by Grace Barone
If you have a passion for the spa industry and a desire to witness firsthand how technology can elevate your business, then you've arrived at the perfect destination. In this article, we dive deep into the captivating realm of spa software explicitly tailored for point-of-sale (POS) systems. Prepare yourself to venture into a world where tranquility and efficiency converge effortlessly. Where managing appointments becomes a breeze, and where your ultimate goal is to strike the ideal harmony between customer satisfaction and streamlined operations. Join us as we embark on a journey to unlock the astounding potential of spa software. Revolutionizing the way you provide an unforgettable spa experience to your cherished clientele.
Why Spa Software Matters
So, why does having the right POS software matter so much for spas? Unlike many other businesses, spas provide specific services. Which means payment methods often deviate from the norm. Unlike a grocery store or a restaurant, a spa requires more than just the ability to process payments. While getting paid remains a top priority, if you want your spa to accept payments, offer online booking, connect seamlessly with your sales data, and more. You need to conduct thorough research and find the best software and POS system that can handle it all. It's essential to ensure that your spa actively manages everything smoothly by equipping it with the right tools.
Spas are supposed to be a relaxing experience. It would be foolish to put all that effort into offering a calming service, just for it to get stressful and complicated when it's time to pay or book an appointment. Luckily, advancements in POS technology and software available to download has made operating a salon just as Zen as getting a massage. When researching the different options, business owners should make sure the spa software is as comprehensive as possible. Having one software that does everything you need maximizes efficiency and will seriously benefit your daily operations. A great spa software should be hitting these next points;
Scalability
Spa's very in size. Whether it be literal size of the space, services they offer, or amount of staff. This means the spa software should be flexible, customizable, and be able to grow with your business. Good indicators of a scalable spa software is seeing if it is cloud based and if they offer pricing packages. When a software is cloud based, that means business owners are able to access their POS data from anywhere. This is a major plus if an owner has multiple locations, or isn't at the physical business all the time. Having a cloud based system is a good idea for any business. If anything were to ever happen, all your data is protected and saved in the cloud.
Offering pricing packages is also something too look for. When there are different packages available, it means your business has the ability to pick the features they need. Spa owners won't get stuck paying for a software with features they don't use, or be stuck with a software that doesn't have everything they need. This allows businesses to build their software up or down based on their needs.
Appointment Software
This is an important feature to make sure a spa has access to. Spa's need to be able to have an easy to navigate, organized and quick appointment process. Offering online booking is another plus in a spa software. People nowadays prefer booking appointments online than over the phone or just walking in. So, the software should definitely have that option. It needs to be easy for customers to access and navigate for it to be successful. Customers should be able to see all of the services the spa offers and the cost, maybe what the available employees specialize in, correct dates and openings. There should also be an option for them to add any special requests and preferences, pay a deposit if its required, and clearly state any of the spa's policies and accept them before booking.
Those are the basic's of a comprehensive appointment software. Other features may include sending confirmation text messages or emails to customers, sending appointment reminders or creating an account on your website and adding personal information. This can help grow your customer database and help with efforts of creating loyal customers.
Automated Features
We are living in a time where automation is becoming a necessity if you want to be able boost your business to the next level. There are a lot of time consuming and monotonous tasks that come along with running a business. Inventory, appointment confirmations and reminders, email marketing, sales tracking, etc. These tasks no longer need to be manually done. A good spa software should have some kind of automation feature that can take some tasks off your plate. This will not only ensure accurate reporting and timely reminders to clients, it will also free up a huge chunk of time. With more time available to employees, more attention can be given to positive customer experiences and over all better business operations.
Marketing Assistance
There should also be features in a spa software that help with marketing assistance. This could look like in depth sales tracking, making it easier to identify best and worst selling products. Automated emails to clients on your emailing list. Inventory tracking to help push products that have been in stock for a while. Easy campaign creation or special deals. The spa industry is very saturated. When a spa is doing everything they can to market their services and broaden their reach, they are bettering their chances of surpassing any competition.
