Covid-19, grow your business, grow your salon, salon tips

5 Assured Ways to Maximize Revenue for your Salon (free Email Templates + Resources)

5 assured ways to maximize revenue for salon during Covid-19

Running a salon during Covid-19 has been challenging – to say the least. 

Whether it’s implementing safety guidelines, easing client anxiety, or handling their staff, salon owners have had to juggle between multiple things over the past few months. 

But for most of them, the biggest challenge of all has been driving your salon revenue despite the easing of lockdown restrictions. Especially since they have been running on restricted hours and limited capacity to ensure social distancing. 

If you are a salon owner yourself, then tapping into each source of revenue and making the most out of it can help you sustain and grow your salon during a crisis and come out financially stronger than ever!

In this blog, we have curated 5 ways you can maximize revenue in your salon during the pandemic or otherwise:

  1. Identify and focus on specific customer segments
  2. Redesign your service menu
  3. Generate multiple revenue streams
  4. Get creative and adapt to COVID-19
  5. Optimize work schedule with restricted hours and no double bookings

You can click on any section to jump to it directly.


1. Identify and focus on specific customer segments

Think of it as focusing your efforts on your best bets. 

If you are working at a reduced capacity, there are a limited number of clients you’ll be able to accommodate on a weekly basis. So, while running your marketing campaigns, it makes sense to focus most of your efforts on clients that are 1) most likely to visit you, and 2) spend more. 

Now, how do you identify and reach out to these client segments? 


Classify your clientele with personalized tags and channelize your communication

The clients who are most likely to visit you despite the looming fear of the pandemic are your long-term, loyal clients. They are the ones who have seen your business grow and trust it to keep them safe while providing their favorite service. 

While the ones that spend more are the people who either come in for big services, or buy combos/packages, or depend on you to supply for their monthly retail needs. 

To identify these different kinds of clients, you need to dig deep into your client database. 

You will need to filter out clients based on their appointment history, booking frequency, add-on purchases to identify segments such as loyal, high-end, retail loving, etc.  

If you have been using an appointment scheduling software with in-built CRM to collect and track this data, it should be easy for you to identify this segment. If not, you might need to dig into your client list manually and highlight these clients. 

Once identified, tag them in different groups or segments. A few examples can be:

  • Active clients 
  • High-end clients 
  • Frequent clients
  • Retail lovers, etc. 

Once tagged, run an email campaign targeting specific segments.  

Move away from the one-size-fits-all approach and draft targeted emails for each customer segment. 

Drowning your clients in with emails and messages that have a general tone will do more harm than good. 

For example – you can craft emails to your regular and loyal clients thanking them for patronizing your business for so long. Thank them for trusting your salon all these years/months. This can be an emotional trigger for them. Try to strike the right chord.

Likewise, you can appeal to your high-end clients by giving them offers on their favorite services. Offer them access to priority booking and no waitlist time. For your retail-loving clients, you can offer them exciting discounts on their favorite products.

The point is, you should engage with different sets of customers with offerings you think would appeal the most to them in order to drive maximum revenue to your salon.

To help you with this, we have designed personalized email templates for different client segments. Download them from below and get your marketing started in minutes. (They’re free!


2. Redesign your service menu

Spending your resources and time on services that don’t yield results right now can be bad from a financial standpoint. You need to optimize your service menu and channelize your efforts in a way that helps your salon economically.

Here are a few ways to do that: 

A. Focus on your more profitable services 

Look at your service menu and identify which services have performed well for you from a profitability standpoint and which haven’t.

These may be the services that have a high-profit margin, or maybe the ones that attract high-paying clients. 

  • Focus more on the high-profitability services to optimize profits and staff commissions during restricted open hours. 
  • You can also consider temporarily disabling services that you think might not be as rewarding. 
  • You can limit timings for some services or set a few prerequisites for your clients before they come in. This way, each client might come prepared for their service which will help you wrap up their appointments faster and serve more clients in a day. (For example: clients with a body waxing appointment can be informed about not putting on a moisturizer before coming in.) 

B. Launch new services based on customer demand

You must have seen a dip in the number of clients coming to your salon right now even after your salon has opened its doors. And you probably have guessed why – due to the anxiety and fear of contracting Covid-19.

