Appointment Reminders?

[stgall]

Hi Salonistas!

I'm considering a business idea - a service which would automatically call or text people to remind them that they have a salon appointment. I've seen a similar system in the US (I'm British) which claims to cut no-shows by 90%.

I wanted to ask salongeek members if they know of something similar in the UK? I know some of the fancy salon management software will do that, but I'm planning something very lightweight (and not very expensive). No ability to make bookings etc, just a simple way for salons to enter client times and phone numbers and have a reminder message or call automatically sent out. Then maybe a text alert for the salon if the client cancels.

Does this sound familiar? Or even worthwhile?

Thanks in advance for any comments you can give to help my market research

stgall

 

[kimi1101]

Ovatu do this. Also I think salon lite. I use ovatu and its fairly inexpensive

 

[jadedylan]

Sounds like a brilliant idea if you ask me. Id be interested in hearing the feedback if you do get a system x

 

[stgall]

Thank you both so much for the feedback!

@kimi1101 - Both of those look a little more feature-packed than I was thinking of. Do you use Ovatu's functionality like diary management and point of sales functionality? My idea here was that mine would be way more simple to use, aimed at just cutting down noshows. Also, I noticed that they only do text - I want mine to call as well (e.g. "press one to keep your appointment, two to cancel" ), would that be useful?

@jadedylan - Thanks! I'll PM you if/when I get something in place!

 

[squidgernetball]

I think like so many things it depends on the cost. I do use a sofware system and one of the things I looked into was how cheap the text reminders were. They're so cheap I use them for marketing/promos etc rather than just reminders. Hope that helps x

 

[rheanna]

Hi nice idea but wouldn't work for me, I use salonlite for bookings which also sends text & email reminders whichever booking system I used though I wouldn't want to have to enter bookings twice into separate things & I also wouldn't want the call or the option to cancel!! Most people have mobile these days so call not needed really& a little more invasive I feel, good luck though xx

 

[tanfastic]

Quite a few software programs out there already do this. I have been using Fullslate integrated with my website, online booking system, appointment reminders, online shop. Everything I need and loving it.

 

[PremierIan]

As somebody with direct experience of this - it's probably not as simple as you think

The calling idea sounds great in concept, but in reality it'd more than likely annoy people. Text messages are perfect because they get attention without the user having to stop what they're doing - imagine your phone ringing in the middle of work, and you having to sit and wait for it to tell you "hello mrs smith, you have a Hot Stone Massage at 1:30 today with Susan at MySalon. Would you like to confirm your appointment? Press 1 to do so now...". Whereas I can glance at a text message and even come back to it later if needs be. The technology is there - it's just not very useful in this case.

As others have said, you also wouldn't want to enter appointments twice either - in our case (salonlite) we have all the detail and everything is automatic. You don't need to remember to do anything. Even better, if a client books online, you'll never need to touch the system until the client walks in.

 

[stgall]

Thank you all so much for your thoughts - this is a lovely forum!

@squidgernetball - I can see the cost being monthly rather than per message - so, for instance, you would pay a monthly subscription of £30 and then use it as much as you want.

@rheanna - Salonlite seems to be really popular, and I wouldn't be trying to take their market, but it's great that you use their SMS service. I think I see my market as for people who don't want a dedicated booking system but do have a problem with no shows (so no need to enter twice). Interesting point about the voice reminder too though

@tanfastic - Haven't come across that one will check it out

@PremierIan - your two pence is definitely appreciated Ian! I think you've built awesome software there and it's clear people love it. I just wonder if you're serving the entire market and whether there's space for one more! It would be interesting to see the effect of SMS vs voice calls on no-shows, as I often find myself dismissing a text. I think a call, while more intrusive, would be more likely to make me either turn up or cancel in good time. But we'll see!