Online booking for salons: are you making the most of it?

The value of online booking for salons in the hair industry was more than £9 million in 2013, says Tom Bentley-Taylor, CEO of Shortucts Software UK. Based on the year before, that was a growth of more than 53%. This growth is not unusual. In 2012 the growth was 57% and in 2014 it is estimated that the total value of online bookings will be well over £14 million. The leading salons have realised that clients demand such a service and they don’t want to be sending a request for a booking or having to phone up.

Latest industry research shows that missed phone calls are averaging 20% - 35% across the industry and 68% of clients are not calling back, so having an additional avenue for booking is a crucial tool. What should you look for when considering online booking? The first thing to look for is that it integrates to your website or Facebook business page. This is where the majority of clients will make their booking. The booking page should look like your branding and colour scheme in order to provide consistency for the user. The system should be intelligent enough to allow you to specify which services you want available for booking online. Likewise it should let you pick and choose which staff members you want on there, and also tell it when they are available. A truly integrated online booking service will talk to your appointment book and make sure that there are no double bookings or overlaps. Any new online bookings should appear automatically, allowing you to see them as and when they are made. Something else to consider is what else is bundled with the service. Some providers have an online booking directory, which works in a similar way to popular travel booking websites, allowing visitors to search by service and location. There are reviews from other clients and it allows them to book an appointment in real-time. A good provider should also offer an optimisation guide showing you how to get the most from promoting the service. The percentage of bookings that are made online varies per salon, but on average it is 5-7%. Salons that promote it successfully to their client base can expect that figure to increase to 10-15%. On average about 42% of online bookings are made outside of a salon’s opening hours. Cocoon Hair & Beauty in Reading are currently averaging 261 online bookings per month, generating £136,627 in the last year alone. Lisa De-La-Plain, owner, said: “My favourite thing about online booking is the ability to be open 24/7. In today’s market we need to be able to capture clients all day every day. We are now getting an average of 250-300 bookings per month, which shows that our clients love it as much as we do!”