Salons and spas have been popping up everywhere as of late. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the total number of barbers, hairdressers, and cosmetologists in the U.S. alone is expected to increase by a whopping 11% by 2031. But along with more salons comes more competition. Since the global salon and spa industry has been growing at such a fast and continuous rate, it has become increasingly imperative for salon owners to leverage every advantage they can get. One such advantage is ensuring you have the very best beauty salon scheduling software.
Salon scheduling software is a powerful tool for salon owners, as it can help manage multiple time-consuming aspects of a beauty salon business. Whether it’s online booking, employee and customer management, payment processing, or even managing reward programs, salon management software can save your business time and money.
But that’s not all – the best beauty salon scheduling software also includes tools for social media marketing, unlimited appointment bookings, and other advanced features. But the problem is, there are many scheduling software solutions available today, and few match these high standards. So you may ask, which is the best beauty salon scheduling software for me?
Don’t worry; this article is here to help. Here you will find the best beauty salon scheduling software available today. No doubt, after reading this article, you will find the best salon software for your business.
Enjoy!
Features to Look for in a Scheduling App
Before you can find the best salon management software, you have to know your own needs. All businesses come with their own unique needs, and what works for one business might not work for another.
Don’t worry; that’s okay.
What’s important is finding a solution that works for you, your employees, and most importantly, your customers. So without further ado, here are some important features to look for in salon scheduling software.
Online booking: Since salons are naturally reliant on appointments to succeed, an effective salon scheduling software should let clients easily book their appointments online. This means including a user-friendly interface and options to select specific services, staff members, and time slots.
Calendar integration: Due to humanity’s reliance on big software like Google Calendar and Apple iCloud Calendar, you don’t want to choose any scheduling software that doesn’t have the ability to integrate with these two key players. This will help ensure seamless appointment synchronization and prevent double bookings and other scheduling conflicts.
Staff management: Another important element of any effective salon software, staff scheduling and management is what keeps a business together. Make sure your scheduling software can do essential tasks like assigning staff members to appointments, tracking employee availability, and managing their schedules.
Automated reminders: With our busy lives, we always need to be reminded at least once or twice to remember an appointment or a payment date. Make sure that the software you choose can send automated reminders to clients to help reduce no-shows.
Client management: Last of all, watch for features that let you create detailed client profiles, including their service history, preferences, and contact information. This will help you both provide personalized service, as well as utilize targeted marketing.
Best Beauty Salon Scheduling Software
- Trafft
- Schedulicity
- Acuity Scheduling
- Ovatu
- Vagaro
- Square Appointments
- Genbook
- Setmore
- SimplyBook.me
- GlossGenius
- BookSteam
- Simple Salon
- 10to8
- Fresha
- Reservio
- Booker
Trafft
You know it; running a beauty salon is no simple task.
Between managing your passionate team, keeping up with the latest trends, and ensuring every customer walks out of your salon feeling fabulous – there’s a lot on your plate.
Now, let’s talk about scheduling. Who wants to spend precious time wrestling with diaries, spreadsheets, or sticky notes? Not to mention the countless hours spent on phone calls confirming and re-confirming appointments.
But what if it doesn’t have to be that way? What if managing your beauty salon’s appointments could be as breezy as a summer’s day?
Enter Trafft.
This is not just another scheduling software. It’s like having your own personal assistant who never takes a break. With Trafft, it’s about giving you back the time you deserve, letting you focus on what you do best – making your customers feel beautiful.
Can you imagine it?
- No more no-shows because of automated reminders.
- Happier clients as they book appointments on their own time, without having to call in.
- Happier employees as they can manage their schedules with a click of a button.
- Less stress for you and your team.
- More time as it’s like having an extra pair of hands that manages everything from employee schedules to customer bookings.
And the best part? This isn’t a dream. It’s real, and it’s here.
Ready to transform your beauty salon management?
Start your journey with Trafft today. Take control of your salon’s scheduling, elevate your customer experience, and say goodbye to scheduling headaches.
Start with Trafft for free. Don’t just make your salon better, make it the best.
Embrace the future, and let Trafft be a part of your success story.
Schedulicity
Schedulicity is a simple yet effective software that helps salons manage and process their appointments. It works especially well for micro-businesses, as it offers a free plan to accommodate tighter budgets. But if you manage a more established company, don’t worry; it also offers paid subscriptions with more sizable features.
