By now, we’ve all heard about the benefits of customer mobile apps — for salon and spa owners. But does having a salon booking app improve the guest experience, too? That question has been top of mind recently as we’ve discussed the benefits of customer apps with our customers, who own some of the most successful salon and spa brands in the world. Our customers understand how having an app can help them increase revenue and drive brand loyalty, but they're curious about how a customer mobile app can create a better experience for salon and spa guests. That’s why we’ve pulled together this guide to the top five ways a customer mobile app enhances the salon and spa customer experience.

1. Online booking

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: Today’s customers want to book appointments online. In fact, 35 percent of customers prefer scheduling appointments online and 25 percent of millennials will only book appointments online. If you’re not offering online booking, you’re overlooking your customers’ booking preferences. Of course, online booking doesn’t have to mean a mobile app. You can offer online booking by Salon management app or web, or both. We still recommend offering online booking by web, but if you’re only offering online booking by web, you’re missing out on some of the coolest and most modern aspects of salon and spa technology: app-based check-ins, checkouts and payments.

2. Hassle-free check-ins

Traditional salons and spas manually check-in guests at the front desk. Modern salons and spas are disrupting the guest traditional experience by offering app-based check ins, or even automatic check-ins that use location services to detect when a guest arrives for their appointment. This eliminates frustrating check-in lines entirely, and ensures guests always have a hassle-free check-in experience. Waitlist-based salons and barbers can manage their waitlists with customer apps and kiosks. This allows guests to add themselves to the list and see expected wait times without waiting for a service provider to assist them. Service providers can focus on their current customers, while ensuring waiting customers have their needs met, too.

3. Personalized service

Personalization is the cornerstone of successful salons and spas. Whether it’s remembering a guest’s favorite drink choice or robe size, or asking about a child’s upcoming graduation, these small touches make a big impact on the guest experience. Sometimes, we hear concerns that using customer mobile apps to check-in or checkout will lead to a lack of personalization. We find the opposite is the case. When guests check in and select their drink choice or robe size on the app, they enjoy having it appear as if by magic. Plus, this frees up staff to focus on the customer during these interactions instead of mundane details. Service providers can even add notes on their own employee apps during the service to ensure they remember to ask about important events, such as the impending birth of a child or grandchild, at the next visit to create an even more personalized experience for the guest.

3. Uber-like checkouts and payments

Let’s face it, standing in line to checkout is the last thing anyone wants to do after sitting in a stylist’s chair or having a relaxing massage. App-based checkouts and payments offer guests the Uber-like convenience they’ve come to expect, so they can be on their way in seconds when the service is finished. Another important aspect of app-based checkouts is feedback gathering. It’s easy to incorporate feedback into your customer app so you know when guests are unhappy — before they leave your salon or spa. This helps you resolve issues quickly, creating a better customer experience and resulting in fewer negative reviews posted online.

4. Push notifications

Missed appointments are an issue for salons and spas, but they impact your customers, too. Often, preferred providers aren’t available to reschedule in a timely manner and customers can get frustrated by cancellation charges for missed appointments. Push notifications are a great way to help your customers remember their appointments — before they’re missed. They’re easy to setup, and they can reduce no-shows significantly.

5. Instant account access

Wondering how many loyalty points you have? Curious whether you have any service credits remaining in your membership or package? Can’t remember which brand of hair gel you bought a few months ago but want to buy again? Customer mobile apps help guests quickly and easily answer these types of questions and more, in seconds. Customers appreciate quality customer service; in fact, according to Salesforce, 70 percent of buying experiences are impacted by how people feel they’re being treated. Customer mobile apps create another way to connect with your guests, so they always have a positive experience when they need help — even if it’s at 2 a.m. Zenoti provides full-featured customer mobile apps for salons, spas and medical spas that offer all of these benefits and more. Ready to learn more about how you can create a better customer experience for your guests with a mobile app? Request a free demo today.