Remember back in the day when having paper customer cards in a beauty salon used to be mainstream? Every beauty business stored little pieces of paper and each new client meant a ceremony of filling one with all the necessary data. The Internet was flooded with customer card templates, created to be used in various beauty salons and even in advanced cosmetology studios. Although the concept behind customer cards is still very relevant - running records on your clients and their visit history is very important and beyond beneficial - the form itself is no longer effective enough. Why is having paper client card in a beauty salon no longer sensible and what modern alternative should you opt for if you want your business to thrive?
Data security is a big thing nowadays. Ever since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became law, companies may face severe consequences when failing to protect their clients’ personal and sensitive data. This means that firstly - you have to ask for permission whenever you want to gather basically any kind of information on your clients, and secondly - it’s your job to keep it safe. What’s more, while personal data (like name, surname or email address) should be secured, sensible data (like the state of health - notes about your clients’ allergies count!) must be treated with even greater consideration. You are taking on an important responsibility. Storing paper client record cards in a hairdressing or beauty salon makes it very possible for you to have a data leak. It’s easy to just reach for a piece of paper lying on the reception desk. Even if you hide these records somewhere, you have to share the hiding spot with some (if not all) of your employees, so all it takes is for one of them to be dishonest. Just think about it - it’s very common for untrustworthy employees to try to take some clients with them when quitting the job at a salon. By letting it happen, you not only risk losing customers… but also getting into big trouble when one of them questions how the ex-employee acquired their data!
The greatest benefit of having customer records in card form is that they are tiny and you can fit one anywhere. The greatest downfall of having customer records in card form is that they are tiny and you can lose them anywhere. You see where this is going, don’t you? It’s scaringly easy to lose a customer card. And as you get more and more of them, they start being terribly awkward to store! Whoever had to keep a pile of little cardboard thingies safe in one spot knows what I’m talking about. And don’t even get me started on looking for a particular one in such pile - at this point, it's best to ask the client the information you're looking for, as it would be quicker than finding the right card. With just a few clients, the cards may work alright, but as soon as you acquire more of them, things will become too difficult to handle.
Let’s take a closer look at a typical paper customer card for a hairdresser template. What data should it contain? The name, surname, email address, birth date, known allergies, sometimes medications the client takes on a regular basis. Customer card cosmetology templates are usually more complex, with a few more sections for more sensitive data. The problem with paper cards is that you cannot really update them - if something changes about the customer, you usually have to fill a new card. You cannot run clients’ appointment history in there and if you want to include photos of different stages of customer’s transformation, you will have to print them first and attach in some way.
You may be surprised. Not eco-friendly? But they are made from paper and paper is biodegradable! Well - it is, but the overuse of paper is still awfully harmful to the environment. It takes five litres of water (!) to produce an A4-sized piece of paper. Every person in the UK consumes (on average) an equivalent of about four and a half trees every year. Let’s add that paper accounts for 25% of the world's landfill waste and 33% of municipal waste… and you can clearly see the scale of the problem. We should cut the unnecessary wastage of paper as soon as possible!
The logical next step in the development of client record cards was to make them digital. This way, you cut paper wastage and have the possibility to add as much information as you find necessary. Nowadays, you have the comfort of being able to use digital tools dedicated to salon owners, which come with customer cards. Between various systems that provide this functionality, there is Booksy - salon management system that takes client records to the next level.
Booksy is fully GDPR-friendly - we have made every effort possible to ensure data security in our system. Booksy provides total compliance with the personal data protection standards and delivers advanced protection against unauthorised access to data. Every user has their own password and the administrator (you) has control over employees’ access levels. All of our procedures are subject to regular third-party audits. We are also focused on minimising the risks of data damage - we delivered processes that ensure data loss and interruption protection.
You can include as much information on your client as you want as there are custom forms available! You are no longer limited to writing the most basic data. What’s more, Booksy will deliver some things on its own - as it works as a whole system and not just a simple notebook. The system will remember the client’s entire appointment history, and based on that, it will calculate detailed statistics for you and put customer into groups that you can use for marketing! You can store numerous photos or additional documents, and see every upcoming appointment. With just one click, you are reminded about everything - services and products purchased, past and sheduled appointments, active packages or memberships… From their favourite brew of coffee to the number of gift cards bought, you will have everything you need to know about the client stored safely in the system.
Booksy is cloud-based, which means that you can enter your account on any device with access to the Internet. Forget about storing awkward cards in the drawers - all you need is a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone. You won’t lose a thing and will always be ready to deliver outstanding customer service.
Eco-friendly, convenient, safe and able to store as much information as possible - Booksy customer records are more than just an archive. It’s an integral part of a multi-purpose management system that is in perfect sync with other features and therefore delivers the most effective performance. Stop looking for client record card in a beauty salon templates - get yourself a system that will allow you to manage your business and deliver the best customer service at the same time!
.png)