One issue is that Schedulicity’s free plan is quite light. It only offers a maximum of 10 bookings at a time, nor does it include a payment processing system. If you want a more sizable free plan, you may want to look elsewhere.
But Scheulicity does have some pros, especially when it comes to its more advanced features. Here are a couple:
- Advanced appointment scheduling features
- Free and paid plans
- Class management options
- Unlimited phone and email support
- A user-friendly mobile app
- Team/partner management options
Acuity Scheduling
Acuity Scheduling is a powerful appointment software that lets your clients schedule, pay for, and review appointments online from the comfort of their own homes. It’s known for its flexibility, because of its many customization options.
Of course, the client scheduling page is completely customizable, but that’s not all. Acuity Scheduling also offers a number of customization options for notifications, appointment reminders, and follow-up emails. This lets you place your brand on these emails, further supporting your business’ marketing campaigns.
Here are some more of Acuity Scheduling’s key features:
- Multiple calendar synchronizations with applications like Google Calendar, Apple iCloud Calendar, Outlook, and others
- Payment processing options
- Membership and group classes features
- Shared calendar availability
- Advanced report functionality regarding appointments, performance, and no-shows
- An embeddable scheduler for your website
Ovatu
Ovatu is a world-class booking platform that makes appointment management a breeze. It automates online bookings, integrates with online payments, and provides email and SMS reminders. This not only saves your time but also helps attract customers.
It’s also multi-device compatible, so both you and your clients can access it from any device. And what’s more, you can also integrate it with popular payment platforms like PayPal and Stripe, therefore increasing your salon’s appeal.
Here are some of Ovato’s standout features:
- Marketing tools
- Staff management tools
- Client management tools
- Calendar synchronization features
- Payment processing features
- Booking bots
- A customizable mini-site
Vagaro
Vagaro is an effective appointment/salon management system that specializes in the beauty and fitness industries. Much like some other salon software solutions, with Vagaro, you get both an online scheduling app and access to their online business directory for extra visibility.
While you’re attracting new customers, you can utilize custom forms to protect your business’ growth with digital surveys and waivers. Not only does this keep a pulse check on your customer satisfaction, but it can also give your customer relationship management a leg up for future campaigns.
Here are some of Vagaro’s features:
- Inventory management tools
- Staff management tools
- Calendar synchronization options
- Client management tools
- Payment processing options
- Automatic reminders and notifications
- A whole suite of powerful online booking features
Square Appointments
If you want an affordable appointment scheduler or a full-blown point-of-sale (POS) and business management system, Square Appointments can be a great flexible option. It’s free for individuals, yet includes many integrations for other marketing and business tools from the Square suite, making it a powerful and affordable option.
If you only want an appointment scheduler for now but may want it to grow into a fully-fledged business management system, then Square Appointments is the choice for you. If you want to implement paying your staff, why not implement their online payroll software? Worried you aren’t putting enough focus on your marketing? How about implementing the square marketing suite, with all the features that come with it?
So needless to say, Square Appointments has many powerful integrations. But what about its included starting features? Here are a couple of them:
- Advanced client data retention features
- An easy-to-use calendar
- Automated email and SMS reminders
- A booking widget for easy website integration
- A dedicated booking website
Genbook
Genbook has been one of the most effective salon management software solutions ever since its inception in 2006, specifically specializing in the health, wellness, and beauty industries. It offers a comprehensive and adaptable platform that can easily match any business model, from dog grooming services to photography.
One of Genbook’s strongest features is its wide array of integrations. It includes integrations with business directories, search engine platforms, and social media networks to make it easy for customers to find and book services with you.
But that’s not all; here are some more of Genbook’s features:
- Calendar synchronization options
- Inventory management tools
- Automatic reminders and notifications
- Payment processing tools
- Powerful online booking tools
Setmore
Setmore is easily the best salon scheduling software when it comes to managing your salon on a budget. With its free plan, you can get unlimited appointment bookings for up to four users, up to 100 email appointment reminders, and even online payment processing through Square. Although it doesn’t give you the more advanced features, its free plan can still be enough for a salon owner or stylist with a budget.
But of course, if you feel like the free plan isn’t enough, you can always upgrade to one of Setmore’s paid plans. Then you get access to more features, like Stripe payment processing and unlimited customer reminders.
