Here at Artemis, we’ve helped over 2000 beauty business owners achieve financial success. So we understand that you want to help your clients feel beautiful, while making a healthy profit for your company. And, without doubt, you want to do all of this without burning the candle at both ends!
One big but often overlooked barrier to all of the above are manual booking processes. That is, processes in which your clients book via phone or email, while a member of your team replies in person to each appointment request.
So, what’s the problem with this approach?
Well, from the clients’ point of view, it isn’t convenient. Phones and inboxes are only checked during office hours, which means they can’t book at a time that works for them – after they’ve put the kids to bed, or at the school gates.
Also, clients can make mistakes, such as writing the time down wrongly in their calendar (or forgetting to write it down at all!)
From your point of view, it can take time and effort to send appointment reminders. Which means you often don’t send them at all, and get your fair share of no-shows.
In addition, they often take up lots of your time – time you could be spending with clients or running your business. Alternatively, you might need to rely on a team member. And the cost of their salaried hours can really add up!
Therefore, it must be remembered that the phone and email approach is not the only way to take bookings! In fact, a salon booking apps does everything a manual system does, and more. They’re normally pretty inexpensive, or even free, and they can bolster your business success in subtle but powerful ways.
The question is, which booking app should your salon business use?
Here, we’ll explain what exactly a salon booking apps is. Then, we’ll take you through the ways a salon booking app will support your business growth.
Finally, we’ll share the top five apps out there. So you can choose the salon appointment booking app that meets you and your clients needs, and positions your business for success.
What is a salon appointment booking app?
Salon management software is an app (for iOS or Android) which clients can use to book appointments. They keep all the information about appointment times, details and costs in one place for clients and for salon owner.
Normally, a salon appointment booking app will take payments for bookings too. As we’ll see below, a salon appointment booking app often has numerous other functions that help your business grow.
Often, a salon appointment booking app completely removes the need to have someone manning a phone or email inbox. This frees up time and money that you can invest in building your business in other ways.
The benefits of an appointments booking app
A salon appointment booking app almost always helps businesses improve customer experience and increase revenue.
How does it do this?
Firstly, it means you don’t need a staff member to pick up the phone and answer emails, saving you money on their salary. Alternatively, if you’re taking bookings yourself, a salon appointment booking app frees up your time. You can spend this time treating clients, or growing your business in numerous other ways.
Also, with a salon appointment booking app, your customers book whenever is convenient, which increases your bookings. Further, you can send automatic calendar invitations and reminders to clients, reducing no-shows, and increasing revenue.
Often, a salon appointment booking app has a marketplace where customers can browse beauty and wellness businesses (like DoorDash, but for beauty!) This gives your salon business more exposure, helping you boost customer numbers.
Furthermore, it will often track client demand, and tell you when your most popular appointment times are. This can help you put your prices up for more popular times, increasing your cash flow.
You can find a salon appointment booking app with all kinds of other functions that help your salon business grow. For example, you can sync the salon appointment booking app with your online payment process, for a seamless payment experience.
The salon appointment booking app can also automate requests for reviews, so you get more of those invaluable testimonials. Additionally, you can sell new services, products, and add-ons through the salon appointment booking app.
What to consider when choosing a salon appointment booking app
Before jumping to download your salon appointment booking app, you should ask yourself a few questions first. It’s most important to ensure a salon appointment booking app will in fact benefit your business, before investing time and energy into one.
Are my clientele likely to download a booking app?
If your clientele are a demographic which strongly prefers a manual booking process, or is less likely to own a smartphone, then you might want to think twice before downloading a salon appointment booking app.
Can I afford a booking app?
Without doubt, you should check the subscription cost of your salon appointment booking app. If you can’t afford one, or you’re not sure whether it will make you money, consider finding a salon appointment booking app that’s free. Or a salon appointment booking app that offers a free trial.
It must be remembered that a salon appointment booking app will save as well as make you money in the long run. So while you should factor the cost in, you should also think about how much money a salon appointment booking app will bring in.
What is my aim in introducing a booking app?
