How to Grow your Salon Business!

 

The Salon industry is one of the fastest growing in the UK showing a growth of 54% in the number of businesses in the 5 years up to 2020. Though this slowed down due to the pandemic, this industry has seemingly bounced back after the lockdown and is on the rise again.

To make sure your salon is taking advantage of this and growing with the rest of your industry, here are some of our top tips and tricks to push growth in you Salon.

 

Utilise Social Media

If you’re running a salon, social media such as Facebook and Instagram should be your best friend. These platforms are great ways to communicate with your customers and also promote your salon for free. By sharing before and after photos of your work on social media you can show people who may have not been to your salon the type of work you do and encourage them to come in for an appointment. This means you can use social media to grow your customer base.

Social media is also a great way to communicate and interact with your existing customers with many salon customers saying they feel more comfortable going into a salon where they can see the workers personality and communicate with them online.

A final use for social media is to run things such as competitions. You could run a competition for a free retail product or a free appointment and get entrants to share the post and tag some friends. This would mean that your customers are doing the free marketing for you and sharing your business with their friends.

If you want some more tips on how social media can help your salon, go to www.salontracker.co.uk/news and search for social media and you will be able to see all of the blogs we have done on this topic.

Reward Loyal Clients

As well as wanting new customers in your salon, client retention is important too and what better way to do this than to reward your most loyal clients. One way Salon Tracker can help you do this is with our groups feature. This feature allows you to add your customers into specific groups, for example a VIP customer group, and you can give them a set discount on bookings and retail products.

You can also do offers such as buy one get one free and buy 5 for the price of 4 which the system can help you track. Give us a call to see how this could work for you.

Ask for Reviews

Another way you can grow your salons customer base is to ask your existing customers to leave you reviews on platforms such as Facebook, Google or YELL. Having reviews from verified customers of your salon will help shed good light on what your salon offers. One way Salon Tracker can help you encourage your clients to leave you a review is with our ‘request a review’ feature which sends a text to your customers after their appointment asking them to leave a review on whichever site that you prefer.

 

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

 

Salon Tracker x

My First Year!

I’m sure I have had the pleasure of speaking to the majority of our clients, if you haven’t spoken to me yet… I’m Ellis. I am part of the Support and Sales team at Salon Tracker Software.

I started working at Salon Tracker at the start of June 2021 and began by learning how the software works. Once I was comfortable with the system, I began managing my own enquiries and doing demos and trials for potential customers. Once I had progressed further, I began looking at the support side of Salon Tracker. This involved setting up customer hardware, taking tickets for any customer requests and trying to implement them. Also, I have been to two trade shows, Professional Beauty London and Beauty UK.

Alongside managing my own customers, I have also done a few projects during my time at Salon Tracker. These have included redesigning/updating our customer brochure to include our latest features and redesigning our developers’ website. Working on these projects has allowed me to work with different members of our team and develop my skillset further.

In the future, I am hoping to move further into the support side of Salon Tracker so that I can learn the more technical side of the system as this is the area that I find most stimulating due to being a bit more complex.

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year at Salon Tracker. I have enjoyed getting to know the ins and outs of the system and speaking to new and existing customers. The team have been extremely helpful in terms of me settling in and have been on hand to answer any questions I have had. We have many projects planned for the near future so keep tuned to see what the Salon Tracker team is up to over the coming year. I look forward to speaking to you in the future!

Ellis x

Keep your salon secure with Salon Tracker

Keeping salon secure in the digital world can be quite overwhelming, but don’t worry that’s where we step in! Salon Tracker is designed with plenty of secure features to keep your salon data safe at all times, here’s what we can do to help you…

User logins

On our Professional and Enterprise packages, you can create different user logins for each of your staff members, which can be protected by a password and/or a fingerprint. This is perfect for being able to monitor each employee’s performance and what they are accessing on the system. As each event is tracked within Salon Tracker, you can keep track of takings and how the system is being used by your employees, which is great if you’re ever not in the Salon.

With each account, you are able to set permissions as to what the staff member can access, this helps to keep certain parts of your software more privatised, such as monetary reports and admin changes.

Reports

Having different user logins works hand in hand with our reports, in particular those such as our Action Log report and our sales by staff reports. The action log report includes a list of every event that happens on the system with the time range selected. For example, this could be anything from a transaction being made to a client card being edited or viewed.

Our other reports such as Booking Sales by Staff and Retail Sales by Staff allow you to see exactly what transactions have been processed through the system by each individual staff member. Additionally, you will be able to see if any discount has been applied to the transaction, so you would be able to see clearly if an employee was overusing the discount feature.

