In this article:
- Online appointment scheduling benefits
- Increase web traffic
- Improved customer retention
- Save company time
- And more!
The more information and access to your business that you can provide online, the better opportunities you’ll have to gain new customers.
One way to help your salon really improve online sales and gain new customers is to include a platform for online scheduling on your website or app. We’ve outlined several ways that an online booking system can help your salon.
1. Increase web traffic and customer loyalty for your salon
The ability to schedule salon appointments online is appealing to customers and may just help you get more traffic to your website over your competitors’ sites.
Having a website and a platform to book appointments will attract more customers to your website and help your existing customers to engage with your business easier.
When someone lands on your website and sees that they can book an appointment online, they are more likely to stay on your site and schedule an appointment right then and there, rather than looking through other options.
2. Provide a clear call to action
An online booking platform will help you to provide a clear call to action on your salon’s website. Rather than encouraging customers to call your business, you can direct them to schedule an appointment on your website.
Sometimes people land on a website and aren’t sure exactly what they are looking for, but if you provide a clear CTA for them to book an appointment, they don’t need to know because you already have the answer right in front of them.
3. Give your salon customers instant results when they schedule online
People don’t like waiting for things. So the thought of having to call a business to schedule an appointment and being placed on hold while the salon tries to figure out the best openings for that customer can deter people from calling you.
Online scheduling allows your customers to see the openings your employees have available and instantly get their appointment set up. This is much more gratifying and takes less time for the customer.
4. Provide more information about your salon business
Online booking forms can provide more information about your services, which makes choosing your salon a lot more appealing. When a customer is in research mode, they want all of the information they can get upfront.
They are looking for availability, prices, and the services you offer. Most online booking platforms will have places for you to show all of these types of information and more.
This also provides a place for your clients to see their scheduled appointments, update their contact information, access purchase histories, and check loyalty point balances.
5. Accept online payments
With online scheduling, you can often collect payments from your customers online before they even show up to their appointment. This helps improve your salon’s cash flow and ensures that customers will keep their appointments because they’ve already paid for it.
You don’t have to accept payments at the time that customers book their appointments, but you can encourage it by offering a discount for those that do pay for their appointments at the time of booking.
6. Fewer missed salon appointments
As we’ve mentioned, if customers pay online when they book their appointment, they are less likely to miss it.
Online scheduling for your salon can also help remind customers of upcoming appointments so they don’t forget if they booked it months ago.
Even if a customer doesn’t have an appointment scheduled, you can set up reminders to go out at the time when they will need a trim or touch-up on their coloring. This will encourage more appointments and increase customer retention.
7. Manage employee schedules
With online scheduling, your employees’ (if you have any) schedules are more easily managed. Their time slots get filled automatically as customers go online to book appointments.
You can enter each employee’s availability into your online booking system so it will manage their schedules for you. You can even let the system show each individual employee’s schedule on your website so customers can select which stylist they want to have for their appointment.
8. Save time for your hair or nail salon business
All of the reasons mentioned above help save time for your business. The more you can do to automate some of the tedious tasks like scheduling appointments and managing employee schedules, to more time you can save and revenue you can gain for your salon.
Here are a few well-known online booking solutions that you can try for your salon:
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