Salon booking software for hairdressers

What should salon booking software do for a hair salon?

Every salon booking tool takes appointments online; the difference shows on a busy Saturday. A hair salon doesn't fit a grid of equal slots: a men's cut, a root colour and a full head of foils each hold a chair for a different length, and a colour has a processing time the stylist can use for someone else. Before you compare prices, check the points below against a real week of your own diary, not against the vendor's demo.

Beauty salon software sold to larger salons adds stock, retail, payroll, commission reports and marketing campaigns. In a salon of eight with a manager at the desk, those earn their keep. In a salon of two or three, they are menus you pay for and rarely open: a hair salon booking system that gets the diary right is what stops the phone ringing during a cut.

• Each service with its own length, and a processing time you can fill or leave quiet
• One calendar per stylist, with their hours, days off and the services they do
• Online payment set service by service, the full price or a deposit, not one rule for the whole salon
• A reminder the day before, and a clear answer on who pays for the texts
• A record per client: colour formulas, allergies noted, visit history
• A client-list export you can test before you sign
• Where clients book: in a marketplace app, on the vendor's page or on your own website

Marketplace app or your own booking page?

This choice sits under all the others. A marketplace such as Fresha or Booksy lists your salon in an app where people browse the salons near them. For a new salon with no following yet, that is a real way to find first clients. Booksy's Irish price page says it charges no commission on new clients; Fresha sets its new-client fee country by country, so read the list it shows you from Ireland before you sign.

The cost of a marketplace is the neighbourhood. A regular who opens the app to rebook passes other salons, some with an offer, on the way to your name. A booking page of your own, on the vendor's site or built into your website, shows only you. It brings no strangers by itself: Google, Instagram and your window do that. For a salon whose book is mostly regulars, that is usually the better trade; for one that needs new faces this month, a marketplace can be worth its fee.

What does salon scheduling software cost in Ireland?

The published plans for salon scheduling software in Ireland start at nothing and, for one location, mostly stay under €50 a month excluding VAT before extra users are added; some vendors publish no price at all. Square Appointments has a free plan for a single location, then Plus at €19 and Premium at €49 a month per location, plus VAT; its no-show protection starts on Plus. Booksy costs €44 a month, plus €5 for each extra user. Phorest shows “Request a quote” on every plan. Fresha charges per team member, in the currency of the country you read its page from.

The subscription is rarely the whole bill. Each online payment carries a fee: 1.4% + 25c + VAT on an EEA card at Square, 2.6% + VAT at Booksy. Texts beyond a monthly allowance, a website add-on or a charge per extra user can add more than the plan itself. A free plan earns its money on those lines, and on the features it keeps for the paid tier.

A worked example, excluding VAT: three stylists, and 120 bookings a month that each pay €10 online when the client books, so €1,200 goes through the software. Square Plus comes to €19 + 120 × €0.39 = €65.80. Booksy comes to €44 + 2 × €5 + 2.6% of €1,200 = €85.20. Traxo Pro, which covers the three stylists, is €80 a month on yearly billing plus 3% of €1,200, so €116. For a salon that only needs a diary, Traxo costs more than both; its price includes your own website, which the other two leave to you.

Paying at booking: the full price, a deposit, and your rule

When a client pays online as she books, the money is in before she sits down, and there is nothing to chase at the till. You choose, service by service, what she pays: the full price, which suits a cut or a regular colour, or a deposit on a two-and-a-half-hour balayage, where a no-show would cost the afternoon. Some salons ask only new clients, or only for Saturdays. Size a deposit on what an empty chair would cost you, not on what the salon down the road asks.

The rule around the payment matters as much as the amount. Write down when it is refunded, for example in full up to 48 hours before the appointment, and when it is kept, and show it to the client before they pay rather than after. A client who has read the rule rarely argues with it. And a reminder the day before, with a link to cancel, frees the slot early enough for someone on the waiting list to take it.

Switching salon software without losing clients

Most salons searching for new software already have one. The move is safe if you make it in order: export your client list, with phone numbers, visit history and colour formulas, and your future appointments; import them before you switch online booking on; then keep both systems open for a week, so nobody books a slot the new one doesn't know about. Clients don't need to create an account: tell them where to book from now on.

Whatever tool holds your client records, you are responsible for them under GDPR. Ask before you sign where the data is stored and how you export it, and test the export in the first weeks, not on the day you leave. The same care goes for win-back messages: Ireland's Data Protection Commission allows marketing to an existing client without fresh consent only for your own similar services, with a way to refuse on every message, and a first message sent within 12 months of the sale.

Leaving should be written down too. At Traxo, when you cancel, your website and its domain stop with the subscription; your client file is returned to you on request within 30 days, then deleted.

Which kind of tool suits which salon?

No single tool fits every salon. A rough guide, by size and by how clients find you:

Traxo sits in the second case: your own website with the booking built in, open day and night, and online payment of the full price or a deposit, from Starter; a calendar per stylist for a team of up to six and a points-based loyalty programme on Pro. You open your account online in two minutes and build your site; a free 15-minute launch call, booked along the way, checks it fits your salon before you pay anything.

• A stylist starting out alone: a free or low-cost plan, and a marketplace listing if you need first clients
• A salon of two to six with a regular book: a booking page of your own, with online payment, a calendar per stylist, reminders and a loyalty scheme
• Eight chairs or more, retail on the shelves and a manager at the desk: ask the full salon suites for a written quote
• Several locations: check whether the price is per location, per user or both before you compare