Auto Lockout

To ensure that the system isn’t left open unattended, we also have the auto lockout feature. Using this, you can set the system to lock after a certain time period. A user will then need to log back into the system with either their password or fingerprint before it can be accessed again. This feature is great for peace of mind in busy sales where there might not always be a member of staff at the reception desk.

Fingerprint

Along with the fingerprint being usable for staff members, it can also be used for customers to identify their accounts with. When they initially register with your shop, there’s an option to record their fingerprint and store it again their account. This helps to reduce the risk of a customer pretending to be someone else, as the fingerprint would identify the customer for you! An added non-security benefit is that it helps to reduce waiting times as the fingerprint finds the customer much quicker than you having to type in the customer’s name in, which is perfect for your busy seasons!

Secure ID

Our fingerprint technology can also be used alongside our secure ID feature, which is used for customers to protect their account and any pre-paid services. When you confirm a booking with secure ID turned on, the customer will need to present the matching fingerprint in order for the booking to be confirmed. Alternatively, you can also use a 4-digit pin number or a barcode to confirm the booking. Secure ID can be applied to specific services, for example for a tanning salon you may only want this applied to courses.

Tmax/Sigma

For those of you that are tanning salon owners, you may run your Timer manager through our Salon Tracker software. When this is connected it means that minutes can’t be manually confirmed through the Timer manager itself. This increases security within your salon as you know that any minutes that have been confirmed onto the bed have been put through the system and this can be tracked in the action log.

GDPR Privacy

With GDRP laws being introduced in 2018, we made slight adjustments to the software to incorporate this into our system to make sure you and your salon were following all the new rules. For example, customer details will be hidden from staff members and if they are viewed this will be logged in the action log for you to see.

 

These are just a few insights into how our Salon Tracker software can help keep your salon secure and safe! If you have any questions about any of the features we have mentioned or want to get these setup with your Salon Tracker, please give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or drop an email to info@salontracker.co.uk and we will be happy to help!

Salon Tracker x

Just over 1 week to go until Beauty UK!

The countdown is officially on! 

With just 10 days left to go until we exhibit at Beauty UK, we thought it's about time we shared some of what we will be offering whilst we are there:

30% off your first 3 months subscription & up to 30% off hardware

On-top of that, we also offer a free, no obligation 2 week trial where you can try the software and see whether or not it suits your salon... needless to say that the answer will always be yes as we offer FREE training & FREE support!

You’ll not only be able to have a demonstration of our seamless software and ask us any burning questions, but you’ll also be able to have a look around hundreds of other exhibitors and get your hands on some exclusive great deals. 

We have lots of new features to demo to you, some of these include:

• Online payments and deposits - a feature we brought out with our Salons in mind. We've partnered with stripe so customers can now charge their clients a set deposit when booking appointments online therefore reducing no-shows and generating a more streamlined revenue. 

• Our brand-new age verification tool that only allows courses to be sold if there has been a proof of identity verified on the account. This is an extra security step to ensure that no one under the age of 18 can use a tanning bed.

• A whole range of new reports to demonstrate, allowing you to get further insight in to your business and your KPI’s, plus these can be viewed on our Siteview app which is now editable! Appointments can now be made, updated and amended within the app, which is also native in the app store and on google play; in which all salon owners and employees can download and use on their phones & tablets. Making the ease of usage of the app even better now!

• A brand new package - Salon Tracker Solo. Salon Tracker would like to introduce their new software package, aimed at single person run and mobile salons. Salon Tracker Solo gives you some of our most exclusive features for half the price of our enterprise package.

Come visit us on stand K20 to chat with a member of our friendly sales team, have a live demo and simply just enjoy being at an in-person trade show that we have been utterly deprived of for the last 2 years, we can't wait to meet you!

Register for your tickets at: Beauty UK before they sell out!

See you soon,

Salon Tracker x

Salon Evo magazine: An exclusive interview with Salon Tracker and Urban Calm!

One of our lovely Clients Urban Calm had the lucky experience of having an editorial placement with the fantastic Salon Evo magazine! And as Sacha and Leanne have explained how our Salon Tracker management solution has helped their business, in case you missed the edit, we really wanted to share their story with you. To see how we may be able to also benefit your salon too!

Interview:

A nail course 20 years ago, led Sacha Eastwell on a journey of working for herself. Working from her home salon was perfect for juggling her young family then, but when her sister Leanne came on board doing lashes, Sacha says that her ambition led them to join forces and open a salon together.

For the last four years Urban Calm Salon has been their base in Kent. The combination of the two sisters and the fact that they thrive in different sections of the business has been a great mix and has led to them having a successful, and very busy salon.

