How Online Booking Can Help Tanning Salons

As we know with winter finally coming to an end and spring arriving, it will officially be tanning season before we know it. Here at Salon Tracker we know how busy tanning salons can get at this time so we have many technicians and developers working on new ways we can help with the running of these salons. One feature we have come up with to help is online booking and we feel there are many ways in which this can help with the running of your Salon.

Shorter Wait Times

If your salon has online booking, this will ensure that wait times are kept to a minimum. This is because customers will come in to the salon at the time they have the bed booked out for meaning that there will no longer be multiple people in your waiting room when there are no beds free. This will mean that your customers will have a better experience with going to your salon and will therefore be more likely to recommend it to a friend or family member therefore increasing your profit and customer base.

Out of hours bookings

Having an online booking system also means that customers are able to book for their sunbeds out of your shops opening hours. For example, if they work late and are wanting to book in for a sunbed for 10 minutes of their lunch the next day, they will be able to do that they night before even if you’re not open then. They will then be able to know that they will be able to go on the sunbed at a specific time the next day as there will be no long waiting times. 

Track Minutes

With Salon Trackers online booking feature, customers of your salon will also be able to track their minutes. This means that on their online account, they will be able to see how many minutes they’ve used and when they have used them. This will mean customers will no longer be able to cause a dispute in the salon or argue that minutes are being taken off them as every time they have been used you will be able to see when they got used.

If you would like any information on the online booking services we have here at Salon Tracker or would like to book in for your free demo and trial don’t hesitate to give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or email us on info@salontracker.co.uk.  

Salon Tracker x

Mother's Day SMS Marketing!

With Mother’s Day being right around the corner, this is the perfect opportunity for you to up your marketing game and make the most of this annual celebration. There are plenty of different ways that you can market to your customers, but today were going to focus of SMS campaigns. So, we’ve put together a few different examples of campaigns that you can send out to your customers.

Example 1

Hi <<forename>>

Mother’s Day Deal! Get 50% off when you book ANY massage with yourself and your Mum. Book between the 23^rd & 31^st of March to receive your deal!

Example 2

Hi <<forename>>

Treat your Mum this Mother’s Day to a nail treatment at <<salonname>> & you will both receive a £10 voucher that can be used anytime this Summer!

Example 3

Hi <<forename>>

Why not give your Mum the TLC she deserves this Mother’s Day with our Pure Perfection Mother’s Day Bundle, call 01133508230 to book!

Example 4

Give your Mum the ultimate Mother’s Day treat at <<salonname>> with a massage, facial & mani for just £40! Call 01133508230 to book now. Offer ends on 07/04.

Example 5

Celebrate Mother's Day this Year at <<salonname>> with a Mother and Daughter package, starting from £20! Limited availability, call 01133508230 to book now!

These are just a few simple examples and ideas of campaigns that you could send out to your clients this Mother’s Day. If you aren’t already aware, with our Professional and Enterprise software packages, you will have access to our Marketing Suite. From here you will be able to send out campaigns directly from the software to your clients mobile phones! There are even filters on there so you can only send the message out to specific people. For example, if you were doing a mother and daughter package deal, you could send out the text to only females in order to really target who you're sending the text to.

Recently for Valentine’s Day, we had a number of our customers using our marketing suite to send out campaigns to their customers. The marketing suite gives you a great opportunity to easily make a lot of revenue. Although you might spend £50 in order to send out the SMS campaign to your customers, it will get your offers out and will more than likely make you much more than you spent in order to send them out.

With our 2-week free trial you do also receive 50 free marketing texts, so you can try out our marketing suite. If you would like to get booked in for your free demo and trial then please contact our team on 0113 350 8230 or you can alternatively email us at info@salontracker.co.uk.

Salon Tracker x

Feature of the Month: Smart Stock Management!

As we approach the busy Spring and Easter period, we just wanted to highlight one of our in-built management features that can really help you with the organisation of your salon during peak seasons. So, let’s talk Stock-Control!

