How to Build your Salon's Profits in Quieter Seasons!

We know that January can feel quiet after the Christmas rush. This doesn't mean that you can't build your profits. We think this would be a great time to look over prices, strategies and marketing tools. But where do you even start? No need to worry we are here to help. 

These quiet periods are great time to grab the attention of new customers, create your Marketing plans for the year, get up to date on your reports or even have a bit of a Salon Makeover.

SMS Marketing Campaigns 

SMS marketing is a great way to engage with existing customers by sending text campaigns out such as for customers who haven't visited in a while. You could even include a January discount. On Salon Trackers marketing suite we have already made a template for you so that you don't have to worry about what to say.  Alternatively an SMS campaign can win over new customers, we think it would be a great idea to send a refer a friend campaign out. This way you can reward your loyal customers whilst obtaining new ones. 

Keep on top of your reports

Keeping an eye on your reports can sometimes take up a large amount of your day. It can be easy to put this task to the bottom of your to do list. This January period would the best time to look over your reports. Whilst you are having a few less bookings you can look over last years reports, takings and products to create any strategies or improvements for the upcoming year.  Why not take this opportunity to get on top of your admin and look at building your profit before the bookings come flooding in. With Salon Tracker you have access to over 25 reports including action log, day end receipt, no show bookings, retail sales and much more. We try to make running a Salon as easy as possible by the reports acting as your very own accountant. 

 

Salon Makeover 

You might even be thinking of giving your salon a bit of TLC. Are you wanting to mix up the colour scheme, get new equipment or even do a complete Salon rebrand. Now is the perfect time, you can get all the hard work done now so that when summer comes around you will have customers lining up to get booked in. 

We think you should take these quiet periods as a blessing in disguise. This is the time to get all the tasks done that you haven't had time to get to and to put plans in place now that will improve your profit in the future. We hope that these January tips have helped to keep you busy and will build your profits in the upcoming months. If this January you are looking to switch from paper cards or from a different software provider now is the time. If you would like to get booked in for a demonstration and two week free trial with one of our specialist sales team then give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or email at info@salontracker.co.uk. Or if you are already one of our amazing customers drop us a message on Instagram, @salontrackersoftware, to let us know how your Salon is getting on in the new year. 

Christmas Marketing Tips

It's that time of year again and we know how busy you must be in the festive season. Have you been so busy getting ready for Christmas that you haven't had time to think about your Christmas marketing techniques? No need to stress, we have you covered. We have come up with some great marketing tips and tricks for your Salon this Christmas. 

Christmas competition

Do you want to increase your social media interactions this Christmas? We have a great idea for you, how’s about running a Christmas giveaway. This idea is always fun and easy to do. You could give away prizes such as 20 free minutes on a sunbed for the festive season or a cut and blow dry ready for the annual work party. All you need to do is create a social media post with your chosen prize and get your customers to comment or share on their stories to enter the competition. This Christmas trick is a great way to engage with your customers over Instagram or Facebook whilst still promoting your Salon at Christmas.

Christmas opening hours

We know that Christmas is a busy time of year, and you will be up to your ears in bookings. If your Salon has decided to have extended Christmas opening hours, make sure people know about it. A great way to make people aware of your extended hours is to do a social media post displaying your new Christmas hours. This will ensure that all of your customers are aware of your extended Christmas hours and will help to boost your bookings.  

    Window Display

    A great way to engage your customers and increase the sales of retails products is to create your very own festive window display. A window display is the perfect way to grab your customers attention and create a desire to buy your products for themselves or as presents for others. At Salon Tracker we think the best way to create an engaging Christmas window display is to have a theme. For example, Winter Wonderland or Santa’s workshop. Having a theme will make sure that your display is not overcrowded and keeps your products at the focus of attention.

    Gift vouchers

    Another marketing tip for this Christmas is to use Christmas gift vouchers. If you are wanting to have an offer on this Christmas how’s about using a gift voucher. Creating a gift voucher with festive images on is a great way to entice customers into your salon and make use of your offers. You can post on your social media accounts to make everyone aware of your gift vouchers and get them lining up to book in with you. 

