Welcome back, and a very Happy New Year to you all!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas break and have enjoyed the festivities.

It’s that time of the year again! And what a year this one has been.

What is an online presence

An online presence is defined as how easy it is to find the business when a client is searching for keywords relevant to your business on the internet. Having an online presence allows your clients to interact with the businesses virtual presence to find out more information about the salon brand, its products and services. An online presence allows your salon to be visible on the internet as well as a range of different social media pages which means tat your salon is more discoverable to potential clients. To maintain your online presence, it is essential that you have a desirable webpage and the basic social media platforms that you are continuously active on.

Why is online presence important

An online presence is important for your salon as it allows you to reinforce your brand as you are able to constantly boost your salons image. Constant updates on social media and maintaining your online presence allows your salon to attract new clients and retain pre-existing customers. Online presence is extremely important for small business owners it could potentially provide the salon with the means to grow their client base. This also allows your salon clients to review relevant information such as salon opening hours, location of the salon and the reviews left in regards to the salon done by previous customers. Clients are able to browse the pricing of your services that your salon offers before booking therefore allowing clients enhanced accessibility to your business. Having a greater online presence allows your salon access to a wider audience as your business information will be accessible to clients 24 hours a day seven days a week. You are also able to communicate with your clients continuously through social media therefore allowing you to build customer relationships and trust.

Ways to strengthen your online presence

There are plenty of ways to strengthen your online presence one way to do so would be to optimize your business website, when you are creating or editing the website it would be beneficial for you to use key words that clients will be searching to find a business like yours. Ensure that you and your staff members create many engaging marketing content this includes things such as blogs, videos and social media posts and post them of a range of different platforms to build the chances of reaching out to new clients, you must ensure that you focus on the channels that best suit your target audience. Video marketing will allow you to showcase the benefits of using your salon as well as the services that you offer in a new and attractive way. Focusing on your brand purpose is another method that enables you to strengthen your businesses online presence as you can build a community to interact with clients and other salons this will enable you to promote your brand values as well as allowing you to share a clear consistent and compelling brand story across the content you share. It is important that you make certain that client reviews are continuously up to date online and you encourage your clients to leave a review so that you can further improve your services as this will increase the salons credibility as word of mouth is one of the most common strategies that businesses use to attract potential clients. Boost your search engine optimization to promote your online presence by email marketing, developing your website further and posting content on social media constantly. Many online tools enable you access to data and analytics to help you understand your target audience, their behaviour and preferences and how they experience your business at every stage of the customer journey. It is important that you take this information to measure the effectiveness of using a range of online marketing channels to develop a strategy that works for your brand.

The advantages of online presence

There are many advantages to having a strong online presence this includes the improvement of customer service by being able to interact with them directly converse with them through social media platforms. Your salon is also able to gain referrals through social proof this includes client reviews and images you and your staff members upload of the services you have carried out. Online marketing is an easy and affordable way to market your salon therefore permitting the company to spend the money they have saved from marketing onto other aspects of the salon such as improving the quality of products meaning the salon receives larger amount of profits with limited investment. Having a range of different social media platforms allows you to reach out to a larger audience meaning that more people will be aware of your business. Another advantage of your salon having an online presence is the trust factor that you will secure with potential clients as they will check online to ensure that you are reliable and can trust your brand. Online presence also allows you to view your competition and see what you are able to do different to distinguish your salon from others in your surrounding area.

The disadvantages of online presence

Online marketing is not effective when used alone without another marketing technique as it can be unreliable as the internet can go down, systems can crash therefore it’s not 100% dependable. Another disadvantage to having a strong online presence is that it exposes the company to spam messages and content. Having online accounts paves the way clients and other individuals to leave bad reviews that will tarnish your salon reputation.

I hope this blog has been informative and beneficial for you, make sure to keep continuously posting on your social medias.

Salon Tracker Team. X

When it comes to Salon Tracker, many of our features such as the ability to integrate with TMAX and sigma, Stock Control and our online booking features and very popular and well known by our customer. This blog is going to tell you about some of our less popular features or ‘hidden gems’ as we like to call them which will make day to day running of your salon much smoother!

Groups

Groups is one of the back ground, and slightly more complex features included in Salon Trackers Professional and Enterprise packages.  This feature allows you to create custom groups for your products, services and customers.

You can use customer groups for things such as NHS and student discounts. All you need to do is create a customer group and then associate a certain discount with any customers who get put in that group. This discount option is separated into retail and booking discount so you can pick and choose what discount to offer. You can then add customers into this group as you please. Customer groups also work well as a way to reward loyal customers. You could have a gold, silver and bronze customer group which customers could work their way through based on number of bookings.

You can also create product groups. Product groups allow you to offer different discounts or require certain deposits for your services. Product groups also allow you to do deals and things such as happy hour easily and efficiently. You can set up your happy hour but setting up a product group with a purchase availability of Monday to Friday for a set hour or so. This will then discount all the services and products you have selected to your happy hour price automatically for the set time before going back to normal pricing after.

Groups can be tricky though so we’d recommend giving one of our support team so we can help set these up for you!

Tube Tracking

A small, but very useful feature which is available for out Salon Tracker tanning salon customers is tube tracking. This feature allows you to monitor the usage of the tubes on your bed. You can see this in the management section of your Salon Tracker when your click on the individual beds. When your beds get retubed you can reset this counter.

Post Delay

Post delay is another smaller feature which can be very useful especially for our hair salon customers. This feature automatically puts a gap between appointments where there is more than one service being done. For example, if a customer books in for a colour and finish and needs 30 minutes for the dye to process, your system will clear the 30-minute gap in your calendar so you can squeeze in another appointment.

Site View Dashboard

Many of our enterprise customers already know and love this feature. The site view dashboard gives you an over view of the entire day, week or month in your salon. You can view this out of the salon on a phone, tablet or computer at any time of the day. This dashboard includes figures such as number of bookings, bookable and retail sales and takings.

Charts

If you would like any more information on any of these features or would like to get booked in for a free demonstration and trial, please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or email us on info@salontracker.co.uk.

Also, if you’re a Salon Tracker customer don’t forget to enter our Christmas giveaway! Head to @salontrackersoftware on Instagram for all the details.

Salon Tracker x

This week we have something a little bit different for our blog. After meeting Inverness Piercing at the Professional Beauty show in London, and experiencing their services first hand, we couldn't think of anyone better to feature as a guest blog. Some of our team members had piercings done at the show and we highly recommend Inverness for their safe & gentle ear piercings. Why not consider adding ear piercings in your salon as another source of revenue!

Have you been hearing all about the ‘curated ear’ but not sure how to get one or even what Curated/Earscape or Designer Ear means?! Well, keep reading. We’ve put together some top tips and must haves on how to curate that ear!

What does ‘Curated Ear’ mean?

A ‘Curated Ear’ is a variety of multiple piercings in one ear designed to create a unique look. No two ears are the same, so why not look at each ear as a blank canvas? Fancy 4 piercings in one ear but only 2 in the other?  Why not?!   

If you’re looking to mirror those glamorous ear shots across social media or our famous icons on the red carpet, or just to create your own unique look, you can do so with the Inverness piercing system.  Most people think it’s only possible to Earscape and Curate the ear through a needle piercing but that’s not true. The hand-pressure Inverness instrument and specially-designed piercing earrings can be used to create gorgeous earscapes piercing both the earlobe and the outer cartilage 

The Inverness system creates piercings with a quiet, gentle, hand-pressured instrument and specially-designed piercing earrings that are as sharp as a needle. Each earring has a finely-honed piercing point which glides through the skin in one smooth action, with no trauma to the ear like the old-fashioned spring-loaded guns. Inverness also have a wide selection of metals and styles to choose from, so it’s possible to get the desired look straight away, whilst you wait for your piercing to heal.

Over the years we have listened to many people share their piercing experiences and how they feel about their current piercings. Unfortunately, a large percentage aren’t happy with their original piercings. Maybe their first holes sit too high or their seconds are too close together making it difficult to fit two pairs of earrings in. This is where getting creative comes in handy and designing those curated ears shine through. 

If your piercing is sitting too high, why not add one just below. Wear a small 2mm CZ in the top hole and a hoop at the bottom. If your piercings are too close together, add a third piercing so when those big earrings come out to party, you can still wear 2 sets and be ready to return to 3 after. 

Here at Salon Tracker we value offers just as much as you guys do... this is why we've decided to spread the festive cheer this year and offer a massive 30% off your first 3 months subscription, 15% off any hardware and also 15% off any text bundles!

I would imagine by now that you are already in Christmas mode in the salon, festive decor, xmas songs on repeat and everyone in high spirits but above all this, is your salon schedule fully prepared and being used to it's potential to help you manage this Xmas rush? First things first and that is:

Sort your Schedule

Not only can clients book online using their own customer account but your staff can all have their own user log ins for our Siteview app (which can be downloaded from the app store) to view their calendars and also make appointments for existing customers. This means you can view your calendar and organise your time appropriately for the big rush, leaving you less stressed!

Stock up!

There is nothing worse than having demand for stock but not having any stock in. Christmas time is the best time to sell your retail products because everyone is wanting to get their hands on last minute stocking fillers and simply just to treat themselves! 

Using Salon Tracker, you can track and monitor your stock levels of every product so you can see easily what you are running low of and need to reorder so there will be no room for mistakes. 

Keep your staff motivated!

It is important not to lose sight of your hard working employees over this busy period, they are the ones that have kept the Salon going and without them, you'd probably be in a very sticky situation. Simple things such as making sure they have their breaks and are not too over worked, bringing in treats such as sweets and chocolates to keep them going and more importantly, a works Christmas do! After all the hard work and hours your team have put in the thing that will keep them going the most would be looking forward to letting their hair down at a party or event to celebrate.

Build on client relationships

It is important now more than ever to build on your relationships in this period because it is more than likely you will see customers in the Salon you have never seen before and if there is something that is enticing them to coming again they will return which therefore increases your customer retention and overall your long-term sales and profit. The best way to approach this is to create a loyalty scheme such as for every 5 visits made to the Salon you will receive 20% off or a free retail product! 

Furthermore, using Salon Trackers marketing suite you can filter out specific groups of customers such as high spending customers and customers with birthdays coming up and offer them a discount which will make your customers come back into Salon again and build a loyal relationship. 

Time is money

Make your no-show policy clear and well-know. In these busy periods, you cannot afford to let no-shows happen, especially when you have had to turn down customers as you had no appointments left. 

It is estimated that no-shows cause the hairdressing industry 1.2 million pounds every year according to recent research powered by flossie. 

Profit is something you don't want to be missing out on so here's several ways you can try and put a stop to no shows:

• Utilise your SMS marketing reminder and no-show texts on Salon Tracker. You can set your SMS reminders to go either 2 days or 1 day before and can also send a text if your client is a no show. This text can include information of charges they will incur for being a no-show therefore deterring them from doing it again. 
• Make your cancellation and no-show policy well known. Have it printed in the Salon, all over your social media and actually enforce it. If your client is a no-show, request that they pay the money you missed out on.
• Take deposits. Using Salon Tracker you can add deposits onto treatments so that the customer pays a set amount before the booking. If a customer has already paid some of the bill, they are less likely not to show up because they will lose out on money.

Read More

 ‘They’re singing Deck the Halls!’ 

It’s nearly that time again! Black Friday is just around the corner, this year falling on Friday 26th November and were also now fully in to the 6 weeks Christmas countdown(woohoo!). Did you know, according to Lockhart Meyer, in 2016 £1.96bn was spent on Black Friday, with 50% of the population being interested in the event. Another interesting fact Meyer mentions is, 70% of these are under 25, with 65% of those being aged 25-34! So, if you have micro-marketing tools (or are a user of our software), make sure you use your marketing suites to target this age range, for sales to be most effective.

Why should you make the most of Black Friday? Starting out in America, the event has grown drastically in the last 10 years, with so many young adults now awaiting the exclusive deals to ensure they get their Christmas purchases made early! I know for most retailers, Black Friday means offering some discount. Having said this, when the rest of the industry and your competitors are likely to be doing the same, this is the one time where discounting your products and services can be beneficial to you! As long as you still leave yourself with a small profit margin, you can still make great sales; as the volume of those over the Black Friday weekend can sometimes amount to the same as fewer sales would at your original RRP price.

So, how can you make your discounted products and services stand out above the rest?

Gift Tables: 

This is a Salon Tracker fave! The way in which your products are displayed can massively increase sales, as the more eye-catching something looks, the more likely the client is to purchase these items. Especially at Christmas, this is a great time to display your gift sets, Winter products and sample products, by adding a Christmassy display in your salon, this can also boost the mood of clients if your salon atmosphere gives off a fun Xmas vibe. We know the old saying, Happy Clients = Happy Shopping! A recent survey by Lockhart Meyer also showed that the beauty stocking fillers were among consumers top 5 most-wanted lists for Black Friday. So, these 2 go hand in hand to ensure you make some successful Black Friday sales this November!