Presumably, you all run stock takes on a regular basis to check that your inventories match up. Whether this be on paper, or through your own current stock-management system, it is imperative to be on top of this within any business. However, by using a barcoded, computerised solution, this can improve the accuracy of your stock-control methods and have a whole range of other benefits too.

Within Salon Tracker, we integrate with a full POS system, meaning that not only can you use the barcodes to speed up the transaction of your products, you can also keep track of every sale! This being said, when you run your stock level reports on a morning, you can then go about your day at the salon like you normally would, putting sales through etc, so that on the evening you can re-print these reports and the levels should add up, based on how many retail sales you have made. If there are any discrepancies, this then highlights to you that there has been a problem somewhere. So, for example, say one of your reports was showing that you had 1 less of a particular product than you should have, you can then use Salon Tracker’s action-log reports or individual sales breakdowns to audit where a potential mistake may have been made.

From time to time however, there is the unfortunate case of client (and sometimes even staff) theft. In these instances, there is unfortunately little you can do other than the usual precautions (CCTV, stock checks per day) to prevent this. However, our software again has other smart-tools built in to help further protect your business from employee theft, one being ‘permission-based staff user levels’. Our in-built permissions give salons the control to be able to manage which employees have the ability to update and edit stock levels, so that it is not physically possible for everyone to have access to this. This means no one can tamper with levels to try and get away with malicious behaviour.

Other general benefits of our stock control feature are improved salon organisation. As with a smart stock-management system, you can improve the efficiency of your salon by not needing to have access overstock – as your system will highlight your best sellers and the timescales in which products sell out.

Productivity is increased as you’re not having to stand there manually counting items, instead you print off 1 report and check it against your sales and current stock count, to know whether this is correct or not.

It also saves your employees and customers time, as not only are you saving on the manual stock-count, you are also saving on having to write on a paper tracker each time you sell a retail product, as our system will do this for you.

And finally, if you need to manage stock for multiple sites, our Salon Tracker headquarters feature allows you to be able to do this from one main system. You can run stock reports from each individual site to check the stock levels. Plus, if you manage overall stock from your head office, you can also manage head office stock by accepting and shipping product orders from each site using Salon Tracker’s back office features. Saving you time and money of having to delegate this task to several members of staff per site.

If you aren’t a user of our software currently and would like to take a look over Salon Tracker, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of our team on 0113 350 8230 and they will be happy to show how the features work!

We look forward to hearing from you and keeping your salon stock secure.

Salon Tracker x

How we can help manage multi-sites.

Have you got more than one branch and want to know how you can manage all of them successfully? Look no further, you’ve come to the right place and here’s why…

· HQ licence – Here at Salon Tracker we have the ability to provide you with another

licence of the software where you can access all of your sites from the comfort of your own home. This copy of the licence is exactly the same as the ones at the shops so you can do everything as you would be able to do in the shop; this includes: making bookings, editing bookings, cancelling bookings, running all reports, marketing campaigns, staff rotas, stock checks and managing client cards without having to visit every salon… perfect!

· Site view – Not only can you have a full licence at home, you can also have site view which allows you to see what’s going on in all of your salons from anywhere… out and about on your mobile or tablet!

· Staff logins and permissions – Having multiple sites means having multiple staff members so you’re going to need to keep a record of who’s done what using an action log report and who actually has access to what. Staff logins allows you to have unlimited users of the software who all have the option of logging in with secure ID (fingerprint recognition) or a personal password. The system also allows your staff to clock in and out using secure ID so you can track and monitor staffs working hours accurately. Furthermore, you can turn certain permissions on for each staff member to only allow them access to certain parts of the software making it secure for you as having multi-sites, you can’t be in more than one place at once!

· One customer database – Do you have a few salons in the same area where your clients may want to go to a few different sites and use their minutes at each site or be able to have treatments at different sites? We’ve got the perfect solution. Your customers at each and every site can be shared throughout including all their booking history, tanning minutes and pack of beauty treatments.