    Christmas countdown loyalty card

    We have a great marketing trick to increase your bookings in the lead up to Christmas. This year how's about creating a loyalty card for the Christmas countdown. This will urge customers to come into your salon repeatedly to claim their free festive reward. We think it would be a great idea to do a 12 days of Christmas loyalty card. For example, the customer would use a sunbed 12 times and get their last session free. This Christmas trick would help to bring up your bookings and will give your customer a Christmas reward for their loyalty. 

    We hope that these Marketing tips will help you in the lead up to this Christmas season. We would love to see your Christmas decorations and displays, just dm us a picture @salontrackersoftware. Here at Salon Tracker, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 

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How to do Black Friday in the most Cost-Effective Way!

 

Black Friday is fast approaching so normally around this time of year we would be giving our best advice on how you could take full advantage of this event. However, we know that this year because of some external factors such as the cost-of-living crisis, some salons may be struggling to decide whether or not they can afford to do something this year. This is why we decided that in this weeks’ blog we are going to give you some ideas on how you can do Black Friday in the most cost-effective way.

 

Tombola

One thing that you could do in the salon is a tombola. You could charge whatever is reasonable for the prizes that you are giving out. You could include both retail products and either full services or discounted services as prizes. One great thing about doing something like this is that it gives you a way to get rid of some of the stock of the retail products that you have in your salon. By offering services or discounted prices on services, this also gives the customers who win them the opportunity to try new things that they may not have tried before. If they enjoy the service, they may then continue to get booked in for this service which would be beneficial for the salon in the future.

 

Refer a Friend

Another way you can continue to reward your customers is to offer a ‘refer a friend’ deal. This would benefit both you and your customers. It’s great for customers because by just bringing a friend in they could gain a reward such as a free small retail product, a free sunbed session or money off their booking. This would also be great for the salon as by your customers referring a friend, you’re in turn getting a new, hopefully loyal customer.

 

Utilise our Offer!

Running from the 8^th of November to the 8^th of December we have our very own black Friday offer on our software, hardware and SMS packages.

If you’re currently thinking about making the move over to a software management system from a paper based one or are thinking about swapping providers, if you sign up with us before the 8^th of December, we are offering 50% off your first month’s payment on all of our feature packages.

We are also offering up to 15% off all of our hardware. Whether this be because you’re wanting to start fresh with all new hardware, including PC’s, POS hardware, fingerprint readers and signature pads or if you’re just wanting to upgrade some of the equipment you already have, drop us an email detailing what you require, and we can send you over a personal quote.

Finally, the last offer we have on for new and existing customers alike is 15% off all SMS text bundles. These SMS credits can be used for a number of things including: Booking reminders, marketing texts, online booking PIN reset texts and finally our newest feature, payment texts. This means that if a customer is getting booked in in the salon or over the phone and a deposit is required, you can send them an SMS text with Stripe payment link for them to pay their deposit.

If you would like to take advantage of any of these deals or would like any more advice on what you could offer in your salon call us on 0113 350 8230 or email us on info@salontracker.co.uk

 

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Loyalty with Salon Tracker!

 

When it comes to running a successful salon business, customer loyalty and retention is one of the most important factors. The salon market in 2022 is one of the most condensed with a lot of different businesses offering the same services. In this blog we are going to talk about the features that are already implemented in Salon Tracker which can help you encourage your existing customers to keep coming back to your salon rather than opting to have the same services at one of your competitor salons.

Pack Quantities

One feature that is already within Salon Tracker is pack quantities. This feature allows you to sell your services in packs and take payments upfront. This means that customers can buy a bundle of services, often for a reduced price, upfront. By offering this customers can purchase multiple services upfront for cheaper and it will therefore encourage them to stay loyal to your salon. By doing it this way you are also able to take payment upfront meaning there’s no chance of your salon losing out if these customers decide, for whatever reason, to not come back.

 

Marketing

Another way you could encourage your existing customers to stay loyal to your salon is to market to them via text and email. Salon Trackers intelligent marketing suite, which is available on our professional and enterprise packages, can help you do this in the easiest way possible. In our marketing suite you can filter out your customers depending on who you want to send a message to. For example, if you are wanting to thank your most loyal customers from the past three months, you can go to the marketing suite and then select your filter for the ’10 Best Spending Customers in the past three months’. Once you have this list of customers you could send them a message as follows:

‘Congrats, you are one of our top customers this season! As a thank you show this message next time you’re in for £5 off your next booking’

This gives you the opportunity to keep in contact with your customers, encourage them to keep visiting and also reward these loyal customers.