SMS

As we have mentioned above, you can use your marketing filters to identify best spending customers, or perhaps clients that are due to refresh their services soon, as this is a good way to get customers to come for their colour refresh, or nail infills for example. But not only that, this is also a good time to market to your different age categories. As discussed, a key target audience for the Black Friday event is 16-34 so ensure you utilise your age filters for that. You can then send an SMS campaign, which could include a web-link on the text message to your offers, or also to your online booking page, to get people booking their Christmas appointments with you early!

Email 

Another great and cost-effective option to communicate with your clients is email. If you are a user of Salon Tracker, we now also have a direct integration with Mailchimp, where you can utilise our micro-marketing filters to create email campaigns to a direct target audience. The great thing about Mailchimp and similar e-shot providers is, they are really simple to use and you can add your own personalised graphics to these. So, if you want to highlight any particular parts of your Black Friday deals, this is a great way to do it, to attract your client’s attention to the deals your salon is offering this year!

Social Media/Competition

Social media is always a great place to get people talking about your salon, and everyone will be jumping on board with the #blackfriday hashtag over the coming weeks. As this is a mass market for your business to advertise to, you want to ensure that you have a presence among the searches over Black Friday weekend. Lots of people will be advertising the same messages however. So, great ways to get your clients talking about you and sharing your posts is to set up something new, such as a competition, or an entry in to a prize draw (if they share their salon Christmas treatments on social media), and so on. Think of some unique ideas that could be interesting to get people mentioning your brand. As all Christmas promotion is good promotion and beneficial to not only your Black Friday sales, but to increasing your brand growth too.

VIP Slot 

And for those clients that are regulars with you anyway, why not utilise this time to treat them to an exclusive ‘Black Friday’ gift or offer? Or invite them to a VIP event! Some great ideas are ‘treatment masterclasses’ or ‘taster treatments’ or even a showcase of all of your upcoming Spring products! Clients’ love getting invited to VIP events, as this makes them feel valued and a premium client of yours. Plus, this is also a great way to ensure you have client longevity and retention after Christmas in to the New Year too!

Then Last but Not Least - Our Offers!

And as always, we’re getting involved too!

We’ll be bringing our offers to you 1 week early, starting Monday 22^nd November we’ll be offering:

30% Off First 3 Months Software
15% Off All Hardware Purchases
15 % Off All SMS Bundles – great for your Xmas Marketing Campaigns!

And this will be running until Friday 3^rd December so make sure to get your trial in during this time!

To claim your offer, simply head to https://www.salontracker.co.uk/FreeTrial.aspx to enquire for your FREE TRIAL, and if you are on trial before 3rd December, you are still eligible for our offer from your first software payment.

All hardware and SMS bundle purchases must be also made before 3rd December to be able to redeem the discount.

So, Happy Black Friday Planning and Software Shopping, it’s Christmassss!

Salon Tracker x

Is Salon Tracker Support Free?

Yes! All of our support is included within our monthly subscription packages. Our support team are available Monday-Friday 9am-5pm, just call on 0113 350 8230
and we will be happy to help with any questions or issues.

How do I backup my Salon Tracker data?

If you are on our Enterprise package your Salon Tracker data will automatically backup to your cloud storage.

With our Standard and Professional packages your data is all stored locally to your PC. What we recommend is to have a memory stick or an external hard drive plugged into the PC that can be used to store another backup file. When closing down Salon Tracker there are 2 tick boxes, one to back up to the local PC and one to back up to a removal drive. Make sure both of these are ticked and go green, this means that both backups have been successful.

Can we convert your data from another software?

Yes, we can convert data from most other software companies! For the most part we have done conversions from most other software companies, so it’s just a case of us accessing the data and then converting it over to Salon Tracker on our side. If your data is from software, we haven’t done a conversion from we would just need to take a look at the data initially to determine whether or not we can complete the conversion across to Salon Tracker. For more information see our data conversions blog here: Salon Software News | Feature-of-Month---Salon-Tracker-Data-Conversions (salontracker.co.uk)

Can you use Salon Tracker on a Mac?

Currently Salon Tracker is a Windows based software, so the only way to run Salon Tracker on a Mac is through the use of Parallels or Bootcamp which allow you to access Windows through the Mac.

What versions of Windows can I run Salon Tracker on?

Salon Tracker can currently be used on Windows 10 and soon will be available on Windows 11. (Don’t update to Windows 11 yet as there are a few hardware issues that are yet to be resolved on Windows side).

Should I do my Windows Updates?

Yes! Doing your Windows updates is very important to make sure Salon Tracker is running as effectively as possible. As long as you’re shutting your PC down every day the PC should automatically do the updates, however it’s still good to check in the Updates section within settings to make sure you have done all the updates.

Can I access Salon Tracker without internet?

Yes, Salon Tracker only requires internet once a month to license. We do recommend having internet in the shop so that we can connect to your screen if you require any assistance, but it’s not a necessity.

Where is my data stored?
If you are on our standard or professional package your data is stored locally on your PC. With our enterprise package your data is stored both locally and within the cloud. We don’t store any of your data on our side, so make sure you’re backing up your data externally to your PC so that you don’t lose any data.

What hardware can I integrate Salon Tracker with?

We can integrate with: Cash Drawer, Receipt Printer, Barcode Scanner, Fingerprint Reader, Signature Pad, Tmax, Sigma and Dojo (Payment Sense).

What do I do if my Tmax stops working?

Unplug and re-plug the Tmax cable back into the PC, then restart your Salon Tracker and see if it pulls through your timers. If you’re still having issues with it connecting, restart the Tmax and then restart Salon Tracker again. If it still hasn’t connected call on 0113 350 8230 and we will be able to take a look at it for you.

How do I reconnect my Printer Salon Tracker?

If you unplug your printer and plug it back it, this can often create a copy of the printer on your PC. If you go to the admin section on Salon Tracker then to the hardware tab under the printers section you may see multiple copies of the printer in your drop down. To find out which is the active copy, open ‘Printers & Scanners’ in your settings, you should see ‘idle’ next to the one that’s currently active. Set this as the printer in Salon Tracker and you should now be able to print. If you need any further assistance with this, please call on 0113 350 8230.

What do I do if my cash drawer won’t open?

Most cash drawers are connected to the receipt printer, this allows them to trigger open when you complete a sale. If your cash drawer won’t open, follow the above steps and make sure the correct printer is connected to Salon Tracker.

I hope this has helped to answer any of your support questions! If you do have any further questions that you would like answering feel free to email on info@salontracker.co.uk or call on 0113 350 8230 and we will be happy to help!

Salon Tracker x

Does the software do online payments?

Do you cater to solo salon businesses?

Currently Salon Tracker doesn’t provide a subscription for solo salon businesses but we are researching this topic so that we can develop a subscription to suit the needs of solo individuals and fill the gap within the market. The Solo Subscription will be released in the new year, if you wish to receive more information about the new subscription and if you are eligible for this subscription don’t hesitate to contact us on 0113 350 8230 or alternatively email us on info@salontracker.co.uk.

How does your online payment system work?

Online payments hasn’t yet been released however when it is released in the new version of salon tracker it will further reduce your no-show bookings. The online payments will take place through an application known as stripe where the client can use their card, apple pay or google pay to complete the transaction, the money will then go straight into the bank account of your choice. Once the transaction has been completed the customer will receive an email invoice confirming the completion of the transaction. You are able to access online payments dashboard and reports through stripe to monitor your takings through the online payments system. If you are interested in our online payments feature and would like to know more information regarding pricing please contact us.

What is your charge for set up and support of the software?

Set up and support of the software is FREE of charge as well as training, these can take place Monday to Friday 9:00am till 5:00pm.

What makes you different from the other software companies?

Salon Tracker Software has a variety of different simplistic and easy to use features that differentiate us from our competitors. The clock in system allows you to track when staff members start and finish their shift within the salon you can monitor this within the software under the management section which you can make available to only you and manager members of staff with our permissions feature. The software also enables you to change the increments on the booking calendar to suit your salon and the services you carry out this ranges from 5 minutes to 60 minutes. Client record cards enables you to store client data such as their personal details, booking history and purchase history. For our multi-site clients, we have the HQ feature in which you are able to view and monitor each of your salon’s activity from one location. The online booking feature has become the most popular feature throughout the past couple of months, this feature is ONLY available on our Enterprise subscription. The feature allows your clients to book appointments for your salon anywhere, anytime and anyplace, the bookings made online will sync with the booking system within the salon.

What resources do I require to be able to have the software in my salon?

To have the software you require a computer or laptop with the following specification:

• ·         Screen Resolution 1280x800 (Minimum) 1920x1080 (Recommended)
• ·         Intel I-3 Processor/AMD A4 (or equivalent)
• ·         8GB Memory
• ·         500GB to 1TB SSD Storage
• ·         Windows 10 or above

How flexible is Salon Tracker Software?

Salon Tracker allows you and your staff members flexibility as you are able to offer clients split appointments, display staff schedule to clients as well as showing your opening and closing hours. Clients are offered flexibility through the online booking system as they are able to choose from a variety of different time slots as well as them being able to cancel and reschedule their appointments at any time.

If you would like any further information or your question hasn't been answered in this blog don't hesitate to contact us on 0113 350 8230 or alternatively email us on info@salontracker.co.uk.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Read More

Though our booking system had many different features, there are some things that you may need to help your salon run smoothly that we don’t offer. This is why we have partnered with some different companies and integrated their services into our system so you can run your salon in the simplest way possible.

Dojo

When it comes to card payments, Salon Tracker can directly integrate with Dojo Payment Terminals. How this works is once your card terminal is connected to your Salon Tracker by a member of our team, when you select the card payment option on the system this will send the correct amount directly through to your card terminal. This integration reduces the risk of error when typing in the payment amount and also means that there will be no discrepancies between your Salon Tracker reports and your end of day reports from your PDQ machine. If you would like to get this integrated just let us know and we can pass over your details to our account manager at Dojo Payment Sense!

TMAX/Sigma Sunbed Timers

One of our most popular features with our tanning salon customers is the integration with TMAX and Sigma timer managers. On our professional package and above we offer tanning salons the ability to connect the timer manager. This works by plugging your timer manager into the PC using a USB to serial cable and means that you can send tanning minutes through to the sunbed from your PC. This reduces work load and also makes it easier to track how many minutes each bed has done for when you need to retube your beds! This feature also lets you set bespoke, dress down and cool down times for your beds.

Mailchimp

For all your marketing needs, you can integrate your Salon Tracker Professional and Enterprise accounts to mailchimp.  In Salon Trackers bespoke marketing suite, you can filter out different customer groups which you would like to market to, for example your best spending customers or customers who haven’t visited in a while. You can then input this information into Mailchimp and send out a marketing campaign to these customers for free! If you would like any training on how to do this at all please just let us know!

Geo-Code

One small, but very useful feature, that has been implemented into Salon Tracker is the Geo- Code. This feature allows you to put in your customers post code and automatically find their address. All you need to do this is an active google account and we’ll link your account up to your salon tracker.

Social Media

If you would like any help on setting any of these integrations up or if you would like any more information on any of these please don’t hesitate to get in contact with a member of our team on 0113 350 8230 or email info@salontracker.co.uk

Remember if you visited us at Professional Beauty London this year to give us a call and get booked in for your free demo and two-week trial so you can claim your show offer!

Salon Tracker x

We understand that the process of switching software providers can be stressful and sometimes over complicated, you’ve probably got months or years’ worth of customers information on your current system and the last thing you want to is re-enter all your clients into a new system. That’s where we come in.

Our data conversions typically allow us to bring across:

•  Customer names
•  Customer notes
•  Products
•  Customer services (Such as existing minutes)

There are 3 simple steps involved in us converting your data:

Step 1

First, we need a copy of your data. Sometimes this involves us connecting to your PC and taking the data ourselves, other times the data can be encrypted or stored within a location we don’t have access to. If this is the case you would need to speak to your current provider and ask them to get the data for us, hopefully they’ll be nice enough to let you have it!

Step 2

We will test the data on our end to make sure we can definitely convert the data, if this is the case we will go ahead with the full conversion. Once we have completed the conversion, we will test import it into Salon Tracker and compare it to the existing data to ensure that it has copied over correctly. This step will often take up to 3 days, it just depends on the scale and size of your database.

Step 3

Finally, we will import the data onto your new Salon Tracker system and then check it through with you again to make sure its all correct! It works best if we can do the conversions at the start of the week and import before the end of the week to ensure that you have a couple of working days to use and test the data.

If you are interested in moving over to our software from your current provider, we offer the data conversion free of charge and you will also get 30% off the first 3 months of your subscription for moving over to us! Feel free to call on 0113 350 8230 to discuss your data conversion and see all the benefits of introducing Salon Tracker software into your salon!

Salon Tracker x

This Autumn is completely different to last years in that we are not in lockdown and everything is open. So, now is the perfect opportunity to take full advantage of Autumnal offers and really push the boat out with marketing.