If your clients can’t come to your salon because of this or any reason, try getting your services to them! This brings us to our next point:

1) Start your salon-at-home services

Providing your salon services to your clients at home can be a good alternative to in-salon appointments and help you adapt your salon business to the situation.

A few things to consider before you start: 

  • Your staff will need prior notice about this operational change. They will also need training on how to service your clients at home – how to be around them and take extra care of hygiene.
  • You will need to make portable service kits that your staff can use when they go for their appointments.
  • You will also need to know the legality of starting your salon-at-home service – please check your state’s guidelines.
A hair stylist styling customer’s hair using a dryer

2) Launch exclusive service packages

These service packages can be available at an additional cost. You can promote these packages as “COVID19 friendly” where you service them in isolated deep cleaned rooms/stations and take extra care with hygiene. Now that safety has become a point of concern in everyone’s lives, these ‘safety first’ packages can be the best selling point of your business!

Additionally, you can also offer new services that you might think can be more profitable than existing ones.

Your clients will consider paying more if they know they’re being serviced with utmost care and safety!


C. Consider increasing prices or putting a COVID-19 surge

You can hike up prices across your salon’s service menu or charge a small percentage of the total bill as the Covid-19 surge (ideally around 5% or less).

Let your clients know you’re making every possible effort to keep them safe at your salon and how the price increase helps you make up for it. Knowing that they are in safe hands should be enough for them to understand!

To ensure that you effectively communicate the price rise such that you don’t lose any customers, refer to this blog!


3. Generate multiple revenue streams

This year has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. With unforeseen lockdowns and the economic disaster looming over the world, you have to be best prepared for your abilities. 

You still have expenses to take care of and it’s high time you don’t just rely on your regular source of income. Try and find different workarounds and ways to make money on the side. 

These are a few ways you can use to generate revenue for your salon:

A. Boost your retail-sale

Even if you’re not planning on reopening your salon right now, you don’t have to deny your salon’s quality service to your clients!

If it’s nail paint or a hair conditioner – retail sales can really help you make some cash. It can help you find some financial stability.

1) Know what your customers want

You don’t want to waste your resources on launching products that aren’t what your customers want. 

Find out what their go-to products are. Survey them on your Instagram or hold an Instagram/Facebook live announcing and taking their suggestions on what products they would like you to sell. 

Once you know, proactively pitch your retail products on your social media. Revamp your website to reflect your product offering. Go all out!

Branded hair essentials

2) Place your products strategically in your salon

Power up in-salon retail sales, by placing your products in easy-to-grab areas in your salon. This could be the checkout counter, near the exit gate, or even around workstations where clients spend most of their time at – Mani and Pedi stations. 

  • Put up bright and creative signboards on your display shelves to grab their interest.
  • Come up with a “featured product of the day/week” if you want to draw attention to a particular product that you want to sell.
  • Put up product descriptions and how they can help your clients with their beauty woes on shelves. (Eg: Unable to maintain your hair in the healthiest way possible? Is your hair rough & frizzy? Worry not! Get our amazing deep conditioner for just $25!)

Make your product shelves look so appealing, they are unavoidable.

3) Launch monthly subscription boxes

You can also try making monthly subscription boxes of essentials that your clients can use regularly. There are few products that have a recurring need – you can make sure you keep their supply up to date!

You can come up with “Hair Essentials”, “Skin Essentials for sensitive skin” and so on to cater to your clients’ periodic requirements of some products.


B. Start your own product offerings

1) Curate your own DIY kits

You can also curate and promote your own DIY packages that your clients can use even when they can’t come in for appointments – Promote these on Zoom calls as well! 

These can attract your loyal customer base as they get to experience your salon’s top-quality service from the comfort of their homes.

A California hair salon called The Color Bar has done a good job on their DIY hair care kits. Check out their Facebook page for some inspo!

2) Say no to grays – sell your color kits

Wondering how you would serve your customers that aren’t able to come to your salon to get their hair color re-upped? Well, the answer is – Home color kits.

You can start selling your home color kits that your customers can use when they need a root touch-up or a hair gloss. 

These ready-to-apply kits can include a custom-made color formula, a brush, gloves, and a bowl and can be delivered or picked up from your shop. These color kits are usually high in demand and you can make anything around $25 to $85 depending on the kind of kit.

You can make a video showing how you’re making these kits and what all you’re providing in them.


