April 2, 2024

Salon Scheduling Software: 5 Best Appointment Booking Apps in 2024 [+ Honest Reviews]

Is managing bookings for your salon taking a toll on you? We give you the round-up of the best appointment booking apps for your salon business

What's in this post?

Salon services is a thriving industry, with the global market size expected to grow to $383.88 billion by 2030.

If you are a salon owner you know that managing one is far from easy. There are umpteen tasks that keep you on your toes the entire day—right from managing bookings, client information, and inventory, to receiving payments and much more. At the end of the day, you are looking to keep your clients happy and sustain a profitable business.

This is where an all-in-one appointment scheduling software can make a difference. It takes over the entire process of managing bookings—be it face-to-face or online. That’s not all, a good appointment scheduling app can manage payments, payroll processing, marketing, automated notifications, and a lot more, all while being extremely secure to use.

With a host of options out there, picking the right appointment scheduling app can seem tough, however, implementing one can be a total game-changer for your business. Before we get started, let's go over the top reasons why you need to switch to a salon booking app.

Why do you need a salon appointment scheduling app?

Salon businesses have always been high in demand. Nothing can beat the transformation that a hairstylist can bring to their customers. A happy customer is sure to come back to your store and refer their friends or family to your salon. As your client base grows, you need to ensure that you can serve them well, at all times.
This simply means that you need to be on top of all the daily tasks that come your way and stay organized to retain your existing and new customers.
Here are some of the ways a salon booking app can make your life easier:

1. Increases productivity

An appointment booking app does everything that a manual booking system does and more. With it, you can manage customer bookings effortlessly, follow up on appointments, assign the right staff for specific bookings, and much more! This saves time, allowing you to focus on more important things that have a significant impact on your business.

2. Ensures full visibility with a centralized platform

Using a scheduling software for salons can help you keep track of your appointments, avoid booking errors, reschedule appointments, and maintain customer data in one place. You don’t need to switch between multiple apps or use manual books to manage your tasks or data.

3. Enhances customer satisfaction

Satisfied customers are more likely to return in the future than unhappy ones. An online salon appointment app allows customers to make bookings easily, know your staff availability in real-time, stay up to date on the latest offers, and get automated reminders for upcoming visits uplifting their overall experience with your business.

4 must-have features of a salon appointment booking app

Let’s take a look at some of the features that most salon apps offer which you can benefit from:

1. Online bookings

Studies reveal that 40% of customers prefer to make their appointments after work hours. With a salon booking app, customers can make their bookings from wherever they are and at their convenient time.

2. Data security

A salon booking app offers secure access and comes with data protection features that ensure that your client and staff information is managed with utmost privacy.

3. Manage payments

Most appointment scheduling software helps you process online payments through your website. This gives the customers the liberty to choose their preferred mode of payment and allows them to manage payments conveniently.

4. Automated reminders

A salon appointment booking app allows you to send timely reminders to customers for their upcoming appointments giving them ample time to be ready for their visit.

5 top appointment booking apps for salons in 2024

We’ll now go over 5 of the top salon scheduling apps creating headway in the industry.

1. Appointo

Appointo is your one-stop shop for all your salon management needs. Trusted by 10000+ brands, Appointo is extremely popular with Shopify owners. This salon scheduling software lets you kickstart your online booking system in just 2 minutes, without needing any prior knowledge in coding.

Key features:

  • Lets you manage individual and group appointments
  • Enable email and text notifications for reminders, cancellations, rescheduling and customer feedback
  • Unlock workflow automation to streamline your operations
  • Customize the booking widget to resonate with your brand’s persona
  • Integrate with Google and Microsoft calendars and collect payments securely on the app

Pricing:

Free: Get started with a 14-day free trial
Pro-plan:
$12/month

2. Vagaro

Next on the list is Vagaro, a scheduling software to help you manage all your salon activities at an affordable rate. This software comes with pay later and customer tracking options to build your business and manage it effectively.

Key features:

  • An email marketing system that allows you to send bulk promotional content in one go
  • Multiple booking options are available via Facebook, the Vagaro webpage, mobile app
  • A tracking system that allows you to keep a record of past customer visits, preferred services, and customer profiles

Pricing:

Starts at $25/month with one bookable calendar

3. Fresha

Fresha is a popular online booking app for salon and wellness businesses. It is the only subscription-free salon scheduling software on the market. This does not imply that their services are free. While their basic features are free to use, accessing their marketplace or advanced features like texting or notifications, are chargeable per transaction.

Key features:

  • A sleek calendar that’s easy to use across mobiles, desktops, and tablets
  • A marketplace to gain more visibility and new clients
  • Available in many countries and languages

4. Acuity Scheduling

With this scheduling software, customers can view your availability, choose the date and time that works for them, and make advance payments via PayPal, Square, or Stripe.

Key features:

  • An automated calendar sync to match the user’s time zone
  • A customized enrolment form to capture client details
  • Supports integrations with multiple third-party software like Google Analytics, WordPress, and more.

Pricing:

Offers 3 pricing plans
Emerging:
$16/month
Growing:
$27/month
Powerhouse:
$49/month

5. Mindbody

This salon appointment booking app boasts an easy-to-use and visually appealing interface. Mindbody offers a comprehensive solution for salon and spa owners. It's a great platform for salon owners looking to offer training courses in hair cutting, coloring, and extensions.

Key features:

  • Conduct online training courses to build engagement and brand presence online
  • Reporting and data analytics that help you gauge how your business is performing
  • AI-powered customer support
  • Payment processing

Pricing:

Mindbody has pricing across four tiers, which are: Starter, Accelerate, Ultimate, and Ultimate Plus. Contact their sales team for detailed pricing plans.

Parting thoughts

A salon booking app is vital to streamline your operations, find new clients, enhance the customer experience, and grow your business. While we have laid out our top picks for the salon industry, choose the software that best suits your business goals—one that’s functional and priced affordably.
If you are ready to manage your appointments effectively and grow your business, get started with Appointo and launch your online booking system in minutes!

Get started today with Appointo!

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