Ursula Moore at Bond, Shoreditch shares her Fresha experience and reveals how it’s integral to their success.
Using salon software to help manage appointment schedules and calendars is one thing, but salon owner Ursula Moore at Bond, Shoreditch, London discovered Fresha’s free appointment scheduling software and it has transformed her business.
Opening Bond in June 2019 after many years perfecting her craft in London and Berlin salons, as well as the film industry; Ursula wanted to get every detail right for her first venture as salon owner. “I wanted to use an appointment booking system to professionalise my salon from day one and my friend, and owner of Shoreditch Nails, recommended Fresha. I’ve never looked back.”
After joining Fresha’s subscription-free platform, Ursula immediately started using it to manage her bookings and calendar. “It was so easy to get started and my view is that Fresha is the industry’s best salon software,” she says. “It’s completely intuitive, so we joined in minutes and started using it straight away. We’ve linked Fresha to our website too, so from day one all online bookings came via the Fresha system, as well as new clients via Fresha marketplace. Every call or walk-in appointment is now booked on Fresha. And the best bit is that Fresha was, and still is, subscription-free!”
Processing payments – slick and seamless with Fresha
Fully embracing it from the get go, Ursula utilised the full range of Fresha features including payment processing and marketing features. “We’re a cashless salon, so the payment processing feature gave us an efficient way to process payments. Fresha’s transaction rates are very low at 1.29% + 20p, the lowest in the industry in fact, so 100% of our payments are handled through the in-salon terminal or online when bookings are made there. It’s made life so easy and that’s also helped with accounting too.”
Marketing Bond With Fresha
Always aiming to take a proactive approach to her business, Ursula found Fresha’s marketing tools effective and simple. “The marketing features really are so simple,” she says. “I had experiences with other systems in various salons and these tools were always complicated and inefficient. Fresha has really simplified these, so we use them to great effect and achieve amazing results.”
With automated campaigns set up for clients who haven’t returned after four weeks, birthday vouchers offering their valued clients a discount or reward, and regular promotions via Fresha’s Blast campaigns feature, Ursula has experienced a tangible business boost as a result of using Fresha. “These campaigns are so successful. For example, a pre-Christmas campaign to encourage clients to book to avoid disappointment resulted in 50 email bookings and a full appointment schedule within just a few hours.
We also send new clients a thank you the day after their first appointment and incentivise them to book their second appointment, which is particularly effective. We also find the automated invitation for clients to leave a review has been highly beneficial too!”
Fresha gets better campaign results
In comparison to email-marketing platforms used in previous salons, Ursula also points out that Fresha campaigns also have a much higher open and engagement rate. “Emails and texts from us via Fresha get really high open-rates and a very high response rate. We know when we run a campaign it will achieve its aim whether it’s filling a last-minute spot, promoting a service or inviting clients back that haven’t been in for a while.”
Eliminating no-shows and late cancellation losses
More than that, Ursula has been able to utilise Fresha tactically to take advantage of cancellations or gaps in their calendar. “The SMS appointment reminders, and no-show and late cancellation policies are so effective. In the last full year, we’ve only had three no-shows and we’ve received money in these cases because of the policies, which is remarkable. In the lead up to an appointment the client get’s two reminders, and we didn’t receive a single complaint about this policy either. Being automated takes the awkwardness and emotion away from the situation too, as it becomes a business situation not a personal one. Even in the very few cases we’ve had a no-show and charged a fee, it’s not led to any relationship issues with the clients concerned.”
Making consultation processes more efficient
With Fresha’s consultation forms, Ursula has also been able to streamline this process. “Some services, especially colour, do need a more in-depth consultation, but we’ve used Fresha’s free forms to streamline this by doing as much pre-consultation as we can. It’s also enabled us to check the client’s Covid status too.”
With staff able to see their calendar, and everyone on the team being part of the Fresha experience, Ursula sees Fresha as vital to the day to day running of Bond, and a valuable business asset. “We use Fresha Reports to future scope so we can plan campaigns around what’s happening. I consult these reports daily. Fresha is like having a business partner and it’s so integral to Bond. I really couldn’t imagine salon life without Fresha and I highly recommend that other salons get onboard.”
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