Employee Management
Easy employee management tools will no doubt help keep a spa as calm as possible. When no one knows who's on the schedule or who has what appointments, chaos ensues. Having access to an employee management system that is connected with everything else makes schedules and shift confirmation a breeze. Owners know who's on the schedule, what clients they are taking, and employees know exactly what they will be doing for the day. Zero employee confusion should be the goal of the employee management feature.
Client Database
This is a very important feature for a spa software to have. The software should be client-centric. This means there should be options for clients to input their information to get on emailing lists, receive messages about their appointments, offer loyalty and referral programs, give feedback, reviews and store customer data. Storing your customers data can be a great marketing asset. When spas have full access to customers past appointments and purchases as well as things like their birthdays, you can send out personalized deals to entice them into coming back.
Security
Spa's deal with a lot of sensitive information. Not only do they need to stay PCI compliant at all times, if its a medical spa, they also need to be following HIPPA rules as well. A spa software should be fully encrypted and be sure to keep clients personal information hidden from employees not servicing them.
Access the Best Spa Software for Small Businesses
Clover has state-of-the-art POS systems with hundreds of apps to download for every business type. Salon Scheduler is on the list of top 10 best Clover apps available to download. Seeing as the other top 10 contenders are business general apps like; Cash Discount, Time Clock and Gift Cards. An industry specific app being at the top means something, right?
While it is named "Salon Scheduler" it isn't just for salons. Any business that offer's a service can utilize the features of this app. Especially Spa's. This app checks off on everything a spa would need in a POS software. It fully integrates with Clover's POS system's. The combination of the modern POS system and the comprehensive Salon Scheduler app creates the ideal hub to run any spa from.
The features this app has includes;
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Cloud Based:
All of your businesses POS data can be easily accessed from the physical device as well as any other device with internet. Simply log into the dashboard and see everything you would if you were at the actual spa
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Easy Booking:
Salon Scheduler makes online booking for customers frictionless. An easy to navigate interface allows customers to effortlessly book appointments, select a stylist, add preferences, add on any other products, and enter their personal information to be added into the customer database. The easy navigation of the appointment system makes it easy for employees to manage as well. Call-in appointments can be easily set by staff and organized by color. Spa's can set specific employees or services as designated colors. This makes planning out appointments and quickly seeing what's going on with each appointment more efficient.
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Deposits and Policies:
This feature goes hand and hand with the booking capabilities. This spa software allows cards to be on file, making paying deposits or balances quick and easy. It also makes tip allocation and splitting simple. If a spa has a no show policy, it not only makes the policy know to customers at the time of booking. Also having the card on file makes sure whatever the no-show policy is, it gets enforced.
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Appointment Reminders:
Depending on what package is purchased by the spa (tiered pricing is offered, by the way). There are options for appointment reminders for clients. A variety of different amounts of reminder messages per customer is offered. They can either be delivered via SMS message or email. There is also options where customers can reply to the reminders and either confirm or cancel.
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Easy Discount and Deal Creations:
Spa's that have this software can easily apply discounts to services, offer coupon codes and have special deals. The software not only makes creating and applying these deals and codes simple. Its integration with sales data and automated inventory helps with educated decision making when trying to figure out what to have special deals on. Maybe not a lot of people have been booking a specific service, and the employees that specialize in that service haven't been getting many clients. Well, with the data available through the software spa employees would be able to easily identify that issue, and create a discount special to get more clients to book.
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Customer Database
Another helpful feature that also helps with coupon's and deals is the in-depth customer database. This database keeps customers information, like what services they've booked, how frequently they book, if there are any products they typically purchase, and their phone, email and birthday. All of this information helps with marketing and special deals tremendously, easily send email marketing and coupon codes that are personalized to the customer. It also allows spas to see if their are any clients they haven't seen in a while. Sending a personalized message or deal to a customer that may have gone to the competition can help them from slipping away completely.
Get Started with Salon Scheduler for your Spa's Software
If you're a spa owner and this software is sounding like the one stop shop for all your spa's POS needs, visit getvms.com or fill out the form below. VMS can help your spa get up and running with a Clover POS system and set up with Salon Scheduler. Having access to modern POS technology and software can dramatically improve your business. When your business has great tools at their disposal, make sure you're taking advantage!