How To Customize Your Online Client Intake Form

Need help with customizing the default intake form in your Bodywork Buddy account? This video walks you through the basics of changing your form.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Cindy Iwlew is a licensed massage therapist who has had a private practice since 1999 and cofounder of Bodywork Buddy massage software.

Before You Email Clients, Do These 6 Things

A question came up in the Bodywork Buddies Facebook group the other day about promotional emails not making it to client's main inbox. (Never heard of our FB group? If you've had a trial account or been a BWB member, you can join and get in on some awesome convos yourself! Drama-free quality conversations about massage biz.)

If your clients are using gmail as their email provider, your emails may be ending up in their promotions tab... or worse yet, being recognized as spam and not making it to them at all.
What are some ways we can ensure our massage clients are getting our emails?

Permission

First off, make sure they actually want them. Did you ask their permission or have them opt-in for your email in some way? If you've personally emailed with them before and are just taking your contact list from your email account and creating a mass emailing, you're not technically following anti-spamming laws. If your contacts report your emails as spam, it can hurt your chances of getting to their inbox even more.

How to fix this:

• Add an opt-in to your website and social media
• Ask clients when they are in for their appointment 
• Clients are agreeing to be on mailing list when they schedule online

Template Style

Another suggestion is to use the plain text option for your email template. While email campaigns offer lots of cool design templates and styles, the most proven is the plain text email. (Not only for making it into the main inbox, but for actually getting read.) Clients don't want a newsletter-style email, they actually want personal communications.

Spam filters are ore apt to catch HTML emails with a fancy design, so instead use the plain text option and make it more like you're writing a letter to a friend.

The plain text option is usually the boring one at the very bottom of the choices for cool templates. 

Links, Images, and Exclamation Points

Having lots of links and images in your email will make it look more spammy to the email gods.
Instead of loading up your email with lots of both, stick to only one link, and maybe one image.
Resist the urge to use lots of exclamation points in your title and text.


Personalize

Add merge tags to add client's name in subject line of your email.

Add merge tags to include the client's name in the body of your email.

Realistic Expectations

Keep in mind that even if your emails are getting to clients, they may not open/read them. Email campaign services like Mailchimp show the industry average so that you can get a good idea of how your emails are stacking up against others in the industry. According to this, email campaigns in the massage therapy field have about a 13% open rate. By that standard, my open rates of 30% and up are pretty great! 

Address Book

Before starting your email campaigns, send out a personal email to your clients asking them to make sure they have your address in their contacts so they are sure to get the latest news from you. Post a notice in your massage studio, mention it at their appointments when you ask for permission to email them, etc.


Quick Tip

If they have received your email in the promotions tab (or another tab), they can drag it over to their main inbox to ensure future emails are delivered there.


I've used examples from Mailchimp here, but these can be applied to all email campaign service companies. I like Mailchimp because you can have a free account with up to 2K contacts and it's easy to import your client list from Bodywork Buddy.

We're actually working to add email marketing into our online scheduling for massage therapists here at Bodywork Buddy. This is the next big feature we've been working on. It's taking some time, because if you know our system and how we operate - we're passionate about quality. With software, the end product that you see seems simple - but there's a lot of work that goes into getting it to that stage. So in the meantime, we recommend using Mailchimp. And we'll be sure to let you know when we have email marketing integrated into our system for some seamless marketing campaigns to your clients. 😀

Cindy Iwlew is a licensed massage therapist who has had a private practice since 1999 and cofounder of Bodywork Buddy massage software.







Today's blog post was written to the beautiful sounds of 

Florence + The Machine

New Features Released Today!

We've been working hard to bring you some cool new features within Bodywork Buddy. This weekend, we added:


*Custom Business Hours: Open/Close specific days. 
You can now adjust hours by specific days without affecting your default business hours in your settings.

*Hours Report: Shows how much time you spent on services by year.

See the total number of hours you've worked since the beginning of using Bodywork Buddy, or for the year. Break it down into reports of how many hours per specific services.

*Referral Tree: See, at a glance, who all the referrers and referred are.

