5 Questions Every Salon Owner Should Ask Before Choosing a Software

Buying software for your salon can be a confusing and stressful task. It is a major investment and making the right decision about your spa and salon software will help you to stay abreast with the latest technology trends and enhance profitability.

The right software will save your time and money and ensure maximized ROI. With so many options available in the market, how can you be sure of picking the best one for your business. This guide covers the main questions that every salon owner should ask before buying a spa salon management software.

What are my business needs and challenges?

The first question that you need to ask yourself is what are your salon needs and what challenges you are currently facing or may face in future.

Make a list of things you need your spa and salon software to do for you like appointment booking, clients cards, storing clients’ history, creating staff timetables, sending reminder messages every day, campaign marketing, inventory management, displaying reports, ensuring security measures and much more. Create a checklist by prioritizing your needs list and keeping the most important requirements at the top.

Also consider the various challenges your salon is facing like some maybe facing difficulty in engaging and retaining clients. Some may be having problems in driving sales. Others may be struggling in managing employees and their appointments. Try to reach the root causes of your problems and see whether the spa salon management software can help you resolve them.

What features should I look for in a spa and salon software?

After making a need analysis, you will get an idea about your spa and salon’s requirements. With a variety of spa salon management software available in the market, it will be easier for you to compare your needs with the feature list of the software and then decide upon choosing the right one for you.

A good spa and salon software will have functionality to book appointments online, access the software through a mobile application, manage clients and their records, maintain inventory, market the salon and the products, manage the employees and send personalized emails and messages to clients.

Which vendor should I choose for salon POS software?

When choosing a company to buy the software you should consider the experience it has in delivering the solutions. By selecting a company which has an established history and reputation of delivering high-quality spa and salon software you can feel much more secure and your money will not be wasted.

Look for the reviews on internet to get an idea about what other customers have to say about the company. Also inquire from local spa and salon owners to see which vendor they have purchased the software from and what kind of experience do they have from them. Take their recommendations too.

When finalizing the POS software for spa and salon management look at the number of clients the company has, how long it has been in business, how much support and training does it provide, how will your problem be resolved, how much customizations will it offer you, how often it updates the software etc.

How much the software will cost me?

Implementing a spa salon management software is an investment rather than an expenditure. The prices vary depending on the features they have.

Choose a software that suffices your needs. A software with a lot of unrequired features will cost you more.

For deciding on the budget take into consideration whether you will like making a one-time investment or prefer paying monthly fees instead through a Cloud-based software.

A cloud spa and salon software includes free support and automatic updates in the monthly service fees. Also consider the costs that will be involved in making customizations or additional ongoing costs that will be incurred.

Don’t choose the cheapest software thinking it will save you money, the right software will not just save you time, it will help you to earn more money!

What level of customer service can I expect?

When buying a spa and salon POS software look at the amount of customer service provided by the company. Some companies provide free customer service for a limited period of time and some limit the time you can access these services.

The spa salon management software you are choosing is going to be operative for a long period of time, and it is imperative to have capable support team available to help you at any time when you face issues in the software.

Your software provider should care about your issues and you shouldn’t be left without proper support or have a breakdown of your system.

To know about the level of customer service, read the reviews of other customers and visit the customer service section of their website to check their support means, provided via phone, email and live chat.

Conclusion

Your spa and salon software should help your business to resolve its challenges and increase revenues. The best way to start is to prepare a list of all the things you want from your software.

Ensure that your software has the ‘must-have’ features including tracking your inventory, managing your appointments, targeting marketing messages, and measuring your success through varied reports.

We hope this guide is helpful for your search in finding the ideal spa salon management software. The above answers to some important questions will definitely make your process of choosing the right software smooth and relatively stress free.