Salon’s success lies in many factors, but the most important are appointments and schedules.
Yes, most of the Salons lose a large number of customer volume because of mismanagement of appointments.Â
Naturally, the Salon owners find it challenging to handle the daily Salon chaos and customers appointments at the same time.
Hence, they experience a decrease in customer’s footfall and retention rate. In the long term, the Salon owners encounter a huge downfall. To spare your Salon from this, choosing the Salon software is the best option. The Salon solution offers all the essential benefits and features that every Salon needs.
What is Salon Management Software?Â
It is a tool that supports the Salon owners to manage their Salon business seamlessly and effectively. The software has the capacity to manage employee scheduling, POS (Point of Sale) transactions, online booking, inventory, marketing, etc.
The experts working in the beauty industry are usually so much involved that while assisting the customers, they find it tough to handle several customer appointments. And, this issue accelerated in peak hours.
Here, the Salon Software came as a helping hand. It assists the Salon owners to control the customer’s appointments easily that can boost the customer retention rate.
The Salon owners and stylists basically require an easily accessible Salon Software that includes inventory management, employee scheduling, online appointment and less price. Many of the Salons consider budget as an important factor and they prefer simple features, such as Calendar management. But, when it is about large Salons, then, they require powerful options, like, client’s management, Point of Sale, etc. The criteria we have used to obtain the best Salon scheduling software must include:Â
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Online Appointments
This feature is an essential one among all. The online appointments boost the customer’s experience and therefore, improves the retention rate. Always remember that the online appointment process is usually the customers’ first thought while choosing your Salon business. Hence, it is important to pick the software which is visually appealing, professional and simple.
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Price
We have examined the payment criteria on a monthly basis of every software. The prices are compared according to the general features, easy accessibility and other major criterias.
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Calendar managementÂ
Similar to online booking, the trustable Salon Software includes the employee scheduling key feature. It permits the Salons to maximize the revenue and track the employee daily performance.
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Payment processing
With payment processing, the Salon owners can manage every customer’s data on one online platform.
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Inventory management
The feature of inventory management enables the Salon owners to keep up their inventory, use their resources effectively and assure their Salon shelves are always full of the best products.Â
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Customer support
The responsive support team improves the client satisfaction rate by assisting them whenever they need. Even, the new business that does not have any idea of using the Software are assisted to the best and made understandable.Â
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More features
There are many features, such as automated marketing campaigns, notification system, location or branch management that makes the best Salon management Software to stay ahead.
Best Online Booking Software
1. Salonist
The first Salon Software on our list is Salonist. As a cloud-based solution, it assists the Salon owners to manage their daily task anytime and from anywhere.  The main features of Salonist are; appointment scheduling, POS, inventory management, multi-location management, analytics service, customer and staff management, etc.Â
With the scheduling features, the customers can easily book their schedule and change the appointments from the calendar. From the Staff management feature, the Salon owners can track their performance, attendance, schedules etc. Simultaneously, from customer management, payments, deals and offers, appointment history, future booking, etc. can be maintained.Â
From the reminder system, the Salon owners can send the alerts about membership renewals, pending payments, anniversaries and birthdays to the customers. Also, the alerts are sent to the Salon staff as well so that they know to whom they have to assist at what time and if there is any change in the schedule, that also is reminded. Â
The multi-location management feature allows the Salon owners to know their other Salons’ activities and hence, they manage it effectively. The invoice management feature helps the Salon businesses to process payments, generate bills, give details about the Salon walk-in services, products, packages and so on.
Salonist offers free, starter, business and enterprise packages on a monthly and yearly basis. You can choose as per your Salon requirements.  Â
2. Schedulicity
For managing the work schedule to the best, you need only the Schedulicity software. With this solution, you can include the services to the account and schedule them easily at an ideal time. From the dashboard, you can check out the upcoming appointments and amend or add the appointments whenever it is required. The Schedulicity also permits you to manage the customer’s profile and integrate the new ones.
This Salon software has many add-ons, such as payment, client text reminders, auto-billing, unlimited appointment booking, multiple location management, client text reminders etc. Those who have a small Salon and need a simple and easy-to-use yet powerful software must consider Schedulicity.Â
3. BookerÂ
Booker is from Mindbody that maintains the marketing services, payment system and online booking etc. easily. It has made it easy for the Salon customers to book or schedule and pay at the time of booking from the website or Facebook page. The customers cannot get redirected to any other web page to pay for their bookings.Â
From booker salon software, you can get access to the marketing features, such as social media discounts or promotions. The Salon owners can also access the dashboard seamlessly and manage the client information, payroll and commissions, etc.
The salon management software has three pricing tables, namely, essential, accelerate and ultimate package. The essential package is useful when you only want to manage the schedules and needs an easy payment method.
