Reinventing Your Salon

In order to prevent your salon from stagnating it is important to reinvent it periodically. Here are some tips for revitalising your salon business.

With everything changing periodically, it is important for a salon to be reinvented to prevent it from stagnating over time. There are many ways to reinvent your salon, from painting the walls a new colour, bringing in new furniture, to redesigning your salon website. These small changes to the salon’s overall appearance and marketing can ensure that your salon stays fresh in your clients’ minds. 

In order to keep up to date, follow the latest trends in haircare and styling that your clients will be following as well. As you learn about changes in what your clients may be interested in, such as sulphate-free products for their hair or creating a more natural style, it is important to be able to accommodate them.  

Products 

There will be multiple different retail products in your salon that are tried and tested, but bringing in new and interesting brands and ideas is never a bad idea. Depending on the clients that visit your salon they may have different requirements for their styling products and be interested in trying something new. For example, are any of your retail products specifically formulated to work in curly hair or are they eco-friendly? 

Bringing in new products, including dye colours, can give your clients new options to select from – and revitalise your salon. If you want to expand what your salon offers, you can also include new products that you haven’t sold before, such as scented candles, nail polish, face masks and moisturisers. While these are not strictly associated with a salon environment, they are a part of the beauty industry that clients might enjoy perusing.  

When it comes to retail products, it is important to remember the preferred spending range of your customers. If your customers are unlikely to have large budgets, then more upmarket products will not be worth your time, whereas products closer to your clients’ budgets will be better received.  

Appearance  

While there is far more to creating a fantastic salon than the salon itself looking beautiful, having a pleasing atmosphere and look can help you bring clients into the salon. Visiting a salon should be a relaxing and enjoyable experience for clients, and creating a space that will entice your target market to want to return can help you increase your sales.  

Altering the appearance of your salon to fit your target market can help you gain the clients you want in your salon. For example, think of the differences between a beauty salon with mostly female clients and a barber shop that caters primarily to men. The look of these businesses are often completely different. If you are a salon that caters to a unisex client group, using a more muted colour palette can ensure the décor appeals to everyone.  

Here are a few ways to completely alter the ambiance of your salon: 

• Lighting – Making sure your salon is well lit is a must to ensure that your stylists can do their work well and can ensure that any alterations in the style are shown off to the client. Altering the lighting in your salon can instantly brighten the appearance of the salon and can also work well for when you are taking photos.  
• Music – A positive atmosphere can be accentuated by having nice music on in the background. Selecting calming and relaxing songs can help your clients to relax while in the salon. 
• Paint – If you have a lot of light, plain white or a relaxing colour like cream or light blue can create an entirely new feel to the salon. Wallpaper can also be a good way to create a statement wall at one end of the salon.   
• Salon stations – Ensuring there is enough space for the client to have a tea or coffee at their station, as well as a large mirror to watch the process of the treatment, will help keep the process engaging. Having magazines or books on hand for clients to look through can also help make the salon experience more fun.  
• Greenery – Bring in some flowers or houseplants to the salon to add some interest; many are very easy to take care of and can instantly brighten up a space.  
• Furniture – Creating a seating area for clients waiting for their appointment can make the salon visit more leisurely, and if arranged nicely can look quite pretty.  
• Window display – Changing the window display periodically to reflect the seasons or upcoming events can keep your salon looking fresh and interesting. Here is an area to let your imagination run wild; some winter baubles or spring flowers can make a window look much more inviting! 

Team 

Reorganising your team or hiring new team members can help you a lot when it comes to reinventing your salon, as it allows you to bring in team members with different perspectives and styles. Your team is your greatest asset, and bringing in fantastic new team members can completely revitalise your salon. When recruiting new members try to be discerning and ask them about their future goals, what they want to take away from the position they have in your salon, and what they can offer as a team member.  

If you are attempting to diversify what is on offer at the salon you can bring in new services for your clients such as ear piercing, massage or other beauty treatments such as eyebrow waxing. Of course, in order to offer these services, you will need either to hire a new team member with these skills or create an opportunity for an existing stylist to learn through a course or as part of a qualification.  

Online Presence

Updating or simply recreating your website can be a fantastic way to help your salon reinvent itself and find a new way to interest you clients. Often your website is the first impression that your clients have of you, so it is important to give a good showing.  

Having a clear and well-designed website with links to any business social media sites you may have is key to gaining a new client’s attention and successfully marketing your salon.  

Here are some changes on the salon website that can help to ensure that your website stands out from the crowd: 

• Try to keep the design relatively simple; too many patterns, functions or pictures placed on one page can make it hard to navigate. Have separate pages for each function as well as clear labels to let clients know what is on each page of the site.  
• Pictures of the salon’s interior can give your clients an idea of the salon environment and entice them to pay a visit. Some action photo shots of your team working can also bring a bit of interest to the website, but remember to get the clients’ permission to upload the pictures first.  
• Giving your clients an idea of pricing can help them to decide if they are interested in visiting your salon. If you have tiered pricing, allowing a choice of which stylist they are going to sit with can bring in more clients.  
• Contact details for the salon are a must so that your clients can contact you with any issues, such as needing to change an appointment or book in.  
• An online booking function can make arranging visits to your salon far more convenient for your customers.  
• Photographs and descriptions of your team, a short intro introducing your team members’ experience level, and a few personal likes and dislikes, can help clients understand the atmosphere in the salon.  

If you think that SalonIQ can help you to reach the next stage with your business, then please contact us here. Our staff would be delighted to go through the uses and functions of our salon software.  

Back to blog