The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted our lives in ways we’re still struggling to tabulate. The impact on certain sectors, like healthcare and education, might be obvious. When hospitals and schools are closed, it’s difficult to seek treatment, or to learn. In many cases, these industries have had to compose novel solutions, providing their services through the internet.
Of course, this is something that every industry has had to come to terms with, to some degree or other. This includes the world’s beauticians, who found themselves unable to provide the hands-on variety of care throughout 2020 and much of 2021.
The beauty industry has been quick to adapt to a world that’s become extremely digital-friendly in a relatively short space of time. Many of the changes being implemented look set to be with us for the long-term, too. Let’s take a look at a few of the key trends.
Online Booking
Providing customers with a means of booking online allows you to provide the best possible experience. You’ll be forewarned of the arrival of a particular client, and able to cater to their particular needs. What’s more, you’ll always be open – which means that the salon will be able to take bookings even when there’s no-one available to answer a phone.
This flexibility is beneficial across various industries, such as fitness studios, spas, and medical practices, where clients appreciate the convenience of online scheduling. By utilizing tools like nail salon scheduling software, for instance, businesses can streamline their operations, enhance customer engagement, and ensure they never miss out on potential bookings, regardless of staff availability.
Online booking also makes you more easily reached by a greater number of people. As such, it significantly expands your customer-base. You can add a ‘book now’ button on your website, and on your social media pages, to remove barriers that might otherwise have dissuaded your customers.
Contactless Payment
During the pandemic, we were all encouraged to provide clients with a means of paying that didn’t involve physical contact. Now, this has become an accepted cultural norm. It allows for speedy payment, and it allows for more options – and more customers, especially now that the spending limit has been raised. Getting your salon equipped with this kind of payment system will ensure that you’re not caught out when a customer isn’t carrying cash.
Management Software
Your staff will probably want to devote most of their working time to delivering the best possible service to customers, rather than having to perform tedious administrative tasks, like tracking stock and dealing with payroll. If you need to order more waxing kits, then your system will tell you. It might even do the ordering on your behalf!
Fortunately, there’s no shortage of excellent management software available to ease the burden. Often, you can pay for the software on a regular basis, and have it provided as a service. This saves you the trouble of having to go through a convoluted one-off installation process, and allows you to reap the benefits more quickly.
Social Media
Of course, social media predates the pandemic by some time. But it’s fair to say the successive lockdowns have forced many would-be customers to spend more of their time on social media. Businesses who wanted to survive needed to stay in touch with those customers. And that remains the case as we head into the post-pandemic environment. As with contactless payment, customers will expect a certain level of presence and professionalism on social media – and they might be put off if they don’t find it.
Social media provides a powerful means of marketing. If your customers get themselves involved, it’ll offer a kind of endorsement of your business too. This goes especially for social media platforms which are inherently visual, like Instagram.
