New Feature: Online Chat

We have exciting news! With our new update, online chat is available straight from your desktop as well as from the Salon Tracker application.

At Salon Tracker, we are always striving to create a seamless experience for our customers, and with the advancement of technology comes the advancement of Salon Tracker, with online chat.

Online chat is a great way to contact us for any questions or support that you may need! Our trained technical team monitor the chat during our working hours, making sure to answer any queries that you may have! Since it launched, the online chat has been successful at quickly resolving any questions that you may have, meaning that you can focus your attention on your customers!

As the busy season begins, you may find yourself too busy to be on the phone, so you may want to just drop a message in the chat, making it easier for you to continue serving your customers, keeping them happy.  You can even use our online chat through your smartphone by going to our website and clicking the chat icon, making it easier than ever.

Studies show that 63% of consumers prefer using online chat as a channel of support communication. Online chat is a more convenient way for you to get in touch with us, with fast response times so that you won't need to wait on hold! Having the messages written out can help with having a better understanding the information given, resolving your query faster and more efficiently!

If the online chat icon does not appear on your desktop or in the help section in Salon Tracker, please contact us to update your software.

If you haven't tried our online chat already, try it next time!

Salon Tracker x

5 Essential Tips for Running a Successful Salon

Running a successful salon requires more than just technical skills – it’s about creating a great experience for your customers and effectively managing your business. 

Here are five key tips to help you thrive in the salon industry!

Invest in trained staff

Your staff are the face of your salon. Hiring trained professionals not only ensures quality services but also boosts your confidence in what your salon offers. Clients appreciate expertise and professionalism, so investing in skilled staff members is crucial for building trusty and loyalty.

 

Utilise Strategic Marketing

 In order to attract new clients and retain existing ones, effective marketing is essential. Use various marketing strategies to promote your services, including special promotions and offers. Utilise social media, SMS and email campaigns to expand your reach and keep your salon top of mind.

 

Stay Organised with Salon Tracker

Managing bookings, appointments, and client information can be overwhelming without the right tools. Implement a salon management software like Salon Tracker to streamline operations. This software helps you to stay organised, manage schedules efficiently, and maintain client records seamlessly.

 

Define your USP

What sets your salon apart from the competition? Identify your USP – whether it’s a personalised service, unique ambiance, eco-friendly products, or exclusive treatments. Highlight this USP in your marketing efforts to attract clients who resonate with your salon’s unique offerings.

Create a Welcoming Atmosphere

The ambiance of your salon significantly impact the overall customer experience. Ensure your salon is clean, well-maintained, and has a welcoming atmosphere. Pay attention to details like lighting, music, and decor to create a relaxing and enjoyable environment for your clients.

Implementing these tips will not only enhance your salon's reputation but also contribute to the growth and success of your business. By focusing on professionalism, effective marketing, organisation, differentiation, and customer experience, you'll be well-positioned to thrive in the competitive salon industry.

Salon Tracker x

How Salon Tracker can work for your College

With the busy days of learning and teaching at a beauty college, keeping track of appointments without proper organisation just adds to that stress. Salon Tracker is an easy to use management software to simplify booking appointments as well as keeping track of customers’ booking history and more!

The Salon Tracker software works great for colleges, with features like multiple calendars, user permissions and advanced reports, it’s flexible to your needs. We offer completely free set-up and unlimited free support, with our phone lines and online chat available 9-5 Monday-Friday. The system is intuitive to use, but there are also help videos to assist you along the way, especially whilst first getting used to it!

Multiple Calendars

Managing multiple calendars allows you to easily differentiate between level 2 and level 3 students, having them on a separate tab for different booking calendars. This simplifies the booking process so that anyone can do it!

User Permissions and Secure Shell

Let students get the full experience of what it’s like to work in a salon by having them book the appointments using Salon Tracker. Control what they can have access to so that you can be confident that they are using the system correctly! With secure shell, you can block access on the computer for anything other than Salon Tracker to ensure that this is the only thing the computer is being used for.

Advanced Reports

With over 40 reports, you can see many different breakdowns of your sales! From a simple cashing up, to full product analysis, there’s a report for all of your needs. Teach students how to recognise popular times and get them involved in SMS and email marketing so they can learn not only the skills of the treatments, but also business skills!

Siteview

Unlimited access to view reports, calendar and more from any device means that your finance team can get the information they need, without interrupting you on the reception computer! Siteview can be accessed from multiple devices at any time, with different logins and access for each account. This means that each login can have access only to the information that they need!

