Himanshu PatelGone are the days when cities have only two or three spa and beauty salons and where getting an appointment is quite a task. Now, the scene is completely changed, where the people will easily get a salon at each turn and in every street. The increased competition has made things difficult for the salon.
Managing numerous appointments at one time, handling salon operations and services, taking care of administrative responsibilities, and marketing the services aren’t accomplish on pen and paper.
So, what’s the solution? How can the salon operate seamlessly without any hassles? The strategic solution to all those problems- Salon Appointment App development.
The app helps the salon to stand out by allowing the customers to schedule appointments and make the payment right from the mobile app. Also, inventory management, appointment management, and targeted marketing helps in increasing customer retention and repeat business. It’s not enough. There are a lot more benefits that the salon app offer.
The Benefits Of Salon App Development Solution
- Appointment booking becomes a breeze!
It enables the customers to schedule the appointments round the clock without needing to call at the salon or physically visiting the salon and then waiting for the response for booking confirmation. With the app, the customers can view the available slots and then make bookings based on their preferences. This convenience converts customers and results in improved bookings.
- Inventory management eliminating the out-of-stock nightmare
Tracking the stock in real-time is impossible when done conventionally. When everything gets digitized, it becomes easier to find the items in stock, low in stock, or with a nearby expiry date so that they are refilled before it runs out of the stock. Also, the quick review unveils the total waste as opposed to what it intends to require.
- Staff management gets easier
Managing professionals with different interests and personalities is a tiresome job. Things become tedious when the salon owner has to do everything on his own. The salon app will help by directly assigning the tasks to the professionals based on the availability slots; tracking the monthly or annual performance. Also, the owner can check the activities assigned to staff members.
- Customer management
Catching the eyeballs is easier as opposed to converting and retaining the customers. The app helps in collecting customers’ data by tracking the customers’ preferences for salon services, identifying previous services taken, and staying in constant communication, which further helps in reaching out to the customers with a discount on the right product that ensures 100% satisfaction.
- Loyalty programs to reward loyalty
Customer retention is far cheaper than customer acquisition. It’s better to engage the existing customers and make them book the salon services again with the best offers (Free manicure with hair spa) or launching loyalty programs where the customers will earn loyalty points on every visit that can be redeemed later.
- Salon business management
When the owner needs to manage the different branches of the salon locating in different cities, then it’s very difficult to handle them solely. The app helps the owner to access and control all the operations executing in different salons regardless of the location. With a single database, the owner can access the data they want, which simplifies and streamlines the business operations.
- Easy payment making lives easier
As people want options everywhere, the payment mode is no exception. The customers want to have multiple payment options such as cash, debit card, credit card, mobile wallets, and other payment gateways at the time of booking, which is enabled through salon app development solutions. It also improves the salon cash flow system.
- Rating and review system to improve
Before making the first booking at the salon, the new customers always review the feedback provided by the previous customers. With the salon app, the customers can easily view the feedback given by the existing customers for the services offered at the salon. The feedback is valuable to the salon in terms of improving the services accordingly.
The range of benefits has certainly intrigued you to build an app for your salon by hiring salon application developers, but everything is not so rosy. Surprised? If so, read the next section that will help you.
How To Develop An App For Salon?
The mobile app development is not a work of an average Joe or it’s not like once you hire salon application developers and the job is done. There is a strategic plan with a step-by-step process that must be followed to develop an app for the salon. Let’s dive in!
- Custom app development
Building the app from scratch is an expensive affair that requires a team of developers, UI designers, and QA & testers to do extensive coding and designing. The backend, front-end, and other APIs are built, which give a unique touch to the salon app because the app will mirror what the salon offers. It’s a little lengthy and costly endeavor but pays off with winning upshots.
- Readymade app development
If the salon doesn’t have deep pockets and want to bypass the time-consuming back-end development task from the beginning, then white-label on demand solutions are the perfect fit for them. The readymade salon app templates pre-loaded with features are provided, where the owner needs to provide the content, images, color scheme, and icons to inculcate to customize the app’s appearance.
The salon owner can add the services, price, and products without needing to write a single line of code. After customization, when the app is approved by the owner, the app is launched on the app store.
What Are The Key Features Of Salon App?
The app brings a plethora of advantages to the salon business with the range of features offered under the salon owner app, customer app, and admin interface:
Salons Store App:
- The salon pros can view and manage the user’s appointments.
- The salon professionals reserve the right to accept, cancel, or reschedule the appointments.
- The pros receive notifications for booking requests, upcoming appointments, and payment.
- The professionals can check and view the appointments daily, weekly, and monthly on a single screen.
- The salon owner can track and view the payment status, that’s completed or pending.
Salon customers App:
- The customers can onboard the journey using the email id, social platforms, or phone number.
- The salons are browsed based on the specialty, services, proximity, and others.
- View the salon professionals’ profiles that include- pros’ details regarding the services and their expertise.
- Check the salon’s professionals’ availability beforehand before making the appointments.
- Book the appointments by selecting the desired time and date.
- Get real-time updates in the form of SMS, email, or in-app notification.
- View the services booking history that includes previous and future appointments with different salons.
- The customers can rate and provide reviews for the quality services received at the salon.
- Receive automatic reminders for the pre-booked appointment so that no appointments get missed.
- Easily make payments with various payment options such as cash, cards, mobile wallets, and others.
App for Salon Admin:
- The single dashboard allows the admin to view and manage all the professionals, users, and appointments-related data at a single place.
- Admin can create and manage all the professionals’ profiles that are working in a salon.
- Admin can view and manage all the users and their details that are registered with the app.
- View and manage all the appointments with distinct status- booked, canceled, postponed, and completed for every professional.
- The admin possesses the right to manually assign the appointment booking request to the professional.
- The last-minute rescheduling is considered and another appointment scheduling is facilitated to the users when requested.
- Admin can manage the deals or discounts under loyalty programs to offer to the users.
- Admin can generate various reports such as bookings, services, transactions, and revenue.
- Gain insight from generated reports via actionable analytics to make the data-driven decisions that aids in service improvement.
The last word
The customers’ preferences have changed so businesses have to, with no option left behind. It’s high time for the salon to say goodbye to the race against time and say hello to mobilize the salon operations with little automation. It’s benefitting the salon businesses in every way. The recent pandemic is the best instance of it, where the salons that have already complimented the operations with on-demand salon app development witnessed the gala benefits. So, don’t hang fire! Develop a successful salon app to stay successful and profitable now and in the future.
