Want to increase efficiency and drive down the costs of running your business? Learn how an AI chatbot could help you boost salon bookings.
AI chatbots can help salons increase online bookings by replying to clients instantly, even outside opening hours. They can answer common questions, suggest services, and direct clients straight to your booking system without staff needing to reply manually.
Artificial intelligence is everywhere at the moment. Perhaps you’ve started to use it in some areas of your life such as writing emails or streamlining your scheduling. It’s also possible that you aren’t even aware of some of the ways it is infiltrating your life.
If you’re wondering how you can put it to work in your salon, you’re not alone. A recent survey found that 36% of salon owners believe that AI could help to significantly increase efficiency and 45% think that AI will improve operations.
When the cost of running a business is increasing seemingly all the time, any way to increase efficiency and drive down costs will certainly be welcomed. So, how can an AI chatbot help you to boost salon bookings?
An AI chatbot uses artificial intelligence to deliver pre-scripted answers to customer enquiries. The intelligence part of this comes from its ability to understand the question that has been asked, not in delivering an answer. This means you don’t need to worry about the AI chatbot going off-script and delivering incorrect answers. If it comes up against something it cannot answer, it will simply direct the customer to get in touch with your team.
Customers expect business to be available 24/7, even small businesses that clearly have limited operating hours. Companies that are able to meet this expectation are more likely to win customers because they can be available whenever the customer wants to get in touch.
When salons moved their booking systems online and allowed customers to select their appointment time and make a booking without having to pick up the phone, this was the first step towards round the clock availability.
There are some salons that still haven’t caught up with this level of technology integration, and we’re already moving on to the AI revolution in customer support.
If a client has a question that is holding them back from booking an appointment, you could lose out on the booking if they are unable to get an answer in a way that suits them. Remember that lots of people hate picking up the phone, so they might look for ways to text or email to solve their problem. A chatbot combines the demand for instant answers with the convenience of being able to text rather than call.
Implementing a chatbot on your website could help prospective customers to overcome any obstacles that might be preventing them from booking an appointment, without the need for your staff to be available to answer questions 24/7.
A chatbot isn’t a complete replacement for customer support, but it can help to quickly answer the routine questions that you hear all the time. What time do you open on Saturday? Do I need a patch test? Can I book a longer appointment for me and my child? Do you offer fringe trims?
If there are questions that you hear all the time that your salon staff are bored of answering, a chatbot can help to close this gap, but it can’t replace real human interaction.
A chatbot can only answer the questions you’ve already anticipated, or that you’ve essentially trained it to answer. It can take information from your website and interpret this, but it can’t answer questions related to more intricate subjects, such as style suggestions for clients. And frankly, you wouldn’t want it to.
Instead, you should see chatbots as a helper that assists in getting more people through the door. Once they have booked an appointment, you can then impress them with your commitment to customer service. It frees up time for salon staff, as they won’t be tied to the phone answering simple and repetitive questions.
It takes a bit of creativity to make AI chatbots do their best work. Here are some tasks that they could manage and optimise to help boost your salon bookings:
AI-powered chatbots can streamline your booking process and provide customers with instant support, helping to grow your salon. Ready to see the difference for yourself? Try a demo of our software and watch your bookings soar!
