How to use technology to improve your salon experience

Hairdressing is one of the remaining industries that rely on human touch. So, while AI may not replace the hands-on work of hairdressers any time soon, technology can still improve how your clients experience your salon across a number of touchpoints.

Salon improvement through technology was a timely topic at the 2023 Hair Festival, held in Sydney in June. Helen Flaherty, Head of Product and Marketing at Ezidebit, joined a panel with our hairdressing software partner Shortcuts and industry experts to explore what’s available now and what’s on the near horizon in the salon technology space.

Emma Winen, Shortcuts; Paul Frasca, Sustainable Salons; Adam Ciaccia, L’Oreal ACCESS; Helen Flaherty, Ezidebit; Tamara Reid, Timely;

Kate Henderson, Elysium Hair at the REALtalk Business Forum.

Three years on into the partnership, Bec is still happy with the decision to move to Kinder m8 and Ezidebit. She describes the implementation as “seamless”, as they just needed to sign off on documents then the rest was taken care of from the back end. All along the journey Kinder m8 and Ezidebit kept their client updated and provided whatever support they needed.

Shortcuts Software is the largest provider of salon business management software globally, so Shortcuts’ Emma Winen had some practical advice for salon owners. 

“Hairdressing is one of the few remaining industries that still has the human touch at the core of the business. We have a unique opportunity to maintain that human centric and client first approach and use technology to reinforce that approach.” said Emma.

“You can’t do everything so you need to let tech help you”.

Emma highlighted three areas where technology can improve the client experience:

Client acquisition

• Technology can help get your brand in front of potential clients. Your website, social media and Google reviews are important touchpoints to get your brand out and get your clients in the door. Read our blog for social media tips for your salon.
• Next, think about how your website and booking systems work together. Can clients book directly from your website or do they need to wait until the salon opens to give you a call? Integrating the process with your salon software makes absolute sense and saves both you and your client precious time. 
• Once an appointment is made you can set up automated text message reminders saying you’re looking forward to seeing them. This is something clients, particularly younger ones, expect these days and can reduce unintentional no-shows. 
  
  

In-salon experience

• On arrival, imagine providing a concierge style experience, where you greet the client at the front door with an iPad and take them straight through to their styling station to be looked after. This creates a safe space for the client and removes barriers to a great client experience.
• Technology can also enable you to make notes about the clients’ preferences and interests discretely and seamlessly as part of the ongoing interaction.
• Next, having the ability to take payments at the chair, upsell products and book ongoing appointments makes payments simple instead of awkward and provides a great experience.
  
  

Retention

• Finally, once they leave the salon, you can provide time sensitive, beautifully branded emails to reconnect, promoting your services and encouraging Google Reviews to bring even more people into your salon. 

Having the right payment technology plays a key role in improving your salon experience, and that’s where Ezidebit shines. Ezidebit integrates seamlessly within the Shortcuts salon software  to improve your service to your clients. 

Helen outlined how payments can be a key enabler in not only building your digital footprint, but also making sure you’re collecting and using that data from a marketing perspective. 

Design for mobile first

In terms of the booking experience, setting up future appointments, online purchases etc, mobile needs to be at the forefront of that experience. 

“Since COVID, more than a million Aussies shop, book and pay using their smartphones. This is increasing year-on-year so, if you’re not catering for that mobile channel, you’ll miss out on a lot of traffic. “

Use payments to drive repeat customers

Saving card details for future purchases delivers one click payment experiences, saving your team time at the checkout and giving your clients a seamless experience from start to finish.

Combine in-person & online payments

Create tokens across your channels to deliver omnichannel experiences - that way, however your clients prefer to pay, you have it covered. Set up online payments so you can offer gift vouchers online, plus take deposits or prepayments for appointments to reduce no-shows and improve client retention.

Make payments secure

Secure payments drive trust with customers. Implement the latest payment security tech. 

“No-one wants to be that business caught up in a data breach so your payments need to be secure. Working with the right technology partner will ensure you’re using tools like biometric authentication, tokens and other technical safeguards across your broader customer experience. That will make dealing with you super simple and secure.”

Embrace new payment options

New payment technology called PayTo is being released, which will supercharge your salon’s payments, cash flow and client experience. Developed by Australian Payments Plus (AP+), PayTo enables you to instantly collect payments from your clients’ bank accounts in real-time around the clock. 

Find out more about how you can upgrade your hair or beauty salon’s payment experience with PayTo. 

Success in the hairdressing business means reinforcing the human centric approach and acknowledging you can’t do everything. Technology can help you improve your salon’s experience throughout the acquisition, in-salon and retention phases of the customer journey. Understanding how payments relate to the client experience and embracing the latest technology will help you lead and design outstanding customer interactions every time.

Want to know how to leverage technology to improve your salon’s payments? Contact us.


ShortcutsPay is a fully-integrated, all-in-one payments solution to make taking payments a breeze – from online, to in-salon. Get total business visibility and streamline your payments today with ShortcutsPay.