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What is Salon Software?
Salon management software is a solution that helps salon owners and independent styling professionals manage their daily business operations. This system automates a range of tasks including appointment booking and scheduling, secure storage of data, customer interactions, appointment confirmations, inventory tracking, staff management, and implementation of marketing campaigns. Show moreBusy salon industry professionals find it difficult to manage multiple customer appointments especially during peak times. They can make use of salon software to easily manage appointments, accommodate requests for new ones, and reschedule existing ones to make their business more efficient and profitable. While a large number of applications in our product base will be versatile and you will be able to use them successfully no matter where you work, some geographical or language limitations may come into play. On this page you’ll find our list of most popular services that will run perfectly in United States both in terms of language and regional support. Start by checking our leader Acuity Scheduling, and other recommended solutions in this category. Show less
How was this ranking made?
In order to develop this list of best Salon Software we have researched 189 various solutions currently present on the market, contrasting their features, ease-of-use, client support, possible integrations and mobile device support with our exclusive SmartScoreTM rating algorithm. This list has been developed by Nestor Gilbert, our software authority dedicated to the Salon Software category.
List of Top 12 Salon Software
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1. Rosy Salon Software
Our score: 9.0 User satisfaction: 96%An easy-to-use salon and spa management solution that gives beauty industry businesses unmatched control over their operations. Using this solution ensures that you're running your business with the latest in salon software technology. If you're keen on boosting profitability, increasing productivity, or enhancing customer relationships, Rosy Salon Software is a great choice.
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2. SimplyBook.me
Our score: 8.9 User satisfaction: 100%An online booking system accessible from mobile devices or desktop PCs for 24/7 bookings from anywhere. The platform's Class & Membership feature empowers businesses to have complete control over their booking activities. On top of its many innovative tools, SimplyBook.me's POS tool can accept both cash and credit card payments.
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3. Mindbody
Our score: 9.6 User satisfaction: 93%A business management solution for the health and wellness sector, which enables effective management of business and marketing operations. Accessible anytime, anywhere using any device, this platform allows customers to book from virtually anywhere whenever they need to. It also supports brand-based customization and can be integrated into any business website.
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4. Acuity Scheduling
Our score: 9.0 User satisfaction: 96%An easy-to-use online appointment scheduling tool that allows users to organize their schedule, and control their availability while enabling clients to self-book appointments. The platform adapts to any business, especially those that offer classes, private sessions, class backs, and other subscription-based services online.
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5. Vagaro
Our score: 8.4 User satisfaction: 97%Vagaro is a robust solution for handling management and promotional tasks for spas and salons. Specializing in rendering search engine services, it also handles customer bookings and lets you offer different Points of Sale promotions.
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6. Booker
Our score: 8.9 User satisfaction:Booker is an online booking software built for small businesses in the spa and salon industry. It handles customer management, bookings, payments, and marketing. It also integrates with your current site, letting you easily add a "Book Now" button, which allows site visitors to view available time slots and book appointments on their own.
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7. 10to8
Our score: 8.8 User satisfaction: 100%10to8 is a cloud-hosted appointment management suite that simplifies and streamlines how you manage your schedule and how you coordinate with your clients. It manages bookings for your business, helping avert schedule conflicts, reduce missed meetings, and preventing miscommunication between businesses and their clients.
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8. Timely
Our score: 8.7 User satisfaction: 94%Timely is an online appointment scheduling software designed for SMBs in the health, beauty, and wellness industries. The system comes with awesome schedule features to help you organize your calendars, manage appointments, and efficiently operate your bookings. Timely enables you to set appointments, automatically set reminders and deliver notifications, and generate reports.
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9. Versum
Our score: 8.6 User satisfaction: 100%Versum is a salon and spa management software that assists with the day to day operations of your business. It was designed to ensure ease of operation and and provide assistance in scheduling appointments, inventory tracking and marketing. The software is completely web based, and can be accessed via desktop or mobile devices.
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10. Reservio
Our score: 8.6 User satisfaction: 100%Reservio is a smart and user-friendly appointment scheduling software that aims to simplify the way you manage your schedules and your clients. It seeks to replace phones and scheduling book by delivering an easy-to-use, highly accessible cloud-based scheduling platform that handles appointment scheduling and help you monitor performance and promote your business.
