is an ordinary appointment in every way: it shows in the calendar, gets a reminder on time, can be moved or cancelled on its own, and the client can cancel a single occurrence from the link in the message. The series is only the short way to book fifty appointments without fifty actions.
Which businesses it suits
| Industry | Typical interval | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Hairdressers and barbers | Every 3–4 weeks | A standing haircut on Friday morning |
| Gel nails and manicure | Every 2–3 weeks | A refill every other Tuesday |
| Physiotherapy and therapists | Weekly | A standing session in the hour after work |
| Private tutors | Weekly, in season | A lesson every Wednesday until the end of the year |
| Personal trainers | Twice a week | Monday and Friday at 7:00 |
| Dog groomers | Every 6–8 weeks | A trim at the start of every second month |
The rule: the more predictable the service, the better the series fits. A one-off service, or one that changes every time (a consultation, an assessment), stays a single appointment.
How to offer a client a standing appointment
The right moment is the end of the visit, when the client is happy and still with you. Not in a message two days later, and not on the first visit. One sentence, one question:
"We see each other about every three weeks. Would you like me to book you a standing appointment, same day and time? You can always move one if something changes, and you will get a reminder before each one."
Three things in the offer: the interval the client already knows, the promise that one can be moved, and the reminder. A client who agrees leaves with an appointment in hand, without having to remember in three weeks that they want a haircut. A client who does not agree gets a short message after two or three weeks: "time for the next one? The open times are here".
And whom you do not offer it to: a new client on the first visit (they do not know yet whether they are coming back), a client who cancelled at the last minute twice (a series would make the problem permanent), and a service whose interval is unpredictable.
The rules that make it work
Adım adım
- One occurrence moves, the series stays. Cancelling or moving one appointment does not touch the rest. If your system cancels the whole series when you move one appointment, it is not a series.
- Every occurrence gets a reminder. A regular forgets like anyone else. The day-before reminder, with a cancellation link, is what makes the series steady rather than a list of cancellations.
- A freed slot is offered on. When an occurrence is cancelled, the waitlist gets it. The series continues, and the hour is not lost.
- Holidays are marked in advance. A day off marked in the calendar cancels the occurrences that fell on it and tells the clients. Better to mark it before the series gets there than to find out in the morning.
- The series extends ahead, not forever. A good system opens occurrences for a period ahead and adds more as time passes, so there are always appointments in the calendar but not thousands of empty ones. When the client stops coming, you close the series rather than leaving it hanging.
- A review once a quarter. Go over the series: who still comes, who cancels again and again, and whose interval has changed. A series that no longer fits hurts the calendar more than no series at all.
A punch card on a series
Regulars are also the clients who buy a punch card: ten haircuts for the price of nine, or a package of treatments. The natural combination is a series paid from the card. In a system that supports it, you tick at booking that the series is paid from the punch card, and the punches are taken in date order: the nearest occurrence first. When the card runs out, the next occurrences go back to the regular price until the client renews, and then the rest are covered again.
The advantage for the business is clear: the money was received in advance, and the calendar is full for weeks ahead. The advantage for the client: a better price, and no thinking about payment at every visit. We wrote about punch cards and memberships separately.
Common mistakes
- Booking a series without asking. A client who finds appointments they never asked for cancels them, and sometimes the relationship too.
- Not closing the series of a client who disappeared. Empty occurrences in the calendar block hours other clients want.
- The wrong interval. A client who comes every three weeks does not need a weekly series; they will cancel two of every three.
- Forgetting the move. An occurrence moved to another hour should not change the rest of the series. If it does, the client is confused and so are you.
- A series without reminders. "They are a regular, they know" is the sentence that precedes most cancellations.
How it works in Torly
In Torly a series is booked from the ordinary appointment form: choose a client and a service, tick "recurring appointments", set an interval and an end date or an open series, and the occurrences open ahead and extend automatically as time passes. Every occurrence is an ordinary appointment: a reminder by SMS or WhatsApp, a link to cancel that occurrence only, a waitlist that gets the slot when it is cancelled, and a count against the quota of the month it takes place in. A day off marked in the calendar cancels the occurrences that fell on it and tells the clients. The business's Google Calendar, and the team member's, receives every occurrence separately. And a client with a matching punch card can pay the series from it, in date order.
Sorular ve yanıtlar
What is the difference between a standing appointment and a recurring one?
None. "Standing appointment" is what clients say, and "recurring appointments" is the name of the capability in the system: a series created in one action, with an interval (weekly, fortnightly, monthly) and an end date or none.
What happens when a regular cannot make it once?
You move or cancel that occurrence only. The series continues as usual, and the freed slot is offered to whoever is waiting on the waitlist. A client can cancel a single occurrence by themselves, from the link in the reminder.
How does a series behave with days off?
When you mark a day off in the calendar, the appointments that fell on it are cancelled and the clients are notified. The rest continue. It is worth marking holidays in advance, before the series reach them.
Do recurring appointments count against the appointment quota?
Yes, every occurrence is an appointment. A weekly series for a year is about fifty appointments, and they count in the month they take place, not on the day you booked the series.
Can a series be paid for with a punch card?
Yes. When the client has a punch card that covers the service, you tick at booking that the series is paid from the card, and the punches are taken in date order. When the card runs out, the next occurrences stay at the regular price until it is renewed.
When should I not offer a standing appointment?
To a new client on their first visit, to a client who cancels a lot, and for a service whose interval is unpredictable. A standing appointment is a mutual promise, and you offer it to someone who has already shown they turn up.
Kaynaklar
Güncellendi · Yazan: Moti Hanukah
Küçük işletmeler için randevu sistemi Torly'yi geliştiriyor ve her gün dolu bir takvim ve daha az telefon isteyen işletme sahipleriyle çalışıyor. Burada yol boyunca öğrendiklerimizi yazıyor.