There is no debate about the actual fact that technology is playing a large role inside our everyday lives. Whether it’s for personal or professional use, we all use technology on a day-to-day basis. The salon and spa industry are no exception. There was a time when the salon manager would note down appointments in a huge register. Well, though there are a few salons which still follow this age-old method, almost all of the others have raised out of it. As occupants of a highly digitized era, everything today happens at the touch/click of a button. People desire automation in every process. Thus, a few years ago salon appointment software made its debut. Since then, things never have been the same. Salon operations and procedures are handled far more seamlessly and the owners too are witnessing better return on investment.
Top 7 Benefits of Salon Software for your Business
If you’re in a quandary whether to purchase salon booking software or not, you should now. It’s worth it in the long run, and your clients and vendors will thank you for it. Beyond taking appointments, the software has a lot more potential. It enables salon owners to run their business more proficiently.
In this blog, we aim at discussing the surprising yet amazing advantages of salon software:
7 Amazing Benefits of Salon Booking Software
1. Easy Appointment Scheduling/Simplified Booking Process
Since salon appointment software can be an automated booking system, clients can schedule their appointments any moment of the day, without the help. It permits them to book a slot 24/7, even during non-business hours. Easy scheduling allows a customer to check the calendar availability and book their preferred slot. It needs no middlemen. As soon as they confirm their booking, they immediately get a confirmation message.
Having an online booking system for your salon or spa, reduces cancellations, and prevents overbooking and no-shows. Salon owners can truly add their booking widget with their social media pages and website and clients can schedule their appointments here off their own device/mobile.
Appointment Booking in MioSalon
Studies reveal that if a business adopts salon appointment software, the clients often spend more. This is because when a client is booking online, they get to see the whole salon menu unlike when they’re booking on the phone. They may have more options and might get tempted to book another service. For instance, if the client is taking an appointment for a pedicure, some may look at a manicure as well.
Thus, besides promising quick engagement and accessibility, a web based booking software promises increased revenue for the salon too.
2. Effective Inventory Management
Whether you own a hair salon, nail salon or spa, you’re more likely to stock up on several products that can be used for a particular service. Monitoring minimum stock levels is no easy task. That’s where a salon management system comes in. Gone will be the days when companies would manually manage inventory. Today, it all happens on software. You get an improved notion of which products are being used up quickly and which need reordering.
Imagine this… you’re going to service a customer and realize that a particular product is over. This is certainly extremely embarrassing. To avoid such situations, most salon owners today are switching to inventory management software to control product stock levels.
Salon product inventory management and book keeping
Each time a product is being used for something; the stylist has to enter the product quantity being used. After the product is about to get over or expire, the salon owner or manager will be immediately notified. This system makes certain that a salon or spa never runs out of product again. It’s seamless and highly efficient.
3. Track & Manage Employee Performance
No salon or spa business can operate without its employees. They will be the people who make a customer happy by giving them a great haircut, hair colour or dreamy nails. To an outsider, yours might seem like the perfect salon. However, you will be the person that knows what goes on behind the scenes. Managing salon staff is not a easy task. From assigning appointments to tracking their performance and progress, you have too much to do. Thankfully, hairsalon software streamlines this process as well.
Make it a point for employees to login everyday and record their work report by the end of the day. Capturing the attendance of employees electronically gives you a chance to track their work progress in real-time. You can set up a system for each stylist to get intimidated via SMS whenever a client books a meeting with them. An online booking system ensures that each employee’s time is employed to maximum advantage. At exactly the same time, salon owners too don’t have to be physically present to monitor employee performance. They could track their activities remotely as well.
Salon employee performance analysis and rewards
Based on every employee’s performance, you can even incentivize them towards the end of the month and calculate their commission.
4. Engage Customers with Loyalty Programs
Every salon owner has one aim – to keep clients loyal with their business. The most effective salon booking software helps achieve this goal using its automated loyalty programs. It’s a great way to attract clients and incentivize existing ones.
With a loyalty program, your clients will get points every time they visit your business. Once they’ve achieved a certain amount of points, they can redeem the same for something or merchandise. To run a loyalty program successfully, it is important to have a salon scheduling software. It tracks your customer’s buying patterns and records the services they’ve availed. Based on the loyalty program model set by you, points will be calculated at checkout.
There are various types of loyalty programs you can setup on your salon software. The favored ones include a points-based system and punch card loyalty program.
Salon Loyalty program ideas
With a compelling loyalty program, there are higher chances of your clients coming back. It is also a great way of improving your current bottom line.
5. Automated Client Database
If you want your salon to use more proficiently, having a salon appointment software is invaluable. The beauty business today is all about how exactly you engage and interact with your customers. If you want your customers to go to you regularly, you’ve got to go an extra mile to personalize their experience.
A good place to start is by recording their name, address, contact number, email, past service and product purchase history and birthday or anniversary date. With the right software with you, database management becomes much easier. You can also segregate customers according to their visit frequency.
With a centralized location to manage customer records, you can curate individualized experiences for each and every customer. In addition, it helps in your marketing efforts. You can send out discount coupons, gift vouchers and free samples to clients who visit you often. You can also personalize the communication based on their purchase history. For example, if you have a client who only visits your salon for haircuts, you can send out messages to them via SMS and email when you’re running special offers.
Salon and spa software assists with bringing out the best out of your business.
6. Swift Payment Processing & Cash Management
If you want to successfully run your salon business, effectively managing cash inflow and outflow is important. There could be occasions when you’re not physically present in your salon but need to track the movement of cash on a daily basis. This is when salon scheduling software comes handy. It helps in earnings management. Previously, most salon owners relied on Excel to keep accounts. However, it had a unique share of drawbacks such as data loss and double data entry.
With a salon POS software, every payment is recorded. Salon owners may also generate electronic reports to track pending payments.
Besides making the process easier for salon owners, it makes it possible for clients as well. They even have an option to pay at the time of booking as per their preferred payment method. The program also records which client has pending payments and which may have paid in excess. Today, contactless payment has become the order of the day since everybody wants to limit physical touch whenever possible.
Once the service is completed and payed for, the invoice too reaches the customer directly via SMS and email.
7. Increased Security
As a salon owner, there are a whole lot of records you have to control which is not any easy task. You may have several Excel sheets and word documents all over the place. These can be easily lost in the event of a crash, digital threat or hacking activity. With the best beauty spa management software, you can set aside all your security concerns. You can store your client information, product inventory, sales record and employee data on the software. You don’t have to worry about it being misplaced or lost as it is all stored in the “cloud” which can be accessed from anywhere anytime.
