Continuing the client salon experience beyond the chair

As salon owners, we’re constantly wondering if the service and experience we’re providing is enough for clients. Are they happy? Will they come back? What if they tell people bad things about my business? The thoughts are endless.

Consistency, sustainability, and accuracy are key to tackling this whether you have a new client who is visiting for the first time or a long-standing regular; we cannot afford to become complacent. To put it simply, this means that your service shouldn’t start when a client walks through the door for their appointment, it should start far before that. 

There are lots of things we can do prior to their first appointment: making booking their appointment seamless and enjoyable, SMS confirmations and reminders, up to emails and exclusive offers. A visit to your salon should not only be a great experience but a journey too.

We spoke with Shortcuts to explore some of its shiny new features and changes in Shortcuts 8.1 that will make your working life easier, as well as creating the perfect guest experience that will leave your clients coming back for more.

 

Client Management Dashboard

“In Shortcuts 8.1, we have streamlined the Client Management Dashboard meaning clients can be found more easily and much quicker, and your client list will only appear once you start searching for a specific client. This can be done immediately by searching their name, phone number or email directly within the search box, helping to reduce admin and booking errors. To keep client search results relevant and precise, it will now only search from the beginning of a client’s name. For example, searching “Ann” will return Anna, Ann, Anne, Ann-Marie, but not Joanna or Hannah.

“We have also included a range of new visual enhancements, which includes buttons for the client’s profile card as well as their visit history. Also added is a range of key icons to identify and highlight important information for the selected client. These include Alerts, No-Shows, Client’s Birthday as well as if they’re a member of your loyalty program. These can all be found quickly in the new Client Management Dashboard, all designed to give a more convenient and streamlined user experience.”

 

Request/Non-Request Pricing

“Traditionally, stylists, barbers and therapists will charge different prices depending on their level of experience and qualifications, with this often being reflected in their dedicated level in Shortcuts. 

“In Shortcuts 8.1, we have introduced a brand-new configurable function for ‘Requested and Non-Requested’ pricing. This simply means that clients can now be charged a Request or Non-request (base) price for their services. A service not marked as ‘Request’ will be charged at the base default price and a service marked as a ‘Request’ will be charged at the employee’s level price instead.”

 

Reducing Duplicate Entries

“We know how important it is to have a clean and up-to-date database and how this can have a knock-on effect in other areas of your business. For example, you don’t want to accidentally send a ‘We Miss You’ campaign to a client that has been visiting regularly. To reduce these potential mistakes, you need to reduce accidental duplicate entries, especially for multi–site salons. 

“Our new checks have been put in place to reduce duplicate clients from being added and to keep the database clean and efficient. When entering a new client’s details, Shortcuts will now cross check the entire company to determine if that same client has already visited another location. This includes checking for the same phone number and email address, along with the same first letter of the client’s first name which will cater for any misspellings. If no matches are found, the new client will be added.”

 

Updating New Client Record Cards

“In a world where Covid-19 is still very much present, being able to contact and communicate with clients quickly and efficiently is crucial, and this starts from the initial input of the client’s information.

“Traditionally, operators must input at least one contact number to continue with creating an appointment, however we have now taken further preventive measures and have introduced a handy new setting into the ‘New Client Layout’ setup screen. This new setting means that clients must have at least one contact method stored, whether this is an email and/or phone number."

 

“If you’d like to find out more about how Shortcuts can help you take your business to the next level, why not book a demo? Or get in touch with our friendly team to learn more.”

Sponsored story

 Jo Burgess is the co-founder of Shortcuts, which began in 1994 when she collaborated with two software developers. Now, Shortcuts can be found 14,000 salons and 45 countries across the world.