Beauty Salons and Day Spas in the U.S. and around the world are becoming increasingly “tech” friendly. Most salons and spas are already utilizing their websites and email addresses to communicate with clients, giving customers the ability to make (and break) appointments. With the touch of a few keystrokes, one can be booked for highlights on Monday, a manicure/pedicure on Thursday, and a deep tissue massage on Saturday, all without talking to a single person.
Long gone are the days of picking up the phone, dialing your favorite salon’s phone number, waiting for someone to answer, asking for an appointment, waiting – while on-hold, and finally getting confirmation of an appointment time. Today, in our fast-paced world, people are looking for the fastest possible solution to everything on their “to do” list. Making and canceling appointments on-line, via your website, can save your clients a lot of time. Most popular restaurants are also making dining reservations on-line. Customers enjoy the convenience of choosing their preferred date and time and clicking send. Instantly the computer will confirm the appointment. If that particular time slot is already booked, the computer will prompt them to select an alternative date and/or time.
Giving customers the ability to email you directly to book or cancel an appointment is another option for salon and spa specialists who would like to broaden communication with their clients. Email can be sent any day of the week and at anytime. If someone decides they need their hair straightened at 1:00 in the morning, they have the ability to send their stylist an email instantly, without fear of forgetting to call in the morning. The stylist can then reply back, striking while the iron is hot.
Text messaging is no longer a teen thing. Appointments are now being booked via text messaging. “Some of our biggest hair salons are encouraging their stylists to promote “tex-appointments” to their clients,” Said Tony Shap of PaymentMax. “This trend of booking appointments using text messaging is convenient for the customers and helps to “free-up” the salon’s land-line,” Said Tony. Stylists’ use their own phones to text communicate with clients, leaving the salon line open for other inquiries.
New technologies have given salon and spa specialists new ways to book appointments, opening the communication lines and giving customers greater convenience. Customers using website appointment systems, email, and text messaging are able to book appointments and make requests at their leisure. They no longer have to worry about business hours and busy phone lines.
