As a salon owner you would already know how important it is to pamper your clients. It gets overwhelming when you have to divide your attention between clients in front of you and those calling you to book their spa appointments. With a salon booking app, you can easily organize client appointments and bookings, andmake your business more efficient and profitable. Investing in a salon online scheduling app will do you good only if you get the right salon booking app features. Here are the five most essential features your salon booking app must have:
1. Effective Appointment Scheduling
An automated online booking app for salon takes care of scheduling your customers’ appointmentsand enables your staff to offer a delightful guest service. The app helps avoid overlapping schedules and reduces missed appointments, last-minute cancellations, and unexpected no-shows by sending appointment reminders to your customers. The salon online scheduling app lets your customers choose how they wish to receive their communications. For example, some prefer receiving reminders via text messages while some like emails or calendar notifications. The app saves your customers’ time by allowing them to quickly fix appointments online, cancel or reschedule their bookings,and offers the flexibility to choose their schedules wisely.
2. Inventory Management
An integrated inventory management module is a vital salon booking app feature. It helps you get up-to-date reports on your salon’s stock levels and understand how various products and equipment are used in your salon. The software automatically alerts you when you’re running out of essential items such as shampoos, conditioners, hairdryers, scissors, and towels among others. This helps you restock supplies on time. If you’re selling retail, your spa booking app’s inventory management module will let you know which products are moving fast and which aren’t giving you any return on investment. Thus, the salon booking app makes it easier for you to plan and streamline your inventory. Your staff can avoid spending too much time on inspecting inventory and focus on providing a memorable guest experience.
3. Talent Management
As your salon grows, you need to hire experienced staff members who’re proficient in offering various spa and salon services to your guests. With an online booking app for salon, you can easily manage the profile of every team member, track payrolls, map incentives based on each member’s performance, manage their time-offs and shifts, and plan in advance for peak seasons. This data allows you to make better work arrangements, which will ultimately make your workforce more productive and satisfied. You can also use the staff management feature to record your customers’ feedback on each staff. This streamlines your employee training plans. Using the salon booking app, customers can evaluate your team’s expertise and choose a stylist or therapist from whom they’d like to receive their facial, nail treatment, or hair therapy.
4. Digital Payment Solution
Online payment has tremendously evolved from the cash v/s card battledue to the increasing popularity of digital payment apps and mobile wallets. Your salon booking app should keep up with this trend by enabling your guests to make payments seamlessly during checkout. A survey by American Express found that contactless payment has significantly contributed to the growth of the beauty and wellness industry during the pandemic, with a large number of Millennials and Gen-Z adopting various digital payment options such as in-app payment, Amazon Pay, e-wallets, and so on. Securing financial transactions and customer data is the most significant aspect of digital payment integration. Ensure that your salon booking app as well as the third-party payment processor you choose are fully compliant with PCI Data Security Standards. It’s also important to formulate fair and robust policies for handling refunds, returns, disputed transactions, and duplicate invoices.
5. Marketing Abilities
Acquiring new customers and retaining existing customers are the two important goals of effective marketing. Use Google Analytics, SEMrush, or other intelligent marketing analytics tools to monitor your salon booking app’s traffic and content performance. Run relevant and personalized marketing campaigns to drive more customers to your booking app. Send out automated follow up emails to customers who’re using your salon’s online scheduling app and to those who’ve tried to contact you. Lure them with offers, discounts, promo codes, and loyalty programs. A customer visiting your salon booking app should be able to view your services and offerings at a glance. Publish informative and engaging content on your spa management software and make it visually appealing with a captivating UI design.
Elevate your guest experience and streamline your daily operations with a state-of-the-art salon online scheduling app. Ensure that your salon management software offers all the relevant features that enhance your competency and empower you to rake in profits.