Decorations and Outfits

Social Media

Another way to make the most of Autumn is to use social media as a free way of advertising. Not only can you reach your current customers but you are able to promote yourself and reach new customers. You could try to promote exclusive Autumn offers or run giveaways which not only rewards your loyal customers but can also help you in reaching new clients through sharing your page. Staying active on social media is really important, especially interacting with your customers. Instagram allows you to post a range of interactive stories such as voting polls and Q&As so you can get feedback from your customers to see what they’re wanting from you. Using these means you can tailor any marketing more specifically to what your customers actually want.

Retail Products

SMS Marketing

Now we’ve been out of lockdown for six months, it is a good time to treat your most loyal returning customers with special offers. Our software has a built-in marketing suite which gives you the opportunity to easily use SMS and email marketing. You can choose client groups or make your own in order to send out your message to the group of people it was intended to. For example:

Hi << Customer Forename>>

Thank you for your support over the last 6 months! 10% off your new Autumn look!

<<Company Name>><<Company Contact Details>>

If you're looking for something to help manage your Salon this Autumn, enquire at https://www.salontracker.co.uk/FreeTrial.aspx for your free two-week trial!

If you already have the software and would just like any more Autumn marketing tips, please feel free to give us a call on 0113 350 8230 and we'll be happy to help!

Make the most of the end of this year!

Salon Tracker x

Big Events Are Back!

Risk Assessment

It is essential that your salon has a risk assessment in place that is continuously monitored and updated when potential new risks occur. Within a risk assessment you must identify the variety of risks that occur within the workplace and put procedures such as management measures to minimize or eliminate the hazard. If any accidents were to take place due to the hazard not being eliminated you must record the incident and carry out an investigation in line with Health and Safety Executive reporting standards. When procedures and policies are put in place to prevent hazards, they must be documented so that you are able to refer back to them in any necessary given moment.

Age Limitations

Under The Sunbeds Regulations Act 2010 it is an illegal offense for people under the age of 18 to use sunbeds in any facility, meaning that if the client appears to be under the age of 21 or 25, they will be asked to verify that they are 18 or over by showing valid proof of age. The regulations also state that the prescribed health information is provided on an A4 and A3 piece of paper so that clients are reminded each time they enter the salon, this is the only information that should be displayed information such as health effects of sunbeds will not be displayed.

Beauty therapists must protect and promote the welfare of under 16-year-olds therefore it is not recommended to carry out treatments on individuals within this age group. However, you are able to carry out beauty treatments on 16-year-olds but to do so you must oblige by the manufacturer’s instructions and guidelines.

Keeping your Salon and Staff Members Safe

As a salon owner you have a duty of care to your employees and clients this means that you must consider things such as: personal protective equipment, the correct facilities and equipment for staff to be able to carry out services safely and controlling substances that can be classed as hazardous to health regulations. In order to maintain high standards of care within the work environment it is important to appoint a first aider they will also be in charge of the first aid arrangements within the salon. The welfare of the employees and clients is a high priority within the salon, this means that you must be able to provide them with facilities and other measures to ensure the individuals wellbeing needs are met. The need for insurance within a salon environment is essential as it plays a vital part in protecting you when it comes to legal claims and financial losses that the salon may face.

Health and Safety Policy

If your salon has five or more employees then it is necessary that your salon has a health and safety policy in place, however it is good practice for your salon to have a policy in place with less than five employees. The law states that you must provide training for staff members so that they are able to enforce health and safety legislations as well as the policy you created for your salon.

Using Salon Tracker to Stay Within Health and Safety Guidelines

How can Salon Tracker assist you with maintaining the health and safety standards within your salon? Within the system you are able to store information such as client allergies on their client card you can add this information in as an alert therefore it will appear in a red box when the client’s card is opened, the allergy information can be gathered through consultations and skin tests. Salon Tracker also provides hardware that is able to assist you with health and safety for example; the signature pad allows you to store the customers signature on your agreement within their client card along with a date and time of when it was signed. Another example of how Salon Trackers hardware is able to aid you in staying within the guidelines is through the fingerprint reader in which you are able to identify which client is in the salon through their unique finger print this eliminates the risk of under age individuals using other clients name to access the services in the salon which they are not legally permitted to have.

There are tanning regulations implemented into the system so that you are able to prevent clients from returning to the salon more than once a day you can also prevent underage clients from using the sunbeds. The system also connects with Sigma and T-Max which means that the beds can be controlled from Salon Tracker within this you are also able to control the dress down and cool down periods for the beds which can help to prevent the beds from over heating in your busier time periods.

If you wish to book in for your free demonstration and two-week trial don't hesitate to contact us on 0113 350 8230 or alternatively email us at info@salontracker.co.uk.

Salon Tracker Team. X

Feature of the month is back! To celebrate this month, we’re doing a three in one of new tanning rules that we have added into the software over the past couple of weeks all in one place!

Overbook

Course Rules

Another new feature that we have recently added to the system is course and single minutes rules. The way this works is that when you add a new booking or single minute service, you can add some course rules onto it. For example, with your single minute services, you can add the rule that it’s got to all be used in one session. This means that people can’t buy 15 single minutes and use 9 minutes one day and then 6 the next. This feature can also be used for courses. For example, if you have a course where a customer can go on 20 sessions for a set price, you can set the number of sessions available for that course to be 20. As well as the number of sessions per tanning service, you can also set it so there are only set numbers available to take off. For example, with the 15-minute single session there would only be a -15 option or if you had a course which allowed 10 minutes per day for a set amount of time, the only option available would be -10. You can set these numbers and the number of sessions as to whatever works best for you.

Online Security

If you would like anymore information on any of these features or would like any help getting them set up, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.  Also, if you would like to see these features in action come visit us at Professional Beauty London on the 17^th and 18^th of October and we will be able to give you a demonstration of how they work!

Salon Tracker x 

Your salons growth is extremely dependant on the people you hire, without good
employees it would be a struggle to run your salon successfully, if at all. Whilst it is important to hire staff that are experienced, knowledgeable and qualified it also pays off to hire up 

Customer retention, or customer loyalty, is an important part of running a salon especially due to the current climate due to COVID-19 and salons having been closed for so long. This week we decided to put together a blog to share our best tips and tricks to keep clients coming into your salon.

Social Media

One of the best, and easiest, ways to keep your clients coming back it to utilise social media. Regular posting of your work and other post relating to your salon means that your customers will keep seeing your posts and this will remind them to keep getting booked in with you. Social media is also a great way to connect and communicate with your clients too. Clients are more likely to return to a salon where they feel comfortable and communicating and interacting with them over social media is a great way to do so.  If you would like some ideas on how to manage and run a social media account effectively for your salon go to www.salontracker.co.uk.news and see the many blogs we’ve written about this. P.s drop us a follow @salontrackersoftware

SMS Marketing

Another way you can keep your customers coming back to your salon is by sending them text message marketing campaigns. The great thing about this is it could be anything you want.  Salon Trackers ‘Marketing Suite’ gives you the option to filter out specific groups of customers to send messages to directly from your system. For example, you could filter out all your best spending customers for that month and send them a text to try and encourage them to get re booked into your salon. Here is an example of an SMS that you could send:

Hi ‘FORENAME’

Thank you for being one of our most loyal customers! As a thank you here’s your voucher for 10% off your next visit!

See you Soon!

YOURSALONNAME YOURSALONNUMBER T’s&C’s Apply

Loyalty Rewards

One thing that customers will always love is to be rewarded for their loyalty. One way you could do this is set up a loyalty scheme or loyalty groups. For example, one way that you could work this is have different packages all depending on how many appointments that they have had with you. You could have gold, silver and bronze packages all which have different levels of rewards for your most loyal customers including discounts off treatments, retail products or even exclusive access to new treatments before your other clients. Having a reward scheme like this will encourage all your customers to stay loyal to your salon and keep coming in as much as possible. Salon Tracker gives you the option to manage this with our groups feature and this means you can just put these customers into the correct rewards group and Salon Tracker will manage this for you!

If you would like any more information on any of these features or would like us to help you get them set up, please give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or drop us an email on info@salontracker.co.uk for any help or training!

Salon Tracker x

Business plans are essential when starting a new salon, you must be prepared and organised for any situation that may come your way when preparing for the launch of the salon. Things such as a grand opening should be organised to spread the word of your upcoming salon within the community, within this party you can display products that you offer as well as offers.

It is important to plan out what services will be provided within the salon, to do this you must take into consideration what treatments are most desirable within your target market/audience. As the owner of the business products and services you supply to your clients should be under constant review as trends are forever changing therefore people’s preferences of treatments will vary dependent on the season and the trends throughout the year.

One major aspect in promoting your newly established salon is your social media presence. It is important to have a business account on a variety of different social media platforms so that you are able to reach out to a range of different clients. To be able to retain and attract new clients you must ensure that you are constantly posting on each of your social media accounts, posting at least twice a day as a minimum on each account at the correct times during the day. For example, most individuals check their social media pages during their lunch break at work and on a night after work therefore it would be logical to post at these times of a day as people are more active on their social media accounts. The times may change dependent on your client basis taking into consideration factors such as if the majority of your salon clients are full time stay at home parents. The content you post is of high importance especially when you’re a new salon, content such as before and after images are a great way to promote the upcoming salon as clients love to see the process you make. It allows them to build a confidence bond between the client and your staff member as they have been made aware that the staff are very much capable.

For your salon to be able to develop a solid client base it is important that the customer experience starting from when the client enters the salon, walking into reception to when they pay for the service and leave must be impeccable. This means that the environment must exceed customer expectations in terms of cleanliness and decorativeness as clients are more likely to recommend your salon to friends when they have been built a personal relationship with the staff members within your salon from them providing an excellent service (including aftercare) and interacting with the client. Word of mouth is essential and helps to spread awareness of your salon and its services.

When starting a new salon owners like to offer discounts to entice customers to the salon. There are variation of different discount methods that you can use to entice clients to book at your salon such as referral discounts and start up offers.

These are just a few tips on how to establish your new salon within your community, follow our blog updates every week to learn the tools you are able to use to promote your business and maintain a strong client basis.

Salon Tracker. X

Castor Oil.

If you haven't already purchased a bottle of castor oil then you need to get one immediately! Castor oil is rich n fatty acids, Vitamin E and Proteins which is the best recipe for rapid hair growth. This can be applied to your scalp over night in a shower cap to avoid it going all over your pillow then washed out the next day for hair growth. Or it can be applied to lashes and eyebrows for growth too. Tried and tested by myself, after having lash extensions applied for months I didn't have many lashes left and what I did have left were short and brittle. After 2-3 months using castor oil on my lashes every night my lashes were long and thick again and received many compliments about them!

When running a salon, social media is one of the most useful tools on offer. Pinterest is one of the world’s biggest social media platforms, with over 416 million monthly active users, but it is often overlooked. Here at Salon Tracker, we believe that Pinterest is useful in so many ways, such as: finding inspiration, showcasing your work and selling your retail products.

Finding Inspiration

Not only is it useful for finding inspiration for your treatments, but it is also useful for the interior inspiration for your salon. Whether this is a full salon makeover or simply a bit of seasonal décor, there is bound to be ideas on Pinterest that you can use.

Another way in which you can use Pinterest to benefit your salon is that you can create ads. These can be done in a few ways such as a quick ad, which is a one-off payment that pushes one of your pins to a wider audience. Another way is campaign creation which is a more in-depth way, in which you can set daily amounts you wish to spend advertising.

Showcasing your work

As well as being able to save other people’s pins, you are able to create your own and share your work. You are able to upload a photo, which you can then add details to, such as what products you have used, and you can also link your website to the pin so that if they click the pin, they can be linked directly to your website. When posting, you have the option to post now or post at a later date so that you can post at times you know that people are more active.

Other image-based social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter do not have a very long post life, meaning that the posts do not stay on peoples feeds for very long. Pinterest however has a much longer post life and can see businesses getting leads up to 30 days after an initial post.

If you don't already follow us on Pinterest already, go give us a follow @salontracker and check out the different boards on our page for some inspo!  

If you have questions, feel free to drop us an e-mail at info@salontracker.co.uk or call us on 0113 350 8230.

Salon Tracker X

Hi everyone, hope your salons are still keeping busy throughout these Summer months! How are we in August already?! Quite scary how much times flying and that your salons have been re-open for almost 4 months! We’re so glad that things seem to finally be going back to some normality, even though there is still a bit of a new normal, we wanted to run through some changes that salons have made throughout the lockdown and which of these have perhaps proven to be beneficial for the future too.

There are so many benefits to the Dojo card machine: serve your customers quicker, get paid faster, protect your income and there’s no long term commitment. The biggest benefit of all is being able to connect your Dojo machine straight to your Salon Tracker Software. With the integration setup, the payment amount is sent directly to your Dojo card machine making it so much easier for staff when taking payments, especially when you’re busy! Here’s just a few advantages the Dojo integration could bring to your salon:

Reduces Staff Error

Security

Similar to the reduction in staff error, the integration also helps to make your payments more secure. As the payment amount is automatically sent through to your payment terminal, staff members are unable to change the amount once it has been sent from Salon Tracker. This means all your reports on Salon Tracker should match the receipts from your payment terminal, as staff are unable to purposefully or accidentally change the amount the customer is paying.

