Online Scheduling for Massage Therapists

Why do massage therapists need scheduling software?

If you've ever booked a massage, you know that the process can be a bit of a pain. You have to search for an online scheduling for massage therapists in your area, check their availability, and then hope they have an opening at a time that works for you. But what if there was an easier way? That's where scheduling software comes in.

By using booking software, massage therapists can expedite the booking process and make it easier for clients to find and book appointments. What’s more, scheduling software can help therapists keep track of their appointments, manage their time, and even send reminders to clients. As a result, scheduling software can be a valuable tool for any massage therapist.

What should massage therapists look for in a scheduling software?

As a massage therapist, finding the right scheduling software can feel like a daunting task. There are so many options out there and it can be hard to know which one is best suited to your operation. However, there are a few key aspects to look for that can make your life a lot easier. 

First of all, make sure that the software is easy to use and navigate, as you don't want to spend hours trying to figure out how to book an appointment. Secondly, check that the software is compatible with your existing calendar system—this will save you a lot of time and headaches down the road. Finally, ensure that the software offers a good balance of features and price. 

Ultimately, you don't want to overspend on features you’re not going to use, but you also don't want to skimp on those that could potentially save you a lot of time and hassle. What’s more, if you’re seeking to grow your massage therapy business, you should look for software that provides the tools you need to scale.  By keeping all these elements in mind, you'll be better equipped to choose the scheduling software that’s right for you.

Top 5 Best Massage Therapy Scheduling Software in 2023 are:

1. Baluu
2. Acuity Scheduling
3. MassageBook
4. SimplyBook
5. MindBody

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1. Baluu

Founded: 2022
HQ: London

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Though a new entry into the scheduling software world, Baluu is already kicking up a storm. What sets the booking system apart from the competition is the fact it’s an all-in-one solution for small businesses. Baluu provides a booking system, website builder, and payment provider in one slick, easy-to-use platform. 

The software’s user-friendly interface makes it a great choice for massage therapists who don’t want to fiddle around with complex coding. Within half a day, you can have a fully branded scheduling site up and running! Onboarding is rendered incredibly straightforward, and Baluu provides helpful tutorials as well as online support to guide you.

But ease-of-use and versatility aren’t Baluu’s only pluses—far from it! This platform is more comprehensive than its affordable price tag might suggest and offers a range of valuable features. Its automated review collection feature allows you to build trust in your business. What’s more, if a customer has specific requests (an injury or strain) customer intake forms with customisable sections let you properly attend to their needs. 

Introducing the New Booking Widget from Baluu!

Baluu is about to revolutionise the way businesses manage their bookings. Have you had enough of dealing with entire booking pages that disrupt your customer's experience? Baluu's fully customisable booking widget is the antidote! All of Baluu's features, including events, timetables, items, branding options, marketing tools, and more, are included in this slick, user-friendly app. Not only is it incredibly straightforward to set up, but it's designed to be as seamless and unobtrusive as possible. Few of its competitors offer such an easy and effective way to integrate a booking system.

So, if you want to give Baluu a shot, either to make a fully branded booking website or make use of its amazing widget, don’t hesitate to try the 30-day free trial. Why not check out our step-by-step guide on how to get started?

If you’re ever struggling with anything, Baluu’s customer service team is always available to help with any questions or issues you may have. Though a young company, Baluu is constantly updating and improving its software, meaning you'll always have access to the latest and greatest features. All of the above factors combine to make Baluu our top booking system for massage therapists. 
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Baluu Key features

Baluu can assist you with managing practically every element of your small business, from easily accepting reservations to creating your own branded website to integration. In addition to providing a wide selection of feature sets at reasonable prices, the helpful Baluu teams are also available around-the-clock to guide you through using the software.

• Create a branded website - no coding knowledge required!
• Easily incorporate Baluu's customizable booking widget into your own website to offer clients a seamless, branded booking experience.
• Offers one of the most user-friendly interfaces on the market - onboarding, navigation, and set up are simple and straightforward.
• A wide range of marketing techniques let you expand your clientele.
• Consumers have the freedom to control, modify, and cancel their own reservations.
• Organize your team quickly by using variable permissions.
• Use custom data collecting fields on customer intake forms to gather vital consumer information.
• Run integrated marketing campaigns, establish complex discounts, and gain meaningful insights.
• Sell products, gift cards, and learning kits, and make an unlimited number of listings with different ticket types.

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2. Acuity Scheduling

Founded: 2007
HQ: New York‍

Founded in 2007, Acuity Scheduling has since become one of the most popular and widely used appointment-booking apps on the market. Helping businesses manage their calendar and appointment bookings, its ease of use, overall simplicity, and affordability make it a great tool for massage therapists.

The software serves as a kind of personal assistant, offering a real-time view of available time slots, and giving you a clear overview of all your ongoing appointments. Clients can easily view your availability online, and when making a booking they receive an automated reminder. 

Aside from its affordable price plans and intuitive interface, Acuity Scheduling has many useful features well-suited to massage therapists. Among these is its automated text and emails, which can help you engage with your clients and reduce no-shows. The software also allows you to limit appointment availability, create 2 or more appointment types, or limit the time your business is available for specific services. 

