Is it worth investing in salon software?

[Carlalouise]

I was approached at the beauty show by a company selling beauty salon software packages. It's something I've thought about for the future but
not for my salon yet as it's still very young. After talking to this lady who wasn't hard selling, she said it doesn't matter how small or new you are, if you want your business to grow you've got to get on board with this type of technology, internet appointments, automated emails and texts, marketing etc.

I spoke to my old boss who's a Director of quite a big prestigious company and he has said if I can find the money I should definitely do it! So just wondering if you guys have invested and has it helped your business grow?

 

[squidgernetball]

Hi hon I think we have had a few communications on here in the past and are in similar situations. I took on salon iris nearly 2 years ago and it is fantastic. I played with loads of systems and after careful consideration and demos etc I bought one for a lot of money. It was awful. Childlike, simple and had been totally misrepresented in the demo. I had downloaded the salon iris trial and kept thinking 'I wonder if it does this or this' and it did. It did everything I could think of and more. After getting a refund from the first company I bought SI. I didn't buy expensive touch screen computers just had my old home comp on a desk at work and the price was pretty good and interest free for 12 months. Some systems are cloud based but this is actual software that is loaded onto your comp so if the Internet goes down or, like us, your Internet is totally slow and unreliable you can still use it. We do text marketing, email marketing, online booking and also have loads of sales reports such as takings in Jan compared to last year etc. Our receipt printer also shows the clients next appointment, printing it out, and all in all it looks mega professional. I would definitely say business has grown. We are very isolated but have grown hugely in the past year. Towards the end of Jan which wasn't a good month for us, we did a promo on environ skincare, sending a text to every client whether a user or not. That promo meant our final takings for Jan ended up being better than December's. The magic of text marketing. Cannot recommend highly enough. Any questions please ask x

 

[Carlalouise]

Hi hon I think we have had a few communications on here in the past and are in similar situations. I took on salon iris nearly 2 years ago and it is fantastic. I played with loads of systems and after careful consideration and demos etc I bought one for a lot of money. It was awful. Childlike, simple and had been totally misrepresented in the demo. I had downloaded the salon iris trial and kept thinking 'I wonder if it does this or this' and it did. It did everything I could think of and more. After getting a refund from the first company I bought SI. I didn't buy expensive touch screen computers just had my old home comp on a desk at work and the price was pretty good and interest free for 12 months. Some systems are cloud based but this is actual software that is loaded onto your comp so if the Internet goes down or, like us, your Internet is totally slow and unreliable you can still use it. We do text marketing, email marketing, online booking and also have loads of sales reports such as takings in Jan compared to last year etc. Our receipt printer also shows the clients next appointment, printing it out, and all in all it looks mega professional. I would definitely say business has grown. We are very isolated but have grown hugely in the past year. Towards the end of Jan which wasn't a good month for us, we did a promo on environ skincare, sending a text to every client whether a user or not. That promo meant our final takings for Jan ended up being better than December's. The magic of text marketing. Cannot recommend highly enough. Any questions please ask x

Hello

Yes we have had a couple of conversations and they have been very helpful! Once again thank you so much for your advise, I will definitely look into Salon Iris.

Xx

 

[Ruth Smith]

I agree, I use salon Iris myself and it has saved me so much time! They are extremely helpful with any questions over the phone. I also like the fact that once you have bought it, it's yours forever with no monthly subscription fee like so many other booking systems. Please ask if you would like any more information!

Ruth

 

[Carlalouise]

I agree, I use salon Iris myself and it has saved me so much time! They are extremely helpful with any questions over the phone. I also like the fact that once you have bought it, it's yours forever with no monthly subscription fee like so many other booking systems. Please ask if you would like any more information!

Ruth

Thank you Ruth, I'm going to look into it, the company that approached me at the show have an ongoing maintenance charge of £59 + vat a month! I'm hoping something like this will take my salon to the next stage regarding the marketing and online bookings.

 

[squidgernetball]

I pay an optional ongoing maintenance charge of about £30 and about 4 pence per text. I'll pm you the name of the company to avoid x

 

[Carlalouise]

I pay an optional ongoing maintenance charge of about £30 and about 4 pence per text. I'll pm you the name of the company to avoid x

Got it - thank you! Xxx

 

[chloester]

Is it worth while investing in something like this for mobile therapists? Trying to find a way of keeping track of my appointment and money but im finding it hard can someone advise me please xxx

 

[NikkiClifford]

Salon iris !! 4 years this has helped my business grow massively it is a tool I cannot live without !

 

[Carlalouise]

Hi ladies,

I've been looking on Salon iris website, there are several packages, which one did you go for? xx

 

[squidgernetball]

I got the Standard, which you can upgrade in the future to Pro if you want to. I did it interest free over 12 months which hurt a lot less!

Vic x