Treatwell?

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Jen459

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I can’t find a recent discussion, so I thought I’d re-start one: opinions on signing up with Treatwell?
In a previous salon, I found them great, easy to use, helpful to get our listing on page one of google. Threads on here aren’t very favourable towards them, but business owners that I’ve spoken to . . . seem to like them and highly recommend them. So I’m unsure if I should sign with them or not.
They have (since December) changed their prices and now have a sign up fee AND a monthly subscription, but now have reduced commission.

Thoughts? Advice?

Thanks
 
I think it's brilliant. Brings us a lot of new clients and can offer discounts just when you want to. I also notice I get a lot of new clients that don't book through treatwell but google shows our high rating and good reviews from them which brings clients to us
 
When I asked about their fees and they informed me that they took 20% !!!!!!!!! of the booking, I laughed and asked "20% are you sure?" they slammed the phone down on me. 20% bye bye profit margin, are they mad? I love working for nothing! I was a member when it was Wahanda it never brought me any business as we don't discount.

You need to cost your services, can you afford to take the kind of hit they're asking? If you are discounting a service and then giving 20% (or whatever their current fee is) to Treatwell, then take off all your running costs, VAT, tax. It just didn't make any financial sense for me.
 
I joined Treatwell when they took 20% and so far this hasn't changed. Yes it feels like a huge layout but after a client has been to me once I get them to rebook directly with me. Voila new client and only the first appointment cost anything.

I don't discount either and i have more availability through my own booking than i do with Treatwell as i hold back the popular times.
 
I joined Treatwell when they took 20% and so far this hasn't changed. Yes it feels like a huge layout but after a client has been to me once I get them to rebook directly with me. Voila new client and only the first appointment cost anything.

I don't discount either and i have more availability through my own booking than i do with Treatwell as i hold back the popular times.

Thank you.

Their new subscription fee thing is being rolled out slowly to existing members, but they say they now only charge commission on clients first booking, even if they rebook through Treatwell, there’s no commission as they are returning clients.

I simply like the fact that google search results are pretty good with them. A lot of my clients at my last salon found us this way.

(FYI, I bit the bullet and am in the process of signing up! I’ll let you know if there are any surprises)
 
Thank you.

Their new subscription fee thing is being rolled out slowly to existing members, but they say they now only charge commission on clients first booking, even if they rebook through Treatwell, there’s no commission as they are returning clients.

I simply like the fact that google search results are pretty good with them. A lot of my clients at my last salon found us this way.

(FYI, I bit the bullet and am in the process of signing up! I’ll let you know if there are any surprises)
Thanks Jen, I'd appreciate that. Good luck with it x
 
Groupon took 50%
 
Hi, we don't use these services. Not just because for the fee - your filling up the salon but at little profit. The main reason is because it doesn't promote a log term customer base unless as pointed out above the client always then books directly. Problem is customers who use this will often just move on to the next deal and you'll get a lot of one timers, and of course if long term customers cant get an appointment when they need it because you're falsely full then they're upset too. CathyJ
 
Hi, we don't use these services. Not just because for the fee - your filling up the salon but at little profit. The main reason is because it doesn't promote a log term customer base unless as pointed out above the client always then books directly. Problem is customers who use this will often just move on to the next deal and you'll get a lot of one timers, and of course if long term customers cant get an appointment when they need it because you're falsely full then they're upset too. CathyJ

I’ve always found my regular clients quite accommodating and flexible. They know to book in directly and/or well in advance, or they know they’re “chancing it” when asking for a last minute appointment, but that’s when we talk to each other to try to work something out. If I can’t, then I point them in the direction of a good alternative near by (and who to stay away from) and then I’ve lost them for one appointment and they come back to me for the next one.

If anything, I find it’s the one timers who are more put out by any unavailability.

And I’ve certainly never found myself falsely full.

So much hate for Treatwell. Really?
 
I detest Treatwell. My new therapist just signed up. They ‘ forgot ‘ to tell her about monthly fee. Also to start her off they recommended she sent requests to her friends to get reviews ( false ) farce of a company
 
I detest Treatwell. My new therapist just signed up. They ‘ forgot ‘ to tell her about monthly fee. Also to start her off they recommended she sent requests to her friends to get reviews ( false ) farce of a company

Well, I’ve been signed up for two weeks now.

I was asked to send requests to 10 clients to ‘kick start’ my rating, which would then increase my search results. (or friends if I didn’t have any clients, but I have loyal clients and don’t need to falsify my rating by using friends)

They were very up front with rates, fees, commission, etc. Very helpful with setting up my page.

Yes, it’s a cost to sign up, but I’ve increased my client base already. It’s easier than breaking my back and bank in google and Facebook ads. And I’m not even doing any discounts or special offers.

I am already getting new clients from my listing, who have already rebooked in, AND referred their friends.

Am I doing something wrong?

(And before ya’ll kick off about it, yes they have already sent me their updated assurances and policy documents about GDPR compliance of all data)
 
Lol do you work for them ? sending requests to friends is so dishonest. Good for you with the upfront honesty. Did not happen here. They have a monopoly & I can’t wait for someone else to come along
 
Also if you have loyal clients you wouldn’t need Treatwell. My therapist is just starting up.
 
I use Treatwell and really like it for the quiet days! You choose what appointments you want to make available and if you want to do an off-peak discount (we never do) and we’ve so far had so many returning clients through it!

