You might need to use booking software in your personal training business to book appointments with face to face clients, or calls with prospects who are potentially interested in your personal training services. But how can you decide which is the best?
Good software should integrate into the business management systems you already use (your calendar, your payment systems and your website). This is an overview of the five most popular software options.
Calendly
Calendly is the industry leader in automated scheduling tools that integrate with your online calendar. It allows people to book calls or meetings with you around your other commitments you added to your schedule.
Calendly is smart enough not to double book you when things are already in your calendar, and so it takes a lot of the back-and-forth out of scheduling with your clients. You just have to block off times when you don’t want to be available, and they can fit in around the rest of your schedule.
A bonus of Calendly is that it integrates well with other software such as Zapier and Stripe. It has a Basic version for free and costs just $8 per month if you need a additional features and unlimited event types.
Calendly is smart enough not to double book you when things are already in your calendar, and so it takes a lot of the back-and-forth out of scheduling with your clients. You just have to block off times when you don’t want to be available, and they can fit in around the rest of your schedule.
A bonus of Calendly is that it integrates well with other software such as Zapier and Stripe. It has a Basic version for free and costs just $8 per month if you need a additional features and unlimited event types.
YouCanBook.me
YouCanBook.me is an automated scheduling tool that can be set up and working in minutes. It’s extremely similar to Calendly, but works in something of a reverse order - where you tell the software when you’re available and it allows people to book appointments in that time (rather than fitting things in around when you’re already busy).
People who are fans of the software rate this as a “silver bullet feature” as it means you don’t have to block your calendar off to protect your time. Highly customisable emails and texts can be personalised and scheduled to remind the person that they have an appointment with you. This is a great feature as it reduces the number of missed appointments you get and since it handles the reminders for you, it’s something else that you don’t have to think about.
Integrations are available for many of the main software including Stripe and Zapier. There’s a free forever version for small businesses, and once you outgrow that you can get their paid version for just $8 a month. YouCanBook.me supports a massive range of languages so if you work with personal training clients online, and you need a range of diverse languages supported, this could be worth exploring in more detail.
People who are fans of the software rate this as a “silver bullet feature” as it means you don’t have to block your calendar off to protect your time. Highly customisable emails and texts can be personalised and scheduled to remind the person that they have an appointment with you. This is a great feature as it reduces the number of missed appointments you get and since it handles the reminders for you, it’s something else that you don’t have to think about.
Integrations are available for many of the main software including Stripe and Zapier. There’s a free forever version for small businesses, and once you outgrow that you can get their paid version for just $8 a month. YouCanBook.me supports a massive range of languages so if you work with personal training clients online, and you need a range of diverse languages supported, this could be worth exploring in more detail.
SetMore
SetMore is an easy to use but a very powerful online scheduling web application. It has more features such as managing clients, managing staff members, and available services than Calendly and YouCanBook.me and as such might be more appropriate for a gym environment.
In this sense, it’s more like TeamUp. A great feature of SetMore is that it can be integrated into a Facebook page, and any website powered by WordPress, Joomla, Wix or Weebly. Integrations are available with Stripe for payments, and even recurring appointments can be made with SetMore.
Language support is only available in English which may not be suitable for personal trainers with international clients. Standard membership is free, or the premium version is available for $25 for the month, or $199 annually.
In this sense, it’s more like TeamUp. A great feature of SetMore is that it can be integrated into a Facebook page, and any website powered by WordPress, Joomla, Wix or Weebly. Integrations are available with Stripe for payments, and even recurring appointments can be made with SetMore.
Language support is only available in English which may not be suitable for personal trainers with international clients. Standard membership is free, or the premium version is available for $25 for the month, or $199 annually.
Doodle
Doodle is a great app for personal trainers that offer small group sessions and need scheduling software that can find time to train for multiple people.
Users of doodle appreciate the easy to use interface that allows scheduling among teams. There’s a website and an app available, with fantastic online support. However, some people report that the mobile version can be difficult to navigate with a lot of clunky scrolling.
If used in connection with the team scheduling feature, the volume of emails generated for the person who is trying to schedule the meeting is substantial and may be offputting for some people. The pro version of doodle is available at just $6 a month.
Users of doodle appreciate the easy to use interface that allows scheduling among teams. There’s a website and an app available, with fantastic online support. However, some people report that the mobile version can be difficult to navigate with a lot of clunky scrolling.
If used in connection with the team scheduling feature, the volume of emails generated for the person who is trying to schedule the meeting is substantial and may be offputting for some people. The pro version of doodle is available at just $6 a month.
Acuity Scheduling
Acuity Scheduling allows your personal training clients to view your real-time availability, select the date and time that works best for them, pay in advance via Square, Stripe, or Paypal, and even cancel or reschedule all on their own.
The features include the option to sell fixed-term or a fixed number of sessions as a package. You can set up a basic printable gift certificate which could be a brilliant feature for a personal trainer who wanted to incentivise buying on behalf of someone else or had a robust referral system in place.
You can also schedule and provide a way for people to sign up for a one-off workshop which could be a fantastic way to generate leads in your personal training business if you had a particular skill that you wanted to offer.
The scheduling options are very similar to the other software options in this top 5, but the language support is limited to English. Users consider it highly intuitive and highly customisable if a little bit more expensive to use than comparable platforms.
The features include the option to sell fixed-term or a fixed number of sessions as a package. You can set up a basic printable gift certificate which could be a brilliant feature for a personal trainer who wanted to incentivise buying on behalf of someone else or had a robust referral system in place.
You can also schedule and provide a way for people to sign up for a one-off workshop which could be a fantastic way to generate leads in your personal training business if you had a particular skill that you wanted to offer.
The scheduling options are very similar to the other software options in this top 5, but the language support is limited to English. Users consider it highly intuitive and highly customisable if a little bit more expensive to use than comparable platforms.
Conclusion
The best booking software for your personal training business will be dependant on the way you choose to run things.
There is software available to suit every budget, and almost all of it is extremely easy to use and set up. Most of these sites have either a limited function free version of the software, or you can have a limited-time trial of the paid features to test what works best for your needs.
- Whether you book one to one sessions or need to accommodate group bookings.
- Whether you see clients face to face, or you’re arranging zoom calls to check-in.
- Whether you use the booking software to speak to prospects or keep in touch with existing clients.
- If you need the software to generate an automated email or text reminder (which almost all of them will) to cut down on the number of missed appointments that you get.
- How much email back and forth you can tolerate - given that this is one of the main things this software is supposed to cut down on.
- How much business branding customisation you need.
There is software available to suit every budget, and almost all of it is extremely easy to use and set up. Most of these sites have either a limited function free version of the software, or you can have a limited-time trial of the paid features to test what works best for your needs.