You may need to clear your browser cache after these updates. If you notice anything wonky in your calendar, clear your cache and check it again! :)

New Microsite Themes, An Editor, and Bears, Oh My!

We're excited to announce some new designs available for our online scheduling microsites as well as some other cool features and updates to the microsite area!

There are now 11 color/theme choices for your microsite. We've also added an editor to the main text area of the microsite - this means you can now add your own links, images, bold or italic text, etc in your main text.

This makes our online scheduling microsite more customizable than ever! Combined with the ability to choose a video, upload your own images or use images from our library, and add your own text, you can truly make your Bodywork Buddy online scheduler reflect your personality and your business.

Interested in creating your microsite to match the design of your website completely? We do offer individual designs as well. Contact us for pricing and details.

Not sure if Bodywork Buddy is right for you? We have a risk-free 15 day trial. I'm a licensed massage therapist myself (still in practice, btw). I get it. It's hard to switch over to a new system, or to take the plunge away from your paper book. That's why we offer the trial and will also import your client list for you. We also have amazing customer service, if I do say so myself! ;) I'll be here along side you every step of the way if you need me.

Try it free.

Oh, and I was just kidding about the bears. Don't worry, there are no bears.

How Do You Know Clients Have Opted in for SMS Reminders?

We've recently added a symbol within the client file under the phone number to show if your client has opted in for SMS reminders.

The little mobile phone icon will show when the number has been verified as a mobile number within our system, and then the spiral icon will show when the client has successfully opted in to receive text reminders.

Did you know?

1. Texting is the most widely-used and frequently used app on a smartphone, with 97% of Americans using it at least once a day. (Pew Internet)
2. Text messages have a 98% open rate, while email has only a 20% open rate. (Mobile Marketing Watch)
3. 90% of all text messages are read in under 3 minutes. (Connect Mogul)
4. 96% of smartphone users text. (Acision)

How Do You Know If Your Client Got Their Email Reminder?

Bodywork Buddy has always had an email log so you can see when your clients received/opened their reminder emails. (Accessible from dashboard > account > email services > scroll down to email log.) Last I knew, no other online scheduling service offered this.

While it's a handy feature, we've had some members request a quicker, more "at-a-glance" way to see if clients haven't received or opened their email reminders. So we've implemented a new envelope icon in the calendar next to the client's name. An envelope outlined in white shows that the reminder has been sent, and the envelope will turn to solid white once it's been opened by your client. Pretty cool, right? Our members have been enjoying this feature for a few weeks now and the feedback has been pretty great.

Other ways to cut down on no-shows in your massage practice:

• Send text reminders.
  Easy to do within BWB. Enable SMS services, have clients opt-in by texting the word "START" to 269-509-4288, make sure client's mobile number is on file.
  
  
• Have a cancellation / no-show policy and make sure clients know about it.
  You can have your policies show within your email reminders, and you can also choose to have clients agree to your policies when they schedule online from your microsite.
  
  
• Train clients from the beginning that you might not be able to get them back on the schedule immediately if they miss or cancel their appointment. You might be surprised how clients will be able to make it work once they realize they won't be able to get back in for several weeks. I discovered this by accident when I was so busy that I really was booked out for a month in advance. Clients started saying that they didn't dare cancel, because they knew they wouldn't be able to get in until next month.
  
  Even if you're not booked out for weeks in advance, you can show less openings in your schedule using Bodywork Buddy's "optimized time slots" feature. It only shows openings immediately before or after existing appointments, not only cutting down on large gaps in your day - but also creating a scarcity of available appointment times.

Do you have some useful tips to help cut down on cancellations and no-shows? Share here in the comments, I'd love to hear what has worked for you! 

2016 Massage Therapy Resource Bundle *ONLY 2 DAYS LEFT*

I'm excited to tell you about this great resource bundle that I've had the pleasure of being a part of! There's only two days left to get the 2016 Massage Resource Bundle.

It’s a small investment that will deliver tremendous value and new ideas to help you advance in your massage career. I don't want you to miss out.

Right now you can get over $800 worth of CEU classes, business classes, Ebooks and bonus offers for only $39.95. I think you’ll agree that is one amazing bundle!

