Hair salon is a vital business that offers hair treatments as well as services to relieve people from the daily stresses. Running a hair salon is a very daunting job.

The salon owners need to build and maintain a vast network of customers to offer them excellence services.

In this article, you’ll find the list of the most popular software that will operate and grow your business perfectly.

What Is Salon Management Software?

Brief knowledge of salon management software

Salon management software is a solution that supports salon owners with their daily business operations. The system automates a wide range of tasks including scheduling appointments, online bookings, appointment confirmations, secure storage of data, customer relationship management, inventory management, employee management, and implementation of marketing campaigns.

Busy salon owners or professionals find it difficult to manage multiple tasks at a time, especially during peak times. And that’s where salon management software can help to make the salon business more efficient and profitable.

The salon management software category can be divided into the following programs:

Salon POS system
Club management software
Appointment scheduling software

Salon businesses classification

Small businesses: These clients often are individual professionals or a small salon with very few staff. They normally have basic needs and therefore a solution with appointment management feature is enough.
Mid-sized businesses: Growing and expanding businesses will have more to care about. They may sell hair products so inventory tracking is a must-have feature. They also need to capture, analyze, and target customer data to create suitable marketing campaigns for each segmentation. These companies would look for advanced features that enable them to manage customers and marketing their businesses effectively.
Large businesses: These users need a more complicated system that helps them to carry out multiple tasks such as employee attendance tracking, training management, payment variations, point-of-sale system, analyzing and reporting features. Large enterprises are advised to opt for a salon management software that meets all their specific needs.

How Can A Salon Management Software Help?

Key features of a salon management software

Appointment management.

This criterion evaluates one of the most important aspects of the user’s experience: scheduling and booking.

The appointment process is often the first perception of your salon owners and their guests, so it’s important to choose salon software which is simple, professional, and visually appealing.

It would be best if the system allows you to schedule, confirm or reschedule appointments via browsers including smartphones, desktop or laptop. Online management appointment is a plus since it helps manage multiple calendar tabs or integrated with clients' email to send them out reminders.

Staff management.

The software enables users to keep track of employees' availability and schedules, customer satisfaction and retention. The best software thus can help salon owners to assign particular services to employees as well as apply discounts to sales. Maximize employees’ productivity is equal to maximize the revenue of your salon.

Customer relationship management.

You can capture useful customer data and segment them to support targeted marketing campaigns. Customer relationship management feature enables you to categorize customers, track customer spends and gather customer feedback about their experience to improve your services.

Marketing campaigns.

This feature enables users to carry out SMS-based or email marketing campaigns to attract more customers to their salon. These campaigns can offer gift coupons, loyalty cards, membership programs, and promotional packages.

Billing and POS processing.

You can generate bills and payment processes using multiple options such as cash, e-wallets, or credit and debit cards. Customers can use a POS (point-of-sale) solution to redeem gift coupons, discounts, refunds, and product sales.

Inventory management.

Inventory management tools enable salon owners to prepare for customers and use their resources as efficiently as possible Users can track inventory by product, brand, category, and supplier. For each product, they can monitor stock history, retail and supply costs, total on-hand inventory and stock costs.

Reporting.

Customized reports monitor monthly business performance such as employee performance, the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, customer satisfaction, sales and revenue forecasts.

Benefits of salon management software

Streamlines appointments

Busy salons find it difficult to manage multiple customer appointments, especially during peak hours. They may make mistakes like double-booking for a customer or wrongly scheduling for others and lose business. Salon software enables you to easily schedule appointments, re-schedule existing ones and send confirmations to customers to save them as well as your time.

Centralizes customer data

It is important for salon owners to track customer information in order to create targeted marketing campaigns. Salon software allows them to securely store customer data including contact details, membership information, important dates, loyalty points, service history, and details about gift voucher redemptions. The system can also back up the customer data at selected periods for additional security.

Other benefits

Salon software helps manage upcoming appointments for all the service providers with support for both walk-in customers and scheduled appointments.
Efficiently manage walk-in customers by finding the first available stylist, or customers can select their preferred service professional.
Manage all employees with detailed performance reports including commission tracking and customers’ satisfaction.
Retail functionality empowers you to sell a wide range of products apart from your service offerings.
Remind your customers of upcoming appointments via text or email to avoid missed sessions.
Marketing advises help owners to carry out SMS-based or email marketing campaigns to attract more customers to their salon.

Things to consider when investing in a salon management software

First, be clear about the reasons why you need to use a salon management software. You should have a good understanding of your existing infrastructure and business processes. This information will assist you to easily integrate the software platform with your existing infrastructure without any problems.

Secondly, with the salon management software, compare the costs to others and to the value based on standard features. Ask yourself what you want the solution to do for your business. Then, be clear about the features the system should have.

For example, if you want improved data collaboration between different business departments you need a system that can be accessed by multiple users. However, if you require a competent system that is similar to an on-premise platform, you need to invest in a salon software that can be accessed by only a few users at a time.

Also, responsive customer service teams make the salon software more attractive—especially for new businesses that are unsure of how to optimize features.

Top 7 Most Favorable Salon Management Software.