Reduces Customer Waiting Time

As the amount is directly sent through to your Dojo machine, this will also help to reduce customer waiting time as everything will be seamless from when you confirm the payment on Salon Tracker.

Social media is everywhere these days, from Instagram to Facebook to Tiktok. There are many ways you can use social media in your salon to stay up to date on recent trends, to show people your work and also to attract new customers. We know that this can be a little daunting if you haven’t done this before so I’m here to share my best tips and tricks for you to use social media for your salon.

Instagram

Facebook

Facebook is another very popular social media site, especially for salons. Facebooks gives you the opportunity to keep customers updated, display reviews and communicate with your customers all in one place.  Facebook is also a good social media platform to run competitions on. For example, you could run a competition for a free or discounted service in your salon and for you customers to enter they should have to tag some friends and share the post. By asking customers to tag friends and share your post, this means that all the Facebook friends of everyone who had shared that post will see your salon. This is a really good way to get more exposure. Another way to get exposure on Facebook is by using the sponsored posting feature. This does come with a cost but you can spend as much or as little as you like on this. You can push your posts to a target audience of your choice so more people, apart from those who already follow you, will see your posts. As mentioned before, Facebook is also a great place for communicating with your customers, whether this be responding to reviews that they have left you or responding to any messages they have left you. Facebook gives you the option to do all of this in one place.

Tiktok

There are many other options for what social media platforms you could use in your salon for example twitter is also a good one but these are just some of our favourites.

If you’re not already make sure you’re following us on all out social media accounts @salontrackersoftware on Instagram, Salon Tracker Software on Facebook and @SalonTrackerLTD on X to keep up with everything new at Salon Tracker.

If you would like any more tips or tricks on how to use social media in your salon don’t hesitate to drop us a message on any of our social media accounts or call on 0113 350 8230.

Salon Tracker x

The impact of the pandemic on Educational Salon Academies has been astronomical starting with the limit on face-to-face high-quality education being restricted to students as well as salons having to shut for a long period of time, both situations have had a massive impact on educational salons. Now that they are able to return to face-to-face education and salons are completely free of restrictions it is important that throughout the academy and salon, they ensure good hygiene for both staff and students, maintain appropriate cleaning regimes and keeps the congested areas well ventilated to decrease the risk of infection spreading. It is important that as an educational salon you maintain standards to ensure the safety of staff, pupils and customers another form in which this can take place is by having a booking management system in place to prevent overcrowding in a confined space.

Within Salon Tracker Software there is an Educational Program this program is tailored to meet the needs of your salon with a variety of different features for example we are able to alter calendar titles as well as adding duplicate calendars to assist you in arranging the different level each student is qualified to carry out. Day to day tasks is simplified through the use of our reports and charts section these features allow the financial department access to the academy’s finances throughout the salon.  Through the Siteview application the finance department are also able to collect data and examine reports to be able to monitor the progress of each student and the salon in general.

With Educational salons it can be quite busy with new students arriving and then each student training to achieve a different qualification this can often become complicated to handle. With the software you as a staff member are able to create different calendars to organise which qualification each student is on track to achieve. Features such as groups ensures that students are unable to carry out services that they are not qualified to do this feature can be very beneficial from a legal point of view. Features such as split bookings will allow the salon to book client appointments with a break in between therefore enabling the treatment time to develop this therefore enables the salon to create bookings for other clients in the gap. Additional to this there are features such as post delay which can be useful for hair treatments as it ensures that when a client from the salon books online the break between their two treatments will automatically apply.

If you are interested in having a demonstration of the software or alternatively trialling the software for a two-week period simply enquire at www.salontracker.co.uk/freetrial.aspx and fill in the required details or contact us on 0113 350 8230 and you will be provided with your bespoke educational rates.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Salon Tracker X

 16 months... 16 long months! I know you'll all agree with me when I say I will be very pleased to see the back of this pandemic. It has been tough on everyone, especially those of you with businesses' that have been yoyoing between being closed and open and didn't know whether you were coming or going... I think this time you are set to be open for good, so let's get prepping! 

19th July aka Freedom Day brings many great things however one of the things that the British public haven't had a taste of for nearly a year and a half is stepping in a night club and actually dancing! This means one thing, the whole of the UK are going to town on looking good for freedom day - so you Salons are going to need to prepare. I can imagine you will be absolutely swamped with appointment requests and your dms will be full to the brim which can cause you quite a lot of stress. Instead, why not take a look at our online booking system that can take all the hassle away and manage all your clients appointments itself. Simply put an auto respond message on your social media accounts that directs your clients straight to your online booking platform. You can also put this link in your Instagram and facebook bio where clients simply log in with their email and a 4 digit pin number. On here they can view any upcoming bookings, amend or cancel them, view any remaining courses etc. Enquire here: https://www.salontracker.co.uk/FreeTrial.aspx for a free demo and 2 week trial!

For those of you that have worked in Salon over the past 16 months (for the time salons have actually been open) I really do admire your persistence with wearing PPE such as masks all day every day. Lucky for you, another great thing that comes with freedom day is that Masks will no longer be required indoors - this means you can have your freedom to chat away to your clients all day without the worry of your mask falling down and the absolute torture they bring on a hot day! 

I know that this mad rush of custom is what you've been craving throughout all these lockdowns and you're probably chuffed to have little appointments remaining but it is so important to give yourself a break to avoid total burnout! Set aside a couple of days in which you will work longer hours and make this clear to your clients these will be the only days you'll be working late as you need some time to yourself. I know some clients will try to twist your arm and persuade you to work late one day for them but if you did this for one person where do you draw the line? Make sure you have at least 2-3 nights of the week spent entirely on you. Put your feet up, get a facemask and chill out... or maybe it's your time to party and hit the clubs! However you spend your "you" time, it is essential for working these busy next few months, so grant yourself it!

Here's to a more normal future ahead of us, we've got this!

P.S Footballs coming home!

Salon Tracker x 

It’s back! Now that salons are all reopen and we’re getting back in to the swing of normality, we’re bringing back our Feature of the Month! So, for June, we thought we’d use our most useful features from over the past few weeks, and that is; 'Online Registration'.

Hi everyone, hope you’ve all been keeping well and have had busy businesses since you have been able to reopen! It’s been almost 2 months since England salons were finally able to open their doors again, and around a month since our salons across the rest of the UK and Ireland were able to too. We would love to hear how you are getting on and how business has been for you, I know for many of our clients we’ve had the pleasure of catching up with you again over the past few months, and it’s been great to finally be able to help you to boost new services and get your businesses back out there!

Throughout the time you had to be closed, lots of you managed to still generate some sales by offering retail products through online delivery services, online zoom consultations & tutorials and also some of you even managed to put together some D.I.Y home treatment packs to be delivered to clients. All fantastic ideas and a great way to keep engaged with your customers throughout the time that you were closed. However, not only that, this now provides a great reason to re-engage with those clients and get back in touch, to remind them of how great the home treatments were and how nice it will be now they are able to experience this at the salon.

We’ve done it! We are so happy that we can finally say that all of our salons across the UK and Ireland are now back open for business!

Today, all of our spa salons are finally able to open their facilities, our gyms can finally re-offer their classes, and plus any of those with salons in hotels or arcades are now able to reopen, and also offer indoor dining!

Hi everyone, hope you're all keeping well and looking forward to re-opening!

All salons in England and remaining salon sectors in Wales are expected to reopen from Monday 12th April, with hair salons in Scotland expected to reopen from Monday 5th April, followed by close-contact services on Monday 26th April.

Hi everyone, hope you’re all keeping well and managing throughout this third lockdown. We completely understand and appreciate how hard this time is for our industry, especially as we have been in and out of lockdowns and different Tier’s throughout the last 9 months. There has been a lot of adapting and alterations to appointments to take care of, but we’re in this together and we’re here to help you every step of the way. And now that we find ourselves with these 6 weeks of lockdown, where the Christmas rush is over, this gives you some time to reflect and prepare for 2021. So, we wanted to use this time positively to help you, our clients, with a few little tips for what you can be doing in the meantime, to keep your customers engaged and ensure they return to you once can reopen your doors once more!

So, Christmas 2020, and what a year this has been. Definitely not the year or Christmas we were expecting or had hoped for, but here we are! Despite the difficult months we have faced and what looks like a few challenging weeks ahead, as a company throughout this year we have tried to do all we can to support you our lovely loyal clients, and we want to thank you for your patience and understanding over this time. We appreciate how tough times have been for you over the past 9 months, and we want you to know we will do everything we can to help to support you as we continue in to the New Year and throughout 2021. We want to again thank you for using Salon Tracker over 2020, it has been a pleasure to work with you during this time, we are all in this together!

If you didn’t catch our post last week, we just want to again reiterate that all payments for our clients located in Tier 4 in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, will remain frozen for the duration that you have to close. We will also closely monitor the news over the coming days, and should changes affect any of our clients in other areas of England, we will act accordingly and pause your payments too.

It has been confirmed that the reopen date for salons in England is now Weds 2nd December.

All Salons in England have been given the go ahead to reopen in every Tier  

Black Friday is just around the corner, only 1 week away, on Friday 27th November. However, after the year we've all had, we thought we'd treat you and bring you our offers 1 week early!

Starting today Friday 20th November - Friday 11th December, for 3 weeks we will be offering you:

I know that your Salons will be closed over the next 4 weeks and I also know that your Salons are your pride and joy so why not invest all that spare time you're going to have into something beneficial for you and your Salon? 

It is a certain fact that we are all missing attending our regular Hair and Beauty shows due to the Pandemic but instead of having to get all dolled up and travel too and from you can now experience this show straight from your sofa - amazing! 

We know that the circumstances are hard which is why we have frozen all our current clients subscription payments until they are back open again and not only that, we are also offering a trial period to new customers for as long as lockdown continues - meaning you can trial the software absolutely free of charge until your Salon is back up and running again! And what a better time to trial it whilst you have all this free time on your hands that you definitely never had before!

After your trial period, if you do decide to go ahead you will also be given 30% off your first 3 months of subscription with any package so that means you've got the whole of lockdown to trial the software absolutely free and then enjoy your discounted first 3 months of your subscription! 

If what you've read appeals to you, you can register for your virtual ticket at: https://thenationalbeautyshow.com/ we can't wait to chat with you all!

If you have any other questions at all, please feel free to call us on 0113 350 8230 or alternatively email info@Salontracker.co.uk.

We look forward to speaking with you soon, stay safe!

Salon Tracker x 

Following the announcement from the Prime Minister on Saturday that a second National Lockdown will begin on Thursday 5th November, in order to do our best to support you during this time, we are freezing all of your software payments for the duration you have to be closed. This will remain in place until further notice from the government.

Please bare with us during this time as there is a large volume of clients to process. You will however all be credited any pre-paid days you had remaining from your recent payments once you are able to reopen.

We’re so sorry to hear the news that you have to close your salons.

Are you the owner of a multi-site salon business, and are looking for a software system to help you with the management of your salon chain? Our software specialises in the organisation of multi-site salon companies, and therefore we have outlined our main features below that may benefit you, by investing in your own Salon Tracker system.

Read More

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15 Oct 2020

*Important Message For All Of Our Customers In Northern Ireland*

We're so sorry to hear the unfortunate news that your salons are being forced to close for 4 weeks from tomorrow, Friday (16th October)

In order to do our best to support and help you during this time, we will be freezing all of your software payments until you get the go ahead to re-open.

Read More

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14 Oct 2020

How to market your salon during the Halloween period with the circumstances which is Covid-19

This year has been extremely different for everyone, from how we carry out our daily activities to attending the shops and salons. It has also changed how we are able to spend our beloved holidays, including Halloween, the festival second to the Christmas holiday season. There are still certain restrictions in place which prevent us from attending Halloween events, such as parties and this means that people aren’t attending appointments to have their makeup done for the evening events - therefore there may not be a Halloween rush as large as last years. To prevent these restrictions from affecting your business, it is essential that you market other options to your clients and keep them up to date with any changes in regards to what services you are able to carry out, or if you have to close temporarily. Whether you have our Salon software or not, the ideas listed below will be relevant and worth a try!

In order to maintain functional operation of the salon it is important that the ambience within the salon is high priority, as it can help prompt consumer buying habits. Due to all the distress of the current situation which is Covid-19, doing a good dead such as offering free retail products or when it is Halloween, all employees could wear fancy dress, to lift the spirits of the customers to help create an uplifting atmosphere. Focus on window decorations, make sure there is a theme behind each one and this will ensure that clients are aware you are still able to offer Halloween treatments that oblige by the current legislations.

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07 Oct 2020

How Enterprise Upgrades Helped Our Clients

I can’t believe that it’s now October! Where did time go? This weeks blog is going to focus on how our customers have benefited from upgrading to our Enterprise Subscription. For those of you who aren’t aware, our Enterprise Subscription includes our Online Booking and Siteview features. Over the course of the last few months we have had numerous customers upgrading to the Enterprise package, specifically for the ability to use Online Bookings, which is perfect for adjusting to the new normal.

