Why paper diaries cost more than software

Many salons still prefer traditional pen and paper diaries for appointment management because ‘we’ve always used it’ or ‘we just want to keep control of our diary’. 

Your paper diary costs you £8.99 every few months. But it makes you £0 in additional profit. Therefore paper costs you money.

A salon software might cost £50 a month, but it makes you thousands of profit each month by increasing your bookings, and reducing your cancellations. 

The average Slick salon saves £900 a month by stopping cancellations and makes an extra £1700 by filling empty slots with more bookings. That's a profit of nearly £2600.

Your paper diary doesn't make you £2511 profit does it?

‍

Salon software SAVING you money 

‍

Last-minute cancellations and no-shows are a big challenge for salons. 

With the average salon bill in the UK ranging from £50 to £60+, each no-show or cancellation results immediately in less money in the till.  Shockingly, the average pen and paper salon faces a staggering monthly loss of over £2000 due to cancellations alone.

A simple solution which is proven to reduce cancellations and no-shows is SMS reminders for clients before appointments. In a 2019 study, these were proved to reduce cancellations by 70%.

For salons with a paper diary, there are no automatic SMS reminders. 

So salons with a paper diary get more now shows, and lose much more money. This is a huge cost that must be added on top of the £8.99 cost of that paper diary. 

‍

Paper diary = empty slots = empty till!

The average salon in UK only fills 6 out of 10 appointments.

Those 4 empty slots still have costs as wages, electricity bills, rent and rates all need to be paid even if you have no clients.

Marketing is crucial for salons to get bums on seats. Seeing a text message nudge encourages clients to return after 7 or 12 weeks, or reminds them to come in for a treat for their birthday. This can be done for easily and cheaply by a good salon software.

With Slick the average SMS campaign generates £50 worth of bookings for every £1 spent. Thats a profit of £49!

To do SMS marketing as a pen and paper salon is time-consuming and repetitive. You have to go through lists manually, and you’ll miss things meaning you miss out on clients.

This is time you could be spending with clients, and time that would have been saved if you had salon software!

In the busy world of hair salons, time = money! And wasting time is wasting money! 

What would you rather? Spend £50 and use a software that make you £3000 of bookings in a few minutes OR save £50 and sit in an empty salon with an empty till.

Salons using marketing tools in software earned 12% MORE than similar sized salons who only had a paper diary. By using a paper diary you are choosing to pay yourself less.

Paper diary a £5000 GDPR problem

‍

As a business processing client data you are bound by GDPR: legilisation that requires you to protect your customers' private data.

Using a software such as Slick means you comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) by storing your customer contact details in a safe and secure manner.

If you are using a paper diary then you risk being found to NOT comply with the regulations.

Prosecution for failure to comply could result in a fine of 4% of your turnover which for the average UK salon is a fine of £5000.

A salon software might cost a few hundred pounds a year but it is a lot cheaper than a £5000 fine.

You wouldn't do business or drive without insurance. Salon software is your GDPR insurance policy.

‍

‍