The Salon Magazine Edit with the Sun Centre - Ormesby Bank

As some of you may remember, we ran a festive giveaway in December of which one of the prizes was generously given to us by The Salon Magazine - a free editorial in one of their Magazines! One of our lovely clients - Kev Conway @ Sun Centre won this and we wanted to give you guys a sneaky peak of the article before it is published in their next release!

Kev Conway – Sun Centre Ormesby Bank


When did you open your popular Tanning shop?

We opened on the 9th of March 2002 at our location on Ormesby Bank, Middlesbrough. We opened a second location 28th of October 2019, which may have been one of the worst times to open with the beginning of COVID in 2020. Luckily for us, Salon Tracker froze our payments for the duration of all lockdowns so we weren’t paying for software in such a difficult time. We were however still able to use the software to gather things such as reports and rearranging bookings.

Over the years we have been involved in many charity fundraisers. We have jumped off of the transporter bridge, jumped out of a plane and completed in sports activity days to raise money for a local charity called Zoe’s place baby hospice. As well as this, we regularly raise money for Children in Need and Christmas jumper day, which raises money for Save the Children charity. Salon Tracker have helped raise donations by generously donating text messages to notify our customers of upcoming charity events.

What inspired you to open your tanning Salon? 

I set up the business when I was 16 with my dad. He had been in the home hire tanning business since 1981 and I was keen to open a shop. After a lot of searching, I found an ex NHS clinic which was to be auctioned. My dad was happy to ‘have a go’ at setting up a tanning salon, as if it didn’t work, he would have sold the equipment and rented the building. We went to the auction and the bids just kept going higher and higher. The winning bid was our last bid and I was over the moon. It took a lot of work to set up, as I was at college and had to juggle my studies with setting up pricing structures, finding equipment, a lot of internal demolition and re-building. The business worked and we grew from strength to strength over the years. As we grew, I invested in the newest and best equipment I could find. We started to get a reputation as the best and the cleanest in town. We work hard to maintain that reputation to this day.


Why is the charity Zoe’s place close to your heart? 

The charity work started after a visit to Zoe's place baby hospice which is a local charity that provides palliative, respite and end of life care for infants 0-5 years living with life limiting or life-threatening conditions. We have worked with them many times over the years, as well as extended our fundraisers to include Christmas jumper day for Save the Children and Children in Need. We have a great sense of community in our business, they have become like an unofficial hub. Charity work such as this means our customers and the community can be a part of helping those who need it most.

How long have you been working with Salon Tracker? 

We’ve operated with Salon Tracker since 2008, back when it was Studio Tracker. We originally moved to a software-based system to try and speed up our customer service time. It helped massively with this. We were not only able to serve customers faster but also had a large amount of information instantly about each individual customer; such as their preferred tanning unit, their usual session time and usual package purchase. This allowed us to provide a more personal service to the customer.

What can you tell us about your experience with Salon Tracker? 

We’ve watched Studio Trackers functionality grow and eventually rebrand to Salon Tracker. We have taken advantage of Salon Tracker's increasingly updated and additional features over the years. Features such as the customer signature pad mean we can store a legal digitally signed document for every customer who signs up. This means we do not have to store endless amounts of signed paper documents, should we have any liability issues the customers' documents are available at the touch of a button.

What are your favourite features in Salon Tracker?

Other features we have taken advantage of are the addition of the HQ. The HQ provides me with an office-based point of access to each of my salon locations. This means I can monitor, amend and manage my locations without having to be physically on site. My staff also have the comfort of knowing if they have an issue, they can call me and I can help resolve over the phone.

Any other general thoughts you’d like to share?

When I first decided to move my customer database to a salon management system, my main concern was, what if I had an issue with the system or database and weren’t able to serve my customers? My mind was eased with Salon Tracker because their customer service and technical team are always just a phone call away. With the addition of the cloud-based database, I have comfort in the knowledge that should any of my operational PC’s have a physical issue, my database is intact and can be moved to another PC.

In summary Salon Tracker has helped to streamline my business and allowed us to serve more customers quickly, which results in more sales overall.

Salon Sustainability

Sustainability is a hot and very important topic right now. In this week’s blog we’re going to share with you some of our tips on how you and your Salon can operate in the most sustainable way.

Small Changes

I know making changes to the way you run your business may seem daunting but one of the best things you could do to make your salon more sustainable is to make small changes in the day-to-day running’s of your salon.

