Things from the lockdown that are here to stay!

Hi everyone, hope your salons are still keeping busy throughout these Summer months! How are we in August already?! Quite scary how much times flying and that your salons have been re-open for almost 4 months! We’re so glad that things seem to finally be going back to some normality, even though there is still a bit of a new normal, we wanted to run through some changes that salons have made throughout the lockdown and which of these have perhaps proven to be beneficial for the future too.


Appointment Only Salon

Before the lockdown, quite a lot of our salons offered a walk-in service, especially in the tanning and barber industry. Following reopening, a lot of salons had to operate as appointment-only, to ensure that social distancing was adhered to and for the government track and trace programme. However, for a lot of businesses that began running this way, they realised that for marketing purposes it’s much better to offer an appointment only service, as clients this way have to register to make a booking as a pose to just walking-in. So, this is brilliant for data capture and also client retention, as you can re-market to these clients to remind them to book their next appointment. It’s also brilliant for reporting purposes, as you can also see which clients are re-visiting and also what your most popular treatments are with certain age groups or demographics!


PPE/Sanitising Station and Screens

Even though the mask-wearing requirement has now been dropped by the government, a lot of our salons have opted to keep this requirement for the time-being, to ensure maximum safety within the workplace for both employees and customers. As the months go on and hopefully, as we begin to see the end of the pandemic, even if many of you decide to then stop the mask wearing, a few salons have said that they will ensure sanitising stations stay around the salon and also will keep their Perspex screens up at reception. These are just simple safety tools that will help to protect staff and clients in general and just improve the overall hygiene within the salon!


Online Registration and Online Booking 

Throughout the lockdown, we saw our biggest uptake in upgrades to online booking and for clients to register online. The biggest advantage of this, it saves employees time and clients are then in control of making their own bookings. But not only that, it also means that if customers can register online, they can do this using their own devices and therefore this just stops overcrowding at the main reception desk, plus the sharing of pens & registration desks. Which all improves client safety whilst saving time and improving organisation in the salon too.

Digital Disclaimers

Most of our salons have terms and conditions that clients have to read and agree to before they are able to have a treatment. However, a lot of salons used to provide a paper copy of this to customers to keep as a reference of the salon’s t’s & c’s. Throughout the lockdown, we saw many businesses opting to have these added to their online registration page, or as a PDF link within their salon app, or simply as an email link, to stop the handling of paper documents during this time. But again, not only does this improve client safety, it also allows the salon to go paperless, saving on resources and meaning the client can now access these documents digitally on their phones or tablets!


App Ordering 

For some of our salons, especially if they are in hotels, many have coffee bars or cafés attached on their premises. So, throughout the lockdown, some of you were offering app ordering as a takeaway solution. Now even though these premises are allowed to re-open properly, many of you have said you will keep the app ordering and QR scan at tables for online menu viewing, as this not only again improves hygiene, it also saves on paper menus and client queues at the till area! Many of you also operated as a card-only business throughout the lockdown, with a lot of businesses still operating this way until we know that the pandemic is over, to stop the multi-handling of cash.


So it seems that the technological advances have really proven to be beneficial to our salons over the past few months, as many of you are opting to keep your online features and appointment-only way of operating. We’re so glad that the last few months have been busy and successful for you and if there are any further promotional tips that you would like help with, our sales and marketing team are always on hand to help you. Just give us a call or drop an email to info@salontracker.co.uk and we’d be happy to book a free marketing session with you.


Not a user of Salon Tracker yet? Simply head over to www.salontracker.co.uk/freetrial.aspx to get your free 2-week trial of our software! See how we can help you to further boost your salon business!


Salon Tracker x

Our New Dojo Payments Integration

We recently introduced our new Dojo Payments Integration into Salon Tracker making it even easier to
take your card payments. Since COVID many of our customers have seen an increase in card payments rather than cash, so we wanted to make this as easy and seamless as possible.

There are so many benefits to the Dojo card machine: serve your customers quicker, get paid faster, protect your income and there’s no long term commitment. The biggest benefit of all is being able to connect your Dojo machine straight to your Salon Tracker Software. With the integration setup, the payment amount is sent directly to your Dojo card machine making it so much easier for staff when taking payments, especially when you’re busy! Here’s just a few advantages the Dojo integration could bring to your salon:

Reduces Staff Error

A significant benefit to utilising our payment integration feature is that it massively reduces staff payment error. As staff will no longer have to manually enter the payment amount onto the machine, this will help to massively decrease staff error as there is no chance of the wrong amount be entered on accident.

