How SMS Marketing Keeps Your Salon Fully Booked

Every salon owner dreams of having a full calendar—where appointments are lined up days, weeks, or even months in advance, with a steady flow of customers and money. It’s a vision of success and stability. But making this dream come true can feel like hard work.

Luckily, there’s a way to get closer to this dream: SMS marketing. By using a good SMS strategy, you can keep your salon busy, improve communication with your clients, and build a steady flow of business.

Let’s begin with the foundation of any successful salon—ensuring your clients show up.

For over 10 years, we’ve offered SMS reminders, but many salons still don’t use them enough. Research from the Department of Primary Care and Social Medicine at Imperial College London found that SMS reminders can reduce no-shows by nearly 40% in healthcare settings. This works just as well for salons—every missed appointment is a lost opportunity.

Why are SMS reminders so effective?

• It’s Automatic: With one click, you can schedule SMS reminders to go out 1-2 days before appointments. You choose the timing and can even ask clients to reply with a “Y” to confirm. This makes it easy to track who has confirmed, so you can follow up with those who haven’t.
• It Reduces No-Shows: Clients are more likely to remember and attend their appointments when they get an SMS reminder. This keeps your salon busy and your schedule full.

You can also set up follow-up messages after appointments to thank clients for visiting and include a link to book their next appointment. This helps make sure they come back.

Even with confirmed appointments, gaps may still appear. Here’s how SMS marketing can help fill those gaps.

What do you do when you look at your weekly appointments and see empty spaces? Do you sigh and think, “It’s just one of those weeks,” or do you take action? The solution is simple and highly effective: combine advanced salon software with the power of SMS marketing.

• Check Your Schedule: Let’s say your day is full of gaps. Instead of accepting an empty chair, take control.
• Use Your Salon Software: Go to the marketing section of your salon software. Here, you’ll find powerful tools that make marketing easy.
• Target Your Clients: One of the easiest ways to do this is by using a report like ‘Clients without a future booking’. These are clients who haven’t yet booked their next appointment.
• Send a Custom SMS: Create a personalised message offering a last-minute deal to these clients. Whether it’s 10% off their next service or a special offer, your SMS will land directly in their hands, encouraging them to take action.

Why It Works
This simple strategy does more than just fill empty slots. By sending a targeted SMS, you stay top of mind with your clients. The return on investment is amazing! You only need one client to accept the offer to see great results.

There’s no value in an empty chair. With Simple Salon’s Pro and Max plans, you often have extra SMS credits each month to run small campaigns like these at no extra cost.

Handling a rush of last-minute bookings doesn’t need to be a headache when you have a strong online booking system.

You might worry that lots of last-minute bookings could be tricky to manage, but not when you’re backed by a good online booking solution. When clients get your SMS and click the link, they see all the available times that fit their needs. They can also see which stylists are free and choose the best time.

With just a few clicks, your clients can book themselves in—no need for back-and-forth calls. Plus, by using Simple Salon’s deposits feature, clients secure their appointments with a small deposit, increasing the likelihood of them showing up by up to 90%.

This not only keeps your clients happy but also makes managing bookings easier for you.

Once your appointments are filled, it’s time to gather feedback and reviews to help your salon grow.

Getting feedback is important for improving your services and building trust with new clients. After each appointment, you can send an automatic SMS thanking clients for their visit and asking them to share their thoughts.

Include a link in the SMS to make it easy for clients to leave reviews on Google or social media. Positive reviews boost your salon’s reputation, while constructive feedback gives you a chance to improve.

Encouraging clients to leave a Google review has extra benefits—your latest reviews will show up on your Google listing, and with Simple Salon’s Reserve with Google feature, clients can book their next appointment directly from your Google page. This makes everything smoother for both you and your clients.

An effective SMS marketing strategy can go a long way in ensuring your salon becomes and stays fully booked. But it’s near impossible to achieve without a powerful salon software. At Simple Salon, you won’t just get one of the most advanced software systems on the market, you’ll get a platform that’s incredibly easy to use.

Try us out today with our 14-day free trial and see how Simple Salon can transform your business.