Customised Pricing

Sometimes you may need to customise the prices of your services for example if it is a hair service where the price may differ for every service, you can alter the price of the service for every transaction and, as always, you can set this so that only specific users can access this. 

We hope that you found this blog useful! If you would like to know more about our other amazing features, please give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or fill out our enquiry form and we will be in touch > Free Trial - Salon Tracker

Salon Tracker x

The Rise of Natural Beauty

In the business of our daily lives, it's easy to get caught up in all our responsibilities and forget to take care of ourselves. However, carving out time for self-care is essential for maintaining our physical, mental, and emotional well-being. And what better way to pamper yourself than with a rejuvenating spa day, complete with protective hair styles and makeup that doubles as skincare? Let's dive into the ultimate self-care guide to help you look and feel your best from head to toe.

A spa day offers the perfect opportunity to unwind and recharge both your body and mind. Whether you choose to visit a professional spa or create your own at home, there are countless ways to indulge in relaxation and self-care.

Start by drawing a warm bath infused with essential oils or bath salts to soothe tired muscles and promote relaxation. Light some candles, play soft music, and sink into the blissful tranquillity of your own personal sanctuary.

Treat your skin to a luxurious exfoliation session to reveal a radiant complexion underneath. You can use a gentle scrub or opt for a DIY mask made from natural ingredients like honey, oats, and yogurt for a spa-worthy glow.

Finally, don't forget to nourish your body from the inside out by staying hydrated and enjoying healthy snacks like fruits, nuts, and herbal teas throughout the day. After all, self-care is about nourishing your whole being, not just your external appearance.

While indulging in self-care, it's essential to show your hair some love too. Protective hair styles not only shield your strands from environmental damage but also provide the perfect deep conditioning treatments and hair masks hair styles.

Consider opting for hairstyles like braids, twists, or buns that keep your hair tucked away and protected from harsh elements like sun exposure and pollution. These styles not only look chic but also help maintain moisture and prevent breakage, promoting healthy hair growth in the long run.

To take your hair care routine to the next level, incorporate nourishing hair masks into your spa day ritual. Choose products rich in natural oils, such as coconut oil, argan oil, or jojoba oil, to hydrate and revitalize your locks from root to tip.

Incorporating makeup into your skincare routine may seem counterintuitive, but with the right products, you can enhance your natural beauty while nourishing your skin at the same time.

Start by prepping your skin with a hydrating primer infused with skincare ingredients like hyaluronic acid. Then, opt for lightweight, breathable formulations like tinted moisturizers or BB creams that provide coverage while allowing your skin to breathe.

When choosing makeup products, look for formulations enriched with antioxidants, SPF, and other skin-loving ingredients to protect and nourish your skin throughout the day. Mineral-based powders can help absorb excess oil and shine without clogging pores, while creamy blushes and highlighters add a healthy, dewy glow to your complexion.

Stepover x Salon Tracker Software

The success story of digitalisation in beauty, spa & hair salons with Salon Tracker Ltd and StepOver is an impressive example of how innovative technologies can optimise the workflow and increase the efficiency of companies.

The desktop and laptop-based salon management solution from Salon Tracker is used in many stores to make everyday tasks easier. This includes, for example: saving time as salon owners and their employees will no longer need to keep paper records for their clients, increasing security with local and cloud backups of customer data and building profits with features such as online booking and payments, meaning salon customers can book and pay for their services 24/7!

One challenge that existed, however, was the large number of paper documents such as terms and conditions or disclaimers that still had to be signed by customers on paper. Salon Tracker recognised this and approached StepOver to integrate a digital signature solution into their software solution. This was the start of a successful collaboration.

With the implementation of StepOver’s duraSign Pad Brilliance, tedious paperwork has become redundant. Documents can be signed electronically and managed seamlessly in the Salon Tracker software. For example, customers no longer receive a hard copy of the terms and conditions. They can conveniently view them directly on the signature pad and approve them with their signature. This not only saves printing costs, but also a lot of time for the salon teams - there is no need for time-consuming scanning and archiving of signed documents for compliance and auditing.

The seamless integration of the StepOver solution into the Salon Tracker software provides a smooth signing experience. The sleek design of the StepOver pads perfectly matches the aesthetics of the Salon Tracker Point of Sale (POS). The simple installation made it easy for Salon Tracker to support the StepOver pads. The success was obvious. Within a very short time, the solution was adopted by customers in large numbers.

