(This article originally was posted  by Millennium Systems International on millenniumsi.com)

As beauty and wellness industry leaders prepare their businesses for the future, choosing the right salon and spa software is more important than ever.

But when evaluating your current software or exploring potential new solutions, which features and resources should you be looking for to get the most return-on-investment (ROI) from your software, and can you find a partner that includes them in an all-in-one solution?

From built-in marketing solutions to on-demand education, here are ten things you need today in your salon or spa software.

Dynamic Reporting

How does your salon or spa monitor your business’s health or gather the insights needed to make data-driven decisions around business planning and strategies?

The right salon or spa software can provide you with the answers to these questions through dynamic, real-time reporting. This allows you to easily measure your most important Key Performance Indicators, such as Frequency of Visit (FOV) and Average Ticket, to better understand the areas of your business that need greater attention to reach your goals.

And for multi-location salons and spas, having instant access to reports that collect data across all your locations and can be viewed at the micro and macro-level is essential. This provides an in-depth view of your business as a whole and for each location – allowing you to make changes at an individual location that improve performance.

Not sure which key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure first? Check out Millennium Systems International's KPI infographic to learn about the 6 we recommend measuring and the goals you should set for each!

Advanced Security & Alerts

Salon and spa owners and managers need software with advanced security features that offer greater control, provide increased visibility into what’s happening throughout the business, and allow for customization.

With the right solution, you can easily customize security settings for each role in your business so employees can only access specific reports or features. And to add another layer of security, you can enable IP restrictions to prevent off-site usage of the software.

Also, don’t forget about the value of security alerts when vetting salon and spa software. Alerts can be customized to provide real-time notifications for various employee actions (such as gift card sales and cashback transactions), so you can quickly determine if an issue has occurred that you need to address – providing greater visibility into your business that can help save time and resources.

Contactless Solutions

As the beauty and wellness industry adapts to the challenges brought on over the last year, offering a contactless experience to clients and staff has become a must to meet client expectations and ensure a safe, enjoyable experience when visiting your business.

Features such as Online Booking, eGift cards, automated confirmations and reminders, digital client documents and forms, geo check-in, and self-payment methods are essential offerings that salons and spas of all sizes need to provide to their clients.

Contactless solutions help salons and spas improve the client (and staff) experience, resulting in more booked appointments and improved client retention.

Smart, Efficient Appointment Book

Managing your appointment book can quickly become a full-time job that requires constant adjustments and updates. Having an intelligent appointment book through your salon and spa software will increase efficiency and help avoid lost revenue by ensuring your book is always full.

One way this can be done is by choosing software that has an automated Wait List feature. Your software will scan your Appointment Book every few minutes for openings or schedule shifts, then automatically text Wait List clients to fill the slots and prevent potential lost revenue. Couple this feature with an intelligent, do-it-all assistant (like Meevo 2’s Convobar), and you have all the tools you need to manage and fill your book easily.

Additionally, being able to easily edit appointments in your book can help save time and improve employee productivity. Having the ability to simply drag and drop appointments makes editing your appointment book easier and much less frustrating for your team.

Marketing Solutions

Effective marketing is critical to client retention and attraction, both of which impact business growth. Choosing salon and spa software that includes built-in marketing solutions can help your business achieve these objectives and build a best-in-class brand.

But what might you want in a marketing solution? An advanced Email Marketing tool is a great start, allowing you to create automated campaigns and personalized emails that improve customer engagement and drive additional bookings.

But marketing is so much more than email. Don’t overlook the value of other impactful marketing features such as Online Presence Management and Reputation Management, which (along with Email Marketing) are all included in our Meevo Marketing suite! From managing all your digital business listings to improving your online visibility through local SEO settings, having the resources to manage your online reputation is more important than ever.

Goal Setting

Setting and adjusting your business and individual goals is a necessity to plan for future success. And your salon and spa software can help make goal setting and tracking easier than ever.

Unsure what goals to set? Powerful salon and spa software, like Meevo 2, can compare your numbers and provide accurate goals calculated daily, weekly, or monthly while identifying areas for improvement through real-time progress monitoring – helping to meet, or ideally exceed, your goals.

You can even visualize goal tracking through dashboards that compare individual employee progress towards department goals across various time ranges, ensuring you’re always on top of employee and business performance.

Customization & Configurability

No two businesses are exactly the same. Every salon or spa has its own processes and procedures – which means they require a software solution that can be customized and configured to fit their specific needs.

Completely customizable software will help owners create their own world within their solution. For example, you can choose to create custom security alerts, add company branding to intake forms and client communications, and build customized dashboards for each role in your business – so each employee sees the KPIs, goals, and insights that matter most to them.

But configurability is just as crucial as customization. Innovative solutions will let you configure almost every feature and setting within the software. These can include setting IP restrictions to prevent offsite usage, selecting which roles have access to specific reports, determining when appointment confirmations are or aren’t sent to clients, and so much more!

Training & Education

With any new software purchase comes training on how to get the most out of the solutions and tools you now have at your fingertips. And while this usually happens during onboarding, you should also look for a salon or spa software partner that provides continuous, on-demand education and training opportunities even after you go live with your new solution.

Whether it’s a webinar on how to use new or upcoming features or one-on-one on-site training, having the option to further master your salon and spa software through your partner’s educational resources is extremely valuable for management and staff.

Not only will mastering your software make your business more efficient and productive, but more importantly, it will help you drive revenue growth by unlocking the full potential of your powerful business management software.

Onboarding & Business Support

The decision to change software platforms can initially appear to be an overwhelming idea. But that doesn’t have to be the case if you choose a solution that provides genuine 5-star support and onboarding experiences to their clients.

Do they provide a dedicated conversion and onboarding team? Can their conversion process be tailored to your business, or is it one-size-fits-all? How do existing customers rate their experiences with the company’s support team?

These are essential questions to research and ask during the exploratory phase so you can worry less about changing software and instead get excited about the amazing new software that will help revolutionize the way you manage and grow your business.

Add-Ons and Partner Integrations

We’ve already highlighted the value of customization for salon and spa software, but this critical aspect extends beyond settings, security, and dashboards. That’s where partner integrations and add-on features provide even more value and a truly personalized software solution.

Every business’s needs are different, as are the exact capabilities needed out of salon and spa software. With add-ons and integrations, owners can choose from a wide variety of additional, revenue-generating solutions to build an even more customized software for their business.

In need of an integrated payroll feature from a third-party provider? Or maybe you’re interested in offering digital eGift cards to gain a new revenue stream? With the right software partner, you’ll have easy access to dozens of integrations and add-ons you can explore and implement based on what fits and works best for your business!

The Right Salon and Spa Software Will Help You Evolve and Thrive

Salons and spas have faced many new challenges over the last year. Choosing the right salon and spa software can help your business succeed today while setting up your business for future growth!

Interested to learn how Meevo 2 can help you add these features and more? Explore our powerful salon and spa software solution to see how your business can thrive!