C. Earn commission with affiliate relationships with product lines

Meaningful connections that help your salon grow are extremely crucial for your salon right now. You can consider partnering with brands and products that you can refer to other business owners like you or even your clients. 

You will receive constant commissions for the products you recommend through one of these programs, making affiliate programs great financial support to your salon. 


D. Start virtual consultations

Come what may, you should be prepared to reach your customers. In the face of what has hit businesses, including the service-based ones, all around the world, virtual consultations have proved to be a trend of their own and can be your best bet.

Your clients really want to talk to you and want you to help them out during these times.

A digital consultation would typically involve a visual assessment. Alternatively, you can use online tools that can help your clients know what hair color, or cut would look good on them.

Check this resource compiled by StyleCraze that lists down 25 Best Virtual Hair Makeover Apps to give you a headstart.

Holding online consultations will come with its set of barriers but try to come up with solutions for your clients to the best of your ability. You can also pitch your DIY home kits during these consultations. 

You can hold virtual consultations with your salon clients through Appointy’s integration with Zoom so that they can book 1:1 sessions with you online and you can deliver them seamlessly over Zoom!

A salon owner providing online consultation to her customer using a laptop

E. Start online beauty courses and consultations

You’re an expert in your field, so why not spread that knowledge around? Consider starting your own online beauty classes. Maybe there’s a budding hairstylist that’s looking for guidance? Or maybe a passionate nail technician who wants to grow their expertise? You can be of help!

Here’s what you’ll need to design prior to starting your classes –

  • Fee structure
  • Duration of the course
  • Teaching and learning material

This shouldn’t be too straining since you’re just imparting your expert knowledge and making quick bucks on the go. Compile the course materials that your students can find value from. 

Your social media can be an ideal place to make announcements for these classes since you will have people looking for inspiration following you for it. That will be a great place to let newbies know you’re here to help them out!


F. Co-market with local businesses

Partner up with local businesses around your vicinity with the idea of helping each other grow. Co-marketing with a business can help you share resources so that both of you make money by helping each other.

For example, a local restaurant can refer your salon to its diners who are looking for a haircut, and you can refer your clients looking for some good food to the restaurant. Everybody wins! 

This tactic will not only help you increase your customer base but also provide value to your clients who might end up trusting your salon more by the end of it.


G. Rent your salon space

Do you have some extra space in your salon that you’re not occupying? Or maybe you can make some extra space in your salon? Put it to good use! Rent can be a way to make a steady monthly income.

Consider renting out that space to someone. Maybe there’s a hair stylist looking to rent space to practice their skills, or a small vendor looking to set up a shop in that area, you can lease out your extra salon space. You can do it during off-hours so that both of you get more flexibility to function. 

You can explore Facebook groups for people looking to rent salon space. Salon for Sale or Lease is a group for people looking for salon real estate.


4. Get creative and adapt to the new normal

Having lived with uncertainty during a pandemic, you would want to find ways to make money that immediately reflects in your bank account.

A. Upfront revenue

There can be various ways your client can pay you upfront and avail the services later. Payments made through memberships and gift certificates are a form of promised revenue. Your clients are more likely to hang around since they have already made an upfront payment with you.

1) Memberships

Memberships have always been popular amongst clients as they tend to derive more value by spending less. 

Since it’s a single lump-sum payment, it can be a great way to make some quick money for your salon. Clients too, get sold on the idea since they get to avail more services for themselves from a fixed one-time expenditure. 

You can launch a season/occasion specific membership campaign where you can provide them with discounts on memberships (gives you an edge over other salons!) with a focus on essential services – since they are more in demand. 

2) Gift cards

You can also delight your loyal clientele with gift cards or prepaid cards that can be redeemed in the future. 

Your clients would also prefer spending on gift certificates with longer validity and better flexibility of change. Make sure you set T&C on your gift cards that are customer-friendly and give them enough room to make changes.

And since everyone might need nice grooming at any time, these gift cards are an ideal present for your clients’ loved ones. You can promote these gift cards along with your products as an awesome care package!

A salon customer giving a gift to her friend.

B. Encourage donations and tips

Small to medium-sized businesses have suffered a major blow because of the pandemic. To help convince your client to help your business, you have to understand and play on the emotional psyche.

Below-mentioned are a few ways in which you can ask your clients to help support your salon business.