Since the reopening of salons, we have seen a huge spike in the number of online bookings being made, with many salons introducing a booking only system. Online booking offers customers the flexibility of being able to book an appointment at any time of the day, whilst ensuring that restrictions are in place to follow the Government Guidelines. One of customers has seen a significant growth in bookings since getting the online system, with almost 8,000 bookings being made since the reopening of their salon! With such an increased demand for our online booking feature, we introduced a booking delay time to make sure that with each booking there was extra time being added to allow for cleaning and to adhere to the social distancing guidelines.

There are several other benefits of introducing an online booking system, such as reduced phone calls and emails, as customers are able to book at their own accord instead of contacting you and your team. For those of you that own Tanning Salons, customers are able to see how many minutes they have remaining on their account. Customers also have the ability to see your opening hours and an interactive map view of where the salon is for those that may not have visited before.

Our Siteview feature is one that has been available for the last few years, however given recent circumstances we realised this needed to be modified in order to make your salon life easier. Hence, we introduced Editable Siteview, allowing users to book, edit and cancel bookings straight from their phone. As well as having the ability to view customers booking history, remaining services and details. This feature is perfect for all salons, so that if you get messages away from the salon you can still book clients in. Even more so, for anyone with self-employed stylists or beauticians, as it can be set so that they can only view their own columns on the calendar, ensuring that double bookings aren’t being added. The calendar view will also allow employees to view their working hours, this is great for those of you that work in a rota format, as employees can quickly and easily check what days and times they’re working. The Siteview app is ideal for taking a quick overview when you’re away from the salon, enabling you to look at a dashboard of the days takings, bookings and customers, as well as being able to see the reports.

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30 Sep 2020

How to make this Autumn your best one yet!

I know you'll all be just as shocked as I am when I say that Summer is officially over and as of last week, Autumn has officially begun! Last week also marked 6 months since the UK was put into full lockdown and everyone's world was turned upside down. Now you are open and in full swing, how about we make up for all that lost time and make this your best Autumn yet? After all, the autumnal vibes are our favourite!

 

Lets start with a start with a few marketing tips:

Back to School Bundle 

This is one for the Mums and Dads that suddenly have a lot more time on their hands! After 6 months of no school I think all those Mums and Dads out there deserve a bit of a treat... A back to school mini bundle could be a great idea for your salon. For example, offering a package deal with some mini treatments, such as lash and brow tints, could increase your profit and help you gain a selection of new clients that you may not have previously had. Pairing this with a ‘back to school’ pamper day including a range of the different treatments you offer would be a great start as it really encourages them to book for a relaxing day after 6 months that properly felt like a decade for them!

Halloween

Although Halloween may not be the same this year, it's still a Holiday that everyone loves and why not make the most of it? Advertising early your Halloween makeup pictures will get people interested and make them want to plan ahead. You could even do a petrifying package deal such as Makeup and spooky hair for a set price and why not throw in a Halloween goody bag full of Halloween themed treats or retail products? 

What platforms can you use to get the message out?

Facebook and Instagram

Facebook and Instagram are the top social media platforms to advertise your business on.
Most importantly, they are free! Just a simple post on facebook advertising what you are going to be doing this Autumn will go a long way, followers of the page will see it and following that they may be inclined to share it with Family and Friends which could reach 1000's of new clients. Similar to instagram where you can carry out interactive stories which will engage your followers. You could do a vote story or an answer box story with the caption 'what would you like to see from this salon this Autumn' then not only are you drawing the readers in, but you are also finding out what your target market would like to see! All this client research for free - you can't go wrong. 

TikTok

Now i'm sure you'll already know that whilst boredom was taking over in lockdown, TikTok the video app became very popular and people all over the world were doing dance routines and make-up tutorials. This extremely popular platform would be a great way for your Salon to advertise their services such as autumnal nails, Halloween makeup and hair styles due to the sheer popularity of the app. I'll work a treat!

SMS Marketing

The advantage of SMS marketing is that you can target specific customers or audiences. For example, if you wanted to target customers who haven’t visited in the last 3 months, you can do this through our filters. Our software has a built-in marketing suite which gives you the opportunity to easily use SMS and email marketing. You can choose client groups or make your own in order to send out your message to the group of people it was intended to. For example: 

Hi << Customer Forename>> 

We miss you! Book in advance for a space for your new Autumn look! 

<<Company Name>><<Company Contact Details>> 

As you see, summer finishing may put a frown on many faces but with these tips you could turn it into an incredible opportunity for your salon and help you get back on track before the year is out!

If you're looking for something to help manage your Salon this Autumn enquire at https://www.salontracker.co.uk/FreeTrial.aspx for your free 2 week trial!

If you already have the software and would just like a bit of free training please feel free to give us a call on 0113 350 8230 and we'll be happy to help!

Make the most of the end of this year!

Salon Tracker x

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23 Sep 2020

Feature of the Month - Editable Siteview

As things are slowly getting back to normal in salons, we thought we’d bring back an old favourite, ‘Feature of the Month’. This month out feature of the month is a new, highly anticipated, one. Editable Siteview.

Whilst siteview has always been a very popular feature on our enterprise package and has been around for a number of years, over lockdown we have finally made it even better! We previously made this available as an app, you can now add bookings in from your phone, tablet or a computer away from the salon.

For those of you who don’t know what siteview is, this is a feature that is available on our enterprise package which allows salon owners and their staff members to view their calendars and reports from home or out and about on a phone, tablet or a pc out of the salon.  This allows you to keep track of everything going on in your salon no matter where you are.

After a lot of development and testing, we can finally offer our customers an editable version of this. This will allow you to search and view your customers on your app and you’ll also be able to put bookings in for them from this feature.

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16 Sep 2020

Updates for our Salons on new Coronavirus Government Safety Regulations

On Thurs 10th September, it was announced that it is now illegal from 14th September for groups of more than 6 to meet and socialise anywhere in England.

By Friday 11th September, the government also introduced some extra safety measures that apply to all salons, from this Friday 18th September. For all of our clients, we can already cater for the new regulations using the software, as you have the ability to take all details, including contact number/email fields and also the ability to book them in for their appointment (which then tracks the duration of the time they will be in your salon). We are however, in line with these new changes, going to be creating a new report that will outline all individuals that have been in to the salon in any given period, should you be required to contact these clients inline with the current track and trace programme.

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09 Sep 2020

Social Media Tips For Your Salon!

Despite everything that’s happened this year, it’s still flown by with Autumn right around the corner. So, it’s time to gear up for the end of year rush and make sure that your calendar has no blank space! I’m sure you all know the huge benefits of using social media to promote your salon and your services, so today were going give you our top tips for maintaining your social media presence and increase your client base.

Facebook

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02 Sep 2020

Supporting Our Salons During Covid-19

Supporting Our Salons During Covid-19

The recent and ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has been a really unprecedented time for us all, especially for the salon industry, as you were forced to close for almost 4 months. This has taken a huge toll on the financials of businesses, with the immediate pause on appointments not being able to take place, and with no forewarning.

When the government announced that all salons had to close, we were all already aware of the ongoing harrowing Covid-19 pandemic, however weren’t all necessarily prepared for the affect that it would have on local businesses as the lockdown lasted for several of the following months. 

For businesses especially in our salon sector and also for the hospitality industry, who rely solely on customers for their income, this took such a large toll on your businesses. And so, from the outset, we wanted to support you (our clients) as much as we possibly could, to ensure that you were able to sustain as much income as possible whilst the pandemic continued. We instantly froze all client’s subscriptions from 23^rd March, as it felt morally wrong to charge for a service that you were unable to use, even if that did mean that as a company we also took quite a large hit with income too. But we wanted to do what felt right, and look after our clients which always has, and always will be our number 1 priority.   

We left all payments frozen for the duration of the lockdown, until the government gave the go ahead for salons to open again. Dependent on type of salon and local area, the dates alternated for different salons, however we only resumed payments for each individual business when they themselves were actually able to open their doors.  And with the local lock downs, the subscription freeze remained in place, where we would only charge our clients when they could legally open their doors to trade.

Following that, we wanted to further support as we know currently footfall in salons has not returned back to the usual, first of all due to social distancing regulations and secondly, as the public are still apprehensive about visiting places. So, to alleviate the stress a little we have also offered all clients 50% off their next 3 months after they were able to re-open. We wanted to support during the aftermath of the lockdown, whilst appointment capacity is currently reduced meaning a lot of our salons are running on a reduced number of bookings compared to what you maybe typically used to. Evidently meaning there could also be a reduced income when you still have employee wages to pay!

Aside from supporting with subscriptions however, we also introduced some new features to the software, to help manage the new social distancing measures and make the organisation and running of our salons as safe as we could.

We saw such an increase in demand for our online booking over the lockdown, as a lot of salons opted for no walk-ins. So, for anyone that offers online booking within their salon, we introduced a booking delay time so that for every booking made, an instant gap was placed to allow for essential cleaning and also to adhere to social distancing, ensuring the previous clients had exited the premises before the next client arrived for their appointment. 

We also advanced our Siteview feature, to allow the adding, editing and cancelling of client bookings to be completed using a mobile app, instead of therapists needing to use the main Salon Tracker PC itself. Evidently, this was to stop overcrowding at the main salon reception desk and to allow employees to manage their bookings using their own devices.

And then, for anyone who wanted to trial our software we also extended the same offer to them too!

Then we also offered support & advice on cleaning measures, and to ensure masks/visors are worn (which is now since a government legal requirement). But with the cleaning, we can also ensure that the sunbeds cannot be set for a new customer until it has been deep cleaned with our 'dirty-bed' mode, that stops the integrated timers from being set until the bed has been set as 'clean'. With the cleaning for beauty/hair/nails, we can add any relevant amount of time automatically to an appointment, even if it is booked online, to allow for sufficient cleaning between customers. We then advise where you can you run a 1 way system, with separate entrances and exits to the salon if you can, and also try to get disposable towels (or ensure that after each client you wash towels/gowns on a high degree anti-bacterial wash, as a renewable option).

For any further advise on salon safety or if you would like to discuss any queries you may have, we are always on hand to help, or if you are new to us and are looking to trial the software now back to school is here, get your FREE trial in time for autumn by heading to www.salontracker.co.uk or call our team on 0113 350 8230!

We're so happy to be working with you again and hope the re-opening of your salons has been successful.

Salon Tracker x

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26 Aug 2020

Salon Tracker’s Top Beauty Picks from Lock down.

 

As lock down comes to an end, one thing that didn’t slow down was new tips and tricks from the beauty world. One of the main sources of these tips was Tiktok, an app many of our sales team spent a little too much time on! As many places are re-opening and life is slowly getting back to normal, we thought we’d share our favourites!

Heatless Curls

One of the hacks our sales team learnt was a new way to do heatless curls, one of the most popular hacks in our office. This is also known as ‘dressing gown curls’ and requires you to wrap your damp hair around your dressing gown cord, gradually adding bits in and then securing your hair at the bottom. You then need to leave this in for a few hours or even over night and your hair will be nice and curled, as though you’ve spent hours on it! This is great as you can do this on a night and by the time you wake up for work in the morning, your hair is basically done, plus you have the advantage of this not damaging your hair.  If you want to see how to do this, here’s a YouTube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBLpOqGWda0

Fluffy Brows

A makeup hack we learnt from tiktok was a new phenomenon called soap brows. This is a quick trick to give you full, fluffy brows using a bar of soap. Whilst you can get a product called ‘brow soap’ which seems to work slightly better, many tiktok users tried this trick with normal hand soap and it seemed to work nearly just as well. To do this trick all you will need to do is start with clean brows and your bar of soap. The you just need to slightly wet the soap and run your eyebrow brush through it. Then brush the soap through your brows in an upwards motion before shaping your brows to the shape you desire.  This will give you natural looking fluffy brows. Here’s a link where you can buy your own brow soap https://www.beautybay.com/p/wes

t-barn-co/soap-brows/?ctyid=gb&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp-mv1fu46wIVCe3tCh2SSgXBEAQYASABEgJkzvD_BwE

Fake Tan Contour

Another trick we have learnt over lock down is how to contour your face (and body) using fake tan.  This will mean that you can roll out of bed in the morning with a nice chiselled look, with no time or make up needed.  All you need to do is do your fake tan routine as normal, but after this is done, you’ll just need to grab a makeup brush. Then you can get your fake tan on the brush and start shading in areas that you’d like a little more definition in such as your cheek bones and nose, we’re even seen some people using this to contour some abs and muscles!