I love that this kind of support is available now. When I started doing massage, there was little to no online support. New and seasoned therapists alike were left just floundering on our own.

Included in this bundle is my own ebook on growing your massage business with referrals, as well as a discount when joining Bodywork Buddy for your online scheduling and business management needs. (Plus LOTS of other great courses, ebooks, and bonuses from leaders in the massage profession!)

Check out just a few highlights included in the bundle:

Ok so... the countdown is on - jump on this now!

How to Get the Most Out of Bodywork Buddy On Your Phone

I often get asked if Bodywork Buddy has a downloadable app for phones and tablets. When we built BWB, we decided to go with a mobile responsive design for the entire system to be accessible on any mobile device via a browser. So while there isn't an app to download, the system works great on your phone through a browser by automatically adjusting the size of the site to your screen.

Here's a few reasons we went this route instead of a downloadable app:

• Bodywork Buddy is a pretty large and complex system, and in order to make it as a downloadable app we would have to make it more bare bones and the entire system wouldn't be accessible through an app.
• The app stores typically require companies to submit their apps (and any updates) for approval before being available for download. We make frequent updates and changes to BWB on the backend, and we're able to do this as often as needed without waiting for any approval from a 3rd party because we have our mobile responsive design instead of a downloadable app. This also means that when we have updates or changes, you automatically get those without having to install any updates on your phone or tablet.
• Having a downloadable app would also technically mean having 2 separate systems for our company to maintain: the main system and the downloadable app. As you can imagine, this would double our team's work load and take us longer to make updates and changes. Actually, it would triple our team's work because we would need one system for Apple, another for Android, as well as our desktop version.

In order to provide the best experience for our members and the best customer service, we feel that the mobile responsive design is the way to go!

In talking with some of our members, I've realized that what many therapists are wanting in an app is simply the ability to have an icon on their homescreen to click and be taken immediately to their BWB account. The good news is: an app isn't needed to do this! You can create your own clickable icon for your homescreen.

The good news is: an app isn't needed to do this!

This article details how to do this for different types of devices. Check it out and follow the steps according to what kind of phone or tablet you have!


Here's some other tips on how to get the most out of using BWB on your mobile device:

• Try turning your phone to landscape when scheduling from the calendar or from different parts of the system. This will allow you to see more information all at once on the screen.
• When you're trying to click within the calendar next to an existing event (say something in your google calendar that is synced to your BWB), zoom in on that day so you're able to click into the blank space next to the event to create your new appointment or event.
• Need to call a client? Do a quick search from the main clients page, find the client in the results, click right on their phone number next to their name to call immediately.
• You can email clients the same way from your phone, click their email address next to their name in the client search results to open your email program on your phone and compose a message.
• Stay signed in to BWB on your phone by checking the "remember me" box so that when you click on your icon on your homescreen, you're taken right to the inside of your account.

Did you find these tips helpful? Let me know in the comments if there is something in particular you're struggling with, I'd love to help if I can.

Cindy Iwlew, LMT is co-founder of Bodywork Buddy Massage Software, a complete online management solution for independent massage therapists that includes online scheduling. 

She continues to operate her own private massage practice since 1999.  www.BodyworkBuddy.com

*New Feature* Client Message

Last week we added a new feature that allows clients to leave a quick note for you when they schedule online. This is great if a client has a gift certificate they are redeeming, they need to tell you something that pertains to their appointment, etc.

It's completely optional, so clients don't need to leave a message in order to schedule.

When a client does leave a message, a speech bubble icon will show up next to their name for today's schedule on the dashboard as well as in the calendar. You can click on the bubble or hover over it to read the message.

Cindy Iwlew is co-founder of Bodywork Buddy Massage Software, a complete online management solution for independent massage therapists that includes online scheduling. 

She continues to operate her own private massage practice since 1999.  www.BodyworkBuddy.com

How To Use Bodywork Buddy As Your Website (With or Without Online Scheduling)

Do you want to use Bodywork Buddy to keep track of your income, expenses, client files, gift certificates, etc. but don't want to offer your clients online scheduling? You can choose to not enable your microsite, so it will never be live online... but another option is to still have your microsite and use it as your business website but without the scheduling aspect.