 

Customer Groups

Another way you can use Salon Tracker to reward your loyal customers is to set up customer discount groups. You can set up as many different customer groups as you would like with different discounts on retail products and booking services. One way you can do this is to have different customer groups for silver, gold and platinum customers. You could offer different discounts in each group with the idea that customers can work their way up these groups to get the best discount by being loyal to your salon.

If you would like any more information on any of these things or would like to get booked in for a free demonstration and two-week trial, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us on 0113 350 8230 or email info@salontracker.co.uk

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Trends 2022

It’s coming towards the end of summer so we decided this was the perfect time to do a quick roundup of some of our favorite hair and beauty trends from 2022 so far.

Clean Girl Aesthetic

One trend that has taken the internet by storm this year is the idea of a ‘Clean Girl Aesthetic’.  The clean girl aesthetic can be described as being minimal. The foundations of this trend are: glowy makeup, a strong skincare routine and the idea of a capsule wardrobe.

One of our favourite products to help achieve this glowy makeup look is the very popular Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter. This product is great to use as a base for your foundation or just on its own if you’re just wanting a light coverage. Here’s a link to where you can get yours: https://bit.ly/3AQrS2r . If this price tag is a little too expensive for you, we have found some dupes which work just as well, if not better! You can get the Collection Lasting Perfection Filter Finish from Boots for just £6.49 https://bit.ly/3QV0cPj or Elf’s Halo Glow Liquid Filter https://bit.ly/3PRWTqM .

 

When it comes to Skin Care, I decided to as a few members of the Salon Tracker Team their holy grail skincare product and this is what they said.

Leah- My number one skincare product that I use every day, twice a day is the Paula’s Choice BHA Exfoliant. I use this on a cotton pad every morning and night and this helps freshen the skin and unclog pores.

Naomi- The Liz Earl cleanser has been my number one for years now. I use this to wash my face every night. Its full of natural ingredients and leaves me feeling fresh.

Ellis- My top pick for skincare is the Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Clarifying Lotion. This leaves me feeling moisturised for hours after I have applied it and leaves me glowy.

Christie- I love The Ordinary Niacinamide solution. I apply this every night before bed and this help balance any oils in my skin and helps prevent spots.

Having a capsule wardrobe is based on the premise of having a small wardrobe full of basics which you can mix and match into loads of different outfits. Some staples for this are: an oversized white shirt, neutral-coloured tops and bodysuits and then some wide leg jeans.

Hailey Bieber Nails

One big nail trend for summer 2020 is known as ‘Hailey Bieber Nails’. These nails use one goal of ‘Funny Bunny nail polish which is a sheer baby pink, followed by a shiny top coat and then rub some of the OPI Stay Shiny Top Coat.  This combination gives a natural look, with a bit of shimmer, perfect for summer and wedding/prom season.

Slick Back Styles

When it comes to hair styles, the stand out trend for 2022 has been slick back styles, whether that be buns, braids or ponytails. This trend is great, especially in the warmer weather as it keeps your hair off your neck and face whilst still looking stylish.  The ‘Got2B Glued’ hairspray and gel are great at slicking your hair back and keeping it there.

 

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Salon Tracker Hardware

 

As many of you know, as well as providing many salons across the UK and Ireland our booking software system, we also provide many different types of hardware for salons to use alongside their software. This blog will detail what hardware we sell and also how these pieces of hardware can help the day to day running of your salon that little bit smoother.

PC

In order for you to run Salon Tracker to the best of its ability, we recommend using a PC which is Windows 10 or above and one with quite a high memory. This is because the better your PC is, the smoother Salon Tracker will run meaning you will be able to run your salon in the easiest way possible. The All-In-One PC’s we sell come directly from DELL and come with a wireless mouse and keyboard to give your salon that modern look.

Cash Draw

We can also link your Salon Tracker up to the cash draw we sell; this can be either through our receipt printer or what we call a ‘cash draw trigger’. Having your cash draw linked up to salon tracker means two things, every time you put through a payment your cash draw will automatically fly open so you can put any cash or receipts in there. Having your cash draw linked up also means that the system will register in the system every time its opened, be that through the PC or manually with the key in the action log.

