Whereas only a few years ago that meant having a website and active social media accounts, nowadays it goes far beyond that. Providing as many services online as possible is becoming one of the leading selling points that not only maintains previous clients but also attracts new ones as well.
One of the best used online services are salon scheduling softwares which help clients browse available services and book their appointments without having to call your salon or visit it in person. Since this feature can be used at any time and any place, is quick and efficient, it’s easy to see why it’s become a beloved must-have option for leading hair and beauty salons.
But how to choose the one that best suits your exact needs?
Multifunctional features
While there are some good softwares out there that perform the function of online booking systems, really great ones will have multiple functionalities combined into one platform. Why is this so important? Well, having everything in one place makes for convenience not only of data access but also of learning to navigate around the software. It also allows you to avoid the complications of fragmented and/or overlapping information and saves you the time and effort of combining the use of multiple softwares.
Online booking
The most important function of a salon scheduling software os, of course, a booking calendar with available services and time slots listed so that the client can select the one that best suits them.
Bonus info would include the price range and the name of the performing professional since some clients might have preferences.
Point of sale
Additionally, an online payment system is a great feature since not only do some clients prefer that payment method, but also it enables you to charge deposits for the bookings. There are two ways you could benefit from this – it both decreases the number of no-shows since (at least partially) paying for an appointment makes people more committed to honor it and it still provides a slight profit even when the client doesn’t show up, which sometimes still happens.
But why stop just there? Great salon scheduling softwares can do so much more.
Marketing tools
If your software records the phone number and/or email address of your clients, as long as you mention you will contact them with offers etc, you can later use that list to send marketing emails to. These mails can be personalized containing company news and offers. It can be a great and quite a useful way to stay in touch with your customers and maintain close and strong relationships with them which they will reward with loyalty.
Easy to use software
Let’s face it – Software needs to be easy touse! What good is a tool if instead of making your work easier and more efficient it provides just more complications and problems? The purpose of salon booking software should be to allow your clients an easy and simple overview of your services and their prices, to make it easier for them to book and to free your staff up to focus on the clients that are already there.
It’s no good if it ends up taking you ages to learn how to work the system and you still keep running into complications that eventually cost you more time and energy than they save.
That is why a good salon scheduling software should be easy to use, intuitive, with clearly marked sections and specific, understandable instructions.
Local support
However, if you need help, it’s nice to have a salon scheduling software that has local support, just in case you need it. Having someone who can offer assistance or guidance relatively close by and as quickly as possible is not only reassuring but also fairly fundamental for anyone who takes their business seriously.
Social proof
As much as recommendations from real people, otherwise known as social proofing, are important to your clients when they are searching for their perfect hairdresser, beauty salon, barber or nail salon, they should be equally significant for you when you are looking into your new software.
Ratings and reviews can give you important information about a product that you might find quite useful and can sway you one way or the other. Whenever possible, try to obtain as much of their insight as possible. Visiting the product webpage and asking around in the niche community are good ways to investigate your target salon scheduling software.
However, it’s also important to note that not everyone has the same experience and that there are as many different businesses out there as there are business owners so it’s good to find those products which are in wide use and have at least several reviews.
