Online booking for barbers, salons and clinics: 7 practical tips

Taking bookings by phone costs a small business more than it seems. A customer calls while you're busy with someone else, requests outside opening hours are missed and bookings written in a diary get mixed up. An online booking system takes much of that load off you, but if it isn't set up well it can create new problems. Here are our practical tips for barbers, hair and beauty salons, clinics and consultants.

What online booking does for your business

• Customers can book at any time of day, so out-of-hours requests aren't lost.
• Fewer phone calls mean more time for your actual work.
• You can see your free slots and fill your calendar more efficiently.
• Your booking history is on record, so you can see which services are most popular.

Enter realistic service durations

Set the duration of every service, whether it's a haircut, a beard trim, colouring or an examination, to how long it really takes. Durations that are too short make delays pile up during the day. Add a short preparation gap between services if you need it.

Set your opening hours and breaks

Enter your weekly opening hours, lunch break and days off. Customers then only see the times when you are really free, and bookings don't clash.

Send confirmations and reminders

A confirmation when a booking is made, and a reminder a day or a few hours before, noticeably reduce no-shows. Since most customers use WhatsApp, offering a quick contact link makes things easier too.

Make your cancellation rule clear

Tell customers from the start how late they can cancel. Showing the rule on the booking page and in the confirmation message reduces last-minute cancellations.

Show your prices

Customers hesitate to book a service when they don't know the price. Showing prices, or at least starting prices, on your site also cuts down the questions you get by phone.

Show your real work

Use the gallery to share your own work rather than stock photos. Customers want to see the result before they book, and a good gallery is your strongest advert.

Take care with personal data

A booking form collects personal data such as names and phone numbers. Publish a privacy notice on your site, ask only for the information you really need and store it in a secure system.

Where to start

A site on your own domain that comes with service and price pages, a gallery and an online booking form is the quickest way to get started. Our Booking Website Software is built exactly for this: you pay once, we install it, and you follow incoming bookings from the admin panel. If you have questions, write to us.