Tired Of No-Shows + Cancellations? Read This!

Reduce Scheduling Issues With These Salon Business Tips

The No.1 cause of hairdresser headaches: When a client calls to cancel their appointment last minute, or EVEN WORSE, they simply don’t show. Common side effects include gaps in scheduling, money lost…and repeated offenses may result in a client-stylist breakup. 

We get it. Cancellations and no-shows are tricky to handle, but there’s an easy way to get ahead of these problems! Start implementing policies that will incentivize clients to show up or give proper notice.

The Problem: Last-Minute Cancellations + No-Shows

Without a cancellation/no-show policy established, a client is not incentivized to give you advanced notice for missing an appointment—other than courtesy, of course. While we love our clients, every service is a financial investment in OUR BUSINESS, so incentives will help with accountability and keep the client-stylist relationship stress-free.

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The Solution: Smart Strategies To Consider

• Prepayments: Require a deposit, whether it’s a percentage or a fixed dollar amount. When the appointment is fulfilled, deduct the deposit amount from the overall cost—easy! Have a cancellation/no-show policy established, so if the client doesn’t show, you will keep the initial deposit.

• Cancellation Fees: When a client schedules their appointment, keep a card on file. Establish a cancellation policy that works for you—decide how many hours/days in advance the client has to cancel without a fee—and waive or process the fees accordingly.

• Send Reminders: Text/call as a friendly reminder before an upcoming appointment date. This is KEY to setting up clients for success—especially if they pre-booked way in advance!

Other Key Tips 

• Communicate: Once you’ve established cancellation/no-show policies, make sure to clearly communicate these changes with all new and existing clients. 

• • Use social media to share new policies
  • Remind clients when booking their appointments
  • Send out an additional email reminder after booking

• Keep A Cancellation List: Sometimes, life happens and a client slips up—but if it becomes a pattern, make note of clients with chronic no-show/cancelling issues. You will know when enough is enough and it may be time to let them go.

• Insurance Policies: If you aren’t ready to implement a deposit for everyone, start with “high stakes” services: First-time clients or longer appointments like corrective color or foil transformations.

Don’t Know Where To Start? Try This!

Use scheduling resources like Booksy salon software that offers no-show protection features like prepayments, cancellation fees and a “trusted clients” tool for loyal clients. Click here to read a full breakdown on every feature.

Creating A Cancellation/No-Show Policy: What You Need To Know

• Choose how many days or hours in advance a client must cancel before getting charged a fee
• Avoid confusion by creating a custom message about policies that lives forever on your salon’s profile—this is the perfect place to explain to a clientele why a policy is necessary. 
• Select services that deposits/fees will apply. For example: Excluding free consultations.
• Create a list of “trusted clients” who always show up to exclude deposits/fees

The Impact: Maintain Your Income 

Consider the long-term impact of no-show policies! Booksy did some helpful research based on average percentage changes in cancellations for Booksy providers. After ONE month of implementing No-Show Protection settings, providers had 20 percent fewer cancellations.

For example: If you book an average of 100 appointments a month with an average service of $40, here’s the impact according to Booksy.

• Cancellations fees mean fewer no-shows, which would generate an extra $240/month in your pocket
• Implementing a 50 percent prepayment on all services results in $400 of revenue from clients who didn’t show up for their scheduled appointments

Pretty cool, right? Remember: Every salon is different, so your policy will not necessarily look the same as anybody else’s. You’ve got this! 💪

Read more scheduling tips in this article—“BTC What Would You Do: Does Prebooking Really Matter?”