“We do lots of services, we have two Ergoline sunbeds, one being a red-light therapy bed, it’s a hybrid sunbed and we also do spray tanning. We offer lash services and nail services and we recently started with facials and massage too. We also have a young lad renting a spot who does barbering, and we have another person who comes in and does teeth whitening.”

Sacha herself is doing nails, brows, lash lifts, spray tans etc. It’s a busy place with many options on the menu. To keep track of appointments, the inevitable changes in appointments, and everything else that a busy salon owner needs to keep on top of their business, Sacha chose Salon Tracker which is a feature rich salon management solution.

“Initially, it was recommended to me, so I looked into them. I also investigated other systems to use for our salon to figure out what would be best for our needs. The thing that attracted me to Salon Tracker is that we needed a system that would allow us to sell block bookings. That is particularly for the sunbed side of our business. It is so helpful, when the client comes in to use the sunbeds, their minutes are taken off their account automatically without the team having to get involved. All the other systems didn’t have that feature, so this really fitted what we needed.”

Sacha offers her clients the chance to book through Salon Tracker too. “We call it our VIP booking, because they really are our very important people. If they want to become a VIP, they can go online and book a sunbed at their own pace. And now that Salon Tracker is offering Klarna payments which means that it can take deposits or the full payment. It allows our sunbed clients to pre-pay for their tanning courses before visiting the salon and make their appointments online using their own personalised booking link.”

Another plus for this system is that it offers a diary just for tanning. There’s a tanning tab at the top and then a tab for the salon side of the business. Two different diaries running in tandem.

“We started with a sheet of paper and were trying to write everything down and it was really tricky. Lockdown gave us the chance to take time and look at what we needed and also to take time to work out how to use the new Salon Tracker system.

“We’ve just built a new website and we have incorporated our VIP booking online onto our website. That, on its own, has taken away the pressure of having to book people in and explain our services. People can just go on there and look and make their own booking.”

Trust in existing clients means that they do not need to pay a deposit, but new clients that are booking online do have to pay a deposit which they do through Salon Tracker. Sacha said: “For us, it is an assurance that people we don’t know are less likely to cancel at short notice or not turn up. It’s a really helpful feature on Salon Tracker and if they don’t turn up, at least we still have the deposit.”

Clients are less likely to forget their appointments if they have a reminder sent to their phones and Salon Tracker provides a text message just as a gentle nudge to make sure that a trip to the salon is still on the priority list.

And Sacha has been impressed by the customer service she has received. “They are very hands on, if you have any problems at all they are there and will quickly talk you through any issues.”

The addition of Salon Tracker software to the business has been an incredible help in juggling multiple diaries for lots of different services and it has taken a huge amount of stress, worry and wasted time away from Sacha and Leanne leaving them to do what they do best. Run Urban Calm!

Free Trial?

If you want to see how Salon Tracker could help your business, head to www.salontracker.co.uk/freetrial.aspx and enquire for your free 2 week trial today! We hope too hear from you soon!

Salon Tracker x

Bank Holiday Marketing

 

As I’m sure you’re all aware, the first bank holiday of Spring 2022 is fast approaching. With this in mind here at Salon Tracker we thought we would give you some of our best tips and tricks on how you can market your salon to make the most of these upcoming long weekends.

 

Social Media

One of the easiest, and sometimes most effective, ways of advertising your salon is to do this on social media. Having an active account on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram is a key part to running a successful salon in 2022. The good thing about social media is that you can use it in whatever way suits your salon best. Some key things that you can use social media for in your salon are:

·         Posting pictures of the services that you offer to show clients what you provide.

·         Running competitions to gain interaction from customers.

·         Communicating with new and existing customers to give your salon a friendly vibe.

SMS Marketing

Another way you can market your salon is through text message marketing. This is a very effective form of marketing as text messages have a 98% open rate. With Salon Trackers professional package and above you can do a text message marketing campaign directly from Salon Trackers intelligent marketing suite. 

Here are some examples of text messages you can send out to your customers to try and get them to visit your salon.

Hi <<Forename>>

EASTER WEEKEND IS HERE!

Free Tan Accelerator Sachet when any course is bought Fri-Mon!

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

 

Hi <<Forename>>

Long Weekend = Longer Opening Hours

This weekend only we've extended our opening hours until 9 so get booked in quick!

<<CompanyName>>

 

Hi <<Forename>>

Bank Hol is here, get booked in quick so you're ready for your night out. Gel polish on hands and toes just £30 this weekend!