Security

Similar to the reduction in staff error, the integration also helps to make your payments more secure. As the payment amount is automatically sent through to your payment terminal, staff members are unable to change the amount once it has been sent from Salon Tracker. This means all your reports on Salon Tracker should match the receipts from your payment terminal, as staff are unable to purposefully or accidentally change the amount the customer is paying.

Reduces Customer Waiting Time

As the amount is directly sent through to your Dojo machine, this will also help to reduce customer waiting time as everything will be seamless from when you confirm the payment on Salon Tracker.

The Dojo machine itself without the integration with Salon Tracker is perfect for keeping track of your salon, using their app allows you to see real-time insights, receive push notifications, view trend analysis and look at specific transaction details! Dojos slick new design means the terminal looks perfect in any salon, and the new touchscreen feature makes it so easy to see and use. If you are interested in utilising all the benefits of this integration don’t hesitate to contact us on 0113 350 8230 or via email on info@salontracker.co.uk and we will be happy to discuss this with you.

Salon Tracker x

How you can use Social Media in your Salon!

Social media is everywhere these days, from Instagram to Facebook to Tiktok. There are many ways you can use social media in your salon to stay up to date on recent trends, to show people your work and also to attract new customers. We know that this can be a little daunting if you haven’t done this before so I’m here to share my best tips and tricks for you to use social media for your salon.

Instagram

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms at the moment with over one billion active users sharing and viewing content each day. One of the best ways to utilise Instagram is to use this as a way to share pictures of your services, whether this be bright colour jobs or some before and afters of clients when they get their services done. Sharing the treatments which you do in your salon on Instagram means customers, both existing and potential can see what you’re capable of and this may persuade them to book an appointment with you. Hashtags are also very useful on Instagram.  Every time you post you should use different hashtag depending on what you’re sharing a picture of. For example, if you’re posting a picture of some nails that have been done in the salon use hashtags like ‘#nails’ and ‘#nailart’ this will mean your posts are more likely to be viewed by more people, even if they don’t follow you.  Finally, the last way you can use Instagram in your salon is the stories feature. Posting stories are a great way to keep your customers updated on what is going on in your salon and also as they only last 24 hours you don’t have to keep them on your feed, Stories are also a good way to do things such as ‘flash sales’ as they’re only available to view for 24 hours you could do a deal on a quiet day for example ‘Today Only, Buy a 30 Minute Course and get a Free Sachet of Tanning Lotion’.

 

Facebook

Facebook is another very popular social media site, especially for salons. Facebooks gives you the opportunity to keep customers updated, display reviews and communicate with your customers all in one place.  Facebook is also a good social media platform to run competitions on. For example, you could run a competition for a free or discounted service in your salon and for you customers to enter they should have to tag some friends and share the post. By asking customers to tag friends and share your post, this means that all the Facebook friends of everyone who had shared that post will see your salon. This is a really good way to get more exposure. Another way to get exposure on Facebook is by using the sponsored posting feature. This does come with a cost but you can spend as much or as little as you like on this. You can push your posts to a target audience of your choice so more people, apart from those who already follow you, will see your posts. As mentioned before, Facebook is also a great place for communicating with your customers, whether this be responding to reviews that they have left you or responding to any messages they have left you. Facebook gives you the option to do all of this in one place.

 

Tiktok

Tiktok is a fairly new social media platform which exploded in popularity over lockdown.  The basic idea of this is to share short videos of whatever you want with popular videos making it to the ‘For You Page’.  Already there are a lot of salon accounts on the platform from nail techs showing viewers the process of doing a client’s nails, hair salons showing some before ad afters and other types of salons sharing tips and tricks to views about things such as tanning safety and how to get the smoothest finish on your foundation.  This platform is very popular, especially with the younger generation with some videos reaching up to a million views, so why not get involved!

 

There are many other options for what social media platforms you could use in your salon for example twitter is also a good one but these are just some of our favourites.

If you’re not already make sure you’re following us on all out social media accounts @salontrackersoftware on Instagram, Salon Tracker Software on Facebook and @SalonTrackerLTD on X to keep up with everything new at Salon Tracker.

