Benefits of Online Booking for Salon Appointments

This article discusses the benefits of online booking for salon appointments, including convenience for clients and improved efficiency for salon management. It also explores common concerns and drawbacks of online bookings and provides suggestions to enhance business service.

Running head: ONLINE BOOKING SALON APPOINTMENT
Online Booking Salon Appointment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Benefits of Online Booking:..................................................................................................3
Common Concerns and Drawbacks of Online Bookings......................................................5
Suggestions to improve business service...................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
According to surveys, it has been reported that 35 per cent of clients prefer scheduling
appointments during non-business hours. Not only have that but 25 per cent of millennials
(those under 35) only booked appointments online. Having a salon or spa with an established
website, offering online booking could potentially boost appointments by 25% (Burgess,
2015). While there is no comprehensive study on the impact of introducing online booking,
the numbers seem to show that more and more people prefer to book online and during non-
business hours. Salon booking software is designed to send out text message reminders to
both the clients and beauty professionals. In a report by online scheduling firm Appointment
Plus, text messages were shown to reduce no shows for medical appointments by 50%. One
reason why text messages are extremely effective is that most check their text messages
several times per day. The chances of them not receiving the message are very slim. Older
ways of reminding clients that they have an appointment include phone calls and emails.
Unfortunately, the number of emails people receive, and the fact that many emails do not
make it into the inbox may reduce the effectiveness of this reminder method (Chiang, 2017).
While clients may not be overwhelmed with incoming phone calls, this reminder method is
very time consuming for salon staff to carry out, which often leads to reminder phone calls
not being made. Automatic text messages have advantages over both phone calls and emails
(Gottlieb, 2018).
The two leading booking platforms of online bookings are:
Best Online Booking Software for Multiple Stylists – Booker
For salons with more than one stylist, Booker is a great option. Booker’s marketing network
links a scheduling tool to Google, Yelp, Yellow Pages, MapQuest, SpaFinder, and more. The

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customers can get an “Online Booking” widget directly on your profile in search results. It is
a great way to combine marketing and online booking in one package.
Free Online Booking Software for Individuals – Square Appointments
This system is best for one-person operation or renting a chair at a salon. Square
Appointments lets the clients book online 24/7, and integrates with a cloud-based calendar so
that the owner do not have to spend time returning calls and emails or handling scheduling
conflicts. Square Appointments also integrates with Square POS, a free point-of-sale system
popular with salon professional.
Discussion
Benefits of Online Booking:
It is required to be aware of the benefits of online appointments at beauty salon. This
will help in positioning the salon above other beauty salons which only offers traditional
methods of appointment booking. Offering online appointments at beauty salon is a great
way of organizing and giving the clients the option of freely choosing their next appointment,
and the treatment they wish to undergo, via the internet. They may access the internet via
their computer, Smartphone, or via an app. It is important to have an online booking service
at the beauty salon (Jelfs & Thomson, 2016). This will help the business to run efficiently and
effectively, by providing several methods on how to improve the management and marketing
of the business.
 Appointment Book: This provides virtual appointment book which the owner and
the clients can access directly, from anywhere via mobiles. This organized and

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visually attractive appointment book provides the clients an option of freely choosing
the time of their appointments and directly booking them themselves.
 Book an appointment without having to wait: With this service, the clients can
forget about telephone calls, or visiting your clinic in person, where they may have to
wait in a queue in order to book their appointments (Lam & Yeung, 2018). With the
online appointment service, the beauty salon will become more accessible, from
anywhere, at any time.
 Keeps a record of online appointments: As manager of a beauty salon, this facility
is very beneficial. It helps by keeping a record of all the online appointments
provided. The manager will know which are the most used products and services, the
most popular appointment times, the busiest and least busy time of year, and much,
much more.
 Computerizes the customer base: With this service, manager will know everything
about all the clients, and will be in complete control. They will have all the contact
numbers, email addresses and social network profiles, which will enable to generate
many more marketing campaigns in the future (Schein, 2016.).
 Security: If the manager is always dealing with lots of folders or complicated
spreadsheets and if the customer files are lost or the laptop crashes then with salon
software, no one will have to worry about any of these issues. It allows saving all the
customer information, appointments, and transactions securely in the Salonized
account because everything is stored in the cloud. It only requires access to the data
from any device, anywhere and anytime.
 Prevent double bookings: Scheduling appointments might not be a complicated task,
but it requires good planning. Double bookings or poor planning can create problems,

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but fortunately, the online booking system Salonized is so advanced that it can handle
complex schedules, even while work with another booking system.
Common Concerns and Drawbacks of Online Bookings
Offering online booking does not have to replace phone call appointment setting.
Salon websites or apps can offer clients the choice of scheduling via the phone or online.
Some clients are going to prefer the phone and others to schedule online. When a client books
by phone, the appointment information is entered into the online booking system to keep
everything in one place (Macleman, 2015). There are some issues related to custom-
made online scheduling software for salons about which each business owner should
remember. First and foremost, the development of such systems requires time and money. It
will take time to formulate the requirements for the future appointment booking system to
ensure that it will correspond to the needs of your company. The process of development, in
its turn, takes a significant amount of time as well. Also, replacing phone calls with online
software for appointments, you can harm your relationships with your clients a little.
Especially, when a customer wants to specify some info that is not presented on a web site.
Therefore, not consider phone calls shout as an alternative to online software. Instead, these
options should work alongside and complement each other (Schaarschmidt & Höber, 2017).
The salon may be able to increase business from clients that prefer phone booking by having
online booking. When the salon or spa is closed, offering only phone booking means that
clients cannot book appointments when there is not someone to pick up the phone and look at
the calendar. While clients can leave a message and get a call back from you, that does not
work well if they want the appointment for the next day (Temizkan & Timur, 2016).
Research from Acuity Scheduling showed that over 40% of bookings are made 1 day or less