Hair Foils

One small change you could make in your hair salon would be to make the switch from one use foils when doing colour treatments to an alternative which could be reusable or biodegradable. One company doing this which we love is Paper Not Foil UK | Sustainable hair foils | Order Online

Tan Pots

A similar change you could make in your tanning salons is instead of selling sachets of cream, you could sell ‘tan pots’ in reusable containers. They way this would work is instead of sachets you could sell your customers a reusable container which they would be able to pay for topping up from larger bottles if they would rather do this than buy a full bottle. By encouraging customers to bring back the tan pots and just refill them, this would create a lot less waste than if they were to buy a sachet every time they came.

Washing

We know that for many salons, washing things such as towels, cloths and other reusable equipment is a vital step in making sure your salon is clean and runs efficiently. One small thing that you could do is ensure that when you’re putting a load of washing on, make sure you’re doing just one full load rather than multiple partial loads. As well as this making your salon more sustainable, this will also save you money.

Paperless System

 As well as these small changes, one of the simplest and most effective changes you could make is moving from a paper-based system to a computer-based system such as Salon Tracker. Making this move saves waste from things such as client cards and also paper agreement forms. When you move to a software from a paper-based system everything will be stored electronically in one place meaning your salon will not only be greener, but also more organised and easier to run.

One feature that Salon Tracker has in order to help you reduce paper waste is the option for your customers to electronically sign your agreement which will then be stored in the customer cards as a PDF rather than you needing to print off your agreement for them to sign.

Also, if you’re thinking about implementing a paperless system but are apprehensive about the cost to do so, the UK government are currently offering a 50% funded discount for your business to get software with the new digital software grant. If you would like more information on this either contact us at Salon Tracker or click the following link: Help to Grow: Digital - Diagnostic Tool (learn-to-grow-your-business.service.gov.uk).

If you would like any more information on any of these tips or if you would like to get signed up for your free demonstration and two-week trial of Salon Tracker, please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or email us on info@salontracker.co.uk.

Salon Tracker x

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.

Salon Tracker x

Planning for the year

January is often a quieter period in Salons after the mad rush of Christmas, so there is no better time than now to plan for the year ahead. At Salon Tracker, we believe that the best way to approach marketing for the year is to plan around the different holidays and target these periods specifically.

The first few months of the year are always the cold ones, and there’s no better time to visit the salon. Often this can be a quieter time for tanning salons so why not offer some special courses during this time and build your client base ready for the summer. For beauty and hair salons, you may have seen an increase in gift voucher purchases over the Christmas period, so why not encourage your customers to use these now. Also, customers will be trying to fulfil their new year’s resolutions, so what better way to have a ‘new year, new me’ moment that by getting a new hairstyle or having a pamper.

Other major events to center your promotion around during this time are Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Before you start advertising around these days, why not look at previous years and see which of your treatments are most commonly purchased around these periods, and create special packages featuring a few of these at a reduced price. Also, why not create some hampers featuring some of your retail products as well as a gift voucher. You may even want to do a little complimentary fizz with all services booked in the week leading up to, and week after Mother’s Day, to make the client’s service seem a little more luxury!

The next period is filled with bank holidays (1th April, 18^th April, 2^nd May, 2^nd June, 3^rd June) which means customers will be going out and need to be booked in for their pre-outing pampers. This is prime-time for salons, so now may be a good time to push your service packages, for example; if you are a hair and beauty salon you may want to do an ‘Bank Holiday Bundle’ consisting of a couple of mini beauty treatments and maybe a hair style? This year we’ve gained an extra bank holiday due to the Queen’s Jubilee. It’s a great marketing technique to promote the extra Bank Holiday date, as believe it or not there will be a lot of your clients who are still unaware of the Bank Holiday change, so make sure you get in there first to get your calendars booked up.

Going from Spring to Summer, Wedding season will be approaching, as well as proms and graduations. All of these events will drive customers into your salons, whether it be for a fresh tan (spray or real), or for a makeover. Targeting your audience is essential to ensure that your diary is filled to the brim, so why not try something new. Maybe offer a raffle entry for every treatment purchased with the winning prize being a free makeover for their special day. Alternatively, you could offer a trial day at a reduced cost so customers can see how they’ll look at on the big day and minimise the stress on the actual day. This would mean they’re visiting the salon more often and may be more inclined to do so again in the future.

Also, during the summer period, people will be jetting away on holidays after being limited so much over the past two years. What better way to get their tans started than by offering special courses to encourage them into the salon before they go away. Soon enough we will be back around to the autumn/winter period and then it will be time to start looking at Halloween makeovers and Christmas party prep.