Its customizable intake forms are another helpful addition, allowing you to acquire important info on the client like specific muscles they want you to work on, or if they have an injury you need to bear in mind.

When it comes to integration, Acuity Scheduling is no slouch, letting you sync with your other calendars, as well as your social media accounts to increase the reach of your business.

One key feature that sets this software apart from the competition is its “Minimize Gaps” function, which alters the available appointment slots in the client view. This prevents them from scheduling appointments that leave huge gaps within a day’s schedule, preventing you from giving a single massage session in the morning and then back-to-back appointments that afternoon. 
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Acuity Scheduling Key Features

• Create a professional, user-friendly, and customizable booking website that matches your brand.
• Set up various massage services with different durations, prices, and descriptions, allowing clients to choose the specific therapy they need.
• Manage multiple therapists, each with their unique schedules and services. This feature makes it easy to accommodate clients' preferences for specific therapists.
• Acuity can sync with popular calendar apps like Google Calendar, iCal, and Outlook, helping therapists and clients stay up-to-date with their appointments.
• Send automated email and text reminders to clients, reducing no-shows and helping them remember their appointments.
• Create custom intake forms for clients to fill out before their appointment, providing important information about their medical history, preferences, and consent for treatment.
• Offer gift certificates or promotional discounts to attract new clients or reward loyal customers.
• Clients can book recurring appointments for ongoing massage therapy, ensuring they maintain a regular schedule and helping therapists manage their workload.
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3. MassageBook

Founded: 2010
HQ: South Carolina

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If you don’t want a bunch of generic features you’ll never use, or functionality that isn’t suited to your profession, MassageBook could be the software for you! This all-in-one software solution comes with a built-in website builder and marketing tools, but you’ll need to integrate with Square to enable you to take online payments.

Its chief selling point is that the app was designed specifically with massage therapists in mind, and allows you to grow and improve your business without messing around with a lot of complex admin. 

By using MassageBook you gain access to their online directory which can help a lot with SEO (local search directory), enabling small, independent bodyworkers to compete with some of the big names. 
By automating many of the tasks that hinder your workflow, it renders scheduling straightforward, sidestepping the dreaded “phone tag” businesses often end up playing with customers. 

MassageBook also syncs with other calendars, giving you a comprehensive view of all scheduled availability and events at any given time. While not the most advanced in terms of customization, the website builder allows you to get a fully functioning, branded website up in minutes. 

Another useful feature is its system that lets you create sell and track gift certificates from wherever you are. Where MassageBook really shines is its SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment and Plan) notes and digital intake forms. These allow you to get a clear insight into body-specific issues your clients may have, without a back-and-forth correspondence (though the degree of detail depends on your subscription plan). 

MassageBook also allows you to integrate with your social media accounts, and, unlike many other booking software, all plans allow for unlimited staff. It’s clear MassageBook has a consummate understanding of massage therapy and the scheduling needs that come with it. Therefore,  if you run a smaller business, it may be worth checking out. 

When it comes to its pricing plans, AMTA members also get a discount and integrating with Stripe and Square comes with fees. 
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MassageBook Key Features

• Create a professional, mobile-friendly booking website that showcases your services, pricing, and availability, making it simple for clients to find and book your services.
• Keep track of client information, appointment history, and SOAP notes in one place, helping you maintain detailed records and provide personalized treatments.
• Generate invoices with ease, simplifying your payment processing and record keeping.
• Offer gift certificates, deals, and promotions to attract new clients and encourage repeat business from existing customers.
• Manage multiple therapists, their schedules, and services, so clients to book appointments with their favourite massage therapist.
• Collect and showcase client reviews and testimonials on your booking website, helping build trust and credibility with potential clients.
• MassageBook integrates with popular calendar apps like Google Calendar and iCal, as well as payment gateways like Stripe and Square, ensuring seamless synchronization with your existing tools.

4. SimplyBook

Founded: 2008
HQ: Cyprus

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SimplyBook is an online appointment booking platform catering chiefly for small businesses, however, its staggering array of features makes it a great choice for massage therapists who want to scale their operation. Beyond the ability easily take bookings and process payments, SimplyBook’s smorgasbord of features and integrations means it shines where software may be lacking.

Discussing every feature in-depth is obviously beyond the scope of this article, though we will include several we believe could be beneficial for ambitious body workers: You can integrate SimplyBook’s booking functionality with Instagram, Google, and Facebook, enabling you to draw customers from a variety of channels. An open API allows for seamless customer integrations, and you can sell membership subscriptions, as well as group your services into specific categories. Furthermore, a cancellation policy will help avoid no-shows, and the inclusion of flexible scheduling along with the recurring appointments feature enables your business to run like a well-oiled machine.

Another great feature is SimplyBook’s in-built loyalty system. This lets your clients earn loyalty points upon purchases, which is an added incentive for customers to keep coming back for another relaxing massage!