Henna Freckles

One running theme with all these hacks is the ‘no makeup makeup look’ and minimum effort on the day to day. This tip is no different. One of the most popular new trends, that comes and goes fairly regularly is faux freckles.  Whilst many people were blessed with natural freckles, there is a handful of us who are unfortunately not. Whilst there are many makeup products that you can use to create freckles on the day to day, one new trick that has come out of lockdown is henna freckles. This is where you use henna to create the faux freckle look and this will last a few days or even weeks! There are loads of helpful videos on how to do this on YouTube and tiktok but we should mention that you need to make sure that you get a trustworthy henna and do a patch test first. Here are some great temporary products you could use instead of henna or to practice with - https://www.beautybay.com/p/freck/faux-freckle-cosmetics-neutral/?ctyid=gb&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItIL3g4K56wIVYIBQBh0wXQCUEAQYASABEgKd9_D_BwE

These tips and tricks helped us through lock down so we hope some of these may work for you too!

 

If your Salon has just re opened or if you’re getting ready to re-open and you want to be a bit more organised why not take advantage of our FREE two-week trial? Just give us a call on 0113 350 8230 to get booked in now!

Were also going to be at Pro Beauty London on the 10^th-12^th of October so come pay us a visit there to ask any questions or take a look at our software!

 

Salon Tracker Team x

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19 Aug 2020

It's been a year!

It has been a very different year to say the least!



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12 Aug 2020

How to bounce back after Lockdown

I know lock-down seems like it never really happened, and it was all just a bad dream but the reality is that it definitely did happen and your Salons were closed for just under 4 months! That's 1/3rd of the whole year! And that also means 33% of bookings, takings and your day to day social interaction taken from you... so what now? How can you make up for that lost time and come back stronger than ever? Well I've got just the tips you'll need, so keep reading! 

For all you hair, tanning and nail salons, you'll probably have already experienced the initial rush of all your clients going crazy for their first appointment after lock-down to get their short fingernails looking luxuriously long again or more importantly to get their severely grown out roots back a beaming blonde along with finally getting their summer tan and now its been over a month since you opened, you're probably wondering when the next rush will be... well why not try the following:

An SMS marketing campaign!

If you didn't already know, Salon Tracker has a built in marketing suite where you can send your clients a text directly from the software promoting an offer or you can specifically filter out a selected audience of customers e.g customers who haven't visited in a while and send just that group of customers a texts tempting them with an offer of 15% off if they book an appointment in the next month which will bring your clients back in and keep you busy enough too! P.S, if you're not quite sure on how to use your marketing suite, just give us a call on 0113 350 8230 and we'll give you a free training session on it! Or... just head to your Salon Tracker help section and there's a full help video on it.

The classic recommend a friend campaign!

Why not get your loyal customers to rave just a little bit more (than they already do) about your amazing salon but this time do it for a reward! For every friend they refer, why not give them a voucher of £5 to redeem off any treatment or product? This way, not only are you gaining new customers, but you are also encouraging your current customers to visit again! 

Claim that online presence!

In this day and age, having a broad social presence is extremely important as nearly 1/3rd of the worlds population use Social media regularly and social media is the hub of finding a good business, just like yours. Being a young adult myself, I know that all of the places I have ever had an appointment with have been found online - especially Instagram. It is the common trend to get your hair done and post on your feed #newhairday then tag the salon that created this look for you. Not only is this a free form of marketing for you, it is done completely off your clients back shared with all their followers.Their followers will then click on your profile and see all the work you've done and want to book an appointment themselves... which is where having online booking becomes important. Over the past 4 months, our customers upgrading to our online Enterprise package has increased by around 60% resulting in our Enterprise package now being our most popular. You'll find that your bookings will increase dramatically by having online booking as again, the millennial era are much more inclined to book online rather than having to ring up, especially if your social media pages are tempting enough!

For you guys that unfortunately haven't opened yet... beauty salons, aesthetic clinics, lash parlours... we really feel your pain and we are so happy you finally get to open again in a couple of days time! We know you're going to be extremely busy for the next month or so and we know exactly how to best handle it with these following tips:

Make use of your break slots!

Within Salon Tracker you're able to add breaks in not only on the current day but you can also add them in advance routinely e.g 1pm every day meaning that nobody can book an appointment (online and in salon) over that set break which means you'll actually give yourself a break in the busy times to come! To add a routine break in go to Management -> booking items -> click edit on the person you want to put a break in for -> click on breaks tab and click add -> set the type to the desired amount of types you want the break to reoccur. Breaks are essential and you will definitely thank me later!

Encourage your clients to use online booking

Rather than your phone and messages me absolutely bombarded, make it clear that the only form of bookings you'll be accepting is online bookings and send them the direct link making it nice and easy for them. They can also cancel their booking directly from the mobile web app so you can invest all that time into appointments and sorting the Salon! 

Take advantage of the re-book feature

To make sure this big wave of clients isn't just a one-hit-wonder, you should make full use of the re-book button which pops up right after you've confirmed the appointment. You can then book them in for a routine appointment like waxing for 2-3 weeks from the current date and it'll bring you up all the available time slots so there's no room for double booking errors. Better yet, you can print them a reminder in the same transaction! This will put you at ease knowing you're not just going to have one busy month and make it more of a continuous thing.

That's about it for today, if you do have any questions regarding any of the above information then please get in touch on 0113 350 8230 or alternatively email us at info@salontracker.co.uk and we'll be happy to help!

If you do not have the software at all and would like some help managing your busy diary then please do enquire at https://www.salontracker.co.uk/FreeTrial.aspx and a member of the team will be in touch as soon as!

Best wishes,

Salon Tracker x 

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07 Aug 2020

Deferred Beauty Salon Re-opening, Leicester and Aberdeen Lockdown

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all still keeping well!

So another little update from us (Feel like we've been doing a lot of those recently!)

So unfortunately, we received the news that the reopening of contact-service beauty salons was deferred for a further fortnight from the 1st August, and we were given 15th August as the earliest re-opening date. 

And this week we have also seen parts of Leicester have to re-close again, following your re-opening Monday.

Aberdeen also saw a local lock down earlier this week, with salons been forced to close there for a minimum of 1 week too.

Therefore, we just wanted to let all of our clients know that if you are in any of these affected areas, we will continue to, or re-freeze your subscriptions, payments will remain frozen until you can re-open, where we will then credit any pre-paid days for you.

You can still use your software during this time for reports, training and accountancy purposes!

And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact our team who are happy to help, mon-fri 9-5!

Keep posted on our news page for all updates, where we will also be giving you some tips next week on how to bounceback business post-lockdown.

Until then, stay safe and take care!

Salon Tracker x

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29 Jul 2020

Re-opening of all Beauty Salons!

Since the re-opening of most UK salons on 13th July, we have had the pleasure of being able to speak to lots of you again and help you to re-setup your salons after the recent lock-down. We saw many of our salons in Scotland be able to finally re-open their salons on 15th and 22nd of July too, all our gyms on 25th July and finally our salons in Wales were able to open on 27th July!



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10 Jul 2020

Re-Opening Is Finally Here!

Hi Everyone,

The day has arrived! for most of you the long wait is finally over!!

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03 Jul 2020

GOOD LUCK!

Our team just want to wish a HUGE good luck to all of our hair and barbering clients in England who have been lucky enough to be able to reopen again safely tomorrow, and to all of our Irish clients who have been lucky to also open up salons this and next week too!🍀✨

For all of our other lovely clients, we know how hard you have been working too to create a Covid-safe space, so keep positive, your turn will come soon and until then, you are still able to use our software for training and planning for FREE until we have further clarification from the government.

For all of our clients who have been fortunately able to open, your reopening discount is 50% off for the next 3 months, and all pre-paid days from before the lockdown will be credited to further support you during this time ❤️

Take care, and stay safe!

The Salon Tracker Team x

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25 Jun 2020

A Message To All Of Our Clients Regarding Your Subscriptions When You Are Able To Re-open

Hi All,



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17 Jun 2020

Activating your Salon Tracker in time for your July 4th reopening!

Hi guys, hope you are all still doing well and are looking forward to getting back to business in early July, I know we are!

With the reopening date for salons now fast approaching, we just wanted to keep you updated with what we’re doing towards this date. And as you are all aware, we have and continue to keep your payments frozen until you are authorised to re-open!

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04 Jun 2020

Salon Tracker Webinar: Join us Friday 5th June 11.00am

Hi everyone! Hope you're all still keeping well and looking forward to hopefully being able to reopen in just a few weeks time!

Following our last webinar, we had some questions & feedback about our online booking, as a lot of you are looking to upgrade to utilise this feature, to ensure social distancing remains whilst arranging booking slots for reopening.

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28 May 2020

Could An Enterprise Upgrade Benefit You?

Hi guys, hope you’re all still keeping well and enjoying the glorious sunshine! Definitely making these lock down days that slight bit easier.

For those of you that follow our news and social media pages, you will have seen that we are offering a Welcome back offer from the dates that your salons can re-open. To recap, we will be offering you a discount of 50% off your first 3 months software on reopening. This same offer also applies to anyone who is currently on trial with us, or may wish to trial before 4th July!

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20 May 2020

Salon Tracker Webinar: Join us Thursday 21st May at 11.00am

Morning guys, hope you're all still keeping well and are enjoying this glorious weather we're having right now!

For those of you that joined our last webinar, you'll know that this was just before the most recent lock-down review, where we ran through a few pointers to help for when you are able to reopen. 

We also mentioned that we'd be offering 50% off all subscriptions, for the first 3 months from the date set by the government for reopening. I'm sure you'll all be aware we have since had the update, where the proposed reopen date to work towards is the 4th of July. We’ve had a few questions from clients surrounding the re-starting of subscriptions, and how this date may be different in other UK countries, such as Scotland and Northern Ireland. The 4th July date is a provisional date for some of the UK and therefore if your salon is unable to open that date by law, don’t worry, we won’t be charging you individually until the government gives your area the go ahead! 

And so, we wanted to clear up any queries that our clients may have and wanted to explain to you how subscriptions will work from there forward. There are also some enhancements we have made with the software in preparation for that time and also, if you are new to us and currently trialling the software, how we are also extending these offers and services to you too.

Want to get a bit more info? We will be going LIVE on zoom tomorrow (Thursday 21st May) at 11.00am! Similar to our previous session, it will last around 30 minutes, consisting of a 15 min webinar and then some time for Q&A at the end! All details are below: 

Salon Tracker is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Time: May 21, 2020 11:00 AM London 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/73617837341?pwd=YXNKaTA2QTFJc1RGcFk2TzN6Tk5OZz09

Meeting ID: 736 1783 7341

Password: 9Akaye 

Simply click that link tomorrow morning 5 or 10 mins before 11, and you should be prompted to download zoom and then you’ll be good to go! We have left the meeting ID and password there, should you need it, however by clicking the link this should be enough to enable you to join.

Hope to see you there! 

Salon Tracker Team x

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14 May 2020

Planning for your re-open date! We will be offering 50% off your first 3 months re-opening payments!

Afternoon everyone! Hope you all had a fabulous bank holiday weekend and have managed to enjoy a bit of the sunshine today. So, with the bank holiday weekend came the latest government announcement, in which this has suggested that salons may be able to re-open from July the 4th dependant on how the situation is at that time.

As much as that is a couple of months off, at least now this has provided a date to work towards, and get things prepared ready for you being able to open those doors once again?

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06 May 2020

Salon Tracker Webinar: Our Top Beneficial Features and How We Can Help You When You Re-Open! Thursday 7th May 11.00am

Morning everyone! Hope you are all keeping well and are still saying safe! We know the lockdown is tough for your salon businesses still being forced to close, but some positivity is, it’s nearly the bank holiday weekend and, it looks like Friday is set to be a scorcher! So what a great excuse to get out in your garden and relax!

But, before the long weekend, we wanted to bring to you another webinar tomorrow. Especially as the lockdown exit plan is to be reviewed and addressed this weekend, we thought this is a great time to catch up about our software features
and also, let you know our plans for when you guys 
are able to return to your businesses. 

For those of you that are regular followers of our blog, you’ll remember that last week we teamed up with The Salon Magazine to bring to you our top 5 software features! (make sure to check this out in their June issue if you are a subscriber to their mag!) If you didn’t manage to catch it; here’s the link again below:

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29 Apr 2020

The Essential 5 features your Salon Software should have!

Hi everyone, how are we all? Hope you are all keeping well during this time and are finding some useful things to do to stay productive!

We've recently teamed up with The Salon Magazine, to discuss what we think are the essential 5 features that salon software can bring you, that will really benefit your salon and also your clients too!

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23 Apr 2020

Salon Tracker Webinar: Making A Reserve List For Future Client Appointments and Marketing For When You Can Re-open! Fri 24th April 11.00am

It’s nearly Friday guys! Hope everyone is still keeping well and staying safe at home, at least the recent sunshine is giving us all a bit of a much needed uplift! For those of you that joined our last webinar, we talked you through how to extend expiry dates of pre-bought courses and how to credit existing services. So, we thought for our next session, we’d look at all customers who may have already had an appointment booked with you during this time, that they have unfortunately been unable to attend. How can you ensure that they re-book in with you and also, how you can market 
to all of your clients to ensure they get booked in too.

