Twelve questions to ask on a booking software demo
A demo is a sales call with a product in it. These are the questions that make it a useful one, and the answers are worth having in writing.
Every one of these has a short factual answer. If a question gets a long one, that is the answer. Take them in order; the money ones first, while everybody is still fresh.
Money
- 01What does a €100 client payment cost me in total? Your fee, card processing, and anything else, end to end, on the tier you are showing me. One number.
- 02What is the price on the tier that has the features you have just demonstrated? Demos are usually given on the top tier. Ask which of what you just saw is not in the plan being quoted.
- 03Is the quote monthly or annual, and what changes if I leave in month four? A monthly price on an annual commitment is an annual price.
- 04What has your pricing done in the last two years? Not a promise about the future, a fact about the past. Ask what notice existing customers got.
- 05What costs extra? Setup, migration, extra staff logins, SMS, an app, a second location, support beyond email.
Your money and your clients
- 01Who is the merchant of record? Do my clients pay into an account in my name, or into yours? This decides whose relationship the payment is, who issues refunds, and who holds the money in between.
- 02How long between a client paying and the money reaching my bank? And on what schedule.
- 03Whose customer are my clients? Specifically: will you email them, market to them, or list my studio in a consumer marketplace alongside my competitors?
Leaving
- 01Can I export my client list, and what is in the file? Names and emails, or also remaining pack credits, purchase history and attendance? The difference decides how painful the next move is.
- 02How do I cancel? In the app, by email, or on a call. And what notice.
- 03What happens to my data after I leave, and when is it deleted?
- 04Who does the migration in, and who does it out? Getting in is always helped. Ask specifically about getting out.
How to use the answers
Ask for them by email afterwards. A short note saying "just so I have it written down, here is what I understood" with the twelve answers listed is normal, polite, and does more to protect you than any contract clause you are unlikely to read. A vendor who is comfortable with their pricing will confirm it in a sentence.
For what it is worth, our answers are on the pricing section of the homepage and in our terms, and you can get all twelve without talking to anybody. Free until your studio takes €1,000 in a month, then 2.5% on the part above it, never more than €250 a month, no contract, and your clients pay into your own Stripe account in your own name.
No demo, no card, nothing to cancel. Set your studio up and see for yourself.
Start for freeCommon questions
- Why do booking platforms make you do a demo before showing pricing?
- Quote-based pricing lets a vendor charge different studios different amounts for the same product, based on size and on how much you appear able to pay. It is a legitimate strategy and it is also why comparing this category takes an afternoon rather than five minutes.
- What is the most important question to ask?
- What a €100 client payment costs you in total, end to end, on the tier being quoted. It collapses the software fee, card processing and any extras into one comparable number, and it is remarkable how often it does not get a single-number answer.
- Should I ask about leaving during a sales call?
- Yes, and a good vendor will not mind. How easily you can export your client list, their remaining credits and their history is the difference between a future decision and a future trap.