<<CompanyName>>

Email Marketing

Another great marketing option for your salon is email marketing. In Salon Trackers marketing suite, you can grab a list of customers who have opted in for email marketing and export them into a CSV file which you can put into a free email campaign provider such as Mailchimp. Mailchimp allows you to send an email to up to 2000 people completely free of charge. You can design this email to match your salon theme and send them as often as you would like!

 

If you would like any more information on Salon Trackers Intelligent marketing suite, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 0113 350 8230 or email us on info@salontracker.co.uk.

 

Salon Tracker x

We are Exhibiting at PB London this weekend! Come and see us on stand Q32!

We’re exhibiting at the show!

We can’t believe it, Professional Beauty London is only a few days away, it doesn’t seem like 2 minutes since we were last there and it’s been 6 months! And what a busy couple of months it has been, where we are so happy to finally announce that we have launched our online payments feature for tanning courses! So, we can now offer payments through stripe for all of our clients, whether you are wanting beauty/hair deposits, or wanting clients to purchase tanning bundles upfront, we’ve got you covered. We can also offer Klarna as a payment method, meaning that this allows your clients to buy now and pay later for their courses.

We also have lots of new features to demo to you, including our brand-new age verification tool, that only allows courses to be sold if there has been a proof of identity verified on the account. This is an extra security step to ensure that no one under the age of 18 can use a tanning bed. We also have a whole range of new reports to demonstrate, allowing you to get further insight in to your business and your KPI’s, plus these can be viewed on our Siteview app which is now editable! Appointments can now be made, updated and amended within the app, which is also native in the app store and on google play; in which all salon owners and employees can download and use on their phones & tablets. Making the ease of usage of the app even better now!

We also partner with both Dojo Payments and Star Micronics, in which both of these brand’s equipment work hand in hand together to create the seamless retail solution! We will be showcasing the new Star TSP100IV on stand, to show you how you can print client receipts and the also end of day reports from the printer. The new printer is also much smaller in size, meaning that this saves space at your registration desk to allow for a much smarter looking solution. Dojo have some new, compact card readers to go alongside the new printer, working hand in hand to create a smart retail environment.

If you’re lucky enough, you should have received a VIP invite from us so you can receive early entry in to the show on Sunday at 9.30am – there should be a VIP link on the email where you can register for your early entry pass!

We will be exhibiting at stand Q32 across the 2-day weekend, offering live demonstrations to all visitors, and don’t forget if you visit our stand to make sure you sign up with us for your exclusive show offer, where we will be giving up to 30% off hardware and 30% off first 3 months software to all attendees!

What can you expect us to be working on next?

Even though we know we had a couple of years where events were closed, from the last couple of events we exhibited at, we have taken on board feedback and put together a plan to begin a road map for the next few features that we hope to have developed for you. Here’s what you can expect from us from our next few phases of development.

Salon Forms

Predominantly for the beauty and aesthetics industry, Salon Tracker are hoping to integrate with ‘Tally’ to create forms that can be associated to a booking, complexed registration forms for spa and medical services and also potentially forms that can be associated with patch testing. These will also be sent via email to clients and stored electronically within the system. Salon Tracker will provide standard report templates through Tally and these will be editable for clients to amend to suit their services.

Salon TV

Salon TV is a new feature that allows Salons to broadcast their live bookable item times and waiting list times to a TV through streaming, using a google chrome cast. Clients will w be able to view when the next bookable item is available, therefore in the tanning industry they will be able to see the waiting list and approximate waiting time until their appointment, same in the barber industry and also this feature will work really well for anyone who offers a walk-in service.

Salon Assist

An improvement on the Salon Signature pad, as this can allow clients to be registered via a tablet, without needing to be on the Enterprise package. A tablet is client facing at the reception desk, allowing clients to register a new account, or check in to say they have arrived at the salon for their appointment (great for businesses in the hair and barbering industry). Some of the company’s tanning clients already use Salon Assist as a form of security, by asking clients to ‘check-in’ when they arrive for their appointment, alongside a PIN pad, where the client will then check in and enter their secure pin to ensure this matches up for their appointment.

Salon Occupation

Using motion detection and hopefully electrical usage tracking, Salon Tracker can use detectors on their powered bookable items, or through smart intelligence on security cameras to determine whether someone is having a treatment at any one time. This type of technology is used to stop malicious behaviours, to detect if a bed has been used but not necessarily started through Salon Tracker, and also to match up payments at the time of hair/beauty appointments, as motion sensors and occupancy trackers should match the times of a transaction.

We're so excited for the show this weekend, it's great to be back exhibiting! If you haven't registered for your exhibitor pass yet, follow the link below:

https://pbgroup.online/event/professional-beauty-london-2022

See you there, stand Q32!

Salon Tracker