“We would definitely recommend StepOver to other companies, as the feature has been so seamless and successful for our clients, the customers' signature clearly transfers on to their disclaimers - so this is a great solution for obtaining information.”
- Leah Cave (Senior Sales and Marketing Executive at Salon Tracker)

In the future, Salon Tracker plans to expand the types of documents that can be signed on the signature pads to further increase the benefits of this seamless solution. This includes, for example, consultation forms or treatment waivers.

The StepOver signature pad has established itself as an integral part of Salon Tracker's success by providing an efficient, modern and aesthetically pleasing way to capture client information. Overall, the partnership between Salon Tracker and StepOver has not only saved time and resources, but has also set a new standard for elegance and efficiency in the beauty, spa & hair industry. To learn more about the Salon Tracker software, click here. To learn more about StepOver and their electronic signature solutions, click here.

Salon Tracker’s Marketing Features

Sending out campaigns couldn’t be easier with our marketing suite on Salon Tracker! 

We have a variety of templates which you can use, as well as 20 marketing filters and even the option to create your own. It’s as simple as selecting the template, editing your message and clicking send!

 Now you might be thinking to yourself why would I need to do this?

Well… Marketing campaigns are a great way to boost your business. Sending out offers to customers is a great way to entice them to come into your salon and ultimately increase your profits!

 

A great example of this is our ‘Customers who haven’t visited in a while’ template. This campaign filters through customers who haven’t come to your salon for a while and invites them to come in for a treatment with a discount. 

An example of how the pre-filtered campaign would look is:

Hi <<Forename>

You are missed! All appointments booked before [ENTER DATE] will receive [ENTER DISCOUNT] discount.

<<CompanyName>> <<CompanyTel>> T&Cs Apply

We also have an option on Salon Tracker to schedule your campaigns to be sent out. This is great for if you are wanting a campaign sending out whilst you're away or if you want to plan ahead and be prepared!

For example if you were wanting to send out a bank holiday campaign you could use our summer sale campaign template and edit it to say:

Hi <<Forename>>

We are offering a free [ENTER VALUE] voucher with every booking made this week, which will be redeemable on bank holiday Monday!

<<CompanyName>> <<CompanyTel>> T&Cs Apply

It is also important to think about when is best to send out your marketing campaigns. Using our reports feature on Salon Tracker can help you with finding the best time to send out your campaigns.

For example, by using our Sales by Hour report you can see which times are quieter and use the marketing feature to increase your sales in these periods. Sending out a marketing campaign with an offer during quieter periods may give your customers the incentive to come in.

If you would like to know more about our marketing suite, or any of our features then just give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or drop us an email at info@salontracker.co.uk

One of our team would be happy to help with any questions you might have!

Salon Tracker x

Radiant Renewal: Spring 2024 Look book

 As spring is approaching new trends and colours will be coming back out. As the days get a bit lighter and the sun gets a bit brighter we want to share with you our best looks to prepare for spring. Spring is the time for vibrant colours, hair makeovers and embracing new nail design. This blog will share with you our favourite looks.

1. Blossoming Skincare Treatments:

Say goodbye to dull winter skin and hello to a fresh, dewy spring glow. Get yourself booked in for a facial to restore your radiance and brighten your complexion. You could nourish your skin with an illuminating Vitamin C facial to give you the glow that everyone wishes for.

2. Floral-inspired Hair Transformations:

A new hair style or colour can be a great way to get rid of winter blues and step into summer. From soft pastel highlights to vibrant floral accents or even just a few spring hair accessories, there are so many options to make your hair feel spring ready.

3. Spring Nail Art Extravaganza:

Let your nails become a canvas this spring with intricate floral patterns, pastel gradients, and sparkling accents. Whether you prefer a classic French manicure with a springtime twist or a bold statement nail, treat yourself to a fresh set for that extra confidence boost.

4. Fresh Spring Makeup Looks:

Elevate your beauty routine with a fresh spring makeup look to embrace some radiant colors and get that natural glow. This spring try out some new makeup techniques to enhance your features with soft, dewy textures, and luminous finishes, to create an effortlessly elegant look.

At Salon Tracker we believe that a fresh beauty look is a great way to boost your mood there's no better time to embrace your inner radiance than the season of spring. We hope that these beauty looks inspire you to indulge in a spring refresh and say farewell to those lingering winter blues.

