How to Increase Online Bookings for your Salon Business through Website

For appointment-based businesses like hair, nail, and beauty salons and spas, online booking is a vital technique to increase daily productivity. Data shows that online booking leads to 26% more new clients and reduces seven hours of administrative workload every week. With a high-performing salon online scheduling app, your clients can interact with a 24/7 virtual assistant that automates your booking acceptance and appointment scheduling processes. Online booking is overtaking calls, emails, and text messages as the most preferred method to schedule appointments as customers find it quite handy and convenient. Here are a few tips to boost your online bookings and get more customers into your saloon.

Choose the right salon booking app

No two scheduling software are the same. It’s important to invest in the right online booking app for salon that will provide you a superior customer experience and simplify your administrative tasks. For instance, the software’s booking widgets should make it easy for you to add “Book Now” buttons to your salon’s website, social media profiles, and email signature. This improves the speed and ease of making appointments with your salon, subsequently resulting in more online bookings.

The software should support multiple secured payment options such as cards, cash, payment apps, or mobile wallets and ensure that your payment gateway is error-free. The online booking system should allow you to seamlessly manage the creation and redemption of gift vouchers and loyalty cards.

Database organization is a topnotch salon booking app feature that saves you from keeping clients waiting at your lounge for hours. Use the booking software to record and access information about each client’s product choices, service history, allergies, and other key details, so you don’t have to browse vast, unorganized chunks of data.   

Your salon software’s credibility will also depend on the speed at which you deliver technical assistance to customers when they’re encountering problems while booking online.

It takes about less than 50 milliseconds for customers to judge your website and decide if they should stay or leave. Optimizing your salon booking app’s user experience with a mobile responsive design will increase your website’s reach and drive more online bookings.           

Tell your clients that you offer online booking

Put signs at your salon conveying that you’re offering online booking to customers. Place eye-catching notifications at your front door and desk, noticeable walls, mirrors, waiting area, and billboards near your location.

Ask your staff to spread the word when they are attending to your guests. Informing clients about the benefits of online booking is the best way to garner traction.

Got sufficient budget? Promote your online booking by offering a gift voucher or a discount for clients booking online for the first time.

Mention a word about online booking in your business cards that you give customers during checkout. Next time, when a customer looks at your business card to find your contact number for booking an appointment, they will be reminded about the advantages of online booking.

Make your online booking page more visible and accessible

If your salon app’s web design isn’t optimized for accessibility, you’re probably leaving out a vast online demographic that could be brought on board through online booking. Make your booking page less complicated for people with disabilities. For instance, avoid using too many flashing or moving images on your booking page. Keep it plain and simple with reasonably large fonts that can be zoomed in for better visibility. This will improve visibility for people suffering from dyslexia.

Adding Alt text (alternative texts) to images will make it easy for visually impaired users to understand an on-page image. As they resort to screen readers, they can quickly read an alt attribute attached to the image. Moreover, alt texts provide better image or context descriptions for search engine crawlers to index an image properly. This will drive more traffic to your website, giving an impetus to your online booking.

Final word

Including a “Book Now” button on your social media accounts and listing your salon software’s appointment scheduling page in online directories such as Google Business Profile, Yelp, and Bing Places for Business are also some of the top techniques to advertise your salon and its services.

Increasing your online bookings isn’t the only way to take your salon on the growth path. Impeccable and quality service delivery is a must for retaining existing customers and attracting new clients to your salon. Promise only what you offer and spread the right word online through your salon website.

A highly optimized salon online scheduling app will allow you to effectively manage time and offer exceptional customer experience. Try out these tips and let us know which worked best f