 

If you would like any more tips or tricks on how to use social media in your salon don’t hesitate to drop us a message on any of our social media accounts or call on 0113 350 8230.

Salon Tracker x

 

Salon Tracker Educational Software

Although this isn’t the end of the pandemic, I think we can all agree that stress of being constantly placed into a variety of different restrictions can now come to its end following the termination of restrictions this Monday. As business owners you are now able to make adaptions freely to ensure that you meet society’s new normality as well as being able to meet the needs of both the staff and customers.

The impact of the pandemic on Educational Salon Academies has been astronomical starting with the limit on face-to-face high-quality education being restricted to students as well as salons having to shut for a long period of time, both situations have had a massive impact on educational salons. Now that they are able to return to face-to-face education and salons are completely free of restrictions it is important that throughout the academy and salon, they ensure good hygiene for both staff and students, maintain appropriate cleaning regimes and keeps the congested areas well ventilated to decrease the risk of infection spreading. It is important that as an educational salon you maintain standards to ensure the safety of staff, pupils and customers another form in which this can take place is by having a booking management system in place to prevent overcrowding in a confined space.

Within Salon Tracker Software there is an Educational Program this program is tailored to meet the needs of your salon with a variety of different features for example we are able to alter calendar titles as well as adding duplicate calendars to assist you in arranging the different level each student is qualified to carry out. Day to day tasks is simplified through the use of our reports and charts section these features allow the financial department access to the academy’s finances throughout the salon.  Through the Siteview application the finance department are also able to collect data and examine reports to be able to monitor the progress of each student and the salon in general.

With Educational salons it can be quite busy with new students arriving and then each student training to achieve a different qualification this can often become complicated to handle. With the software you as a staff member are able to create different calendars to organise which qualification each student is on track to achieve. Features such as groups ensures that students are unable to carry out services that they are not qualified to do this feature can be very beneficial from a legal point of view. Features such as split bookings will allow the salon to book client appointments with a break in between therefore enabling the treatment time to develop this therefore enables the salon to create bookings for other clients in the gap. Additional to this there are features such as post delay which can be useful for hair treatments as it ensures that when a client from the salon books online the break between their two treatments will automatically apply.

If you are interested in having a demonstration of the software or alternatively trialling the software for a two-week period simply enquire at www.salontracker.co.uk/freetrial.aspx and fill in the required details or contact us on 0113 350 8230 and you will be provided with your bespoke educational rates.

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Salon Tracker X

The end is in sight!

 16 months... 16 long months! I know you'll all agree with me when I say I will be very pleased to see the back of this pandemic. It has been tough on everyone, especially those of you with businesses' that have been yoyoing between being closed and open and didn't know whether you were coming or going... I think this time you are set to be open for good, so let's get prepping! 

19th July aka Freedom Day brings many great things however one of the things that the British public haven't had a taste of for nearly a year and a half is stepping in a night club and actually dancing! This means one thing, the whole of the UK are going to town on looking good for freedom day - so you Salons are going to need to prepare. I can imagine you will be absolutely swamped with appointment requests and your dms will be full to the brim which can cause you quite a lot of stress. Instead, why not take a look at our online booking system that can take all the hassle away and manage all your clients appointments itself. Simply put an auto respond message on your social media accounts that directs your clients straight to your online booking platform. You can also put this link in your Instagram and facebook bio where clients simply log in with their email and a 4 digit pin number. On here they can view any upcoming bookings, amend or cancel them, view any remaining courses etc. Enquire here: https://www.salontracker.co.uk/FreeTrial.aspx for a free demo and 2 week trial!

For those of you that have worked in Salon over the past 16 months (for the time salons have actually been open) I really do admire your persistence with wearing PPE such as masks all day every day. Lucky for you, another great thing that comes with freedom day is that Masks will no longer be required indoors - this means you can have your freedom to chat away to your clients all day without the worry of your mask falling down and the absolute torture they bring on a hot day! 

