We spend more than 490 minutes or over 8 hours of each day with some sort of media. Quartz reports that though TV is still dominant, the internet grows rapidly year by year.
Unlike TV, the internet provides lots of functionality to our daily lives in addition to the entertainment value. With more time spent comes more demand for time saved. If only everything was as easy as texting a pizza emoji and 30 minutes later having a pizza arrive at your door.
In the event planning world, there is no pizza emoji. Not yet. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t some technology in place that will make your job easier. But there is still room for growth.
Online Booking In 2016
You may not realize it, but online booking today is also a form of marketing. In fact, according to Square, it is one of the hottest marketing trends from last year.
With the constant shift of businesses to the internet, more and more of our lives are online. Many of us can’t remember a time when we couldn’t order food or clothes online. Now, thanks to technological advances, you can now try new glasses online. You can push a button and Amazon will refill your paper towel order. Convenience is king and that convenience comes from online ordering and booking.
Think about it: you have the choice between two salons. One, you have to call, wait on hold in order to make an appointment. The other, you can see the immediate availability and pricing for services and have the ability to instantly book an appointment. Which one would you choose?
Where The Event Industry Falls Short
All event venues now have a website where you can find basic information, photos and contact information. However, up until recently there aren’t any online directory equivalents like Hotels.com, Expedia, or Yelp. That makes searching, comparing and contacting spaces a difficult prospect.
These venues are also falling short, when it comes to automation. There is still a lot in the booking process that you can’t do. With so many moving parts of an event there is a lot of manual required interaction with vendors and the venue.
While personal relationships are important and there will always be times when we need more information or help from a real person. Yet, there can still be a way to automate things. The goal is to streamline as much as possible once the customer’s decision is made. Both parties want a seamless transaction.
Closing
If spaces are providing the right information, you won’t need to reach out. You won’t need to wait for a response to have a simple question answered. We are here beginning this work for you (and venues). To gather all of the important information and put it in one, easy to access place.
Every day, more and more of our lives moves to the internet. We see the possibility to book spaces for events online as an inevitable the future.