Vcita has grown along with my dog walking business

Automation, ease of use, runs my business life efficiently

Pros

Vcita has "grown" along with my dog walking/pet care business that I started 3 years ago. I use it everyday.
The facebook page for improvement suggestions has been a great way to listen to customer needs. I'm impressed by all of the positive changes so far

Cons

The accounting aspect. I wanted to clear out my data so I could start the calendar year with a zero balance and use it to track my earnings/ cash flow. I am not able to use vCita for this so I have to pay a book keeper to do it.
Cant archive old clients. I have about 70 customers over the last 3 years. I only have about 20 "active" at any one time so I'd like there to be a data file/storage for the in-actives that I can access/reactivate when they want my services. Not able to be able to color code my appointments so I use Google calendar.
Server shuts down or times out so when I'm on the road when that happens I have to rely on my backup google calendar to make sure I'm on time for appointments or don't miss one.

Wonderful way to engage visitors to your website. I highly recommend for new practitioners

Love having my clients book online and syncs with Google calendar.

Pros

1. Love the POP up on the website - engages visitors and my business grew because of it
2. I like the ability for my patients to schedule their own appointments and I can make recurring appointments
3. People can schedule with other team members
4. Syncs with Google Calendar
5. Works well on mobile

Cons

1. On rare occasion the sync with Google calendar doesn't work and it messes up my schedule.
2. I ask for 48 hour cancellation but clients can still cancel last minute and the system lets them reschedule it even though the policy says they cannot
3. Email campaigns are rudimentary and are extremely cumbersome for those with over 500 mailing list and one cannot divide the blast based on metrics (the most active clients in the last 6 months, certain age groups etc.)

Unique Appointment Management Solution

For me, Vcita is now capturing more leads on my site because the visitors have a better interaction thanks to the widget that is constantly displayed, capturing the prospects and enticing them to contact me.

Pros

This is the best FREE Appointment Generator system you can get. It differentiates from other products by letting you set up a widget on your website that will capture the prospects and notify them to initiate a conversation with you by calling you, sending an email or leaving a note. Once the potential prospect starts any action, you can follow up on the web portal and start your lead generation/marketing campaign from there if you want. Vcita is easy to use and setup, and I would recommend any business to incorporate it on their website since it is FREE.

Cons

I didn't like the interface design of some web portal features.

No-brainer for appointment based business

I provide business management consulting for optometrists. All my work is done through appointments and email. vCita flawlessly syncs my calendar and allows clients to schedule when I'm actually available. Prior to vCita, I spent way too much time suggesting times, getting voicemails, etc. Besides that, they have done a great job of allowing a feature-rich "live-site" that is easy to set up and super customizable. I think for many businesses it would suffice to be the landing page.

Pros

Very simple appointment set-ups. Before vCita there was a ton of back and other emails, or worse than that - phone calls.

Cons

The invoicing/billing system is not as robust as some other programs out there. Specifically I would like the program to send out regular monthly retainer billing.

My Business Runs on vCita

Scheduling interviews with businesses in different time zones used to be a nightmare before I found vCita. Now, I am confident I'll never miss a call thanks to vCita sending notifications to both parties in our respective time zones.

Pros

The vCita Team is very responsive and open to new feature requests. All it took was a suggestion of making directions to a client's location accessible through the app and they made it a one-click solution! Because the app works across different devices, I can run my business from anywhere.

Cons

I'm ready to delve into their email campaign feature and see it integrates with Constant Contact. Having more auto-responder integrations would be great.

Great service, hugely helpful for coaching and case management

I have been doing life coaching and small business consulting and am about to start doing mental health case management. I just got my LLC and am doing everything by myself. It's a lot of work, but companies like vCita, that do a few things really well, have been making it possible for me to put my business together. I have been extremely concerned for the confidentiality of my client information (who wants to be hacked, really?), but I have also needed to make sure I can get paid beforehand or store a credit card. vCita is HIPAA compliant, whichi s a huge relief, although I found out HIPAA compliance is only relevent if you deal with insurance companies, which I don't. Through emails over two weeks, Kylee K. has patiently answered all of my questions. With every answer, she has shown me how much vCita can actually do, how flexible it is, and how customizable it is. I am going to be advertising and launching in the next few weeks and I am confident that if I have problems, they shouldn't be with vCita.