Salon Tracker x

Salon Tracker packages

 

Package Breakdown

Having difficulties with deciding on what package best suits you? Well, in this blog I will guide you through a complete breakdown of each package and how it can revolutionise your salon.

Standard - £30+VAT per month

·         Tracks Customer minutes, purchases and booking history

·         Complete point of sale features

·         One booking calendar

·         Standard business reports

Our standard package is our most simple package, at just £30pm (+VAT) you can track your customers minutes, purchase and booking history allowing you to kiss goodbye to crammed paper files and customer cards. The standard package also includes a booking calendar to view your bookings and a walk in view ensuring your next customer will be on a sunbed or with a beautician within just a few clicks. There are also standard business reports such as cashing up and action log giving you access to all the ins and outs of your salon for the day.

Professional - £60+VAT per month

·         All features of standard

·         Stock management

·         Marketing features (SMS + Email)

·         Advanced business reports and charts

·         Integrates with T-max and Sigma managers

·         Finger print reader and signature pad functions available

Including everything from the standard package, professional is a great choice for single site salons who want to maximize Salon Trackers capabilities while still keeping in a affordable price range. Giving you access to the Marketing features enabling you to push out your latest services and deals via email or SMS and save time by using our pre made templates for SMS messages. Utilise the advanced reports Salon Tracker has pre made for you, filter in the time and date and search for the report you’d like and have access to all the information a salon owner needs. Finally manage your stock with the stock information feature, allowing you to set a low stock warning, trade price and back stock levels, perfect for keeping away from the tedious stock counting all done by salon tracker.  

Enterprise - £90+VAT per month

·         Online booking

·         Site view app

·         Online Payments

·         Multi-Site support

·         Multiple calendars

·         Cloud storage

Enterprise, the perfect package for multi-site owners who can only be in one place at one time, Salon Trackers enterprise package equips you with site view and multi-site features allowing you to view your reports, customers, bookings and more from anytime anywhere for only £90pm +VAT. The siteview app can be downloaded to any smartphone while the multi-site add-on features enable you to view and change different sites on one system.  Get fully booked without lifting a finger with the online booking system matched with online payments using apple pay, Klarna, google pay and more! Get busy with multiple calendars supporting your services whether it be tanning, hair or nails we can add extra calendars to keep your schedule clear.

If you want to find more about Salon Trackers packages please just email info@salontracker.co.uk or call 0113 350 8230 to book in a free demonstration or 2 week free trial.

Treatments for January Blues

All of the excitement of Christmas and the New Year is over, the skies are grey and reality has set in. So what better way to brighten your mood than with beauty treatments to make you glow! Below, we have described some of our favourite treatments to cure the January blues.

Fresh Nails

Christmas is out, and it’s time for a fresh set of nails. Whether you go all out at a salon or simply DIY at home, a new colour is sure to improve your happiness! We recommend trying a shade of yellow, proven to be a mood boosting colour, especially good for starting your day off with energy!

 

Spa Day

Wind down from the hustle and bustle of Christmas and the pressure of a new year with some nice, relaxing spa treatments. A spa day with a friend or partner could be just what you need to start the year off the right way! If you want to do this in a more budget friendly way, get some facemasks and a bottle of bubbly and have a spa night from the comfort of your own home.

 

Lash/Brow Treatments

Whether it’s a simple tint, or voluminous lashes and brow laminatio
n, these treatments could be just the pick-me-up you need in January. You could go to a salon for a professional experience, or even tint your brows at home with a DIY tint kit!

 

Tanning

A few sessions on a sunbed or a quick spray tan will bring that healthy glow back to your skin and increase your confidence going into the new year! Increased confidence can improve your daily mood, washing away those January blues.

New Hair

All of the events are out of the way, so why not try something new with your hair. A new colour or a big chop might be something you’ve wanted to do for a while but haven’t found the right time! If you’re not up to a big change, a bouncy blow dry could give you a bright start to the new year.

We hope you loved reading our suggestions for treatments to brighten your January and that it has given you some ideas to pick yourself up during these gloomy days. 

All the best.

Salon Tracker x

Feature of the month - Online payments

We know how busy you can be in your Salon, why not make things that little bit easier by having your customers purchase their services online beforehand. With our online payments feature you can have customers pay deposits prior to their appointment's or pay the full service amount to speed up the check in process. What's not to love?

How do online payments work?