As previously mentioned, all webinars are FREE! For those of you that are customers of ours, your payments are still frozen however we are still here for you! Our support and training sessions are available to you whenever you require them throughout the week and we’ll be bringing you these webinars and continuing blog posts throughout the lock-down period, to help you for when you can reopen. 

We understand that the current 3 week extension is difficult for you, especially when you’re used to being busy and usually starting your bookings for wedding season and Summer by now. However, one thing is for sure that once we can return to business as usual, you will be busier than ever before! Everyone (including our team) are really missing our lovely therapists and are in desperate need of our salon treatments, so fear not about the future because your custom is 100% still there! Tomorrow’s session is more about some little pointers to help you to ensure that you’ve secured that business as soon as possible for when you reopen, to make up for this lost time. And also, this just means 
you are keeping in contact with your clients too, 
which they’ll also really appreciate during this time. 

If you managed to catch our blog last week, we talked through a few little ideas that you can be thinking about during this time, from Welcome back offers to refreshing your salon decor – if you didn’t manage to have a read here’s the link below:

https://www.salontracker.co.uk/News.aspx?id=Getting-your-Salon-prepared-for-when-you-can-re-open

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17 Apr 2020

Getting your Salon prepared for when you can re-open

Afternoon guys, Happy Friday you’ve made it through another week of lock-down. Hope you and all your families & friends are keeping well during this time. As we all prepare for another 3 weeks of staying at home, we wanted to give you something to think about during this time while you have some spare hours. And so, we’ve put together a few little helpful tips on what you can be doing during the next few weeks, to get your salon prepared and organised ready for when we can return to some level of normality. 

Pull a list of clients who were due to have appointments with you throughout the lock-down.

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08 Apr 2020

Salon Tracker Webinar: Extending Course Expiry Dates and Crediting Client Services! Weds 9th April 11.00am

Welcome to Salon Tracker Webinars!

Morning guys, Happy Wednesday! (Just to remind you what day of the week it is! Seems like they’ve all merged in to one at the minute!) But we hope you are all keeping well and staying safe at home during these unprecedented times.


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01 Apr 2020

How to Keep Busy With Your Salon Whilst at Home

Before we get into the blog, just for any our customers that aren’t already aware, we have frozen all payments for your software subscription. We are wishing you all the best during this time and look forward to speaking with you in the near future.

As I’m sure is the case for many of you right now, times are very tough and there’s a lot of unknown and panic surrounding what’s going to happen in the coming weeks. Sadly, no one really knows the full extent of what will happen, so today I’m going to try a highlight a few positive areas and ways in which you can stay on top of your salon jobs and marketing during this time.

Keep in touch with your customers
Now more than ever will your customers be using their phones and browsing the internet, presenting you with the perfect opportunity to ensure that you remain stuck in their minds until you reopen. Now obviously, when everything is back to normal you will expect to have a huge rush from your regular customers, having gone weeks or months without a treatment, and this is going to be great for your business to reintroduce itself. However, you also need to be trying to target new customers during this time, in order to keep a strong and steady cash flow when you do reopen. If you don’t maintain regular contact with your customers, and this can just be done via social media on Facebook and Instagram, it could result in a number of your customers going and trying a different salon, which could result in you losing out on hundreds and thousands of revenue. All it requires is just to post maybe 2/3 times a week just checking in on your clients and it will allow you to stay present in their minds.

Use social media marketing 
Now that you do have more time, it means you can spend time on organising a schedule for your marketing posts, this can range from images that have been taken of clients’ treatments in the salon, a relatable quotes, videos…anything. I’ve actually seen a few salons I follow myself on Instagram doing quizzes to keep their clients engaged! I’ve seen some salons offer prizes and some just doing it for fun, obviously whenever there’s some sort of reward up for grabs its going to catch the attention of someone more. So it might be a good idea to start off with one including a few prizes and then you can keep switching between the two, this doesn’t need to be done too often but I’d say at least once a week and try do them on the same day and time every week so people begin to catch on and remember to join in more often. By including prizes for a treatment at your salon, it will help to bring in new customers which will hopefully continue returning once they’ve had a treatment!

Send out a survey to your customers
Another great way to keep your customers engaged with your salon, whilst being able to find out from them what improvements they would like to see, is by sending out a short survey somewhere between 5-10 questions. This is a great way not only to find out things like which treatment customers like the most, but also allows you to see if there’s any treatments that clients would like you to introduce in the future. The best way to go about it I would say is to use SurveyMonkey.com to initially create your survey, and then you can just post the link on your social media pages asking if customers wouldn’t mind spending a few minutes of their time to fill it out for you. I mean, time is all that a lot of people have at the minute, so you should be able to get quite a few responses from this. Although it’s important to get it sent out to the customers, it’s then what you actually do with the information and data you’ve received. So, you might want to spend some time analysing the information and then putting a plan into place about how you go about meeting any requests or changes customers have asked for. Once you have a plan in place, you may then want to use social media again to tell your clients about the plans you have made. For example, if the survey results showed that a lot of customers wanted you to introduce a new treatment, you can post to tell them that it’s something you’ll be introducing when you’re back open. This will help to again build engagement and also get clients excited for when you do reopen, meaning that they are more likely to book. It could also encourage others to that haven’t visited your salon before to make an appointment, as they may be interested in trying out your new treatment.

Keep your employees in the loop
It’s also super important to keep your employees in the loop and to stay in contact with them. If you haven’t already it would be great to make a group chat so you can all stay in contact and check up on each other, and it also makes it easier to update everyone on any news regarding the salon as everyone is in one place. It’s also great if you can encourage staff, and even regular customers or family and friends to share are key marketing posts or updates regarding your salon to give a better chance of reaching your client base.

Use this time to train on Salon Tracker 

There might some features you’re not sure how to use on the software, or even some that you didn’t know existed, so this is a great time to brush up on software and make sure that you’re using it to the full potential. We are still open and working, so if you do have any questions or want training on aspects of the software the team are more than happy to help you with that. We are actually planning some webinars to hold over the coming weeks, so even if you don’t have access to the software currently, you can still connect and join in! We will be posting information and sending out emails with exact information regarding these in the coming days, so make sure you keep an eye out for this.



As I mentioned we are still open for business, all working from home but we’re still able to help you out if you do have any questions. If you are interested in trialling our salon management software during this time, you do get a free 2-week trial and free training which can all be done online and over the phone. If you would like to get booked in for this then you can email us at on info@salontracker.co.uk or alternatively you can call on 0113 350 8230 and we will be happy to arrange that with you.

We are wishing all salon owners the best during this time.

Salon Tracker x

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25 Mar 2020

Salon Trackers Top Picks for Hair, Beauty, Nails and Skin Care

For this week’s blog we have decided to let you know our team’s top picks for hair, beauty nails and skincare!

Barry M Nail Polish

One of our top picks for nails is Barry M nail polish. They have a massive range of colours and different formula’s all for cheap and cheerful prices. They have a huge range of normal polishes and gel polishes for just £3.99 a bottle. To make it even better the Barry M Nail line is 100% vegan and cruelty free! You can shop the whole range here -  https://barrym.com/collections/nails

Nivea Tinted Moisturiser

Tinted moisturiser is also a firm favourite in the office. It is perfect for everyday in the office or out and about. Tinted moisturisers, unlike foundations are a lot lighter on the skin and more natural looking. Out top pick is the Nivea one. This comes in a few shades and is available in boots and Superdrug!

Double Wear Estee Lauder

We know that for certain occasions tinted moisturiser just doesn’t have the coverage we need. This is why the Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation. This foundation is a staple for many of out team as is long wearing and leaves your skin looking smooth whilst still looking somewhat natural. You can shop this here https://www.esteelauder.co.uk/ and we’ve also heard that Primark beauty have a great  dupe for this if you’re not wanting to spend that much!

Garnier Hair Food Mask

When it comes to haircare, one thing we love is the Garnier Hair Food Masks. They come in three different scents for different hair types. Even better you can use it in 3 different ways! It can be used as a conditioner, rinse out mask or a leave in conditioner for we or dry hair! You can see the collection here https://www.garnier.co.uk/our-brands/hair-care/ultimate-blends/hair-food and right now they’re on offer for 2 for £8 at boots so snap them up whilst you still can!

Dermalogica Skincare

Dermalogica skincare is also a necessity in our office. They have a wide range of products for all different sorts of skin types. They also offer a digital skin analysis which helps you work out what sort of skin types you have and what products you may need if you’re unsure. You can shop the collection and work out what your skin needs here www.dermalogica.co.uk

Body Shop Hand Crème

Hand crème is especially important in times like these where you’re hands may be a little dry from all the extra washing! At Salon Tracker we all make sure we’ve got at least one hand crème from the body shops at our desks at all times. There is a range of different scents and also often seasonal scents that are limited edition. You can get yours here www.thebodyshop.com

Due to the current circumstances Salons are facing in the UK and Ireland we have currently put all subscription payments on hold until salons are able to get back up and running. During this time we advise all out customers to keep using their software for any training or financial purposes. We are also looking at running some workshops and seminars so stay tuned for the announcement on that!

Stay Safe!

Salon Tracker x

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18 Mar 2020

How to keep busy during unfortunate downtime in the Salon

It’s the middle of March already and right now you would probably expect to be on the

horizon of your busiest period of the year in the Salon. But… with the pandemic disaster in full swing, you’re no doubt going to struggle to keep a busy Salon whilst all this is going on. Not to worry! There are plenty of ways you can keep busy in this unfortunate downtime and we’re going to tell you exactly how...

First of all – if you don’t have Salon Tracker, now is the perfect time for a free trial!

Salon Tracker is a very effective way of keeping on top of the Salon in terms of appointments, SMS reminders, marketing texts, stock control, business reports & lots more! Whilst you are having some downtime in the Salon, why not try a 2-week free trial of the software and see how it could work for you? We offer free, unlimited training as well as support and there are no set-up fees. If you’re currently with another software provider, we will transfer your clients from that software in the trial period and will also offer your first 3 months at 30% off for moving from another provider! If this sounds good to you, then just go to https://www.salontracker.co.uk/FreeTrial.aspx and a member of the team will be in touch as soon as possible to get this arranged for you.

A marketing campaign

Around this time of the year, you may find it difficult finding any time to fit in a quick marketing campaign to send to your clients. So now is the perfect opportunity to perhaps send a campaign out informing your clients about an offer you are holding on gift cards. For example, you could put an offer on that entitles clients to buy a £30 voucher for the price of £25 and so on. Not only will this give you that bit of income in this quiet period but it will ensure clients will be coming back in when this disaster has calmed down and also encourage the rebooking of brand-new clients!

A big spring clean/ makeover

I know its often hard to find the time to do a thorough clean of the Salon and it probably bugs you that you can’t get it as clean as you want it. Well now’s the perfect opportunity to do so! If you’ve got a day where you’ve got next to no appointments in, grab your cleaning stuff and hinch away. Not only will it leave your Salon sparkling, but it will also boost your mood! Even better still, if you’ve been thinking of redecorating the Salon to have it exactly as you want it, why not go for it and get your staff in on it as well instead of hiring decorators? This will keep you busy for a few days and will really give the team the opportunity to bond as well as being extremely satisfying when you’re finished.

If you are still busy in the Salon then that’s great, just make sure you take all the precautionary measures to ensure you and your staff are safe as well your clients. A little notice board inside and outside of the Salon as well as being promoted on social media is where you can start. 

The notice board should include:

• If anyone with an appointment booked or wants to use the sunbeds, please make sure you have had no sign of any COVID-19 symptoms e.g a high temperature, a cough, shortness of breath. If you do, please rearrange your appointment to the late future!

• If you are still attending the Salon, please make sure you wash your hands as soon as you enter the Salon. Hand sanitiser will also be provided.

• Ensure we at the Salon are taking extra precautionary measures to make the Salon as safe as possible, we always disinfect equipment after every client.

• Anything else you feel is important.

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11 Mar 2020

Business Planning for SS/20

Nearly through the first quarter of the year already! So now is definitely the time to start looking in to planning for the next season, as days get longer and nights get lighter – you want to ensure that your business has a Spring/Summer strategy in place to work towards.

This is also a great time to reflect on the last quarter, to also see where you are against the targets you set yourself for the past 3 months, and how business has been since the New Year. It’s also a good time to measure success against where you were this time last year, and see if you’ve had any improvements. A lot of businesses find that this is also the perfect time for a team night out, to boost staff morale and keep the work place atmosphere up! Quarterly reviews are also a great time to implement any changes that you feel necessary for the salon as we head towards Spring/Summer – maybe it’s a good time to refresh retail ranges and also improve the salon aesthetics in time for the new season.

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04 Mar 2020

Meet the Salon Tracker Team

When Salon Tracker was first built there were only five staff members, six years on and we now have a team of over thirteen people, the expansion is tremendous and will continue through the years. As time has passed, we have welcomed many fantastic new team members. Let’s take a look at each team member working at Salon Tracker currently. 

Toby and Conor are members of our support team, they help the girls working within the sales and marketing team to find a solution when an error or problem occurs. They are always there to support their fellow staff members and Salon Tracker customers and they offer their assistance in all situations which can be difficult. 

