Online bookings are set to take salons and spas by storm with Shortcuts online bookings growing by 837 percent in just 12 months, according to results released last week by Shortcuts Software.
Shortcuts online booking service, BookME, generated 3,500 appointments in December alone.
BookME is a product which allows salon and spa clients to book their appointments online directly to the appointment book.
Shortcuts Software’s evolution manager Jo Burgess said the results of BookME demonstrate the importance of salons and spas to be online.
“We initially developed BookME because we saw a need in the market. With salons and spas only open on particular days, they could potentially lose business as they weren’t able to take appointments when their clients wanted to make them,” Mrs Burgess said. “Of online activities, 73 percent goes to researching products for purchase. Clients can now go one step further and book the salon or spa service whenever they want, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Marketing Magazine’s ‘Digital Guru’ and e-CBD owner, Matt Granfield, says people now expect to be able to communicate with customers online.
“People are increasingly connected to the internet 24×7. They book their accommodation online, buy pizza online and read the news online, so booking a salon (or spa) appointment is a natural progression,” Mr Granfield said.
“People expect to be able to book everything online these days. Clients expect communication channels between them and their favourite business to be open all the time, without email confirmations – by then it could be too late.”