Pros

Easy to use, great customer support, and the articles for explaining things actually explain them, so you don't have to google it even after getting an answer.

The things I asked about that they didn't have, Kylee gave me the link to a features suggestion forum for users and encouraged me to list the features there. She also invited me to beta test for an AWeber integration, so I would assume that asking about your email marketing provider would be a good way to let their development team know which ones to make API's for first.

Cons

The only email marketing integration is Mailchimp and I have AWeber. This is annoying, but not a deal breaker.

There is not two factor authentication for admin and users. I don't know that two factor authentication would be useful for clients, but I would really like this for account holders and anyone who can else who would be using it on the emplyee side.

There is no way to sort clients by date since last appointment, appointment type, or anything else.

My admin and I have several hours of additional productive time!

I save at least 1 hour every week, and my admin saves 2-3 hours every week . This means that our team gets a lot more done in a week than was possible with vCita.

Pros

+ Ease of use - this tool is very easy to use for me, and my clients love it for the easy of use.
+ HUGE Time Savings - I have spent no time scheduling meetings this year, and my admin has spent less than 30 minutes.
+ Mobile interface - including a simple app, and SMS reminders
+ Overall cost
+ Customization
+ Record-keeping - I can easily search the meeting history for any of my students

Cons

- Cost of SMS packages - I stopped sending reminders because it was not a great cost-benefit ratio.
- Lack of group-scheduling feature.

Cost effective, user friendly

Scheduling appointments and staying well organized.

Pros

I am able to keep up with my schedule and all appointments, and keep everything well organize. In my line of business I need to keep up with appointments, time line for sending out ads, promotions. As a travel agent we must keep up with who is traveling and their time frame of traveling. This software helps in this area.

Cons

It doesn't capture my clients interest enough to want to use it in scheduling their appointments. I would like them to click and schedule their own appointments at their earliest convenience.

Money Making Machine!

Better return on my Adwords marketing budget. It also saves me hours of a week playing telephone tag to schedule clients. I work and vCita schedules so I do not have to get involved. Everything else is just gravey!

Pros

The floating Word Press Plugin makes it so easy for clients to reach out to me. I do not have to worry about a call to action on every page. vCita is there, no matter where they click! Adwords is EXPENSIVE vCita ensures I get the return on investment converting the clicks into paying clients in my office.

Cons

The app notifications on my phone are not consistent. They work and they do not. I have to make sure I check my inbox frequently to stay on top of contact requests and appointment changes. It works very well for a single location, with multiple people, I opened a 2nd office and clients have trouble picking the right location.

I am not tech savvy but I can use this software and the customer service is excellent.

A complete online scheduling, email, CRM, event booking, stat tracking system. It's perfect for me.

Pros

It's easy to learn and use for both myself and my clients. I can customize the communications and the reminders are great. I also like that I can book events through the software so I don't have to use Eventbrite or any other outside program. I get paid in two days rather than wait for Eventbrite to hold my money until the event is over. I love that I can choose whether or not I require payment for my different services. There's also an email component built in so I can communicate with my clients directly. It's very complete for what I want and need.

Cons

I can't make admin changes from the phone app. I have to go into the desk/laptop version. It's not a big deal but sometimes I want to make changes to my settings when I think about them and have to wait until I can get to the full version .

The Lead Funnel Starts with Vcita

Contacts. Leads. Connections. Conversations. What more can a consultant ask for? I run a small business, and Vcita is my call center, appointment manager and more.

Pros

This tool has been my number one go-to resource for lead generation. In my business, contact is king. Giving clients and potential clients an easy way to access my calendar, and set up a time to talk, is a central part of my business model. It links in easily with my website, you can see it in action at westfallonline[dot]com

Cons

I wish that there was a link from email on iPhone to the actual software (app). An email link pops open the browser, and asks me to login. For some reason, my browser doesn't remember that Vcita and I have been dating for quite some time, and it asks me to login. Which causes me to open the app. Not sure if this is an iPhone issue, or an operator error, but I don't like the extra steps to confirm an appointment.