Data can be a goldmine for salon owners wanting to seamlessly run and grow their business, whether that is providing the best client experience, managing multiple income streams, or elevating your brand. Through point-of-sale and integrated technology, salon and spa owners have access to real-time information that gives them a 360-degree view of their operations. 

Below are key ways data can unlock growth for your salon by learning how to most effectively make strategic decisions for your business, all with the aim of operating smarter to increase revenue and cut costs. 

Strengthen relationships with customers 

With fierce competition in the beauty industry, the best way to differentiate your salon is by personalizing the client experience. 

Provide white-glove customer service by using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software like Square Customer Directory to remember which services and formulations a client prefers, how often they return, retail products they love, birthdays, and more. With this information, you can create and send specific groups of customers text or email campaigns with reminders to book hair trim or special discounts for birthdays. As salons face staffing turnover, having a directory that can provide historical information is essential. 

By knowing your audience, you can elevate your brand and raise your bottom line, and your clients will certainly appreciate the effort too!

Maintain multiple sources of revenue

Square Appointments has seen more than a 30% year over year increase in merchants selling retail items. A data-driven retail strategy can help optimize sales. Sales reporting provides information on what products are trending and what has been collecting dust on the shelf. Insights into which staff are more adept at selling products allows you to implement incentive programs, while labor vs. sales reports show which locations and days of the week are most and least popular for services and when you might shorten business hours. 

With many salons facing supply chain challenges, instant data on inventory is essential to determine what services to offer. Real-time low stock alerts and reporting give you the power to quickly pinpoint new or replacement products for returning clients and anticipate what you need to restock ahead of time. 

Having control of inventory empowers you to not only meet demand, reduce guesswork, and generate revenue, but also recognize where to cut costs for underperforming items.

Meeting your customers where they are 

It’s not just about what you sell, but how you sell it. According to Square’s Future of Beauty Report, 70% of customers bought salon retail products in-person, but 37% purchased through the website, 30% from marketing emails and 28% from social media. With social commerce on the rise, you can use platforms like TikTok and Instagram to sell products and services on multiple channels. You can use data cross platforms to determine what channel your products are performing best on from your website, social media, in-person, marketing emails or others, and alter your marketing strategy accordingly. Analytics helps you see your conversion rates on each channel and identify what messaging is most successful. 

Text and email campaigns provide data on what percentage of customers are opening or deleting your messages and allows you to define your brand voice based on what your audience responds to. You can also leverage data to figure out whether customers prefer to pay for services or buy products via text messaging, in-person, online, via QR codes, and more. 

Using data has a holistic impact on your entire business by providing a personalized touch to your interactions with clients. Using data-driven business decisions helps increase your revenue, recognize trends to best engage new and returning customers, identify where to cut costs, and empowers you to focus on growing and scaling your business. 

Square continues to believe that beauty and personal care businesses deserve modern and intuitive technology that power the client and staff experience. Square Appointments is an all-in-one solution specifically designed for the beauty and wellness space, enabling businesses to offer 24/7 bookings, build their own custom websites, manage team members and customer relationships, sell retail items, take payments, and check out customers all from one place.

To learn more about what Square and Square Appointments can do for your business, please visit squareup.com/appointments.