Most owners set their hours around when they can staff the place and when it goes quiet. That makes sense for running the business. It also decides whether you are there when a customer goes looking, and if you are shut when they look, they ring whoever is open.
Here is what we check about your hours, why longer is not the same as better, and how to find the stretch of the week you are missing.
In this article
- 1. Why this is about matching demand, not opening longer
- 2. What we check, hour by hour
- 3. The hours gaps we see most
- 4. What to sort today, this week and this month
Matching demand, not opening longer
Open Times does not reward the longest hours, and it does not mark you down for closing on Sundays. It asks one question: are you open when people in your market are out looking for a business like yours?
Every trade has its own rhythm. A mechanic gets the drop-offs before work. A hairdresser is flat out on a Saturday morning and quiet on a Tuesday, and a cafe near an office block fills at 7.30am and empties by 3pm. Your hours are read against the rhythm of your own trade in your own city.
Key point
Fit beats effort. A physio open four days that covers the busy stretches can come out ahead of one open six days that misses them.
What we check
We take the opening hours on your Google listing and lay them over a typical week of demand for your trade in your city. Every hour of your week lands in one of four places.
| When customers are looking | When it is quiet |
|---|---|
| You are open: the hours doing their job | You are open: time and wages spent with few people looking |
| You are shut: customers going to someone else | You are shut: a sensible time to be closed |
The more of your week that sits in the first and last of those, the better your hours fit. Your Open Times report shows the busy and quiet stretches across the week beside your own hours, so the mismatch is easy to spot, and where that puts you among the businesses in your market.
One thing to know: we only measure the hours your Google listing shows. If it shows none, there is nothing to measure, and a customer checking your listing has nothing to go on either.
The hours gaps we see most
1. No hours on the listing
The most common gap and the easiest to close. A listing with no hours leaves a customer guessing whether you are trading at all, and most will not ring to find out. Add your regular hours to your Google listing today.
2. Hours that no longer match reality
Summer hours still showing in June. A closing time you changed two years ago but never updated. A customer who turns up to a locked door does not try again, and often writes about it.
3. Shut during your trade's busy stretch
This is the one that surprises people. You feel busy during your hours, so you assume they are right, but your busy feeling only covers the hours you are open. The demand you never see is the demand that arrives while you are shut.
Tip
Look at the busiest businesses in your trade. Search for them on Google and scroll to the "Popular times" chart on their listings. If their tall bars fall in hours when you are shut, that is a gap worth a closer look.
4. Public holidays left to chance
Waitangi Day, Anzac Day and Matariki each change who is open and when. Google lets you set special hours for a single day, and it is worth doing before each one so customers are not guessing. It keeps your listing honest even though your regular week is what we measure.
Picture this
An illustration, not a real business. Dave runs a car repair shop in Christchurch, open 8am to 5.30pm on weekdays and shut on weekends, because that is what mechanics do.
His Open Times report shows Saturday morning as one of the busiest stretches for his trade in the city, and his late weekday afternoons as some of the quietest.
He does not add hours. He closes at 4pm on weekdays and opens 8am to midday on Saturdays, the same total week, now sitting where his customers are.
What to sort first
5 minutes today
- Check the hours on your Google listing match the hours you actually keep
- Set special hours for the next public holiday
30 minutes this week
- Look at the "Popular times" charts on three busy competitors in your trade
- Mark the single biggest stretch where they are busy and you are shut
Ongoing this month
- Trade your quietest open hour for the busiest one you miss, and track the bookings it brings
- Read your hours against your trade's busy times twice a year, as the seasons change
Where Marketbase comes in
We have already laid your hours over the busy times for your trade in your city, for every business in it. Find your business by name and your free report shows what is working, what could move, and where you stand.
Seven days' free access opens the how for every finding, in the order that moves you fastest. Sort it yourself, or we'll do it for you.