Top 4 Shopify Booking Apps

Top 4 Shopify Booking Apps

May 30, 2024

Top 4 Shopify Booking Apps

Top Shopify apps to enhance booking efficiency and customer satisfaction

You may be asking yourself, does shopify have a booking system?

Whether you're a barber, beauty parlor, hotel, restaurante or basically any business where a customer has to schedule with you, then you know that managing appointments effectively can be a huge headache.

With the right Shopify apps for booking appointments, even a small mom and pop store and present itself as a major player. Although we know Cowlendar is the best choice we went ahead and ran a fair and detailed comparison of the top shopify booking systems!

Let’s dive into the top four Shopify apps that are making waves in the world of appointment bookings.

You may be asking yourself, does shopify have a booking system?

Whether you're a barber, beauty parlor, hotel, restaurante or basically any business where a customer has to schedule with you, then you know that managing appointments effectively can be a huge headache.

With the right Shopify apps for booking appointments, even a small mom and pop store and present itself as a major player. Although we know Cowlendar is the best choice we went ahead and ran a fair and detailed comparison of the top shopify booking systems!

Let’s dive into the top four Shopify apps that are making waves in the world of appointment bookings.

Table of Content

Why Use Shopify Apps for Booking Appointments

In the world of eCommerce, Shopify is the best of the best. Your customers are guaranteed a wonderful experience thanks to Shopify's intuitive UI and easy to use checkout process. What's even better is that Shopify has a built in marketplace with a huge selection of apps that can make your entrepreneurship journey a bit easier.

Benefits of using an application on Shopify for bookings:

  • Intuitive Admin UI - Easy to use Admin dashboard

  • Built in App Marketplace - Easily install booking applications

  • Seamless Booking Process - Keep everything on shopify to make the booking and checkout process seamless

What Factors to Consider When Choosing a Booking App

It can be a huge task to pick between the large variety of booking apps that exist in the Shopify marketplace. What's even more annoying is having to switch between apps later on and having to transfer everything. To avoid this make sure you understand what to look for when choosing a booking app on shopify.

When Cowlendar was in the process of being designed we focused on the following factors we deemed necessary for a booking appointment app:

  • Ease of Use: User friendly interfaces

  • Customization Options: Flexibility allowing your store to personalize the booking system

  • Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration with leading business tools like zoom or google calendar

  • Pricing Structure: Range of plans to accommodate businesses of all sizes

  • Quality Customer Support: Reliable customer support to address any technical issues promptly

Comparison of Top 5 Shopify Booking Appointment Apps

1. Cowlendar

Cowlendar stands out as the highest rated and downloaded booking app on Shopify. 

What makes it unique

Cowlendar sets itself apart with 24/7 customer support, ensuring your customers can always secure their bookings. Combine that with top tier professional features at unbeatable prices, our basic plan includes many of the advanced capabilities typically reserved for premium tiers, making quality accessible to all.

Why you should use it

Maintaining exceptional customer support is key to growing a business. Research from McKinsey highlights that companies excelling in customer experience (CX) can achieve double the revenue growth compared to those with lower than average CX! We at Cowlendar believe you should get more for less.

Best Cowlendar Features:

  • Team portal and POS integrations

  • Upsell your services or products directly within the booking widget

  • Support for a ranges of services such as restaurants, consultations, hotels, doctors, rentals, beauty and more for both in-person and virtual appointments

Merchants can transform products into bookable services seamlessly. The array of pricing plans, from free to ultra, caters to businesses of all sizes. Where Cowlendar truly excels is in their exceptional customer support whom will basically move the moon for you.

Try Cowlendar for Free

2. Appointly

Appointly stands out as the 2nd most popular booking app on Shopify

What makes it unique

Due to its very low starting price. It offers a budget friendly appointment booking solution that's perfect for tiny businesses just starting to explore online scheduling.

Why you should use it

It is an affordable way to test the waters without committing significant financial resources.

Why it may not be for you

Appointly is very cost friendly but is limited in professional grade features such as upsell

Best Appointly Features:

  • Direct booking and payment from the merchant's shopify website

  • Google Calendar sync

  • Customizable options like group appointments and Zoom integration

The affordability of Appointly, coupled with its business driven features, makes it a popular choice among small merchants for managing appointments.

Try Appointly

Conclusion

Selecting the right Shopify app for appointment bookings can greatly enhance your business's efficiency and customer satisfaction. Throughout this guide, we've explored the top five Shopify apps that stand out in the appointment booking arena. Whether it’s the seamless integration offered by Cowlendar, the user friendly interface of Appointly, the customizable nature of Appointo, or the comprehensive features of BookThatApp, each app has unique strengths that can help streamline your appointment processes.

What to look for when choosing an application on Shopify

  • Ease of use

  • Customization capabilities

  • Quality of customer support

  • Pricing Structure

3. Appointo

Appointo (don’t mistake it with Appointly) stands out as the 3rd most popular booking app on Shopify

What makes it unique

Appointo stands out not just for its affordability but also for its innovative features like waitlists and surge pricing. 

Why you should use it

The ability to add customers to a waitlist not only increases the perceived demand for your services but also allows you to implement surge pricing during high demand periods. 

Why it might not be for you

The lack of a dedicated team portal and upsell features may limit the scalability of your business long term.

Best Appointo Features

  • Customize Customer Portal

  • Teammates (at an additional cost even on most expensive plan)

  • Surge pricing

Merchants appreciate the user friendly interface and detailed settings, making it ideal for various businesses needing flexible appointment solutions.

Try Appointo

4. BookThatApp (BTA)

BookThatApp (aka BTA) stands out as the 4th most popular booking app on Shopify

What makes it unique

BookThatApp (BTA) caters to a wide range of industries with its extensive customization options such as a public API.

Why you should use it

Ideal for businesses that require a robust, complicated but versatile booking solution. BTA’s comprehensive features set allows business to streamline their scheduling processes.

Why it might not be for you

BTA is the most expensive of the Top 4 shopify apps we are comparing. You will also need to worry about how many monthly bookings you have as each plan tier includes higher limits.

Best BookThatApp Features:

  • API

  • Integration with external calendars and Reserve with Google

  • SMTP Service

Despite its high cost and limited monthly bookings, BookThatApp's many features make it a recommended choice for businesses seeking a powerful booking platform that can adapt to a diverse range of scheduling needs thanks to there API.

Try BTA

Bonus section

How to Make Your Appointment Booking App Work Best with Shopify?

Making your booking app work well with Shopify is very important. It helps everything run smoothly and makes sure your customers have a good time using it. We've talked to a lot of customers and found some simple tips that really help. Let’s go through them together.

Here are some tips to optimize the integration:

  1. Make It Look Familiar: Make sure your booking app looks like the rest of your online stuff. This helps your customers feel comfortable.

  2. Check Everything Works: Before you let customers use it, check that everything in the app works right. This helps avoid any problems later.

  3. Set Up Reminders: Use automatic reminders to tell your customers about their appointments. This helps make sure they don't forget.

  4. Link Your Calendars: Connect your booking app with things like Google Calendar. This keeps your schedule neat and updated fast.

  5. Help Your Team Learn: Teach your staff how to use the booking tools on Shopify. When they know what they're doing, they can help your customers better.

  6. Ask For Feedback: Keep talking to your customers and staff about how the booking system is working. Their ideas can help make it better. Use a tool like sleekplan to keep track of their suggestions.

By using these tips, your business can get the most out of Shopify’s booking apps.

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