· Consistency throughout sites – We have previously designed the software for our current multi-site clients so it is customised to the individual salon using their logo and design. This version of the software can be implemented across all sites and makes the salon look professional as well as organised!

So if you currently have more than 1 site or are looking to get another, feel free to contact us for a free demo and trial and see how we can transform your Salons today!

Salon Tracker x

Get your Salon Spring-ready!

Hello, hope everyone had a lovely weekend in the sun! Or if you were at Professional Beauty London, like us, then we hope you made some good purchases for the salon!

Speaking of this unseasonal sunny weather, we thought it’s about time we had a chat about Spring and how you can use the next few weeks to ensure you salon is Spring-ready! With the weather being as it is, Spring might not be as long away as we thought! So, what can you do to be prepared?

Spring-Clean! There’s nothing better than getting rid of your old Winter stock and refreshing your product ranges in time for the new season. Maybe a lick of paint here and there, plus switching up your accessories might be an idea to give your salon a really fresh feel. Atmosphere is everything in a salon, and your clients will really notice and appreciate a clean, modernised environment! Your salon aesthetics can really add to the customer experience, so definitely something to think about over the next few weeks.

Enhance your online presence! Do you have an active company website and social media page? Technology is at the forefront of every B2C business now, so if your salon isn’t active online, this can be detrimental to your sales, especially if your competition has active social media profiles.

Facebook has become a popular ‘check-point’ for people to identify a business, especially as it has a review service from current clients. In the past, people may have looked in to your business through Google reviews but nowadays people go straight to social media pages. So, you want to make sure that you are consistently active and updating these profiles, to ensure that people recognise that you communicate with your followers regularly. For the salon industry, another popular network is Instagram, in which this is a great network to showcase your work. If clients are happy for you to photograph before and after photos, Instagram is a good place to promote your styling, especially as you can now boost posts on there to ensure a larger audience of people see your feed!

Emails! Email marketing is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to directly market to your clients in bulk. There are also lots of email providers that can give reporting and analytics about the open and click through rate of your campaigns, a provider in particular that we like to recommend is Mailchimp. This is a very user-friendly service, making it quick and easy for you and your staff to learn. You can create visual emails simply with their ‘build tool’ so you’ll soon get the hang of it. According to Wordstream, ‘email is one of the greatest drivers of customer retention’, in which this is a great stat to go by when thinking about sending regular e-newsletters or product news.

Send a Text! Similar to email, however a little more expensive to run, SMS marketing is another direct, quick way to reach customers with a message. Instagiv, states that ‘32% of consumers respond to promotional SMS messages.’ Therefore, going by this it means that over a quarter of your client base are likely to react to any marketing messages you send to them by text. There are lots of providers out there that can offer business SMS services. If you are currently a user of our software ‘Salon Tracker’ our Professional & Enterprise packages have the SMS marketing suite built-in, making SMS marketing campaigns simple to create! We also have our own search filters included in the tool, dependent on the sort of campaign you wish to send. For example, if you want to select your best spending customers, no problem, as with 2 clicks you can have the entire list ready to send a text message to, using our software! For Spring, you may want to advertise your upcoming promotions or offers over Easter for example? So, to get you started, here’s a few of our SMS ideas below:

Hi <<Forename>>

MAYDAY PAYDAY! Secure your payday treat by booking an appointment with us before 30th April to receive <a %> off!

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


Hi <<Forename>>

Spring has Sprung! To kick-start the season, we are offering a FREE complimentary <yourchoiceofproduct> with every appointment booked in April!

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


Hi <<Forename>>

Fresh Spring Air calls for Fresh Treatments at <your salon>! Call <<CompanyTel>> to book your new Spring style today! Hurry as slots are going fast!

<<CompanyName>> T&Cs Apply


Now we’ve established a few marketing methods and strategies to step in to spring, let’s have a look at some seasonal events that you can use to promote over the next few months!