On our Enterprise package you will have access to your very own personlised online page with the options of booking and shop. This means that your customers can select what they would like to book in for and see what days and times are available. You can then choose whether you want your customers to pay the service in full or just a deposit. If you prefer the use of walk ins at your salon you can still benefit from an online page as clients can still pay for services online and then come into the salon with that service stored on their account ready to use. Salon Tracker's online payment feature gives customers the options of entering bank details manually or they can use Apple pay, Google Pay and Klarna. Once a payment is completed online it automatically syncs with your Salon Tracker so that you don't miss a thing. 

 

Online Bookings-

On your very own customised booking page you can list all of your available services and times for your customers to look through and select. They can then pay for this booking whilst they are online using our different payment options. This payment feature is guaranteed to streamline your payment process leading to lower wait times and higher customer satisfaction. 

Deposits -

Are you wanting to reduce no shows? Online deposits are the way to go, you can set either a percentage amount or a flat rate, such as £10, for each service that you offer. When the customer comes in for their appointment they just have the remaining amount to pay, which Salon Tracker will work our for you. This deposit feature is proven to reduce your customers no shows and ensure your salon is always booming. 

 Shop - 

Online payments isn't just useful for bookings, you can also set up a shop feature where your customers can purchase a service in advance without making a booking. If you offer a walk in service at your salon this would be a perfect option. Having your clients purchase their service in advance will speed up your check in time so that you can focus solely on the customers experience. 

 

How would online payments benefit your Salon?

• Online payments can increase your customers experience as they can make a payment from the comfort of their own homes and provides 24/7 accessibility to your services so that they can fit in with their own schedules. 

 

• It reduces both staff and customers time as payments can be handled in advance meaning they can enjoy their experience and you can focus on providing an amazing service. 

 

• Using online payments means you can finally go cashless. The past few years has seen a shift from cash to contactless with increase in Apple pay, online shopping and Klarna. Now your Salon can do the same!

 

• Our online payment feature gives you the option to use Apple pay, Google Pay and Klarna. These flexible payment options gives your clients a wider variety of payments and can pay using a platform that suits them. 

 

How do I set up online payments?

Step 1 - Ensure that you are on Salon Tracker's Enterprise package

Step 2 - Create a Stripe account - https://dashboard.stripe.com/register

Step 3 - Call us on 0113 350 8230 and we can do the rest. 

Step 4 - Enjoy all the benefits of online payments!

 

If you would like to make full use of Salon Tracker's online payments feature or just want to find out a bit more information just give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or email us at info@salontracker.co.uk

Salon Tracker x

Effortless Stock Management with Salon Tracker

With our stock levels section on Salon Tracker, keeping track of your retail products has never been easier! 

This blog will give you a step by step guide on how you can track your stock on Salon Tracker, as well as add in extra features such as notifying when stock is running low and adding commission on products.

In the products section of Salon Tracker you can add your retail products that you sell within your salon. 

This section is completely customisable with options to add beauty and salon products as well as tanning products, and any snacks you may sell too!

To add a category simply select Retail Products then the plus (+) button.

Then you can add in the category you’re wanting to by typing into the description box (e.g. typing beauty) and clicking OK

Then to add a product you can select ‘Add’ and similarly name it (in the description box) and add in your retail price and trade price

Note: adding the trade price is optional, but it may be useful to you if you want to calculate your profit per product.

If you wish to keep track of the amount of stock you have of your products you can customise this in the stock info tab. 

To do this simply tick the ‘Monitor Stock Levels?’ tab and add in your stock level (i.e. the amount of retail products you have in your salon) and if you wish to do so you can also add in a low stock warning level so you know if you are running low on stock and need to get more.

Finally if you wish to add commission on your products you can do this by selecting the commission tab, ticking the override commission box and typing in what percentage commission you wish to add to the product.

Once you have added all of your products in you will be able to see your stock levels, as well as which products are running low which are highlighted in red. This shows as a list on the right hand side of the products tab.

This can then be further edited once you have more products in.

I hope that this blog gave you more insight into one of our many great services on Salon Tracker. Please note that this feature is available on our Professional and Enterprise packages.

If you’re interested in getting booked in for a look at these services in a FREE demonstration of our system or FREE two-week trial, please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling 0113 350 8230 or emailing us on info@salontracker.co.uk .

If you’re an existing customer and are wanting more information about upgrading your Salon Tracker package to our Professional or Enterprise packages, again please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling 0113 350 8230 or emailing us on info@salontracker.co.uk.

Salon Tracker x