Sign In Scheduling offers a variety of tools to help you keep track of your customers and effectively manage their data. This guide outlines various ways to manage your customer data with Sign In Scheduling.
In Sign In Scheduling, a customer is someone who can book appointments with you. You can also book appointments into your calendar for them. They'll receive emails and SMS messages from Sign In Scheduling about their bookings.
By 'customer data', we're talking about your customers' personal and contact information, their appointment history, and any other information they give to you.
To get started, head to the 'Customers' tab in the left-hand menu of your account.
Note: we understand that every industry has a preferred name for its customers. What your customers are called within Sign In Scheduling will depend on the sector you chose when you created your account. Rather than 'Customers', you might see:
- Clients
- Patients
- Students
- Trainees
These all mean the same thing - they're all customers in our system.
If you'd like to change the word used to describe your customers, drop our support team a message.
SECTIONS:
How to delete customer records
How to change customer language preferences
How to upload customer documents
How to add new customers
To manually add a new customer, click the '+ Add customer' button.
You can then enter all of their information including their name, contact details, time zone and address. You can also add a description and notes, and add custom fields.
Custom fields, under the 'Other information' section, are fields you can create yourself to categorize the customer you're creating.
To create a custom field, enter the field name into the field name box, then enter the value into the field value box.
As an example, you could use custom fields to record the customer's height.
To add further custom fields, click '+ Add field'. You can delete these at any time by clicking the trash can icon.
The customer information you enter will be saved automatically, and the new customer will be added to your customer list. You'll then be able to add that customer to bookings, invite them to book with booking invites, and send them messages from your inbox.
How to import customers
We understand that migrating to a new appointment management system can be time consuming, especially when you have lots of existing customers.
Sign In Scheduling provides you with the ability to import all of your existing customers by uploading a spreadsheet, which should help to make your transition to Sign In Scheduling as smooth as possible.
To begin importing customers, head to the 'Customers' tab and click 'Import your customers'.
If you haven't already, you'll now need to prepare a spreadsheet containing your existing customer information. In order to upload properly to Sign In Scheduling, the spreadsheet will need to be in XLS/XLSX format.
The spreadsheet will need to contain the following fields, in this specific order:
- Name
- Phone
- Address
Note: your spreadsheet must contain these fields in this particular order, otherwise the information will not be properly imported into Sign In Scheduling. For that same reason, please don't change any of the field names (i.e. don't change 'Phone' to 'Phone number')!
Once your spreadsheet is ready, click 'Upload customers Excel file' to import your customer data.
Once your spreadsheet has been uploaded, you'll see your customer records under the 'Customers' tab within your account.
Note: if you're seeing blank customer records missing information, we recommend deleting the upload and adjusting your spreadsheet. If the spreadsheet is formatted exactly as described in this guide, it will import information correctly. If you're struggling, our friendly support team will do everything they can to help you.
How to export customers
If you'd like to export your customer data, you can use Sign In Scheduling's reporting tool to do so. For more information on using the reporting tool, click here.
It's also possible to export a single customer's data from Sign In Scheduling, which is useful in the case of GDPR data requests. To do this, click on the name of that customer under the 'Customers' tab. Scroll to the bottom of the page, locate the 'Actions' section and click 'Export data for customer'.
How to merge customer records
Sometimes, returning customers may enter slightly different details each time they book with you. As a result, duplicate records are created. To help keep your customer records organized, Sign In Scheduling allows you to merge duplicate records.
To do this, start by locating the duplicate records within the 'Customers' tab. Once you've found them, click the downward arrow next to the '+ Add customer' button.
Then, click 'Merge customers'.
You'll then be prompted to select the customer records you'd like to merge. Select them by clicking on the checkbox next to their names.
Once you've selected all the records you'd like to merge, click 'Merge [x] customers' and the duplicate records will be merged into one.
How to delete customer records
To delete the record of a single customer, click on their record under the 'Customers' tab. Scroll to the bottom of the page, then click 'Delete customer'.
To delete all customers, click on the downward arrow next to the '+ Add customer' button and select 'Delete all customers'. Your browser will ask you to confirm your choice - click 'OK' to confirm and all of your customers will then be removed from Sign In Scheduling.
How to change customer language preferences
If you'd like to change the language in which your customers receive their communications, you can select a preference on their behalf, directly from their record within Sign In Scheduling.
To do this, locate the customer's record, then select the desired language from the 'Language' drop-down menu. Your selection will be saved automatically.
How to upload customer documents
You can upload documents to your customers' records, which is useful if you need to keep further information on file for them. To do this, click on the customer's record and then click the 'Documents' tab. To upload a new document, click the 'Add document' button.
In the popup that appears, click 'Add file' to select the document you'd like to upload. Once selected, you'll see the name of your file displayed. To remove the file, click on the 'X' beside it.
You also have the option to enter a description of the document. Simply type this into the 'Description' box.
Once you're happy with the selected document, click the 'Upload' button.
The document will then be uploaded and will appear under the 'Documents' tab of the customer's record.
You'll be able to see when the document was uploaded, its file name and its description. Under the 'Actions' heading, you can download the document to your computer by clicking the arrow icon, or delete it from Sign In Scheduling by clicking the trash can icon.
To upload additional documents, repeat the same steps. Any additional documents you upload will be listed alongside the others under the customer's 'Documents' tab.
How to use customer tags
Sign In Scheduling's customer tags feature provides an easy way to filter your customers. As well as searching by name, you can use the search bar under the 'Customers' tab to search for customers according to their applied tags.
To apply a tag to a customer, head to their record and locate the 'Tags' field. Enter the tag name, then press enter (or click 'Create tag' in the drop-down menu that appears). If a tag already exists, it will appear in the drop-down.
The applied tags will then appear underneath the customers' names in your customer list.
To remove a tag from a customer's record, click the 'X' next to the tag.
Customer search filters
On the right-hand side of the search bar at the top of the page, you'll find a button you can click to amend your search filters.
Click on the desired option to filter your customer search results accordingly. Each option is explained below:
- Search names, tags, emails, phone numbers, addresses and custom fields - this will yield results based on the criteria listed.
- Search tags - this will yield results based on tags only.
- Show customers with upcoming appointments - this will bring up only those customers with scheduled appointments yet to take place.
- Show inactive customers - this will bring up only inactive customers. A customer is considered inactive when they haven't had any appointments or communication with you for 6 months or longer.
- Show customers without registered consent - this will show only those customers who have not provided consent for you to contact them. You can read more about customer consent here.
Need more help?
We hope this guide has been useful! If you have any questions or need any help, reach out to our support team who will be happy to assist you further.