How Salon SMS Services Can Streamline Client Management

Client at salon or spa.

More than one-third of women who get beauty services three or more times a year say that time is the biggest blocker when it comes to their self-care routine. In other words, if the process of booking spa appointments, receiving appointment reminders, and going to the salon were faster, clients might feel like they could fit in appointments more often. What can make this streamlined vision a reality? Salon SMS. 

Efficient client management decreases the amount of time your clients spend waiting to book and attend appointments, creating a sleeker salon experience that encourages more client visits. With its ample speed and enterprise-level features, salon SMS is the perfect tool for increasing your team’s efficiency. 

Read on to discover 4 ways salons can use business SMS to streamline client management—and get clients in your doors more often.

Salon SMS Ensures Each Client Receives Individual Attention

Most salons are true small businesses, with only a few staff members handling both administrative tasks and also professional services. Even if your salon is larger, you probably only have one or two dedicated front desk attendants. This can lead to some hectic and time-consuming situations. 

When all staff members are either managing clients who are in the salon or performing spa services, it can be incredibly difficult or impossible to answer the phone. In the competitive beauty industry, new customers can quickly move to another salon if they don’t receive an answer right away, or loyal customers might decide to call back later, then forget.

Spa SMS empowers staff to reply to each client or potential client right away. 

For example, a salon can set up an auto-reply that lets clients who text know basic information right away, such as average response time and online scheduling information. Then, as soon as they have a spare moment, they can continue the conversation. An example of an auto reply during business hours might look like:  

Hello! Thank you for reaching out to Orchid Salon. We usually respond within 5 minutes. If you’d like to go ahead and make an appointment, here is the link to our MINDBODY system: https://software.mindbodyonline.com

Salon SMS Decreases Wait Times

Certain salons, like those that use advanced facial technology or spray tans, require clients to fill out and sign paperwork before appointments. Sometimes, salons like to receive general information so they can tailor appointments to each client. Woman texting from phone.

Often, the process of filling out these forms slows down the overall schedule, especially if a client is confused about a question. This can lead to delayed appointments and disappointed clients. 

For any required forms or information that can be filled out before an appointment, pre-sent spa SMS reminders requesting an early arrival can decrease the amount of time clients spend in your lobby instead of getting their much-needed shiatsu massages. These simple messages can read something like:

Hi, Amy! For your upcoming tan this Thursday at 6pm, you’ll need to fill out a few forms. Could you arrive at 5:45pm to fill them out?

Salon SMS Eliminates Huge Backlogs of Appointment Requests

At the end of a busy day in the salon, team members often have to review their voicemails and call back many people, one at a time. Salon SMS speeds up this process in multiple ways.

Business texting platforms empower front desk team members to hold multiple SMS chats at once, so they can complete scheduling requests more quickly. Since the average response time for a text is 90 seconds, so there’s a good chance clients will respond right away. 

Additionally, advanced business texting platforms can recognize keywords in customer texts, such as the word “schedule,” and send customized replies. This feature can be used to streamline a step in the process, such as asking for preferred appointment times. For example:

Client: Hi, this is Bernice Machado. I’d like to schedule a hair appointment with Sammy. 

Salon’s Auto Reply: Hi, Bernice! We can help you schedule that momentarily. Do you have any days or time frames in mind?

Salon SMS Automates Appointment Reminders or Follow-Ups   

No-shows are a challenge for service-based businesses like salons and spas. Sometimes customers realize that they can’t show up to their appointments at the last minute, but a lot of times they simply forget or find it too difficult to reschedule their appointments. Salon SMS is an excellent tool for combating no shows quickly and, in turn, ensuring that your schedule is always full. 

While it is time-consuming to call each client individually to remind them of upcoming appointments or follow up after an appointment, business texting platforms empower salons to simply schedule these reminders ahead of time. Salons can even send these appointment reminders to large lists for each day’s clients, because SMS platforms use CRM custom fields as merge tokens to dynamically insert customer information into messages to personalize them. A templated message in a business SMS platform might look like:

Hi {{first name}}, Jade Spa here. You’ve got an upcoming appointment on {{appointment date}} at {{appointment time}} with {{staff name}}. Please reply to C to confirm or R to reschedule. Thanks! Reply with STOP to unsubscribe from future messages.

Hi {{first name}}, it’s {{staff name}} from Sammy’s Salon. I hope you enjoyed your appointment with me on {{last appointment date}}. How’s the hairdo working for you so far? Reply with STOP to unsubscribe from future messages.

With salon SMS, your salon or spa can quickly engage with new clients, make bookings easy for existing clients, and remind clients about upcoming appointments—ultimately boosting your business’s revenue. 

Ready to try salon and spa SMS? Test out our SMS platform for free.

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