Running a salon is no easy task. Aside from dealing with the plethora of day-to-day activities such as such managing appointments, creating schedules, tracking inventory, preparing work rosters and running payrolls, salon managers and owners have to also worry about the competition, client engagement, keeping up with the trends, and business strategy. Perhaps, this is why increasing number of salons are looking at automating the administrative side of the business by leveraging technology known has online hair appointment booking software. Often operating through a cloud-based platform these software assist you in improving efficiency by streamlining your business processes and consistently deliver superior client experience. Here are the top 6 benefits that you can derive by switching to an online hair appointment booking system.
Create Great Impression
“First impression is the last impression”. The idiom exists for a reason. The online hair appointment booking system helps you in delivering that great first impression. The software integrates with your website, client facing app, social media pages to allow clients to book appointments easily, and in just few clicks. In fact, the hair salon online booking system from Zenoti transfer the control of the processes to the hands of the clients and allows them to do things at their own pace. From instantaneous bookings and automated check-ins to easy exploration of new services and products, and loyalty rewards, the online software from Zenoti delivers superior client experience through a single platform. Furthermore, once the appointment is confirmed the system intuitively tracks the same and automatically sends reminders to both the client and the provider about the upcoming appointment thus ensuring minimal no-show bookings.
Centralized Client Database
Salon business runs on clients and know that keeping client information up to date is an integral aspect of operations, and the online hair appointment booking system immensely helps you in the process. With all the records being stored at a centralized location, no longer do you or your team have to loose precious minutes looking up the information, or expressing regret at not being able to locate it. The software records each and every transaction, under unique user profiles and makes the data available as and when you need it. What is even better, the system allows guests to modify certain details about their personal information such as change of address, phone numbers, payment information through a secure password authenticated access.
Optimal Shift Scheduling
One of the trickiest aspects of running a salon is to create work schedule for your staff. However, with the hair salon online appointment booking system this will become a thing of past as the software can not only ensure fair and equitable distribution of the work but also allocate work based on the provider’s availability. In other words, in situations where clients wish to rebook with a particular provider, the system will automatically accept bookings based on the provider’s schedule. Further, as soon as the booking is confirmed, the software updates both the store calendar and the individual calendar of the employee.
Cut Costs
Believe it or not, but the software can help you reduce your costs in many ways. The software has an inbuilt inventory management module, which works intuitively to track consumption patterns, and sales data such that your business maintains just the right inventory levels and ensure that you neither block capital by overstocking nor loose revenue by regretting an order. Morever, as the system works on complete track and trace model, it generates invoices as soon as the guest checks-in and also offers guests seamless payments options as soon as the service is over. In other words, it eliminates the need for a full-fledged front desk and helps you save on the operations cost. Furthermore, as the online hair appointment booking system works on a cloud-based server, it eliminates the need for installing, maintain and upgrading a full-fledged IT infrastructure. All the software requires is a device such as a laptop, or a tablet and internet connection and its up and running in no time.
Data Security
One of the best benefits of an online hair appointment booking software is that you no longer have to worry about the security of your business data either due to malfunction of the IT hardware or theft. As the software stores every information on a remote cloud-based server, you have the access to your data anytime and from anywhere. Moreover, as no data is being stored within the premises of your salon, there is no chance of loss of data due to theft. Certain software such as the one from Zenoti comes with additional advanced features such as role-based data access and geo-fencing, which add additional layers of security and prevent all chances of loss of data due to theft.
Reporting and Analytics
Ranking amongst the top 3 advantages of using an online hair appointment booking system is its ability to generate on-demand reports of client footfall, daily sales, revenue, profit and loss etc. The cloud-based platform allows the software to give you a picture of the health of your business along with the key financial metrics such as Return on Investment, Internal Rate of Return etc., anytime and anywhere. Whether you run a single store or multiple stores, the software can give you both micro and macro picture to help you in making data driven decisions to steer the course of your business.
Aside the above, a hair salon online appointment booking system can also help you in managing employees, running loyalty programs and marketing campaigns. Some of the renowned names are Zenoti, Phorest, Vagaro, MindBody and SalonIris. Personally, I find Zenoti to be the best-in-class product for its host of features such as advanced data analytics, geo fencing, and easy scalability to meet the ever-evolving demands of the business.