Hope this has given you a few pointers to think about, and of course as always if you want to chat to a member of our sales and marketing team for a few extra tips, we are always on hand to help you with any marketing tools, or simply to offer further advice on using our software functions!

Salon Tracker x

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!

Salon Tracker x

Hello 2022! Another year, brand new!

Welcome back, and a very Happy New Year to you all!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas break and have enjoyed the festivities.

It's been a good time to reflect on the previous year over the last couple of weeks, on how as a whole we have all bounced back from the closure of our industry and managed to have a great second half of 2021. But not only that, it was a great time for extra planning too. As this time last year our salons weren't able to open and so it has therefore been a useful time to look at how you are able to reengage with your clients this January and really kickstart the New Year as a positive!

Quick note - a few dates for your diary this year with Salon Tracker; we are hoping to be exhibiting at the Professional Beauty London show across the 3rd and 4th of April at London Excel, and also at the Beauty UK show across 22nd and 23rd of May! We have lots of new features we hope to bring to you across those two events, keep posted here on our blog for release dates. Exciting new projects we are hoping to achieve however are; further advances with our online payments and also occupancy technology, allowing you to be able to track when a client is using a sunbed or is sat in a treatment chair using heat/electrical technology, to further improve security in your salons.

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll also be bringing to you lots of marketing tips and ideas on how you are able to utilise our software over the coming months, to really give your business that extra boost. You’ll be able to find all of this information here on our news page, also over on our social media channels and, if you require any personal training directly for your salon, our team are on hand at the office to arrange a remote assistance session with your team members, to help to further improve their software skills!

For anyone reading this who is currently new to us and are in the process of thinking about a trial, we currently offer a FREE fortnight try-before-you-buy system, with no obligation, to allow you to see how Salon Tracker works for you operationally before you sign up to a package. To enquire about getting a free trial, please head to our website at www.salontracker.co.uk/freetrial.aspx to submit your details and interest, and a member of our sales team will be in contact as soon as possible to arrange a demonstration. The beauty of a demo with us is, all of our support is carried out via remote assistance software, meaning you can arrange a digital meeting with us, from anywhere, anytime! If you would however prefer to speak to a member of our team beforehand, we’re just a phone call away on 0113 350 8230, where we are always on hand to help you with any enquiries and questions you many have.

And to our lovely Salon Tracker customers, keep an eye on your update notifications over the coming weeks, as we have a release due with some great new reports and features to improve your current service. So, make sure to download the latest update when you see this prompted on your system!


So now all that’s left to say is, 2022, let’s go! We’ve got a really positive feeling about this year and we are so glad to be working with you all once again, to boost your salon businesses.

All the best wishes for this year,

Salon Tracker x

It's the most wonderful time of the year! A little thank you from us, and Christmas information:

It’s that time of the year again! And what a year this one has been.

We spent the first quarter of it in lockdown with our whole industry closed, yet we saw some fantastic ideas from you all about how to host virtual tutorials, home treatments and a lot of you offered an online delivery service which was great. And what a huge bounce back it’s been since the Summer, where we’ve had the lovely pleasure of helping you all to get back on track promoting & managing your salons, and also said hello to a lot of new friendly faces too! It’s been great to expand our Salon Tracker family this year and we’re so glad that you have all remained or joined us as customers, allowing us to help you with your businesses.

We want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your consistent patience throughout the past year, as there were a large volume of clients requiring assistance to get back online after the lockdown, queue times were long and there were still restrictions for us all to adhere to. But, you all had great understanding and we will always be grateful for that. And as always, for your continued custom with us.

And now, Christmas is only a few days away, we also want to thank all of you who entered our Xmas giveaway competition by leaving us some really wonderful reviews. They have been so lovely to read, our team have really enjoyed getting your feedback and it’s been great to have some Xmas fun & giveaway some fabulous prizes! We have revealed the winners over on our Instagram story, if you missed these please visit our highlights to see if you have been a lucky prize-winner! We will however also be in contact with you for you to be able to claim your prize.

Christmas opening hours: We will be open until 3pm on Christmas eve, and then our sales offices will be closed throughout the Christmas period until Tuesday 4th January.

If you do require any urgent licensing assistance during this time, please telephone our support line on 0113 350 8232 and someone will get back to you as soon as possible with your activation code.

As we have all seen in the news, there is some uncertainty about what could happen over the coming days regarding possible restrictions. We just wanted to give you the peace of mind that we will be here as always to support you, and subscriptions will be frozen should our industry have to close.

On behalf of everyone here at Salon Tracker, we’d like to wish you a very Merry Christmas, and a happy & healthy New Year, see you in 2022!

Salon Tracker x