The only downsides I would say is that the clients that use Treatwell can be quite brutal in their reviews! I’ve personally never had a bad review but some of the ones I’ve seen are quite petty! And also you need to have certain software for the appointments to sync with your actual work diary, we use one that isn’t compatible with it and we have to manually put in appointments meaning at 10pm on a Saturday night someone could be booking in a Brazilian at 9am on Tuesday morning that you maybe don’t have unless you’re REALLY on the ball with it! (I’m slightly scatty )


I don’t think it’s dishonest about the 10 reviews you get given - I actually didn’t know about this feature. But I do think it would be helpful if you’ve just set your account up as otherwise you’re basically at the bottom of the pile when you have no reviews so nobody will see your salon?

Good luck with it! X
 
I use Treatwell and really like it for the quiet days! You choose what appointments you want to make available and if you want to do an off-peak discount (we never do) and we’ve so far had so many returning clients through it!

The only downsides I would say is that the clients that use Treatwell can be quite brutal in their reviews! I’ve personally never had a bad review but some of the ones I’ve seen are quite petty! And also you need to have certain software for the appointments to sync with your actual work diary, we use one that isn’t compatible with it and we have to manually put in appointments meaning at 10pm on a Saturday night someone could be booking in a Brazilian at 9am on Tuesday morning that you maybe don’t have unless you’re REALLY on the ball with it! (I’m slightly scatty )


I don’t think it’s dishonest about the 10 reviews you get given - I actually didn’t know about this feature. But I do think it would be helpful if you’ve just set your account up as otherwise you’re basically at the bottom of the pile when you have no reviews so nobody will see your salon?

Good luck with it! X

Agree with you about the reviews from customers but I think people are just mean nowadays! Have to disagree with ten review thing. Your told to get your friends to write them. Even if your friends have never used you. It’s false
 
Hated treatwell! I used it a couple of years ago when I first started, the clients that came were the kind that are just after offers (because treatwell gives them vouchers etc) and I found them a difficult company to deal with. It was a nightmare trying to remove my listing they weren’t helpful at all! I think with the right marketing you’re better off gaining clients by yourself without the help of a site like this in my opinion.

I found it much more useful having my own professional website made and using Facebook etc. Now most of my clients are word of mouth and I don’t have to pay anyone anything or lose a percentage of my profit :)
 
Hated treatwell! I used it a couple of years ago when I first started, the clients that came were the kind that are just after offers (because treatwell gives them vouchers etc) and I found them a difficult company to deal with. It was a nightmare trying to remove my listing they weren’t helpful at all! I think with the right marketing you’re better off gaining clients by yourself without the help of a site like this in my opinion.

I found it much more useful having my own professional website made and using Facebook etc. Now most of my clients are word of mouth and I don’t have to pay anyone anything or lose a percentage of my profit :)

I forgot about the reductions they offered ! I also had aggravation trying to cancel my account. I have a really good website and Instagram etc. If I want to give vouchers out I give them, not Treatwell
 
I’m still using treatwell. May change later this year when I have time. I don’t bother with the reviews. If a client booked through them then treatwell usually message the client to do a review. I don’t however like their charges but some clients like the idea of being able to book online. So may sort out Schedul instead. I try to get clients to go through me if they can, rather than carry on booking through treatwell.
 
Lol do you work for them ? sending requests to friends is so dishonest. Good for you with the upfront honesty. Did not happen here. They have a monopoly & I can’t wait for someone else to come along

And here we are!! PM if interested in knowing more.
 
Their new change in business policy has been very interesting and I totally understand why they needed to do it. They kept offering £5 to be used for another treatment if people wrote reviews. Their staff cost and advertising cost is very high (I had an opportunity to meet the founder at a networking event where he was the speaker). So this new system of heavier up front charge but then minimal ongoing charges for the same client works out better value for them (to avoid the £5 and to avoid salons 'stealing' clients to not book through their site in future). I believe that for my business at least, it has been better for our pockets as most of our clients are repeats so minimal cost to us. They can still use treatwell to book which many seem to prefer. And for the good places, it will work out better value as most clients are repeats costing minimal. This means we come out tops compared to our competitors. Its expensive for new places though. But on the whole, if you think of it as a marketing platform instead of a 'booking' platform, they work out to be quite reasonable.
We used them since they were Wahanda mainly for waxing and occasionally for procedures where we needed to build more confidence and experience (I know, I know!!). Their new policy annoyed me initially but its actually worked out to be very good for us. Our discounts are nominal; only 10-15% mostly. We use them as a 'location finder' as people movement is huge in Central London and presumably other large cities. It has- to our local knowledge- been indispensable to local workers who need a service quick and want to know if a place is good via reviews. We have bookings for our non-discounted services too.
For the bad reviews, as long as you respond to them in a reasonable manner, it actually works out to be an advantage. Ask yourself... would you trust a place with 20 5 star ratings or another place with 20 4.5 stars but they responded respectfully to the 3 stars that they received. The first could very well be friends/family. The second showed that they cared enough for a 3 star to bother them and respond accordingly.
I do dislike the lack of flexibility now though. Also, they don't have functions for individualising treatments eg one of my therapist spends 20 mins on a Hollywood; another insists on 40 mins. I can't change this so have to create a new menu.
Hope that's food for thought...
 
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