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11. You’reOnTime
Our score: 6.8 User satisfaction:Fully featured system for salons and beauty professionals, appointment management, notifications, reminders, sales, marketing, reporting, walk-in manager.
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12. Salonist
Our score: 8.0 User satisfaction: 93%Salonist is a business management software designed specifically for salons, spas health centers, and barber shops, loaded with unique tools and features to meet their particular needs and requirements.
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Table of contents
- 1. Get to know each product with free trial
- 2. Targeted Businesses
- 3. Examples of Salon Management Software
- 4. Types of Salon Management Software
- 5. Key Features of Salon Management Software
- 6. Benefits of Salon Management Software
- 7. Latest Trends
- 8. Potential Issues
- 9. Considerations When Choosing Salon Software
- 10. The Bottom Line
Salon management tools help salon industry owners and professionals to manage appointments, automate routine tasks, and make their business more efficient. So you can benefit a lot by investing in a quality solution. But how do you sort the good salon tools from the average? To help you, we have prepared this buyer’s guide that details the main features and elements you should look for to do knowledgeable comparisons when selecting the best salon tools for your needs.
Get to know each product with free trial
An ideal way to start your search for the best salon management tool is by signing up for the free trials or demo offered by popular salon software providers. This will help you to gauge the efficacy of each app and understand if it is suitable for your establishment. Visit the websites of these leading platforms to check if they offer a free trial: Vagaro, Rosy Salon Software, Versum, and Salon Ultimate. These programs have been given impressive rankings in our salon software reviews that you can browse to get a general comparison of the products’ features. It’s also worthwhile to consider some alternatives first. For example, check out our article on Top 10 Alternatives to Acuity Scheduling for more information on the popular solutions available on the market.
Targeted Businesses
- Individual professionals and small businesses. These clients normally have basic needs and therefore a solution with appointment management feature should suffice. If they have employees who go out in the field, they should find a system that is mobile-friendly.
- Medium-sized businesses. Growing businesses need to capture, analyze, and segment customer data to create targeted marketing campaigns for customer loyalty. These establishments should look for features that enable them to manage customers and marketing campaigns effectively.
- Large companies. These users need a system that enables them to carry out multiple tasks such as training management, employee attendance tracking, gift card management, POS billing, inventory tracking, and report generation. Large enterprises are advised to opt for a modular salon software solution as it will give them the option to select specific modules for their needs. They are better off with cloud-based systems as these have lower maintenance expenses compared to on-premise platforms.
Examples of Salon Management Software
- Vagaro: A web-based solution for salon and spa owners to book appointments online, manage staff, connect with customers, and promote their business. Vagaro is a B2C platform where salons can create a profile, promote new events, and advertise their brand.
- Rosy Salon Software: A comprehensive suite of scheduling and business tools designed for salons and spas. Prices start at an affordable $29.
- Versum: An easy to use and feature-rich salon management platform. It offers features for employee scheduling, stats and reporting, real-time cash auditing, customer retention, and more.
- Salon Ultimate: A hybrid salon software that lets you manage your business from the cloud without sacrificing speed and reliability. Salon owners can create new services for their customers, tweak existing services, and update service details across all their stores.
- SimplyBook.me: SimplyBook.me allows customers to book service appointments 24/7 from anywhere. Confirmations and reminders are sent via email/SMS, and clients can also use the same to reschedule or cancel prior bookings.
Types of Salon Management Software
The salon and spa management software category includes the following related programs:
- Salon POS system
- Club management software
- Appointment scheduling software
Key Features of Salon Management Software
Appointment management. You can easily book, reschedule, and follow up on appointments on the fly. Top systems allow you to confirm appointments using SMS text messages.
Staff management. You can track useful employee metrics such as employee availability, employee schedules, and customer satisfaction and retention.
Customer management. You can capture useful customer data to support targeted marketing campaigns. Includes tools that enable you to segment and categorize customers, track customer spend, and gather customer feedback.
Billing and POS processing. You can generate bills and process payments using common methods such as cash, e-wallets, and credit and debit cards. Customers can use a POS (point-of-sale) solution to redeem gift coupons.