But that’s still not all the features that Setmore offers. Here are some more:
- Reporting and analytic features
- Online payment processing tools
- Automated reminders and notifications
- Staff management features
- Calendar integrations
- Class and group booking features
- An effective online booking platform
SimplyBook.me
SimplyBook.me is another popular salon management platform among small businesses and freelance service providers. It can help you significantly streamline your day-to-day staff, client, and scheduling tasks.
Also, you don’t need to worry about mobile accessibility, as SimplyBook.me is accessible on any device, anywhere with an internet connection. On top of that, you also have full control over your booking processes; if you want to use classes and memberships, you can.
But wait, there’s more. Here are some more of SimplyBook.me’s standout features:
- Deep insight and statistic-based reports
- A flexible membership duration period
- Support for 23 separate payment processors
- A fully customizable booking page
- And a newly implemented POS custom feature
GlossGenius
GlossGenius gives salon owners a sleek and sophisticated mobile booking interface for their clients. There, your clients can easily book appointments with you online 24/7. And what’s more, it also includes easy-to-use brand-building tools that let you build and design beautiful customizations and appealing service menus.
These features do make GlossGenius a powerful and elegant option, especially with its robust brand-building tools, but there is a catch. Sadly, it doesn’t have a free plan, which may put it out of the price range for small businesses. But if your business can afford it, it can be a great choice.
Here are some more of GlossGenius’s more popular features:
- Free same-business-day transfers
- Online client liability waivers
- Waitlist management features
- Calendar scheduling tools
- Sales analytic tools
- Detailed client profiles
BookSteam
BookSteam is a highly customizable online booking software that makes automating appointment scheduling a breeze. By virtue of its features like inventory management, client notifications, and credit card processing, it greatly simplifies the operations necessary to run a business.
And as a bonus, BookSteam features an array of features dealing with staff management. You can manage your staff’s schedules, track their availability, and even assign specific rooms or services to individual employees.
Here are some more of BookSteam’s features:
- Online client reviews and feedback
- Multiple location support
- Easily customizable email templates
- Automated reminders and notifications
- Customizable booking pages
- Online payment processing tools
- A powerful online appointment scheduling system
Simple Salon
Simple Salon is another salon scheduling software that, much like other platforms mentioned in this article, gives you a variety of marketing and booking tools to make your business run more smoothly. You’ll find SMS messaging, 24/7 online bookings, accounting tools, and more.
Another of Simple Salon’s strengths is its accessibility. Whether you’re using an iPad or a laptop, you can access and manage your personal and team calendars. What’s more, you can also integrate with other popular payment platforms like Paypal and Stripe, further improving your business’s appeal.
But Simple Salon doesn’t stop there; here are some more of its standout features:
- Payment processing tools
- Automatic reminders
- Online marketing tools
- Calendar synchronization tools
- Staff management options
- A powerful toolbox of online booking features
Sign In Scheduling (formerly 10to8)
10to8 is an effective cloud-based management tool that streamlines the scheduling and operations of businesses of all sizes. It can be especially ideal for optimizing processes and avoiding common issues like client miscommunications, common no-shows, and scheduling conflicts.
Because of the online nature of its app, you can access your dashboard anytime, anywhere. Also, due to the app’s many integration options, you can easily integrate it with your favorite third-party apps.
Here are some of 10to8’s notable features:
- Powerful, bank-grade data encryption
- Efficient schedule transparency
- Seamless third-party app integration
- Custom API
- Complete online resource visibility
Fresha
Fresha is a popular salon and spa management platform that boasts a wide range of powerful features. Using Fresha, you will find all the features you need to run an effective spa or salon, such as online bookings, inventory management, a POS system, analytics, and marketing tools.
And the best part is, you only need to pay for Fresha Plus when it succeeds. That is to say that you only need to pay whenever a new client books your services through the Fresha marketplace; Fresha will take a small commission.
Here are some of Fresha’s most noteworthy features:
- Team management tools
- Inventory management tools
- In-depth customer records
- Marketing automation
- An effective POS system
- A powerful appointment scheduling platform to boot
Reservio
Reservio is a powerful cloud-based booking software for salons and similar service-based businesses. It has an intuitive and easy-to-use design to help salons, spas, and other services manage their schedules and clients anytime, anywhere.
Even aside from its appointment booking features, Reservio continues to offer top-tier features for helping businesses promote and market their services, as well as reviewing and reporting on the business’ performance. This gives business owners and managers more time to engage with their clients and expand their customer base instead of preoccupying themselves with tedious tasks.
