10 Tips To Booking The Perfect Hair Appointment Online!
10 Tips To Booking The Perfect Hair Appointment Online!
Have you ever visited your stylists website, or a new potential stylists website to book an appointment and realized you have no idea what to book? Well you are not alone, as a stylist 65% of my clients book their appointments online incorrectly. Sometimes it’s no big deal but other times it can cause a few problems. Whether it means we don’t have time to do the correct appointment, or the price is different than what you may have expected. I am here today to teach you how to book the perfect hair appointment so that you can walk in to your appointment feeling confident, and walk out of your appointment feeling & looking amazing! Let’s get started!
Do your research.
Some stylists say they hate Pinterest, but I personally love it. Pinterest gets me and my clients on the same page. For those of you who don’t know, Pinterest is a app/website similar to Instagram, but its geared more towards beauty, and has more professional looking photos & infographics. On Pinterest they feature things like fashion, recipes, decor, & hairstyles. So when my clients bring me pictures of what they would like it helps me to be able to explain to them what will and won’t work on their hair. Before you book your appointment online, do some research on Pinterest, Instagram, or even on your own hair stylists Facebook page, look for what you think you want, and what it may be called. You can search things like Root Shadow, Balayage, Galaxy Hair, & Full Color. Once you find the name of what you want, look on the online booking page and see if your stylist offers this service, sometimes they offer the service but may refer to it as a different name, or you may need to book multiple services to get your desired look. You can email or text your stylist with any questions you may have about online booking, and what you should book. Try to give your hairstylist at least 24 to 48 hours to get back with you, depending on how busy they are or if it is their “weekend”.
Be considerate.
Make sure you take advantage of all the options available online. While we love texting, talking, and emailing our clients, sometimes it can be hard to get back to everybody in a timely manner. Online booking helps you to be able to get in with your stylist without even having to speak with him or her. Some people think that “Online booking is just not for me” or “Its too complicated” or even “I don’t have time for that”, but in reality booking your appointment online saves time for both you and your stylist. 9 times out of 10 you don’t have to speak directly with your stylist and they will be so excited to see you on their books. You can see their availability and book 24 hours a day. I know that you may think that calling your stylist to book is easier for you, but just give online booking a try, it may be so easy for you that you’ll never want to call your stylist again.
Ask questions if necessary.
When booking online for the first time, you may have a few questions. Its okay to contact your stylist, tell them what you want done, and ask what you should book. This way you still will book correctly, but will not have to go back and forth with your stylist, trying to figure out their schedule and what day and time works for you. Then the next time you go to book online it will be so simple you won’t even need to contact your stylist at all.
Remember what services you normally get.
If you are sticking to the same services you normally get, but are trying to make the switch to online booking, ask your stylist what they did at the end of your service. That way when you go to book online you know exactly which services to choose. Your stylist will be so proud of you when you come in, & will be so excited to see you, & may even thank you for taking the required steps to switch to online booking.
Let your stylist know if you want a big change.
A big change can take a lot longer than the average service. So if you want a Balayage service and you always get a Balayage service but this time instead of a caramel toned Balayage you want a silver toned one. The silver Balayage will take a lot longer than the caramel one so your stylist may need to stretch your appointment block to an appropriate amount of time.
Take advantage of the “notes” section.
In the “Notes/Message” section of your appointment you can tell your stylist things like who referred you, if you are doing something drastic, any specific fantasy colors you want, how excited you are for your appointment, etc. It personalizes your appointment and gives your stylist comfort, versus a random appointment with a new client where the only thing they know about the client is their name.
Don’t Forget The Haircut.
Sometimes we get so excited to get our hair colored that we forget that we also need a haircut. Adding a haircut to your color service can add an additional 30 minutes to an hour to your appointment. A lot of times clients come in to their appointment and sit down and the first thing they say is “Oh, I need a haircut too, but it wouldn’t let me book it online". Usually the reason the online booking system wont let you add the haircut to the appointment is because there is not enough time for both services, trying to squeeze in a hair cut at the last minute can make the stylist run late for the rest of their appointments that day. I’m sure your stylist would love to cut your hair along with your color service when there is enough time for both.
When in doubt, stretch it out.
If you think your appointment will take longer than normal, please book enough time by booking every service you want done. Some hairstylists may disagree with me on this, but I would much prefer to have a little too much time booked for a service than to not have enough time booked. Not having enough time booked can cause you to not be able to get all the services you want done, or not be able to get a service done that day at all.
Provide correct contact information.
This is a VERY important tip. If there is an emergency or if the stylist is running behind and they need to contact you, having the correct contact information is crucial. You wouldn’t want to show up to your appointment to find out that your stylist had food poisoning and had to leave. So always reread and go over every detail of your contact information.
Be specific!
Never be afraid to be specific or wordy when booking your online appointment. Most stylists would prefer to be overly informed than to be under informed. I wouldn’t want to go into a service thinking I’m doing a partial highlight which takes an hour and a half to two hours, to find out that we are actually doing a full blown color correction on box colored hair to your lower back. When going to a new stylist for color its always great to text or email them a picture of your current hair in natural light and a picture of your hair goals. That will give your hairstylist a good idea of what she will have to do when you come in.
I hope that these 10 tips & tricks to booking the perfect online hair appointment will truly help you get what you are looking for in the exciting world of online booking. Leave a comment below if you have any questions, or other topics you want me to discuss next. I look forward to our next topic!