Reporting. Customized reports can be generated for tracking employee performance, measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, measuring customer satisfaction through service or stylist categories, and evaluating revenue trends.
Marketing campaigns. Enables you to carry out email and SMS-based marketing campaigns to attract customers to your salon. These campaigns can offer gift coupons, loyalty cards, membership programs, and promotional packages.
Benefits of Salon Management Software
Streamlines appointments. Busy salons find it difficult to manage multiple customer appointments during peak working hours. Because of this they may double-book customers and lose business. Salon tools enable you to easily schedule appointments, re-schedule existing ones, and confirm them to your customers to save their as well as your time.
Centralizes customer data. It is important for salons to track customer information in order to create targeted marketing campaigns. Salon software allows them to securely store customer data including contact details, membership information, important dates, loyalty points, service history, and details about gift voucher redemptions. The system can also back up the customer data at selected periods for additional security.
Other benefits
- You can manage upcoming appointments for all your service providers with support for both walk-in customers and scheduled appointments.
- Efficiently manage walk-ins by finding the first available stylist, or customers can select their preferred service professional.
- You can organize customer information and have the ability to check prepaid package balances, view upcoming appointments, upload photos of previous styles, and add notes for customer preferences.
- Manage all employees with detailed performance reports including commission tracking.
- Delegate each appointment to a specific chair or booth for effortless multi-station tracking.
- Retail functionality empowers you to a sell a wide range of products apart from your service offerings.
- Easily track prepaid packages and membership programs using the customer database.
- Remind your customers of upcoming appointments via text or email to avoid missed sessions.
Latest Trends
Predictive buying. Most salon software tools lack advanced analytics capabilities to analyze customer data collected by establishments. Top vendors are addressing this problem by integrating analytics tools in salon management programs to enable salons to study purchasing behavior and predict buying patterns. This can help them to personalize the customer experience and create promotions to improve sales.
Booth rental model. Some salons and spas are renting booths that contain the essential equipment and products to third-party professionals. This business model is a win-win situation for both parties. Booth owners can earn a good income without spending on marketing or training, while styling professionals can get a fully furnished workplace for their business without heavy capital expenditure. Customers also benefit as they can prefer to avail of the expertise of their favorite stylist.
The rise of Spalons. Whereas before spas and salons were two different entities entirely, there is a growing trend that fuses both into a one-stop-shop (Spalon). Developers may want to take note of this for their next few versions.
Potential Issues
Inadequate training
Salons need to ensure their employees get adequate training to learn to use salon software effectively. This is especially applicable to new employees. Staff members can refer to how-to-guides, training videos, FAQs, and other materials to get the hang of the system. They should understand the full capabilities of the platform to maximize its potential.
Getting carried away
Salon owners can get carried away by the excellent features offered by salon software and may be tempted to send too many marketing emails and text messages to their customers. They should avoid this mistake and exercise care while using the marketing functions. Send marketing emails and SMS messages only to specific groups of customers to attract their attention. This will help you to save money and your customers will not get annoyed by the marketing messages.
Migrating from phone to software
Getting clients to move from phone appointments to a software-based system is not as easy as you think. You may encounter resistance from your clients, especially those who are less tech-savvy and would always insist that the old ways are the best. Transitioning to your new software would entail some time and a lot of patience.
Considerations When Choosing Salon Software
Staff Capability and Turnover
Salons hire staff for their skills in pampering and grooming clients, which don’t automatically translate into technical skills. Your choice of software should have a good balance between utility and usability. Given the cutthroat competition and turnover rates, your salon software should have an easy-to-use interface that can be picked up quickly by new hires.
Primary Objective of Implementation
While salon software often offers a lot of features, it’s best to keep track of your original objective that made you consider a purchase. Is your objective providing an easier way for clients to set appointments and book schedules? Or is it a way to consolidate your client list and deliver marketing strategies like promotions, mailers, or loyalty programs? Perhaps, it’s to consolidate your supply chain and ensure you are fully stocked? Whatever your main goal is, your choice of software should readily address that foremost before you get all awed with the other features.