Spring Bank Hols! With Easter falling much later this year, our first Bank Hol of the year is still only 6 weeks away, closely followed by Mayday and Spring bank on May 27th. This triple Bank Holiday is a great time to promote your seasonal offers and get your footfall increasing. Start to research the upcoming hair & beauty trends, to identify what the up and coming styles are going to be this Spring/ Summer – and then advertise these to your clients using SMS marketing or social media.

It could be something like; ‘Get your Brows Bank Holiday Ready with <your salon name>’, then perhaps even bundle a little offer in with this, such as ‘Book before end of April to receive <X %> off your chosen product in time for Bank Hol!’. You could even use your social media channels to push a Bank Holiday selfie competition, to up the engagement on your networks!

Bridal Packages! From the beginning of May right up until the end of September, especially if you’re a Hair and Beauty salon, you are likely to see an increase in bookings for Wedding Season. You’ll probably find that most of your salon’s competition will be offering similar sorts of Bridal bundles or packages for Groomsmen, so how can you make yours stand out? Some complimentary goodies might be something to think about, for example a bottle of Prosecco on the house for the bridal group whilst they have their treatments done, or some bottles for the guys? Or you could even get other local businesses involved if possible (such as a café or bistro bar) and see if your clients can receive a little % off voucher for food or drinks if they book a wedding package with your salon? A good promotional technique for both your business and theirs! Another thing to the think about is getting reviews from your bridal parties, as the more chat you have on your networks about wedding bookings, the better this is for people who are looking first-time as they are likely to trust a salon that has more Wedding testimonials.

Prom Season! We know this is a Summer thing, however lots of students start their prom prep early Spring, so why not advertise early to ensure that they book your salon for their treatments too. Advertise your prom packages on social media, flyers at schools and colleges and even via email/SMS to your current client base to ensure that prom goers choose your salon!

We hope we’ve inspired you and given you a few little things to think about for your salon-prep and marketing this Spring. With these few fresh ideas, by putting these in to practice your salon should see a seasonal boost! And if you want a little bit of extra advice, no problem, our marketing and sales team are always on hand Mon-Fri to help you every step of the way – just give our team a call on 0113 350 8230!

We look forward to hearing from you!

Salon Tracker x

Feature of the Month - QR Codes

Of course, having a busy salon is what every salon owner wants, but when you have a queue out of the door it can be difficult to spend 5 minutes registering a new customer. This is where our new and upcoming feature will make your lives much easier. For anyone that isn’t sure on what QR Codes are, they’re similar to a barcode, and will enable your customers to easily visit a specific link just by scanning the code. You’ve probably seen them before in shop windows or on advertising boards. Our new QR Code integration will allow our Enterprise subscription customers to give customers the ability to easily register their own customer account online on their phone. Below is an example of one that you could have in your salon. Most smartphones work with the QR Codes, as you can see using the camera on iPhone will bring up the website immediately for the customer just from holding the camera over the code. 

Once the customer has registered this will sync with your Salon Tracker software, and you will then be able to serve them. This will not only then allow you to serve any other customers that are in the shop, it also means that the customers details will be correct as they have entered them themselves.

Another great way that you could use QR codes in your salon would be to have one in your salon window with a link to your online booking. This would be great for people that are passing by and don’t have time to come in or look at your treatment list, then all they have to do is scan the code and they will be able to view this at home and then book an appointment. As I mentioned, you will need to be on our Enterprise subscription package to integrate with QR codes, as it will need to sync with your software.

This feature will be ready within in the next few weeks, we are just finalising the final parts of it. If you would like any further information on this, or if you would like to get booked in for your free demo and trial then please email info@salontracker.co.uk or call 0113 350 8230. Don’t forget we are also exhibiting at the Professional Beauty show in London this coming weekend on Sunday the 24^th and Monday the 25^th of February. We will be on stand W28 so feel free to drop by if you have any questions!

Salon Tracker x