1. bePOS

bePOS is a versatile cloud-based system for salon and spa management. Salon owners will have a direct connection with the customers through understanding their backgrounds, purchase behavior or their favorite treatments that in consequence, you will figure out which products should be released or removed and which services should be improved to grow your business.

bePOS Features

Online Booking & Appointment Management
Cash Management
Basic & Advanced Service Product Management
Staff Management
Treatment Management
Inventory Management
Discounts & Surcharge Management
Cloud-Based
Payment of Deposits & Installments
CRM
Report

bePOS Pricing

Free package: $0/ month
Growth package: $29/ month
Professional package: $59/ month

What users say about bePOS

2. Schedul

Shedul is a free appointment scheduling and business management software solution that works for all beauty professionals and salon owners. The software offers robust features like appointment scheduling, online booking, client management, and retail management with POS features.

Schedul Features

Schedule Appointments
Client Management
Reduce No-Shows
Activity Dashboard
Online Bookings
Automated Reminders
Sales & Products
Referral Source Tracking
Built-in POS

Schedul Pricing

Currently, Shedul is free salon software which enables salons to manage daily operations. Shedul is constantly improving the software and releasing new features, so users don’t have to compromise service quality to get full-service management software.

What users say about Schedul

3. Vagaro

Vagaro is a web-based salon solution that offers an affordable product with standard features like customer notifications and tracking, brand marketing, and financial reports. Plus, the calendar management tools offer salon owners tools for managing employee time, inventory, equipment, and space. Vagaro is user-friendly and highly functional scheduling software.

Vagaro Features

Dashboard: Product sales, service sales, payroll, and appointment booking performance
Appointment Scheduling & Online Booking
Salon Client Management
Point of Sale Capabilities
Inventory Management
Integrates Robust Marketing Tool
Day/ Week/ Month View

Vagaro Pricing

Vagaro offers various prices based on the number of service providers in the salon. Software for one service provider costs $25/month, with prices increasing up to $85/month for salons with seven or more service providers who require their own calendar, with the exception of the front desk.

The Vagaro pricing structure:

One service provider – $25/month
Two providers – $35/month
Three providers – $45/month
Four providers – $55/month
Five providers – $65/month
Six providers – $75/month
Seven or more providers – $85/month

What users say about Vagaro

4. Versum

Versum is a salon software that combines salon management features such as online booking and inventory tracking with advanced features like drip email marketing. In addition, Versum offers advanced security features, financial statistics and reports, and more. You can grow your salon using email marketing campaigns with Versum while streamlining appointments and inventory.

Versum Features

Client management
Automatic reminders
In-built CRM
Appointment history
Booking calendar
Payroll & commission management
Point of sale (POS)
Appointment scheduling
Customer loyalty program
Email marketing
Equipment / room management
Gift card system

Versum Pricing

Versum’s packages start at $25/month for the Solo plan and go up to $109/month for the advanced Pro package.

Generally, packages and pricing depend on the number of service providers in the salon. Services like marketing automation and a customer loyalty program are also available as add-ons for $25 – $35/month.

Versum’s specific price strutures:

Marketing automation tool – Additional $25/month for the Solo, Basic, and Medium plans, and enables users to create promotional campaigns using templates.
Loyalty program – Additional $35/month and automatically gives clients points for booking services, leaving reviews, and more.

What users say about Versum

5. Meevo 2

Meevo 2 is a cloud-based software that is accessed through the web browser. Meevo 2 is designed for all devices and all business sizes, scale daily operations down from desktop to smartphone. The possibilities are endless with the software’s advanced membership tools. Meevo takes resource management to another level.

Meevo Features

Appointment Booking
Email Receipts
EMC Credit Card Processing
Inventory Management
Smart Center Dashboard
Client Management

Meevo Pricing

Solo: $47/ month
Grow: $97/ month
Pro: $197/ month
Powerhouse: $297/ month

What users say about Meevo 2

6. Rosy

Rosy is a cloud-based salon software with comprehensive standard services and optional features. Besides standard management tools, Rosy users can pay for advanced features like credit card processing and email marketing. Rosy is a great option for those who want to choose advanced functions but don’t want to pay for other unnecessary tools.

Rosy features

Website Builder
Send Bulk Emails
Personalize Reminders
Credit Card Processing
Mobile Integration
Order Management
Point-of-sale
Referral Programs
Facebook Integrating
Multiple Appointment Scheduling
Rewards & Bonus Distribution
Conversion Services
Purchase Hardware
Custom Gift Cards

Rosy Pricing

Rosy’s pricing is based on the number of service providers in the salon and two tiers of features.

The Standard package ranges from $29/month for one service provider to $99/month for 21+ providers. Add-on prices for Premium services begin at $8/month for one user and increase to $93/month extra for 21+ providers.

What users say about Rosy

7. Booker

Booker gives clients the ability to book online, wherever and whenever it is most convenient for them, provide them with the payment options they prefer. Booker’s integrated point of sale accepts all forms of payment and ties each transaction to a customer’s history, giving more insight into clients and the business. The platform makes it easy for the people of sets their business 24 seven from a tablet computer or even a smartphone.

Booker features

Booker Marketing Network: Offer booking on partner websites
Social media promotions
Direct website booking
Targeted email marketing campaigns
Customized booking pages
Facebook booking
Mobile & tablet booking
Integrated point-of-sale (POS) system
Appointment reminder emails
Credit card processing
Mobile payment processing
Staff scheduling

Booker Pricing

Essential: $129/ month
Accelerate: $239/ month
Ultimate: $349/ month

What users say about Booker

Conclusion

Among all of the salon software listed above, it must be a hard decision to make on which one to choose.

However, the TRIAL version or the FREE package of bePOS is ideal for you since you can experience the most popular cloud-based scheduling system and try many other advanced features.

We hope this article can help you to find out the best solution for your hair salon business!