Online consultation form vs Phone consultations

[ankeetguha]

Hey,

So, I've seen salons accepting new clients in numerous ways - online booking, online consultations forms, phone consultations, regular website form.
I've noticed some insist on taking a phone consultation or having a new client fill out a long website form, inspite of having a salon management software.

I'm curious to understand why this is the case.
Why aren't more folks adopting an online consultation form model, which integrates with their booking software? For instance, take photos, videos etc and then sync with the booking software?

I know there are a few softwares are showing their age and require a new customer to go through an elaborate sign up process; but there are some good solutions like Consult which have pretty good online consultation forms.

I'm building a product in this space, so I'm trying to understand if this is actually even a problem or not.
Would a good online consultation form have value for a salon?

Appreciate inputs

 

[Trinity]

I don't use an electronic booking system but I'll give you my view if it's any use. I would only do a face to face consultation because the questions I ask are not simple yes or no replies. More often than not I'd need further details that might require deeper questioning based on the answers given. A clients opinion of 'it's nothing' might differ hugely from mine. (Nail Tech view) just because 1 nail has an issue doesn't mean all 10 are affected, how do you ask those kinds of questions withouthe consultation form becoming too big and too complicated to complete, and we'd just need to go through it again in person anyway.

During covid we had to ask simple pre-screening questions, they were cumbersome enough, clients often didn't read them, answered wrongly or completely ignored them until chased.

Hth

 

[ankeetguha]

That's a

I don't use an electronic booking system but I'll give you my view if it's any use. I would only do a face to face consultation because the questions I ask are not simple yes or no replies. More often than not I'd need further details that might require deeper questioning based on the answers given. A clients opinion of 'it's nothing' might differ hugely from mine. (Nail Tech view) just because 1 nail has an issue doesn't mean all 10 are affected, how do you ask those kinds of questions withouthe consultation form becoming too big and too complicated to complete, and we'd just need to go through it again in person anyway.

During covid we had to ask simple pre-screening questions, they were cumbersome enough, clients often didn't read them, answered wrongly or completely ignored them until chased.

Hth

That's a fair point! Thanks for the input.

On the subject of Covid, at the time, did you see yourself doing online video consultations before the actual service? Maybe through a Zoom or Google meet? Would you think that would be a viable option which would save face to face time for both you and the client?

 

[Trinity]

That's a

That's a fair point! Thanks for the input.

On the subject of Covid, at the time, did you see yourself doing online video consultations before the actual service? Maybe through a Zoom or Google meet? Would you think that would be a viable option which would save face to face time for both you and the client?

No to video consultations during covid, or now either on reflection. Many of my clients are of an older generation, so smart phones present an issue, they may not have home computers or laptops with cameras, even if they do, using them can be difficult. There is still the issue of actually seeing up close any potential issues, a camera can only show so much, and again, we'd have to do it in person anyway. I do a brief verbal consultation with new clients, such as 'are there any physical issues with your nails such as peeling, flaking, seperation, what service are you hoping to have, etc. just to manage expectations, this usually triggers deeper discussion if there are any issues before the face to face.

Often clients are contacting me during brief lulls in their day, lunch break, waiting on children to come out of school, on the bus going to/from work, etc. Video calling is not necessarily convenient. Regulars know I will not answer calls/messages whilst with a client, they are paying for my undivided attention so get it, and I will respond as soon as I'm free. Scheduling video consultations might be tricky based on my diary and the clients, I can't be doing video calls whilst working.

 

[ankeetguha]

Got it! Yea I see the challenges in trying and doing a video consultation and can understand the friction.
These are extremely helpful insights. Thank you so so much

 

[Trinity]

Got it! Yea I see the challenges in trying and doing a video consultation and can understand the friction.
These are extremely helpful insights. Thank you so so much

You're very welcome and happy to answer any other questions if you want more information. There may well be other Techs on here who'll be on later who may have a different perspective, we are a wide and diverse bunch