1) Donating a service

Kindness goes a long way, and it sure will go even longer when it comes to helping others during a pandemic. 

If you think they have the means to, then encourage your customers to buy vouchers/gift cards for their friends or people they know. 

If every customer purchased a $10 gift card to give to a friend that didn’t have any prior awareness of the business before, that person who received the gift card is more likely to purchase at least one time, then depending on their experience and satisfaction, become a repeat customer over time,” says Latrice Love, founder of the vegan beauty brand Lip Love as reported to NBC news.

When your clients buy services for others, you don’t just get upfront payments from them but you also get to reach out to more new people.

2) Encourage tipping

When your customers tip at the end of their service, your salon business isn’t the only thing that benefits from it, your staff members do too.

They shouldn’t mind going the extra mile to help out a local business. This way you don’t need to increase prices or put a tax, and your clients would still help you out as a gesture of goodwill!

To get generous tips, make sure the quality of your service is top-notch. New-York based Heydey Skincare has started donating 10% of their online sale of gift cards and products to support their staff members. 

Your workforce is what makes money for your salon. And they are more likely to stick by when they feel appreciated and supported.

Your clients will empathize with and support your business when they see the initiatives you’re taking to sustain yourself and your employees during difficult times.

3) Run a GoFundMe campaign

As a salon owner who has suffered a major blow from the crisis, you can try to appeal to your clients to help you by donating to your GoFundMe campaign.

A lot of salon owners are doing this to sustain themselves, and you can benefit from it too.

Take a look at these GoFundMe campaigns to get an idea of how to get started with one –

You can also go through this guide on how to start your own GoFundMe campaign.


5. Optimize work schedule with restricted hours and no double bookings

With social distancing becoming the norm now, you can’t afford to overbook or take double bookings. You will need to optimize your salon’s schedule by managing the capacity of your staff members and capping the maximum number of clients you can attend at a time. 

To tackle such COVID-19 business problems, consider switching to an online booking system like Appointy which can help you view your schedule for a day/week/month at a glance. You can check every staff’s individual schedule as well and ensure that it is optimized. 

Other than this, it can not only help you get more business during your working hours but also reduce no-shows by a great deal. You can also avoid cancellations by accepting prepayments for your appointments. Your clients are less likely to cancel their appointments when they’ve already paid you in advance!

Appointy provides you with an all-in-one customized dashboard where you can manage your appointments, staff schedules, in-salon capacity all from one place making it an ideal salon scheduling software.

Covering up the incurred costs, and making money is of high importance for salon owners during this economic revival, and switching to online scheduling software can really make a difference for your salon business.

Ready to maximize business revenue for your salon? Try Appointy now! 


Conclusion: Make money even in the hardest times!

No matter what happens, the show must go on – you still have a business to run and bills to pay and your clients are the resources that you need to invest in – and do so, correctly.

Whether it’s offering memberships/gift certificates, selling your retail products, or holding virtual consultations, it has become more important than ever that you exhaust every channel that can help you maximize your salon profit.

They need to know about all the measures you’re taking to ensure their and your safety along the way. To make it all work, you need to effectively connect with your clients at every step of the process. To help you get started on this, see our guide on how to communicate effectively with your customers as you reopen.

While exploring every way to increase your salon revenue, you also need to work on the right fund allocation and reduce costs to ensure overall efficiency.

Some of the ways you can rethink your expenses are –

  • Renegotiating your salon’s rent and making sure you’re not exceeding that monthly rent quota.
  • Getting on top of the numbers and budgeting your weekly/monthly expenses.
  • Bulk purchasing your cleaning essentials since these are now going to be a recurring expense for you. Getting them in bulk will help you save a buck or two.
  • Exploring government and other financial help programs
  • Staying informed about tax deferments.
  • Getting up-to-date with your local and state relief programs.

If these words seem too big and confusing, worry not! 

In our next blog, we’ll be providing you a more detailed guide of different resources you can look into to support your salon business. Stay tuned!


About Appointy

We at Appointy, help business owners grow and run their businesses with our online scheduling software. This blog was a part of our ‘Manage your Business’ category, where we provide expert tips, and resources, or simply talk about the challenges that small and medium businesses face every day. 

If you have any thoughts on this blog or would like to chat about your business struggles and achievements, let us know in the comments below. 

We love a good talk!