But that’s not all; here are some more of Reservio’s claim-to-fame features:
- A highly secured 128-bit SSL encryption to protect your data
- Advanced client reminder and notification tools
- Google Analytics integration
- A robust customer management system
- Over 150,000 satisfied clients worldwide
Booker
If you own a large salon looking to upgrade your client booking system, Booker might be the system for you. It caters very specifically to the health and wellness industry, but it continues to cater to the beauty industry very well.
The one main downside of Booker is its lack of a free trial or plan. You can request a personalized demo from a member of their staff, but it may not be ideal for those who like to test a product themselves. On the other hand, a one-on-one demo with a live rep can be a great way to ask specific questions about your business’s needs, as a live rep can answer your questions much better than a Google search can.
This may sound like a negative review, but the truth is that Booker is an amazing salon management software for many reasons. Here are just a couple of the features that earn it a spot on this list:
- Effective inventory management tools
- An integrated POS system
- Automatic appointment reminders and notifications through text and email
- Online gift certificates
- Unlimited logins
FAQ on the Best Beauty Salon Scheduling Software
What’s the top feature to look for in salon scheduling software?
Ease of Use. You’re looking for software that makes your life simpler, not harder. It should be as easy as swiping left or right. It needs to have a user-friendly interface and intuitive navigation.
Think about your stylists and receptionists – they should be able to schedule appointments, update client details, and manage stock without a steep learning curve.
How secure is client information when using beauty salon software?
Super Secure. Good salon scheduling software should keep your clients’ data as secure as a vault in a bank. It should use high-level encryption and comply with data protection regulations to ensure every single piece of sensitive info is safe and sound.
Be sure to check the provider’s privacy policy and security measures before making your choice.
Can I access the system from multiple devices?
Absolutely! Modern salon software should be as flexible as a yoga instructor. It should allow you to access your scheduling, client information, and reports from any device, at any time.
This means it should be cloud-based, giving you the freedom to manage your salon from your smartphone, tablet, or desktop, whether you’re in the salon, at home, or on the go.
Does the software provide reminders for appointments?
Yes, siree! Any software worth its salt will have an automatic reminder feature. This means it’ll send notifications to your clients about their upcoming appointments.
It’s like having a personal assistant who keeps track of everything for you. This helps reduce no-shows and cancellations, keeping your salon running smoothly.
How does the software handle inventory management?
Like a Pro. A good salon scheduling software should include inventory management. It’ll track your products, alert you when it’s time to reorder, and may even suggest the best times to do so based on historical data.
It’s like having a smart inventory wizard working tirelessly in the background.
Can I integrate it with other software?
Sure thing! Your salon software should be able to play nice with others. It should allow integration with other software that you might use in your salon, like accounting software, email marketing tools, or social media platforms.
A well-integrated system will streamline your workflow, making your salon management a breeze.
Does the software support online bookings?
Yes, indeed! In this digital age, salon software without online booking is like a salon without scissors. It should provide an easy-to-use online booking system that your clients can access 24/7.
That way, your clients can make appointments at their own convenience, and you’re effectively open for business around the clock.
How can the software assist with marketing?
In All Sorts of Ways. Salon scheduling software can be a marketing powerhouse. It can help you set up promotional campaigns, send out personalized emails or text messages, and even integrate with social media platforms.
It’s like having your very own marketing agency tucked away inside your computer.
What kind of customer support does the software provider offer?
Top-Notch. When you’re in need, your software provider should be there with a helping hand. They should offer robust customer support through various channels like email, phone, or live chat.
It’s always good to have someone knowledgeable and patient to guide you when the going gets tough.
Are there training resources available for learning the software?
You Bet. A decent salon scheduling software provider will also be an excellent teacher. They should provide comprehensive training resources, like tutorial videos, webinars, and articles, to help you and your team get the hang of the system quickly. Learning should be as fun and easy as a game of tic-tac-toe.
How to Choose the Best Beauty Salon Scheduling Software?
Choosing the right beauty salon scheduling software is crucial for a smooth salon operation. To make the best choice, consider factors like ease of use, customization options, mobile compatibility, integration capabilities, and cost.
Ensure it can handle client communications and payments securely while complying with data privacy regulations. Reviews and recommendations from peers can provide valuable insights. If possible, try out a free trial to assess its suitability. Scalability is important to accommodate future growth.
In short, by carefully evaluating these factors, you can select scheduling software that aligns with your salon’s specific needs and budget, ultimately enhancing your salon’s efficiency and client satisfaction.