SimplyBook also has a mobile app for Android and OS users which means massage therapists can access the software on the go. 

Despite all this seeming complexity, SimplyBook is actually very simple to set up and start using, and its on-hand customer service and video tutorials will see even the most technophobic right!

All things considered, SimplyBook may be one of the most versatile cloud-based appointment booking and scheduling platforms. We believe it's a good choice for personal trainers who want the option to add useful and efficient features to their booking software.
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SimplyBook Key Features

• Allow clients to book group sessions or classes, making it easy to manage appointments for multiple participants.
• Create and customize intake forms to collect important information from clients before their appointments, ensuring you have the necessary details to provide tailored treatments.
• Manage appointments for multiple locations, making it convenient for clients to book services at their preferred venue.
• Offer membership plans and service packages to encourage client loyalty and increase recurring revenue for your massage therapy business.
• Connect your booking website with your social media platforms, making it easy for clients to book appointments directly from Facebook, Instagram, or other platforms, and boosting your online presence.
• Send automated email and SMS reminders to clients.
• Collect and showcase client reviews and testimonials on your booking website, helping build trust and credibility with potential clients.
• Access detailed reports and insights on appointments, revenue, client retention, and more, helping you make data-driven decisions to grow your massage therapy business.

5. MindBody

Founded: 2001
HQ: California

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MindBody is the oldest and most successful software provider in the fitness world. If they don’t already use it, it’s likely those who work in the health & wellness industry will have heard of MindBody. 

The platform has both a specific selection of tools for businesses as well as a consumer-facing app. This distinction is important to bear in mind, as many reviews refer to the customer-facing app, rather than the business software.

Like other scheduling software tailored for a specific industry, MindBody provides unrivalled access to countless potential customers. It also allows you to create a branded app. For massage therapists who want to establish a long-term brand, having their own unique app is clearly advantageous. MindBody makes this fairly easy to do and circumvents the need to fork out for expensive developer fees.

Though the onboarding can be pretty laborious and there may be a steep learning curve if you are able to put in the time you’ll see where MindBody truly shines. This powerful platform was designed with scalability in mind and is jampacked with features that can help you grow your massage therapy business. These include (but are by no means limited to) the ability to manage staff and payroll, class & member scheduling, access to personalized marketing tools and powerful reporting, the ability to accept payments online and at your parlour and create a branded app, and much more.

Minbody’s marketing tools are second to none. The software allows you to deliver personalized automated messages based on your client's status as well as set up sequences that run automatically 24/7, without manual involvement from you or your staff.

However, despite this impressive array of features, customizability, and scalability, is this platform suitable for your business? 

Well, as you’d expect from this giant of the industry, the folks at MindBody have created software tailored specifically for massage therapists. This gives you access to their marketplace and with it, potential clients, as well as all the features your business might need. Among these are HIPAA-compliant SOAP notes, extensive personalization and customizability, business management tools and payment processing, a branded app, and so on. 

Compared with other software MindBody is definitely pricier. While MindBody has transitioned to a quotation-based pricing system, the Starter plan starts at around $119 a month and geared towards smaller operations. The price ratchets up depending on the features and functionality you need. The more expensive plans are suitable for larger fitness businesses and even the base subscription plan may be unsuitable for small massage therapy businesses. 
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MindBody Key Features

• Enable clients to join a waitlist for fully booked appointments, improving booking efficiency and filling cancellations or last-minute openings.
• Create a professional, mobile-friendly booking website or utilize the MindBody-branded app, showcasing your services, pricing, and availability for clients to easily find and book your services.
• Keep detailed client records, including appointment history and preferences, ensuring personalized and efficient treatments.
• Customizable intake forms allow you to collect important information from clients before their appointments.
• Offer membership plans and service packages to encourage client loyalty and increase recurring revenue for your massage therapy business.
• Connect your booking website  with your social media platforms, making it easy for clients to book appointments directly from Facebook, Instagram, or other platforms.
• Utilize built-in marketing tools, such as email campaigns and targeted promotions, to attract new clients and retain existing ones.
• Implement referral programs to encourage your clients to spread the word about your services and bring in new customers.

Conclusion

Choosing the right scheduling software for your massage business requires a lot of careful thought. Knowing this, we chose a diverse selection of platforms that cover a wide range of potential needs. Ultimately, the more you can dedicate your time and energy towards working with clients the better. Therefore we advise picking a scheduling software that can automate much of the admin, reporting, and marketing. Many booking platforms offer free trials and demos, so you don’t have to go all in on your first choice. Don’t rely on this article alone; research, look at reviews, and experience what the software has to offer. Good luck in growing your massage therapy business!

*All pricing outlined in this article was accurate to the best of our knowledge and sourced from the aforementioned website's pricing page at the time of writing (07/04/2023)

Still looking for the perfect booking system? Take a read of some related guides below: 

• Top 10 Best Booking Systems For Small Businesses
• Top 5 Best Free Booking Systems
• Top 5 Best Booking Systems For Squarespace
• Top 5 Best Appointment Booking Software
• How To Create A Bookings Website: A Step-By-Step Guide

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