How to Manage Salon Customer Data

Running a salon business takes a lot of planning and organization - this might leave you wondering how to manage salon customer data.

Salon owners know that keeping track of client information involves a lot more than just jotting down handwritten notes in an appointment book.

In fact, poor clients’ data management has lasting consequences for your business, including failing to attract new clients, losing loyal ones and even legal problems.

The right business software and data management strategies can become a powerful tool to grow and maintain your business.

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1. Why Do You Need a Salon Customer Database?
2. How Do You Complete a Salon Client Record Card?
3. How Should Client Records Be Held and Maintained in a Salon?
4. Additional Benefits of Using a Salon Client Record App
5. Conclusion

Why Do You Need a Salon Customer Database?

Keeping an up-to-date client record will prevent a lot of problems from happening, while also improving your support during visits and your overall retention rates.

It can also save you time and money when conducting future sales research. Businesses rely on information from existing customers to help them effectively market new services or plan larger marketing campaigns.

A good business management system and software are your best friends.

Let’s take a look at exactly what salon record keeping can do for your business:

Decrease Revenue Loss

Having reliable contact data helps salons send appointment reminders and follow-ups. This makes for less scheduling issues caused by late arrivals and no-shows.

You can also get reviews after bookings and services, resolving any possible issues with a visit and not losing clients.

Improve Your Service

You’ll have the tools to access their appointment booking history and the ability to handle any unique needs or requests and make suggestions during each service.

These salon software features will help a lot during an appointment when recommending product sales or upselling, too.

To learn more please check out our post on How Important Is Salon Customer Tracking in Your Business.

Take Advantage of Marketing Possibilities

This will help with client management statistics like email efficiency and peak times for bookings. You can have constant contact with your clients and a variety of tools to help create things such as loyalty programs.

Increase Efficiency

Constantly gathering information on your clients and services will allow you to track trends, clients’ service preferences, point out popular products (this is helpful for managing and ordering supplies, too), and is a great solution for salon owners who want to support their stylists with promotions or training when needed.

How Do You Complete a Salon Client Record Card?

Keeping detailed and accurate client cards for hair salon records is an important part of the management process. Salon management’s job is to train each employee to manage client information, especially since it’s key for good CRM (Customer Relationship Management).

Of course, this means keeping track of appointments and bookings, but it also involves saving basic client information for future reference. This will come in handy for salon owners who want to tailor their marketing campaigns to fit their desired clients.

Most importantly, owners and staff can use this client information to provide excellent service during appointments. The purpose of client record card information is to effectively create a quick and easy-to-use reference for client management and future services.

Let’s take a look at what salons should include on their hair stylist client cards:

Full Name

Hairdressing client record cards should include the names of clients, as well as any nicknames notes about what they prefer to be called.

Phone Number

Feel free to include multiple numbers, such as both home and cell phone, as well as the best times to call them.

Email Address

This is important for sending links to the salon website, online surveys, sales promotions and booking reminders. It’s also useful for encouraging online booking through your business website.

Social Networks

Clients can be contacted for promotions via social media and invited to like the salon’s pages. You might consider having special loyalty programs or discount services for clients who are active online, effectively increasing your salon page’s views.

Feel free to use this for SMS marketing, if they’re agreed to it.

Date of Birth

If you schedule birthday month promotions or offer free gifts, you should include this. It will also save you time with future client management if you have more details about the average age of your clients.

Hair Information

Include history from your own bookings, such as type and client color record cards, as well as any details from previous salons (if they’ve had problems with certain products or cuts in the past, for example).

Products

Are there products that they prefer to use? What about things that they regularly order or features that they prefer in a hair product? Keep this all in your client management system so that you can be prepared before each visit.

Personal Notes

This can include health conditions, allergies or anything an employee reports that’s relevant.

Hair Salon Client Questionnaire

If you use an online questionnaire during the booking process, salon customer database software will make it easier to add the information to your system before you even meet the clients. Then, you’re ready to go.

How Should Client Records Be Held and Maintained in a Salon?

When you choose the right way to store your records, you’ll need to take three things into account:

Safety

Data can be lost or stolen, which can have legal consequences for your business. It’s also difficult to replace information on many clients at once.

Accessibility

You and your staff should be free to manage your schedule and records from anywhere online, not just when you’re sitting in front of the reception desk.

Usability

Staff and clients should get the most out of these features, building loyalty and boosting salon revenue in the long run.

With their limited mobility, the challenges of cross-referencing clients, and vulnerability to loss, paper salon management systems score the lowest in all three of these categories. A salon client information book just isn’t set up to meet the demands of a modern business.

Spreadsheets are slightly better, because you can more easily send, view and “slice and dice” your data, but they’re still not as easy or convenient as salon management software.

Why Use Hair Salon Database Software

This is probably the safest, most efficient, method to manage both online booking details and long-term client records. With customizable access and cloud based data storage, you can control how much your staff sees at different levels, keeping everything secure.

If you want to grow your company and have more free time to focus on your staff and clientele, then salon management software is definitely the way to go. It can help with financial records, inventory tracking, CRM, and much more.

Additional Benefits of Using a Salon Client Record App

Salon management software has many advantages. Let’s go over a couple and see how using salon software can help you and your staff to do the best you can while still saving valuable time and energy for your clients:

Detailed and Structured Client Records:

• Maintain up to date profiles and contact information.

• Salon software lets you store unlimited history and search it easily.

• SOAP notes (HIPAA compliment). If your business provides any healthcare-related beauty services, this is a must.

• Store before and after images. With permission, you might also be able to share these on your website.

• Store color info for future reference.

• Add personal notes such as preference, important events, birthdays, etc.

Secure Access and Usability:

• Easy access online or through the cloud.

• Easy to navigate to save you time.

• Keep your salon client record card app data secure.

• Data protection law compliance. The laws will vary by state or country but you’ll be able to comply with regulations like the GDPR, California Consumer Privacy Act, etc.

Multiple Tracking and Forecasting Features:

• Track purchase history for easier upselling and cross-selling (you’ll know when they need their favorite shampoo and conditioner and can reorder it easily).

• Checking appointments to help prevent no-shows and cancellations.

• Sending surveys to let clients share their opinions about their experience.

• Sending reminders about upcoming appointments or promotions.

• Track your most popular services, products and staff members.

• Categorization and cross references of clients for easy analysis.

• Forecast upcoming trends to be ready.

Improved Salon Customer Experience:

• Provide personalized, customizable service with detailed information.

• Implement loyalty programs and special offers to keep long-term clients happy.

• Go paperless with easy to use digitized consultation and pretreatment forms.

• Manage feedback with a customers’ review tool.

• Improve your targeted marketing by sending emails and sms promotions to select groups.

• Make follow-ups easier with automatic messages.

You may also like our guide on How to Increase Salon Clientele.

Conclusion

Using management software and an app for salon client records can take a lot of the guesswork out of running your business. You’ll always know where to find the information that you need, and it can be updated quickly and easily.

Many people in the beauty industry wonder how to manage salon customer data, but the truth is that it can be easy with the right tools. If you let hair salon client database software free you to focus on your clients and employees, your job will not only be easier- it’ll be more enjoyable too.

Citations

The relationship between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09596110110395893/full

Why database marketing?
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-0-387-72579-6_2

Trust and customer willingness to provide information in database-driven relationship marketing
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S109499680270159X