Salon Booking on WhatsApp With the Client’s Stylist
This recipe takes a booking request on WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger from first message to confirmed slot: the services, the total time, the stylist, a deposit on long services and the confirmation. It reads each stylist’s availability from your salon booking software and creates the booking there. It is the workflow the others build on. Part of the hair and beauty salon workflows.
What happens today
A client messages at 11pm: “hi any slot sat afternoon with Mei? want cut and touch up roots”. Mei sees it at 10am, with a client in the chair and colour on. She replies between foils with “2pm or 4pm?”. The client answers at lunch. 2pm has gone. By the time the booking is confirmed it is evening, and the client has already looked at another salon’s Instagram.
The person who can take the booking is the one with their hands in someone’s hair.
The flow that works
- The client says what they want, in their own words. AeroChat works out the services, the stylist and the preferred time, and asks only for what is missing.
- It adds up the time for all the services, for example 45 minutes for a cut plus 90 minutes for roots.
- It checks that stylist’s availability in your salon software for a free block of that length and offers up to three times. If the client has no preference, it offers any stylist and says who it is.
- For services of two hours or more, it sends a deposit link and books once it is paid. Shorter services are booked straight away.
- It creates the booking in your salon software under the client’s record, and sends the confirmation with the address and your cancellation policy.
If the client sends a photo of a look they want, the booking becomes a consultation request (see the colour consultation handover).
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a client asks to book, follow these steps.
- Find out which services they want, which stylist, and the day and time they prefer. If they have no stylist preference, offer any available stylist and say who it is. If they ask for a stylist level, such as senior stylist or director, only offer stylists at that level.
- Add up the time for all their services. Use the service lengths in our salon system. If a service is not there, use these lengths (examples, change them to ours): women’s cut 60 minutes, men’s cut 30 minutes, roots touch-up 90 minutes, full colour 2 hours, balayage 3 hours, rebonding 3 hours, scalp treatment 45 minutes.
- Check that stylist’s availability in our salon system for a free block of the total time. Only offer times within our opening hours, for example 10am to 8pm with the last colour booking at 5pm. Offer up to three times closest to what they asked for.
- If the booking is 2 hours or more, send a deposit payment link of US$50 (example amount). Tell them the booking is confirmed once the deposit is paid and that it is taken off their final bill. For shorter bookings, book straight away.
- Before booking, check the time is still free. Find the client in our salon system by phone number, or create a new client with their name and phone number. Create the booking with the stylist and services, and note the deposit paid on the booking.
- Send a confirmation with the stylist, services, date and time, our address, and our cancellation policy. Example policy: free changes up to 24 hours before, deposit kept after that.
If the client sends a photo and asks whether we can do a look, do not book the full service. Offer a consultation and hand the photo to the stylist. Only quote services and prices from our price list. Never give a discount. Reply in the client’s language.
Change the service lengths, opening hours, deposit rule and cancellation policy to your own before you paste it.
What to connect
- Your service menu and policies. Upload your services, lengths, prices, stylist list with levels, address and cancellation policy to the AeroChat knowledge base.
- Your salon booking software. Phorest, Zenoti or Square Appointments connect through their APIs. For Phorest, ask Phorest for API credentials. For Zenoti, create an API key in its settings. For Square, approve access to your Square account when AeroChat asks. Paste in any key when AeroChat asks. Keep each stylist’s working hours, days off and breaks in the software, so a free time means that stylist is free.
- Payments. Airwallex is built in: connect your Airwallex account and AeroChat sends the payment link and confirms the payment. Money settles into your Airwallex balance, and AeroChat never sees card numbers. If you already use HitPay or Stripe, both connect through their APIs. Payment links are included from the Growth plan.
- Instagram and WhatsApp. Connect both, so bookings from either land in one inbox.
If you run a small salon from Google Calendar, give each stylist their own calendar, connect your Google account and approve the access. AeroChat then books into those calendars instead.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
What you still decide
- The time each service takes, and whether it differs by stylist.
- Which services need a deposit, and how much.
- Whether clients can book any stylist or only stylists at a chosen level.
- The latest start time for long services.
- Your cancellation window and whether a deposit is refundable.
AeroChat follows these as written. It does not offer a time your salon software has not shown as free for that stylist.
The result to expect
Booking requests sent at night or during a busy Saturday get a confirmed slot within minutes, already in your salon software. Stylists stop replying to booking messages between clients. Long colour appointments come with a deposit, so a client who cannot make it has a reason to tell you in time.
Measure it with your own numbers: bookings made outside opening hours, and the share of long bookings with a deposit, for a month before and after you start.
Next: reschedule and cancel and price and service questions. See also payment link.
Book yourself in first
Paste the recipe, connect your salon software and Airwallex, and message your salon number asking for a cut and colour with your own stylist name.
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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.