I know that this mad rush of custom is what you've been craving throughout all these lockdowns and you're probably chuffed to have little appointments remaining but it is so important to give yourself a break to avoid total burnout! Set aside a couple of days in which you will work longer hours and make this clear to your clients these will be the only days you'll be working late as you need some time to yourself. I know some clients will try to twist your arm and persuade you to work late one day for them but if you did this for one person where do you draw the line? Make sure you have at least 2-3 nights of the week spent entirely on you. Put your feet up, get a facemask and chill out... or maybe it's your time to party and hit the clubs! However you spend your "you" time, it is essential for working these busy next few months, so grant yourself it!

Here's to a more normal future ahead of us, we've got this!

P.S Footballs coming home!

Salon Tracker x 

Feature of The Month – Online Registration

It’s back! Now that salons are all reopen and we’re getting back in to the swing of normality, we’re bringing back our Feature of the Month! So, for June, we thought we’d use our most useful features from over the past few weeks, and that is; 'Online Registration'.

Our online features have proved to be so popular as the lockdowns were lifted, with many salons requiring these features as they opted to pause walk-in appointments for now, due to number restrictions in the salons. Our online booking and registration has helped salons to keep on top of their maximum appointment schedules so much, but not only that, it has also helped them to gain new customers and retain them. As for any salons that used to offer walk-ins, they are now having to take the details of their clients for bookings, which means then they have these stored in the database for future marketing purposes too.

So how does our online registration work? If you have our Enterprise software package, you are able to implement an online registration form, which means that clients can register an account and make bookings for your salon, even when the salon doors are closed.

We implement an online form, that has all the required registration fields for your customers to fill out, which is instantly then sent through to the software system at the salon as soon as the client hits the ‘register’ button.

Another great benefit of online registration, is that we can add extra fields on to the form based on the information your salon is required to take. Not only that, we are able to also implement terms and conditions to the bottom of the form, in order for clients to read and sign the terms before they actually visit the salon. All of this information is then automatically synced and then stored in the Salon Tracker system so clients then don’t have to register at the salon reception – saving time for the salon employees.

By having registration online and digital, this also saves on time and resources, as your employees are no longer having to use paper client cards or go through registration forms at the salon, as it can all be done in the clients’ own time, even when your salon doors are closed. They can also register on any device that has the internet, making it so convenient that clients can now register for your salon from their mobile phone whilst on the move!

The registration form can be solely branded to suit the theme of your salon, as we can add the salon logo and implement your brands colour theme, to ensure everything is cohesive for you and clients recognise the page as your salon brand.

So, if you’re not already a user of our Enterprise package, but this sounds like it could suit you, our sales team are on hand to give you a demo of how this can work for you. Already an Enterprise customer? We can activate this feature for you so that you can start gaining new clients and building up your client base!

Want to have a quick demo, please just give our team a call on 0113 350 8230 or drop us an email at info@salontracker.co.uk and we’ll be happy to help.

We look forward to helping you to enhance your salons!

Salon Tracker x

Summer Lookbook

Summer is right around the corner and hopefully if everything goes to plan, all the restrictions will finally be lifted. This week’s blog is a look book of some of the biggest trends that us here at Salon Tracker are excited to try out now that the sun’s shining and we can go out with all of our friends. 

Bright Colours

This spring/summer season, bright colours have been in every store and they don’t seem to disappearing anytime soon. Whether you’re wanting to try something new and opt for a simple pop of colour, or you go all out and mix & match different colours, you’re sure to make a statement.

Swirl Nails

Another big trend over all of our Instagram’s at the moment is swirl nails. These 60s inspired nails have taken over and have been appearing in all different types of swirls in all shapes, sizes and colours. Whether you’re wanting something complex or something simple, people will be definitely be wanting to know where these designs have been done.

Cream Products

After lockdown, people seem to have gotten used to going makeup free and are now opting for a more natural makeup look rather than high-coverage. Cream products, like bronzer and blush, are becoming more popular and really help to achieve a natural, radiant finish. Whether you’re on a budget or wanting to splash out and spend a little bit more, there are options for everyone.

Curtain Bangs

If you fancy trying bangs but you’re worried about maintaining them, curtains bangs are a popular choice as they can be styled in so many ways. Whether you have long or short, curly or straight hair, curtain bangs look equally good on all and flatter all face shapes. If you’re feeling hesitant, you can always go for longer bangs that are easy to grow out, before braving it and going for some shorter ones.

We hope this gives you some inspiration and we can’t wait to see all your Summer looks!

Salon Tracker x