Early app adopters seeing immediate benefits

Salons launching apps for smartphones have seen a massive hike in the number of clients booking appointments, according to data recently released by Shortcuts. Figures from November 2015 to March 2016 show one established Shortcuts client benefiting from a 300 per cent hike in app usage. Drilling into those figures also enabled Shortcuts to take a snapshot of iPhone and Android usage. Bookings on these devices had an average value of £55.16 in November. By March this had risen to £86.57, while the most up-to-date figure from April of the average value of appointments booked on an iPhone or Android device reveals another hike to £118.76. ‘We are seeing a real rush of clients on to this technology,’ reports Shortcuts’ general manager, Trevor Jennings. ‘Those who embraced it early, like Savills in Sheffield, are starting to see a big acceleration in the number of clients engaging directly via their Shortcuts-powered Savills app. But they are not the only ones.’ The Sheffield barber was one of the earliest adopters of app technology, launching its app last year. The figures published this month by Shortcuts show Savills’ app-booked appointments tripled between November and December, while more recent adopter Finishing Touch Hair & Beauty in Altrincham saw a more than fourfold increase in the number of clients booking via its app over the four months between December 2015 and March this year. Interestingly, the same clients who witnessed increased app usage also saw a rise in online booking rates via the internet. According to the Mobile Operators Association, two in three adults in the UK now own a smartphone and use it for internet access. That translates to approximately 40 million people. ‘We are moving into an era when only a tiny minority of adults will still be resisting the allure of a smartphone,’ added Trevor. ‘And with apps making it even easier to engage, their use will continue to rocket. We want to make it as easy as possible for our partner salons to up their visibility on the net and to engage directly with their clients. Those who were quick to set up their Shortcuts app are successfully pushing loyalty and sales by giving clients instant access.’