Common Misconceptions about Sunbeds

Common Misconceptions about Sunbeds

Sunbeds Give You Skin Cancer

Any form of UV rays increases your risk of skin cancer, including the sun. In countries where there is not much sunlight, this shouldn’t be a concern as long as you are using sunbeds in a safe way. Unlike the sun, exposure to UV rays on sunbeds are more controlled, meaning you have more power over your exposure to them. So, why are sunbeds banned in Australia? In Australia, there is a lot of natural sunlight, meaning the citizens there already have a lot of exposure to sunlight and UV rays, so sunbeds are not needed.

 

Sunbeds Will Burn You

Using sunbeds irresponsibly could potentially cause you to burn, just like the sun. However, using the beds in a sensible way can actually help you to build a “base tan” which can give you more protection from burning against the sun. This can be especially useful before going on holiday to a warmer, sunnier country (lucky you!) as your body will be more used to the UV rays and your skin shouldn’t burn as easily.

 

Sunbeds Are Bad For Your Health

Quite the opposite of this is true! The UVB rays from some sunbeds help to provide your body with essential vitamin D. Your body will naturally convert UVB from the sun into vitamin D, but when there is not much sun during the Winter months, or if you’re stuck inside during the sunny hours of the day, a few minutes on a sunbed can be beneficial! In the UK, our bodies do not produce enough vitamin D from sunlight alone. Vitamin D is needed to regulate other nutrients in the body, which are essential for keeping teeth, bones and muscles healthy.

 

There Are No Psychological Benefits

Along with the other benefits of using sunbeds, they can also make you feel better and more confident! According to the sunbed association, 70% of people want to be tanned. Having a tan can not only make you feel more confident, but also look healthier, improving your self-perception and boosting your mood! Responsible use of sunbeds can also increase your body’s production of endorphins (also known as the “happy hormones”) which decreases stress levels, possibly improving mental health overall.

Please note, in the UK, it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to use a sunbed.

Please do your own research before using a sunbed as they are not suitable for everyone.

We hope that you have found this blog useful!

Salon Tracker x

Salon Tracker’s top tips for increased engagement on Instagram!

Salon Tracker’s Top Tips for Increased Engagement on Instagram!

Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is also about promoting your business and getting your name out there.

You can easily do this on Instagram by adding your logo as your profile picture and adding a tagline into your bio to help make clear to potential customers what your salon is all about!

Another super useful way to increase your brand awareness is by adding a link or website of yours to your account. This will help potential customers find more information about your salon.

On our Enterprise package you have access to your very own customised online bookings link which is great for letting customers know what you offer in your salon!

Content

A key part of Instagram is, of course, the content you create and post. It’s important to post about things relevant to you!

Posting is such an easy and useful marketing strategy and even better… It’s completely free! Ensuring your posts are of high quality and eye catching will make your viewers stop to read them.

Things we recommend posting are offers you have on, posts of your work done on customers, and info about the retail products you sell.

Hashtags

It is also important to use hashtags in your posts as this is how you can widen your customer base. Using a variety of hashtags that fit your brand is great for this.

Some hashtags we recommend would be ones with your city in so that people based near you can find you. Using ones related to your treatments are also useful such as #hairgoals #tangoals #nailart #bronzedbeauty #manicuremonday #selfcaresunday #balayage #sunkissed #blowout.

 

Host Giveaways

Our final top tip to increase your engagement on Instagram is by doing a giveaway. A giveaway is such an easy way to increase your customer base as customers that already follow you will be tagging and sharing your business with their friends.

The giveaway prize can be as easy as offering a free treatment or free course. If you wanted to push the boat out you could even make a hamper of the retail products you sell. These prizes give customers the chance to try new treatments of yours and try out the products you sell, which may ultimately become their new favourite to buy in store!

Giveaways are a super fun way to increase your engagement on Instagram and will benefit your business in the long run.

We hope this blog gave you some useful tips and ideas on how you can boost your Instagram and get the word out about your business!

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

Hello 2024!

 

2024 is here!

A big Happy New Year to all of our customers, we hope you had a lovely Christmas period and are feeling refreshed for the new year!

It’s our second day back in the office so we are all settled back into  our routines and ready for the upcoming year.

In 2023, there was a lot of changes in Salon Tracker with us growing the team by three new members on the sales and support team who I’m sure you have had the pleasure of speaking to over the past few months.

Our developers have also been working hard on improving the system and our newest version is currently in the testing phase. In this new version we have updated the framework that Salon Tracker runs on which means that in the future when we are adding new features and developing those that we already have, this will be a smoother process.

We have lots of exciting things coming up this year so make sure you stay up to date by following out social media accounts:

·         Instagram - @salontrackersoftware

·         Facebook - @salontracker

·         Twitter - @salontrackerltd

Finally, to start off the year with  a bang we have our brand new January offer on. If you sign up with us this January you will receive 30% off your first three months subscription.

To get booked in for your free demo and trial please call 0113 350 8230 or email us on info@salontracker.co.uk.

You can also enquire at www.salontracker.co.uk/freetrial

At Salon Tracker we are excited for the year ahead and want to wish everyone the best of luck in reaching their goals in 2024!

Best wishes,

Salon Tracker x

Goodbye 2023!

 

We can’t believe it’s already that time of year!

This year has been a big year for Salon Tracker with us expanding our Salon Tracker Family both internally with many new team members I’m sure you’ve had the opportunity to speak to and also a number of new customers who are now allowing us to help grow your business!

We want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your consistent support and loyal custom this year as we have been working hard on improving the basics of the software so in 2024 we can add some very in demand features!

We know this year has been difficult with the cost of living crisis that has affected many of our customers. This is why we have kept out subscription prices the same for over the last 10 years, even though we are continuously adding to and improving the system.

As we go into 2024, we know that this can be a difficult time of the year for salons where they may get a bit quieter, so if you’re thinking about getting set up with us keep your eyes peeled for some potential offers on our social media accounts.

With that being said, we are CLOSED for Christmas between the 22^nd of December and the 2^nd of January. If you need any support during this period please go to www.salontracker.co.uk/help where you can see help videos and support guides on how to fix frequent problems .

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 where possible with your activation code.

On behalf of everyone here at Salon Tracker, we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and health new year and we can’t wait to continue working with you all in 2024!

Salon Tracker x