Whenever you introduce a salon appointment booking app, be sure to have your goals in mind. For example, decide whether you’d like all your customers to book with the salon appointment booking app, or just a certain percentage. This will help you decide how much time and energy to spend promoting the salon appointment booking app to clients.
Which tools are important to me in a booking app?
As we’ll see in the next section, each salon appointment booking app does slightly different things. While every salon appointment booking app will take bookings and diarize, the extra functions can vary.
Therefore, get clear on the things you need from your salon appointment booking app. Do you want it to take payments too? Is it important for it to sync with your existing payment process? And do you want your salon appointment booking app to send reminders to clients?
Get clear on what you need from a salon appointment booking app, and you’ll choose one that bolsters your business success.
Our top 5 apps for salon booking appointments
- Fresha
One of the largest and best reviewed salon appointment booking apps on the market, Fresha is simple to use and subscription-free.As well as scheduling, this salon appointment booking app offers payment processing, point of sales service, marketing promotions, product inventory, and reporting and analytics.
With hundreds of thousands of downloads, and a marketplace that prospective clients can browse, Fresha is a great salon appointment booking app to increase your business exposure.
And this is not to mention the plethora of other handy tools it has, including automatic appointment reminders to reduce those no-shows. Plus, it automates requests for reviews, so you can boost your online presence and enhance your marketing materials.
- Schedulicity
Not only is Schedulicity a salon appointment booking app, but also it’s an all-in-one business software. Which means it has all the tools you need to run a service business, from just one simple app.Clients book their own appointments, and you can view them from one easy-to-view calendar. Then, you can add on any rules, boundaries and comms your business needs. For example, you can set up safety waivers before workout classes, ask for deposits for specific services, and block off your weekend, rest days or holidays.
Lastly, with a nifty business management software, you can use Schedulicity to manage your whole team. Get an overview of all the appointments in one location, while also keeping each team member’s payments and schedules separate.
If you’re looking for a salon appointment booking app that’s easy to use and does it all, then Schedulicity is the salon appointment booking app for you.
- Square Appointments
Square Appointments is a salon appointment booking app with point of sale service. Its distinctive minimalist design keeps things simple and easy for customer and salon owners alike.Square already has a widely used point of sale app. It’s easy to sync Square appointments with Square POS. So, if you already use Square POS, this is a great salon appointment booking app for you.
Finally, the Square salon appointment booking app has a free subscription, and generous free trial for their paid plans.
- Booksy
Boasting 13 million users, Booksy offers all the tools you need to cover the day-to-day running of your business, as well as advanced solutions to help you grow.So, what are some of the best bits of this salon appointment booking app?
From diarizing to financial trackers, all the basics are covered. In addition, it offers the means to protect you against no-shows, and advanced marketing tools (including a social post creator, client invitations and more.)
Booksy’s advanced features allow you to effortlessly manage your team and inventory from one handy place. Plus, it makes creating gift certificates, discount packages and memberships easy, and analyzes the results. So you can encourage customer loyalty, without agonizing over the best strategies.
- StyleSeat
Finally, StyleSeat is a salon appointment booking app that seriously boosts your exposure to new clients. Indeed, it’s a salon appointment booking app with some of the highest download rates. And it features highly in search engine results.What’s more, the app is free – you only pay for point of sales, and when StyleSeat sends you new clients. Therefore, there’s almost no financial risk to giving this salon appointment booking app a try.
Finally, StyleSeat is big on protecting small businesses against no shows; it operates a card on file policy for all bookings. Giving you extra protection and peace of mind.
Final thoughts
Without doubt, an appointment booking app will improve your customer experience, make your business more efficient, and ultimately increase your bottom line.
Every salon appointment booking app we’ve shared here is well reviewed. They’re all designed to seamlessly fit into your business and help you grow in no time. However, it’s still important to do your research and find the salon appointment booking app that suits your particular needs, tastes and preferences.
Finally, it must be remembered that apps do much more for salon owners than book appointments! There are apps for beauty businesses out there that will help you grow in many different ways. Find out more about them here.
