The situation
Meet Jess, an illustrative example: she runs a hair salon with four stylists, taking bookings by phone and Instagram DMs into a paper diary, with no-shows costing the salon money most weeks. See why appointments get missed, and the fix for the full picture. This example picks up from there and covers the fuller project: online booking, automatic reminders, a simple CRM, and review requests that go out on their own.
What we'd set up
- An online booking page, so clients can see real availability and book a slot themselves, day or night, without waiting for the phone to be free.
- Booking confirmations and reminders, sent automatically after booking and again the day before, so clients have a clear chance to cancel or rebook rather than simply not turning up.
- A simple CRM pipeline holding client preferences and booking history in one place, so any stylist can see what a regular client usually asks for.
- Review request automation, so a short, well-timed message goes out after each appointment asking happy clients for a Google review, without anyone having to remember.
How the project would run
Week 1: a free call to understand how bookings currently flow, followed by building the online booking page and connecting it to Jess's real diary and availability.
Week 2: booking confirmations and reminders are built and tested against real appointment types, from a quick trim to a full colour that needs more notice.
Week 3: the CRM pipeline is set up to hold client history, and review request automation is added, timed to go out a day or two after the appointment.
Week 4: the whole setup runs alongside the current phone-booking approach for a short overlap, then a short training session for the team and a written guide to how everything works.
What changes day to day
A client books her own slot at ten at night instead of waiting for opening hours, and the booking appears straight in Jess's diary. The day before an appointment, she gets an automatic reminder, and if she needs to cancel, there's time to fill the slot instead of losing it. After a great appointment, a message goes out asking for a Google review, so the reviews building up on Jess's listing reflect how things are now rather than three years ago. The stylists keep doing what they do best. What changes is how much of the admin around it happens without anyone chasing it.
What you get back
Booking messages that used to be answered between clients, by phone or on Instagram, stop needing Jess's attention at all, because clients book themselves into real availability any time of day. Reminding a client about tomorrow's appointment stops being something to remember, because it goes out automatically with time to cancel or rebook. Asking for a review stops depending on someone catching the right moment at the till, because a short message goes out on its own after a great appointment.
If this sounds familiar, start my project like this.
Tools involved
A project like this usually sits on top of scheduling and client tools Jess's salon may already use, such as Fresha, Timely or Phorest, or introduces one if there isn't a proper system in place yet. Reminders typically go out by SMS or email, whichever clients respond to best, and review requests link directly to Jess's Google Business Profile.
Related
If this sounds like your week, see No-shows and booking chaos and Admin eats our evenings and weekends. Further reading: How to get more Google reviews (without being pushy) and How to reduce no-shows with automatic reminders. For the wider picture on this sector, see booking systems for clinics, salons and therapists.