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in advance, occurred during non-business hours. By not offering online booking, there is a
chance of missing out on appointments from people calling the night before, or early in the
morning (Williams, 2018).
Online booking creates times for staff to have longer conversations with clients that call in by
phone. Instead of dealing with the logistics of scheduling, salon staff will have more time
(and less interruptions) when talking to new clients that want to learn about the salon, or
existing clients that need help figuring out what services they want to book. Need stable
internet access for the guest to book, while the facilitator has to do all the technical setups to
offer online booking systems may it be railways, bus bookings or hotel bookings. There are
certain instances where booker is being charged for the services but the transaction is dropped
at last moment resulting failure in allocation of services like railway tickets, bus tickets etc.
Though these can be taken care of by auto payment reversal mechanism, it takes time to get
the amount credited.
Suggestions to improve business service
1. Trained staff and Management: Staff hired by the company must undergo proper
training and attend workshops to master their art. They should be experienced and
dedicated individuals who know their work and will not disappoint the customer or
deliver poor service. For example, a hair stylist should know her work well and be
updated on what trends are in fashions (Williams, 2016). He or she should know how
to take directions from the customer and produce work which the customer is satisfied
with and not only what the stylist thinks looks good. Staff should not talk
unnecessarily with the customer, sharing their problems or work gossip. They do not
want to be let in on your issues or become friends, they are primarily there to forget
their problems and have a nice experience. One of the winning strategies is to pay

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attention to detail and win the customer buy offering what the market does not. Invest
in comfortable furniture and beautiful lighting. Offer your customers tea and drinks.
Focus on the little things, remembering their name, how they like their coffee or tea,
and service it in beautiful china or coffee cups. Offer them with mints and
scrumptious cookies while they are waiting for their turn or even if they want it
during the service. Give them small giveaways like testers of new products or pocket
size lotions, a come again card or even beautifully wrapped chocolates. These efforts
do not cost much but win your customers heart, resulting in a long lasting
relationship.
2. Consultation: Customers do not like rushing into getting a spa treatment or a haircut
without putting thought into it. It is not just about the cost, but also the impact a
treatment will have on them (Temizkan & Timur, 2016). Give the clients the time and
attention they are looking for and patiently try to understand what their requirements
are. This will help to gain client’s trust and helps to provide better customer service
since the employee will know what the client is looking for and how to deliver it
right. Make sure to ask the client all the questions and queries they have, and give
them an idea about how it will all be carried out. The customers must feel comfortable
and at ease while getting the service from the beauty salon. The services offered at a
salon are very personal and require a lot more attention and dedication as compared to
other service. Customers usually visit the salon to look good and get a relaxing
experience after long days of work and stress (Zhang, Cao, Ma & Li, 2018). The
environment in the salon must be peaceful, with aesthetic interior, soft music and
extremely polite staff. Ensure that all items in the salon are clean and hygienic. You
do not want customers bad mouthing you for having dirty brushes and messy tables.
Everything must be shining, organized and ready before the customer is served. If the

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customer is interested in getting a massage, make sure you have scented candles,
clean sheets, and most importantly no noise. Chatter from the other rooms or staff
conversations should not be disturbing the customer.
Conclusion
Therefore, the online booking will help in Decreasing the workload without losing the
customer service feels. Many salons and spas have online contact forms for clients to fill out.
These forms cannot display clear availability nor do they allow for online payments or direct
booking. The clients can browse through the available appointments, choose their staff
member and appointment time with a click of a button. They will receive a personal email
confirmation once they have placed their booking. Adding merge fields to the online booking
and making the website flow by ensuring that the online booking feature is in the correct font
and color scheme will help in gain potential customer. Hence, the paper concludes by proving
various other recommendations to improve the business service.

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References
Burgess, J. (2015). Head in the clouds. Instyle, (Jan/Feb 2015), 38.
Chiang, W. Y. (2017). Discovering customer value for marketing systems: an empirical case
study. International Journal of Production Research, 55(17), 5157-5167.
Gottlieb, M. (2018). Protecting your beauty business. Professional Beauty, (SepOct 2018),
96.Lilleleht, M., 2017. Customer relationship marketing in hair and beauty salon.
Jelfs, A., & Thomson, H. (2016). Marketing small and medium sized enterprises in the digital
age: Opportunities and challenges. Teaching Business & Economics, 20(1), 4.
Lam, S., & Yeung, D. (2018). Identify successful marketing communication strategies that
apply to a small hair salon.
Macleman, L. (2015). Don't be off with online. Instyle, (May/Jun 2015), 136.
Schaarschmidt, M., & Höber, B. (2017). Digital booking services: comparing online with
phone reservation services. Journal of Services Marketing, 31(7), 704-719.Lilleleht,
M., 2017. Customer relationship marketing in hair and beauty salon.
Schein, A., 2016. Two suggestions to improve the outcomes of public-private
partnerships. Global Business and Economics Review, 18(3-4), pp.297-309.
Temizkan, S. P., & Timur, B. (2016). Online Marketing and Hotel’s Spa Website
Designs. PROCEEDINGS: Advances in International Interdisciplinary Business and
Economics Volume 6.
Williams, M. (2018). Clicks vs Bricks. Professional Beauty, (SepOct 2018), 94
Williams, M. E. (2016). Salon.

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Zhang, J., Cao, Y., Ma, Y., & Li, L. (2018). Understanding Booking Intention of Consumers
in Online Short Rental Platforms: Social Presence, Perceived Social Benefits, and
Trust.Park, S. and Nicolau, Park, S., & Nicolau, J. L. (2015). Asymmetric effects of
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