The accelerate package offers you retention features and marketing tools along with all the features of the essential package. Next is the ultimate package, which is more expensive than the previous one and is meant to leverage every single feature to improve the Salon performance.Â
4. Shedul
Those who have budget-constraints should choose Shedul- it is free to use. It is chosen by many because being free it provides all the important features. The features it includes are; client profiles, appointment scheduling, custom messages, automated reminders, POS sales transactions, online bookings for customers, and an activity dashboard, etc.
This online booking software has its integration with the Facebook page that allows the customers to schedule from there only. As Shedul is particularly for Salon owners, hence, those salon businesses who want to enjoy the best free without spending a penny must choose this.Â
5. Timely
To have all the features in one go, then, Timely is the word for you. From this Salon Software, the Salon owners and the customer can manage the online booking not only from the website but also from Facebook. Easily, you can manage your potential customers and give them a personalized experience.Â
Selling products, sending automated reminders, tracking the performance from the dashboard, stock management, cash management, is also possible with Timely. It also includes an iOS app with which you can operate the Salon business from anywhere. Â
For the beginners, the Schedule package ($15 per month) from Timely is best. It gives you access to all the booking features. The Sell and Schedule package offers you the same features as the Schedule package that has everything you require to handle the retail portion of the Salon with just $5 more per month for every bookable staff member. The next package is the work package ($199 per month) that provides you with everything. It counts only when you have 10-20 staff members.Â
6. Vagaro
Similar to the mentioned Salon software, Vagaro also offers online booking, digital calendar, customer and staff management, etc. It offers you a number of templates so that you can build an attractive website. Also, Vagaro assists you to customize the website according to your business requirements. It also has a mobile app for you and the customers so that they can book with you hassle-free.
You can start using it with its free trial. Its pricing changes according to the number of staff members your Salon has. If you are only operating the Salon, then, the price is $25 per month. When the number of staff increases, then, there is an addition of $10 (per employee).
7. Rosy
Another Salon software on our list is Rosy. From the scheduling feature of Rosy, the Salon owners can access customer history, book customer appointments and customize the automated reminder system. The Rosy software has an easy checkout process, from where you can maintain the gift cards, cash drawer and every transaction seamlessly. It is responsive that implies it is mobile-friendly and can get easily accessed on mobile phones. This is how you can manage the Salon business easily and on-the-go.
Its pricing table has two packages, Standard and premium. From the standard package, you can use the marketing tools, like, enhanced text messaging, email marketing and so on. With Rosy, you will spend per employee. Like; if you are the single person in your Salon then, for Standard package, your fee is $29 and for Premium package, your fee is $37.
8. Square Appointments
Those who are using Square for their transactions must use Square appointments as the Salon Software for their Salon business. The best part about this Salon software is that it gets synchronized easily with the personal calendar. It makes your availability to the customers and hence, they can book easily with you.Â
The Salon owners have quick access to automated reminders and customer profiles. The POS is created within the Square Appointment platform. All these things make the inventory management and checkout process simple and seamless.
This Salon software is free for the individuals, but it charges 2.75% per dip, tap, or swipe. The Salon with two to five staff members has to pay $50 per month and 2.5% +10 cents per dip, tap, and swipe. In the end, for the Salons with 6 to 10 employees, they have to pay $90 per month with 2.5% +10 cents per dip, tap and swipe.
9. Simple Salon Â
Same like the other mentioned Salon Software, Simple Salon has much marketing and booking features. Online bookings, mobile-friendly platforms, SMS messaging, integrated payment, accounting, reporting etc. are some of those features. It has made it simple to shift the data to the platform and they offer training videos to make the users understandable.
To use Simple Salon, you have to spend $19 per month for the Single package. This package is applicable when you are the only one in your Salon. The Salon that has 2 to 3 staff members, can pay $49 per month to use the Standard package. And, the Salon with unlimited staff members can leverage the package that costs $99 per month.
10. Schedulista
Schedulista authorizes you with the public scheduling page that links with your website. It, consequently, connects your web page with the branding. From the platform, you can schedule the appointments, schedule the posts to the Facebook page and capture the credit cards, etc. Â
This Salon software also charges the flat fee for every staff member. Those who are singly handling their Salon will be charged with $19 per month. The Salon with two to fifteen staff members will be charged with $39 per month. And the Salon with fifteen staff members, then, you must contact the Schedulista. It has a trail of 15 days; from here you can make your choice.
Wrapping Up
Now you have a list of the best Appointment Scheduling Software. Every Software is better than the other according to the features. Now, it is up to you to choose the one that fits in your Salon business requirements and budget.
So, what are you waiting for? Start your search and get the one today!!
We hope this article has given you adequate knowledge. If you have some suggestions then, let us know in the comment section below.
Thanks for reading!!