How No-H2O Scales its Car Dry Cleaning Franchise with Acuity Enterprise
No-H2O is changing the car washing industry in a sustainable way without using water, and they depend on Acuity Enterprise to grow their appointment-based franchise across 16 US states.
In each of No-H2O’s 25 locations, customers can book appointments online through Acuity to have their cars cleaned and detailed without a drop of water. Employees service each vehicle by hand using a proprietary cleaning solution that traps dirt within microfiber towels.
To manage appointment traffic, No-H2O needed a scheduling platform that empowers customers to book at their convenience and franchise owners to run calendar operations independently. Acuity Enterprise provided those dual layers of control, along with a uniform booking experience across locations.
“It gave us a way to scale,” says Steve Fowler, Senior Director of Franchise Operations. “Before Acuity Enterprise, it was tedious to set up accounts for new franchise partners and pull data. We needed a scheduling template that we could clone for our new partners, which saves all of us a ton of time.”
He explains that No-H2O’s scheduling templates include brand-wide services and pricing, which help them to quickly launch new franchise locations and begin accepting appointments. There’s also room for franchisees to customize their templates with a local flavor and add any discounts, gift cards, and coupons specific to their location.
“There’s a mix of what we create for them and what they can create on their own,” says Keegan Orellana, Onboarding and IT Support Manager. “Acuity Enterprise gives them that control, so they don’t have to rely on us for every single change.”
Simplifying appointment scheduling processes and data
Since No-H2O serves a variety of customers, their scheduling solution had to support various appointment types: from individuals requesting service to businesses offering cleanings to staff as an employment perk. Orellana explains that Acuity Enterprise’s ability to let appointment holders manage their own bookings removes the pressure from franchise owners to keep their location’s calendars updated and organized.
“Our franchisees don’t have very large teams, so giving our end customers the power to adjust appointments as needed takes a lot of weight off [franchisee owners’] shoulders,” he says.
Fowler explains that Acuity Enterprise’s data export feature is also a big value add for his team, especially when it comes to comparing business-critical appointment details across locations and capturing invoicing information for accounting.
“Data is really valuable, but if you can’t get it easily, and it’s not accurate, it does no good,” he says. “It’s simple for us to pull reports with Acuity, and we know we can trust the data.”
Skill-building for smooth online scheduling
Orellana is in charge of onboarding new No-H2O employees and hosts Acuity training sessions as part of their orientation process. He typically spends an hour introducing them to the platform and teaching them how to navigate calendar templates through hands-on practice with the Acuity website and mobile app.
He says the mobile app, in particular, is essential for No-H2O’s on-the-go workforce, where employees drive between locations and are rarely at desks with laptops. “Having the app makes it so much easier when your employees are on the road,” he says.
Orellana also uses his training sessions as an opportunity to teach his team helpful tips and tricks for dashboard organization, like color-coding appointment types and adding labels. “That way they can pull up the dashboard and see everything at a quick glance,” he says.
For more customized pointers, he coordinates frequently with No-H2O’s dedicated Acuity Enterprise account manager to align on business-specific questions and concerns. He feels having an expert focused on how they use Acuity makes a big difference in how he’s been able to leverage the platform and maximize value from it.
“Being able to jump on a call with our account manager and screen share instead of going through [standard] email support is huge,” he says. “It’s helpful to speak with someone who already knows our background with the platform and our goals.”
One of those goals is ensuring that every No-H2O customer knows what to expect when booking a cleaning appointment, regardless of their location—and has the same seamless experience doing so.
“It’s very important to us that a customer booking an appointment in Indiana has the same impression of our brand as someone in California,” Orellana says. “Acuity makes us confident that every customer will have a uniform brand experience, and it’s an experience that works.”