Receipt Printer

Salon Tracker also gives you the option to connect it up to a receipt printer. This means you can print customer receipts off whenever they buy either a service or retail product. In Salon Trackers report section, there are a handful of reports which have receipt in brackets, for example ‘Cashing Up (Receipt). This means that these reports are formatted to fit the receipt printer size so you can print them off here. One thing this is useful for is to help you do a stock check. You can print a stock report off the receipt printer and take this with you to do the stock check.

Barcode Scanner

One way to make you customers’ buying process that little bit smoother and quicker is to use a barcode scanner for your retail products. If you have a lot of different retail products which you sell, scrolling through them all to find the right one can take time. Using the integrated barcode scanner means that you can just grab the product that the customer wants to purchase, scan the barcode and it will go straight into the purchase box. You can also associate barcodes to customers and staff members to make finding them in the system a much quicker process.

Fingerprint Reader

For an extra layer of security in your salon, the fingerprint reader is great. You can associate your customers fingerprints to their customer card so when they come into the salon, they can put their finger on the reader and it will bring up their customer card. This means that there is no chance of you or your staff accidentally putting minutes or bookings through on the wrong customer. You can also use the fingerprint reader for your staff to log into the system and clock in for their shift!

Signature Pad

Another form of integrate able hardware which is available on our professional package and above is the signature pad. This allows you to add your salon disclaimer to the system and when you have a new customer sign up, they can sign this disclaimer on the signature pad and then a copy of the disclaimed along with the customers electronic signature will be stored on their client card.

 

If you would like anymore information on any of the hardware well sell or would like a quote at all please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0113 350 8230 or email us on info@salontracker.co.uk

 

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Why Building a Brand for your Salon is Important and how to do this!

 The salon industry is one that is continually growing and one important thing all salons should be doing in this day and age is establishing their salons brand. This blog is going to discuss the importance of building a brand for your salon, whether you have one or multiple salons, and will also give you some tips and tricks on how to do this.

Why it’s Important

Standing out from the Crowd

One of the main reasons why all salons should establish their brand is to help their salons stand out from the crowd in what is a highly condensed market. Creating a strong brand identity and putting this out towards potential your audience will help your salon stand out from the crowd and then hopefully drive more customers to choose your salon rather than another in your area.

Helps you connect with your Customers

As well as helping your salon stand out from the crowd and therefore encourage more customers to choose you, building a good brand for your salon also helps  you connect with the customers. Creating a recognisable brand for your salon will help you establish a connection with your customers and help drive things including communication with your customers and help drive brand loyalty from them.

Increase Profit

Your salon having a consistent and recognisable brand will also help drive sales and increase profit. This is because customers will know exactly what to expect when getting a service at  your salon and this consistency will drive them to continuously come back and also recommend your salon to their friends and family.

How to Build a Brand

One of the easiest ways to build your salon brand is to utilise social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to do this. Here are some of the key things that will help you build your brand on these sites.

Consistency

One thing that will help when you’re trying to build your brand using social media is consistency with what you’re doing.  Whether that be consistently posting to your feed or making sure you’re always communicating with your followers. If you’re consistently doing something this will make it easier for your target audience to notice this and will therefore help you start to build your desired brand.

Uniqueness

Another thing that will help you build your brand is to try and base this of something unique about your business. For example, if you’re a family ran salon, base your brand around this. You could do posts about how you decided to open your salon, the process of doing this as a family and also share other family run business related content. This will help set you apart from other salons and therefore mean that more customers will likely choose you over your competitors.

 

If you would like any more information on anything discussed in this blog or if you would like to get booked in for a free demonstration and two week trial of the system please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or email us at info@salontracker.co.uk.

 

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Feature of The Month - Online Deposits

As a Salon Owner is there anything more frustrating that a customer not turning up to their booked appointment? Especially during those busy periods.

Well, that’s where our new Online Deposit feature steps in. It’s the perfect feature for reducing your no-shows and making sure you’re never left out of pocket if a customer doesn’t show for their appointment. Did you know that an estimated £1.2 million is lost each year due to customers not showing up to their hair appointments?

How Does It Work?

Working alongside Stripe we have been able to implement a seamless payment system into our Online Booking, allowing customers to pay with card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Klarna.