Nicola is the head of the sales and marketing team at Salon Tracker, she sets achievements for the sales team to meet each year and will break these down into specific targets to reach each month. She is currently managing our multi-site salon project and will be dealing with all enquiries who have multiple salons. When her fellow team members are uncertain on how to carry out specific tasks she is always there to support and assist them, such a lovely manager. She is unlucky when it comes to holidays for example her most recent trip to Lanzarote started two days late after a sand storm hit the island and she was stuck in Alicante. Not the first unlucky trip she has had unfortunately. When the team carry out a fuddle, she has been voted the best fuddle food provider with her range of gluten free options.   

Joseph is the newest member of the Salon Tracker team and has been labelled a technical wizard by his fellow colleagues, as he’s always on hand to provide a solution to the range of different problems Salon Tracker face on a daily basis. Joe has been a part of the office now for just over four months now and has been a fast learner in regards to the software. He encourages his fellow team members to eat healthy with his Huel regime and meal prep however he is known for his regular cheat days, which influence the rest of the team, McDonald's Monday did someone say?

Halle is the newest member of the Salon Tracker sales and marketing team and is currently managing the companies Educational Salon Software project and will be dealing with all enquires regarding beauty academies. Even though she has only been with the company for six months now she has learnt a lot during her time with her fellow team members and is assisting customers throughout their journey with Salon Tracker, she has been labelled friendly by many. Colleagues state that she is the best dressed in the office and has never been seen without a face of makeup. Halle is known be her fellow team members as being the office organizer as her desk is always extremely clean, she doesn’t like boxes and always disposes of them from the office.

Naomi has been apart of the Salon Tracker team for over two years now she was the first apprentice to join the Salon Tracker team, her knowledge about the software and the company allows her to assist her fellow team members. She is also known as the technology wizard when joe is busy the team turn to her for her knowledge and support, she is always on hand to help. The girls in the office know Naomi best for her love of prosecco, she's the life and soul of the party, when work events are arranged, she must attend. Naomi likes to play tricks on her fellow team members, she’s a joker and makes her team laugh on a regular basis.

Leah is a member of the sales and marketing team at Salon Tracker, she is currently managing and supporting our hair and beauty clients as part of her new project. She is always helpful to her fellow team members and continuously provides support to customers. She is the designated driver when work events take place such as the Christmas works party as she is extremely reliable. Tea duty is extremely important to the Salon Tracker office and Leah is always on hand to make the cup of teas and coffees without a doubt the best tea maker in the office.

Christie has also been a member of the Salon Tracker team for over two years now and at the moment is managing the company’s tanning clients as part of her company project. She is a dedicated hard worker who is always here to help her fellow team members. Christie is best known for her cake baking however she is yet to win the office bake off. The office prankster is her most popular trait every day without a fail she carry’s out a prank on at least one person in the office. The office turns to Christie when in need of a snack as her snack draw is the best in the office.

If you would like any further information or would like to get booked in for your FREE demo and two week trial contact us on 0113 350 8230 or email info@salontracker.co.uk.

Salon Tracker. X

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26 Feb 2020

Using Reports To Help Grow Your Salon Business

For those of you that already have Salon Tracker, I’m sure you already know about our amazing reports suite. We have plenty of different reports on the software, from the more basic cashing up report to the more complex reports like sales summary by category, there’s one for everything. Although you might already use the reports to get the figures and information you want, you might not be using them to your full advantage, and that’s where I step in. 

Sales by Hour

Once you’ve had the software for a few months, the reports will be able to give you a more accurate overview. The Sales by Hour is a great report, as it lets you see your peak hours when you’re super busy, and then the quieter periods where business is a little bit slower. From this you could then look to introduce a Happy Hour scheme, as this will help to improve business and revenue during these quieter periods. I mean you might as well give it a try and see if there’s any difference!

Sales by Day

This one is very similar to the sales by hour report, but it’s going to show you a bar chart of your sales by day. This is another great one, as it will give you an overall view of your best-selling days or your not so good days. This is a great one to pair with the Sales by Hour report if you are thinking of introducing a Happy Hour scheme, as you might want to look at only applying it on specific days. For example, if we look at the Sales by Day chart you can see that Sunday is the worst performer, however in most cases salons are open for limited hours on Sundays, so I am going to ignore this and look at the next lowest. Both Monday and Wednesday are showing similar figures, if we then look back to the sales by hour chart, it might be a good idea to introduce the Happy Hour on Monday and Wednesday only, between 12pm and 2pm. You can even set it up on Salon Tracker to only give discounts within a certain time period, which is great as it means that staff don’t need to remember to put the discount on themselves when putting sales through as everything is auto!

 

Retail Sales by Number Sold

This is a great report if you are wanting to focus on your retail sales, as it will list your best and worst selling items. This is great as it means that you can narrow down your stock to be the ones that you know your customers like, this will reduce your overall costs as you won’t be buying as many products. It also gives you more ability to try out new and different products, as you will have more budget to spend. By using this report, you could also look at increasing your prices on your best- selling products, as customers will still be likely to buy them even if the price is slightly higher. This doesn’t have to be anything ridiculous; it can just be a 50p or £1 increase.

Booking by Numbers Confirmed

This is another great report if you are wanting to look at your services in more detail, to see which services are performing well. As you can see on the report you will get a break down of your best to work selling service. This again is very similar to the retail sales by number sold, as you can see which services aren’t worth selling, and again which ones are your most popular so you can look to increase the price.

Hopefully this has helped you to understand how the reports suite in Salon Tracker can help you improve your business and grow your sales! If you aren’t already a customer of Salon Tracker and would be interested in taking a look at the software you can register for your free demo and trial here www.salontracker.co.uk/freetrial.aspx or alternatively you can call us on 0113 350 8230 and someone will be happy to help.

Don’t forget we are exhibiting at this year’s Professional Beauty London! Don’t hesitate to drop by our stand (S35), you can meet the team and have a live demonstration of the software. We look forward to seeing everyone there!

Salon Tracker x

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19 Feb 2020

February’s feature of the month – Siteview app

If you already have our software, you’ll know about our especially helpful feature – Siteview. Siteview is an online platform that allows you and your staff to log in from anywhere on their mobile, tablet or laptop and see what bookings they have in for future periods, run reports, charts and a dashboard featuring useful information. Obviously with user permissions you can decide who sees what and limit their view but for the owner of the business, it is the perfect solution to being able to access the software from home giving you that peace of mind that you needed on your last break away from the Salon. 

Well now our Siteview is a downloadable app on the Apple App Store and on Google Play for Android! Now you can experience the ease of checking on the Salon without having to navigate through the safari and weblink first. Instead you can simply click on the app and have all your figures and bookings directly Infront of you! Perfect for you busy on-the-go Salon owners! 

To download the app, simply search ‘salon tracker’ in the search box. It is completely free to download and all you need to input once it’s downloaded is your ‘Account Name’ which will be the name of the Salon with no spaces or capitals (you will only need to input this once) and your username and password… then you’re on!

If you do get stuck with this at all just give a member of the team a call on 0113 350 8230 and we'll be happy to give you a free training session on this!

If you don't currently have Salon Tracker but sound intrigued by this, then feel free to enquire at https://www.salontracker.co.uk/FreeTrial.aspx and a member of the team will be in touch as soon as possible!

We hope you love the App as much as we do!

Salon Tracker x

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12 Feb 2020

How Salon Tracker Can Help Your Hair Salon!

Here at Salon Tracker we are dedicated to ensuring we can help you run your salon in the most efficient and stress-free way possible. For this week’s blog we decided to put together a list of our most popular and helpful features that our hair salon customers seem to love!

Text Reminders

SMS text appointments are one of our most popular features for all types of salons, not just our hair clients. This feature allows you to choose a time period of one or two days before one of your customers appointments for the software to send out an automatic text reminder, without you having to think about it at all! The message will contain information about the customers booking and who their stylist is. This is also a one-way messaging system so you won’t need to worry about customers constantly texting you back.

Groups

Groups are another, really useful, quite hidden feature. This feature will allow you to only make certain services available to each staff member. For example, if you have staff members with different abilities or different pricing plans, we can help you create each individual staff member their own services group which will mean that only certain stylists and therapists will be able to book in certain services. This works especially well in salons with self employed staff or staff of different abilities, like apprentices!

My Reports

Another feature which is great for salons with self employed staff or even just staff who like to keep a track of their own profit on bookings and retail sales is our ‘my reports’. These reports will allow each individual staff member and stylist to be able to see reports such as booking and retail sales just for themselves. This is great for security and privacy reasons as staff members will only be able to view their own takings, not everyone else’s.

Stock Management

The selling of retail products is a large part of many different hair salons total income. We have incorporated many different small features in order to help your salon manage stock in the easiest way possible. One feature we provide is a stock control, this helps you keep track of how many of each retail product you have in and makes it clear when you’re running low on certain products. This will help ensure that you never run out of anything! We also offer a stock ordering feature which allows you to order and accept stock through your salon tracker. For more information on this feature go check out our October feature of the month blog > https://bit.ly/2S81IS9

Split Booking

The split booking feature is also another that we created with hair salons in mind. This allows you to create a booking and then split them into two halves. This feature is good for things such as colours and highlights as it will allow you to split up someone’s appointment for a development time that works best for you. It will also mean you can fit in other appointments in between the colour and finish, therefore making the most of your time!

Site View

For many hairdressers, having client’s message them for appointments out of salon time is a frequent occurrence. Our site view feature allows you to view your calendars from a tablet, phone or computer so you can check your availability even when you’re not in the salon. You can also view reports on this such as cashing up and the day end report! Salon Tracker site view is now available to download on the app store as well as online! Come back for next weeks blog to learn even more about our site view app.

Commission

Like we said before, we know retail sales are a large part of some hair salons income. In order to push staff to drive sales many salons use commission as an incentive. On salon tracker we have developed a feature which allows you to set up what commission (if any) you want staff members to get on certain retail and booking items. You can set different commissions for different staff members and also different commission rates for different products. You can then run our ‘Commission By Staff’ or ‘Commission Summary’ report to see how much each staff member has earnt, this will mean you no longer have to sit for hours before each payday to see how much each individual staff member has earnt.

If you would like any information on any of these features or you would like to get booked in for your FREE demo and 2 week trial give us a call on 0113 350 8230 or email info@salontracker.co.uk.

Salon Tracker x

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05 Feb 2020

How Salon Tracker Specialises in Multi-Site Business Management

Do you own more than one salon? Did you know that you can control all your salons from one main headquarters with Salon Tracker software! As we specialise in the management of multisite salon businesses, there are lots of specific built-in features designed to suit multiple salon environments.

From organising your customer data, where services & tanning courses can be shared across multiple sites, to systemising your stock ordering; our software improves the day to day running of larger salon branches. So, here’s a few simple benefits that Salon Tracker provides to help the overall running of this type of business:

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29 Jan 2020

Why Salon Tracker Software is beneficial for Educational Salon Academies

Salon Tracker Software is used by a variety of different clients ranging from tattoo parlours to tanning salons and many more. The software can be tailored to meet the needs of each client type for example T-Max integration applies to tanning salons, where as multi tabs is used by college clients to monitor the different skilled levels and classes that each student is within. 

New features such as split bookings allows hair salons to book clients appointments with a booking in between to allow their colour or toner to dry, allowing them to book pother clients in this gap, therefore are able to book clients appointments when it best suits them.  Other new features includes post delay which can also be used for hair salons as it ensures that when a customer books the appointment online the split between each service will automatically apply.

On the other hand, there are a range of features which can apply to all clients these includes the SMS marketing section which allows salons to market their special offers, for beauty academies it allows them to send alert customers of new students. For example, the training academy may send out an offer to clients stating that ‘Chloe’ has joined the academy and will be offer full set of gels for £10 for training purposes. Stock management is used by all clients and is suitable for training academy’s and the salon within the beauty academy for staff to be able to monitor the stock they sell therefore being able to identify which is there most popular product.

Stock Management

Currently Salon Tracker Software is developing an Educational Salon Software Scheme to help assist and organise beauty academies. The plan for Salon Tracker software is to renovate their current website in order to separate the different sectors including hair and beauty then spa and clinic as well as education. The new page on their current website with the subheading of education will break down the page so that when colleges visit the website, they are able to look into the materials that apply to them specifically and how the software can be tailored to meet their needs.

Academy training centres and the salons within the academy are always busy with new students arriving and each student training to achieve different qualifications, it can become quite complicate at times to keep a handle on each student. Salon Tracker allows staff to create different calendars to organise which qualification each student is on track to achieve. Features such as groups ensures that students aren’t able to carry out tasks they are not qualified to do for example if a student is qualified to carry out eyebrow waxing but not yet eyebrow tinting, they will be restricted meaning they cannot carry out eyebrow tinting on clients for legal purposes this feature can be very beneficial.

If you require more information on the software and the features we offer don’t hesitate to contact us on 0113 350 8230 or alternatively email christie@Salontracker.co.uk

Salon Tracker x

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