The Bottom Line
If you’re still using a phone and a paper directory to answer inquiries and accept bookings, then your salon is going to have a hard time competing with those who have moved on to the next level. Automating your process and providing your customers with a more convenient way to reach out to you have gone from being expensive options to an accepted standard in the salon industry.
Using salon software is not a question of when or why anymore. It’s more a matter of which. Don’t be left out in the cold with the old ways.
List of Salon Software Companies
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Things to consider when you invest in a SaaS
First, be clear about the reasons why you want to use a SaaS system. You should also have a good understanding of your existing infrastructure and business processes. This information will assist you to easily integrate the SaaS software with your existing infrastructure without any problems.
The second consideration is a follow up to the first one. Ask yourself what you want the SaaS solution to do for your company. Then, be clear about the features the software should have. For example, if you want enhanced data collaboration between different business units you need a platform that can be accessed by multiple users. However, if you need a competent app that is similar to an on-premise solution, you need to invest in a SaaS software that can be accessed by only a few users at a time.
After you choose a suitable vendor, do not sign an agreement before you take a good look at the Service Level Agreement (SLA). The SLA will clearly define what the SaaS vendor is offering and the reimbursement they will pay if they do not deliver the agreed services. Read and understand the SLA thoroughly to recognize what you are getting into and to avoid concerns later.
Frequently asked questions about Salon Software
What is the best salon software?
The best salon software is Rosy Salon Software, which received the top marks in our list of software in this category. It is a user-friendly appointment scheduling software created specifically for the salon industry.
Schedules are displayed in real-time on your website, making it virtually impossible for anyone to double book due to late updates. Once an appointment has been applied for, the software automatically notifies you and updates the schedules list.
It can be integrated with third-party apps, such as Facebook, Demand Force, CardConnect, Vantiv, and more. This way, you can manage all your scheduling processes in one interface.
What are the benefits of salon software?
- Streamlines appointments. Salon software solutions enable you to easily schedule, reschedule, confirm or cancel appointments online, without the need to pick up the phone or dial. the software ensures that schedules are updated in real-time.
- Centralizes customer data. Salon software allows users to collect, store, and consolidate important customer data such as contact information, membership details, service history, loyalty points, and others. The solution also backs up customer data for additional security.
- Other benefits. In addition, benefits of Salon software include managing walk-ins, monitoring employee performance, managing sales for on-premise products, tracking prepaid packages and members, and sending notifications and reminders.
What are the features of salon software?
- Appointment management. Book, reschedule, and follow up on appointments on the fly. Get confirmation on appointments via SMS text messages immediately.
- Staff management. Monitor and appraise employee performance based on metrics, such as availability, schedules, and customer satisfaction and retention.
- Customer management. Capture customer data to support targeted marketing campaigns. In addition, you can break down data into more detail by segmenting and categorizing customers, tracking customer spend, and collecting customer feedback.
- Billing and POS processing. Generate bills and accept payments within the app. Utilize a point-of-sale solution so customers can claim and redeem gift coupons.
- Reporting. Generate custom reports for tracking employee performance, measuring marketing campaign effectivity, assessing customer satisfaction, and evaluating revenue trends.
- Marketing campaigns. Carry out email and SMS-based marketing campaigns to attract more customers and visits. Campaigns can offer value-added promotions, such as gift coupons, loyalty cards, membership programs, and promotional packages.
What is the easiest salon software to use?
- Acuity Scheduling features a very easy-to-use interface that lets even novice users learn the ropes in a few tries. The convenience of being cloud-based also makes it very convenient to access the latest data. Integrations with popular calendar apps also help keep track of schedules.
- Rosy Salon Software also features a user-friendly interface, accented with color-coded functions. It’s going to be very hard not to warm up to the software, given its relative ease-of-use.
- SimplyBook.me lets customers book appointments via Facebook pages, which makes it very convenient to get a date. Its ability to integrate with popular payment systems also makes it a convenient POS system.
What is a good free salon software?
- Shedul is an absolutely free salon software, without a time limit or cap on the number of uses. You can enjoy full features such as POS, booth rental management, client profiles, employee management, inventory management, loyalty program, and payroll management.
- Acuity Scheduling has a freebie version that allows for basic services, such as client self-scheduling and unlimited services and appointments.
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