Within Salon Tracker you can set the deposit amounts you wish to take, whether this is a percentage of the total value or a flat rate, and these can be different depending on the treatment the customer is booking in for. You can also set a maximum deposit amount; in case the customer is booking in for multiple treatments. 

When the customer makes a booking on your online booking system, it will automatically take them through to the payment screen, and then a confirmation screen of what’s left to pay when they come in for the treatment. Then on your Salon Tracker system the booking will show as the deposit paid and the deposit amount will show on your reports.

Why Should You Implement Deposits?

The main reason is to get those No-Show bookings reduced! If customers are paying a deposit for a booking, they will be a lot less likely to just not show up as they won’t want to lose the money they have already paid. Introducing deposits also shows your customers that booking slots and your
technician's time are valuable, so this can increase the respect from your customers as they won’t want to waste your time.

Taking online deposits can also help to cover your costs in advance, such as the cost of supplies, tools and your employee’s time. Whereas, if you don’t take deposits and the customer doesn’t show for their appointment this could end up being time wasted, as it can be hard to fill last minute appointments.

How do I Get my Online Deposits Set Up?

If you're wanting to introduce online payments into your Salon, all you need is to be setup on our Enterprise Subscription and we can help from there! Our payments are taken through Stripe so these are very secure, all you need is to create a Stripe business account but again we can help guide you through this setup!

If you are interested in getting set up on this please call on 0113 350 8230 or email info@salontracker.co.uk and we will be happy to discuss this with you.

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Q & A - Hair and Beauty Special!

We know we specialise in Tanning, but did you know we also specialise in Hair & Beauty too? All your questions answered!

Can you view the salon calendar from home?

Yes, salon owners and employees are all able to view the salon calendar and reports from home and when on the move, using our Siteview app. Appointments can also be added and edited within this application. This is available on our Enterprise software package.

Can you take deposits/online payments?

We can yes, these can be taken both in the salon and online using our Stripe integration. We also integrate with Klarna payments. Online payments however are only available on our Enterprise package.

Can you market to your clients?

Our system has a full marketing suite built in, where both SMS and email marketing campaigns can be sent to clients. We currently have a direct integration with Mailchimp for emails, where we also have micro-marketing filters to target a range of customer groups.

Can you offer commissions?

Yes, we can, these can be set at a global level for the salon as a whole, or individual level per therapist or specifically based on a service sold.

How do you reduce no-shows?

We currently have SMS appointment reminders that get sent to the client 24 hours before an appointment and also our deposits feature, which both of these have significantly helped to reduce no shows.

Do you link with Payment terminals?

Yes, we currently link with Dojo payments for a seamless payment solution. We can provide more information on that for our clients.

Can you register patch testing?

Yes, this can be added on the customer client card as an alert and can also be recorded as a booking too to show when the patch test was carried out.

Do you offer appointment reminders?

Yes, we currently offer automated SMS appointment reminders, these can be sent out either 24 hours before, 48 hours or the week before depending on the client’s preference!

Do you offer disclaimer forms?

Yes, we do we currently offer disclaimers that can be signed using our electronic signature pad or can be agreed to online when the client fills out the online registration form.

Can clients book online?

Yes, clients are able to make appointments online through your own salon-branded web app, where appointments will link straight directly in to your calendar at the salon.

How do you represent development time?

Development time can be set up through a feature called ‘post-delay’ where we can allocate a certain amount of time for development to be added to each booking, in which this is also then taken in to account with online bookings too.

Can you handle stock takes?

A full stock control system is built in to the software so all stock is depleted automatically when retail products are sold. You are also able to organise stock from HQ to site locations using the same feature.

Are you GDPR compliant?

Our system is fully GDPR compliant and client details are protected by a privacy screen. Should these need to be viewed for an appointment, this is logged in an event and on a report. Fingerprints and biometric data are all also stored securely.

Can you manage a multi-site salon chain?

We currently specialise in multisite management and also offer a headquarters system, where every site location can be viewed from one main head office machine. Client data and products can also be shared and accessed across multiple sites.

What would you do in the event of another lockdown?

Over the last two lockdowns we froze all payments and subscriptions whilst our industry had to close. Should there be another lockdown, our clients have peace of mind that we will always freeze payments and our support will always be available.

Should you wish to trial Salon Tracker, head to https://www.salontracker.co.uk/FreeTrial.aspx and submit your details for your free 2 week try of our software!

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