Classes, Appointments...or both?

Scheduling software can be categorized roughly as follows:

1. Software for class scheduling
2. Software for appointment scheduling
3. Software that supports both

Most software is focused on either class scheduling or appointment scheduling but some, such as MindBody and Bobclass, offer both. In practice, for many of our customers, the difference is not always clear-cut. I have seen examples of yoga studios that do primarily group classes but also offer private yoga sessions. Among our customers we also have a number of tennis coaches that mostly do 1:1s but also teach group classes to kids or club players. In this post I will take you through the different settings and behaviours in Bobclass so you can fine-tune the software exactly to your needs.

What your client sees

Let's start at the end, what your client sees when they visit your business through the web or the self service app. Here is an example of the client web interface:

You can see it live in the demo environment: http://bobclass.com/classes/courtfour and http://bobclass.com/appointments/courtfour

Here is a screenshot of the Self Service App: 

which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.

In the case above you can see that both tabs are enabled, letting clients choose between finding a group class or an available slot for an appointment. If you only offer one mode, then you should disable the other in the settings (> Online Bookings) of the app:

 

Defining the Activity Type

All activities are set to Both by default but if you want to have an activity only appear as a class or an appointment, then you must modify that. Go to settings > Activities > select an activity and set the Activity Type. You can select Class, Appointment or Both. The Both option means that it will appear on both the class and appointment tabs so clients can book it in both modes.

 

Once set to class or appointment, the activity will now only appear on the corresponding tab. This prevents the 1:1 session to appear on the class roster and group classes to appear as a 1:1 appointment.

Cancellations

Your clients can cancel classes or appointments they are signed up for in the self service app but the desired behaviour for both types is different. For a class, when a client cancels - even if they are the only one participating - you do not want the scheduled class to disappear. However, for appointments this is the case: If a client cancels a 1:1 session, then the appointment must disappear from the calendar. This is exactly how Bobclass works, I just want to make sure you are aware of this behaviour.