To do this, you can set all of your services to private instead of public from Dashboard > services > main > click on each service under service code > select private from visibility dropdown box > save.

When all of your services are set to private, your microsite will look similar to this:

Want to use the microsite for your regular website and have your own domain name direct to it? You can purchase your own domain name and then contact us to help you point it to your Bodywork Buddy microsite. 

Of course you can also always offer online scheduling by having your services set to public, and still using your microsite as your main website that includes online scheduling.

Try Bodywork Buddy free for 15 days and see for yourself how it can make your life easier at tax time and year round!

It's Time To Kill These 4 Online Scheduling Myths

1. "I won't have control over my schedule."

A lot of therapists have this fear that they will lose control of their schedule, clients will suddenly dictate their life with too much access to their book, there will be too many appointments, too close together, and chaos will ensue!

Mary-Claire Fredette of Affinity Massage Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio says before she started using Bodywork Buddy, she was afraid that she would be at the grocery store buying ice cream when someone would schedule a massage. Her life would be ruined as the ice cream would melt info puddles as she massaged someone. It makes me laugh, but as a therapist myself, I can understand this concern!

Luckily Bodywork Buddy has some key features that would prevent this from being an issue.

• Your clients request an appointment online from the openings shown, and you can then accept or decline the appointment request. (So it's not an automatic confirmed appointment until you accept it.) You're sent an email to notify you of the request, and it will also show within your BWB account on the dashboard and the calendar.
• Stacked time slots versus interval time slots: BWB lets you choose how your openings are shown to clients. Do you want to show intervals of 10 minutes like 10:00, 10:10, 10:20 giving the client the most flexible options? (Interval options vary from 10-60 minutes.) Or only show them blocks of times like 10:00, 11:30, 1:00 giving YOU more control? It's up to you.
• In your settings, you can choose to show openings to clients online ranging from immediately to 4 days out. So if today is Monday and you have 4 days set in your settings, clients will not see any openings in your calendar until Friday.
• BWB's "optimized scheduling" feature is an optional setting to only allow clients to schedule appointments before or after an existing appointment, which helps to eliminate large gaps in your day. So if you have this setting selected, and you only have 1 client today at 5pm with the rest of the day open, any other clients looking to schedule online will only be able to select today at 3:30pm or 6:30pm (times may vary depending on your settings).  So at 10am you can buy your ice cream with no worries of it melting :)

2. "It will become a double-booking nightmare."

Do you worry that a client will schedule online at the same time that you're scheduling a client in the office?

Once a client requests an appointment online, it will show in your calendar in orange so you know it's been requested. That time slot will not show as open to other clients unless you decline that request.

When you're manually scheduling a client who is in your office or on the phone with you, it will instantly no longer be shown as an opening online.

Tristin Resinger of Akua Esthetics and Bodywork in Ann Arbor, Michigan says the owner at her previous job refused to get online scheduling out of fear of these kinds of mistakes happening, but Tristin points out that those mistakes seemed to happen a lot with a paper book. Having an electronic trail of each appointment can actually cut down on misunderstandings and human error. Within BWB, you can see a log of all emails sent to clients and 

even see if/when they've opened them.

3. "The online scheduler won't work."
Erin Howk of Therapeutic & Stress Reduction Massage in Fairmont, Minnesota says she had a fear that online scheduling wouldn't work and she'd have clients showing up that she didn't know were supposed to be there.

There's a few things within BWB that prevent this from happening. When a client requests an appointment online and you accept it, it turns into a confirmed appointment (in green) in the calendar and the client gets an email letting them know the appointment has been confirmed / accepted. 

The client will then get an email reminder shortly before their appointment (you can customize the how many hours before their appointment this is sent out in your settings.) If you have SMS services enabled and the client has opted in, they will also receive a text reminder.

If they don't have an appointment in the calendar, they will not get these confirmations and reminders.

4. "Nobody will use online scheduling and I'll still have to answer the phone and pay for a useless service."

While some clients might take some time getting used to scheduling online, the majority of clients today want the convenience of online scheduling. Not only scheduling online, but from their phones and tablets! Studies have shown that mobile use has skyrocketed in recent years. Offering online scheduling that is mobile friendly will cut down on phone tag and make scheduling an appointment with you a breeze.

I can't promise that you'll never have to answer the phone again, but it can make your life easier and save you time.

Cindy Iwlew is co-founder of Bodywork Buddy Massage Software, a complete online management solution for independent massage therapists that includes online scheduling. 

She continues to operate her own private massage practice since 1999.  www.BodyworkBuddy.com

Give Your Online Scheduler Some Personality!

Did you know you can customize the look of your online scheduler (microsite) with Bodywork Buddy? Add your own text, choose massage images from our library, or even add your own images!

Signup for the free 15 day trial, no credit card required :)

*NEW FEATURE* Online Client Intake Forms

Start 2016 out right with a paperless practice!

We've recently launched the new feature of online client intake forms in Bodywork Buddy. You can now email clients their form to fill out securely online and already have it attached within their client file in BWB.

There is a default form you can use, but you can also edit and create your own custom forms from within your account. (dashboard > clients > client intake forms > edit.)

Add, delete, or edit any fields you want and click save. Hover or click over the blue "actions" button to open a preview of what your client will see.

Clients can fill out their form (securely!) from any device with an internet connection: desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Their info will then be connected with their client file in your BWB account under the medical history tab, and also at dashboard > clients > intake form > main.

When a new client is scheduled with you, you'll have the option to send them an intake form. You can also send an intake form to existing clients anytime from within the client's file > actions > send client intake form.

This feature is still in Beta which means we're doing some fine-tuning and there will be more cool aspects to this feature to come.

We would love to hear what you think!

How To Block Off Time In Your Calendar

In Bodywork Buddy, your open business hours are highlighted in green in the calendar day and week view.

Click into the day you want to block off time. A popup window will appear with options of General Event, Confirmed Appointment, or Completed Appointment (Session).

Click the General Event button. Fill in info with any details needed, including length of time if you're not choosing an all day event. (You'll also have the option to drag the event longer or to a different timeframe in the day once it's created.)
Be sure to have "busy" selected.
Click the green "save appointment" button.

The event will now show in the calendar in light gray with the title you gave it. (Shown here with title of "closed".)

You can click on the event and drag it to different days or times in the calendar, or you can grab the lines at the bottom of the event to drag it to last shorter or longer in the day.

You can still schedule appointments in this timeframe if you want by clicking into the green area to the sides of the gray general event. (But clients will not see these times available online if you've chosen "busy" for the event.)

How To Sync Your Google or iCal Calendar

Did you know you can sync your Google and/or iCal calendars to your Bodywork Buddy calendar? Enabling your sync and feed settings will allow your BWB massage appointments to show in your Google and iCal calendars and vice versa. Many massage therapists love this feature that allows them to see all of their calendars from any location.

From within your Bodywork Buddy account, go to Dashboard > Calendar > Google Calendars > click green "enable Google calendar sync" button.

Oh look! That's me on live chat, available to help if you need it :)

Google will ask you to select which account you want to sync to.

After clicking on the appropriate account, you will have to click "accept" to grant Bodywork Buddy access to your Google calendar. 

Check the box next to the calendar(s) you want to sync with. Click the green "enable selected google calendar(s)" button.

Next, go to Dashboard > Calendar > Feed Settings > click green "enable feed" button.

After the feed is enabled, there will be a box in the lower left of this screen with a button to add to your Google calendar and/or Microsoft Outlook, and a link to add to any software that supports the iCal format.

Simply click on the buttons to add to google or microsoft outlook. If adding to iCal, highlight and copy the link > open your iCal > click File > New Calendar Subscription.

Paste the link into the text field and click "subscribe".

And that's it! Follow these steps and your calendars will be synced, allowing you to see events/appointments on both calendars from both places.

Have questions? Need help? Contact us, we'd love to help!