Having the right salon crm software can be a game-changer for your beauty business in today’s quickly changing beauty and wellness industry. A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform helps you streamline every aspect of your salon operations — from scheduling appointments and collecting customer data to launching targeted marketing campaigns. But among the numerous options on the market, how do you pick the best CRM software for your salon?
This extensive guide will make you aware of the important features to consider while choosing salon CRM solution. Finally, we’ll list the ten best CRM platforms, with the first one being ManageEase, of course. We’ll spotlight how each platform meets the specific needs of salon owners, stylists, and beauty professionals—from appointment booking and client retention to automated marketing and staff management. All why at the end you’ll know exactly which is better and best for your salon Growth and future success.
Table Of Contents
Table of Contents
Here’s Why Your Salon Should Use CRM Software
Still undecided on investing in a CRM for your salon? Here are some things to keep in mind:
Centralized Customer Data
A CRM solution serves as a single repository to record and maintain all your client-level data including contact information, service history, product purchases, loyalty points, and so on. This data is invaluable in providing personalized service for every customer who visits your establishment.
Efficient Scheduling and Reservation Booking:
Automating the appointment booking process can minimize no-shows and enhance staff productivity leading to customer delight. If you have an online booking tool integrated with your salon CRM system, your clients can schedule the services at their convenience.
Targeted Marketing Campaigns:
Thanks to a customer relationship management system, you can segment your company’s clients according to preferences, how long ago they visited last and even their spending history. By segmenting your customers, it allows you to send more targeted email or SMS campaigns, loyalty rewards, and promotions to get a repeat business.
Better Customer Well-Being:
Regular communication with customers through appointment reminders, thank you notes, and re-engagement offers ensures your salon remains within your clients’ minds. The good news is that a CRM allows you to automate these messages, which ultimately increases client retention and loyalty.
Results Measurement and Analytics:
Almost all CRM solutions come with reporting dashboards that enable the bigger picture. From revenue per employee to inventory usage, analytics tools can guide you in data-driven decisions that boost your bottom line.
Improved Customer Experience:
The salon business is all about relationships. Using client data — such as preferred stylists, favorite products or forthcoming special occasions — you can provide personalized touches that enhance the customer experience.
If you own or operate a salon, investing in the right salon CRM software is not a luxury anymore but a must-have for any salon that wants to remain competitive in the fast-growing beauty and wellness industry.
Must-Have Features in Salon CRM Software
Before we get into our top recommendations, let’s first take a look at the top features to look for when evaluating any salon CRM software:
Appointment Management
Your selected CRM should allow clients to schedule meetings anytime from the Internet. It should also enable staff to manage schedules and make revisions, send batch automated reminders and manage cancellations.
Profile and segmentation of customers
Detailed Customer Profiles: A comprehensive customer profile should contain all relevant purchase history, service history, and personal preference information. Search for advanced segmentation features that help you to target certain client groups with customized marketing campaigns.
Marketing and Promotion Tools
Look for built-in email marketing, SMS campaigns, and social media integration. Some CRMs feature drag-and-drop email builders or pre-built templates to make your marketing efforts easier.
POS Integration
An integrated POS system scales down cements and sales tracking. This is especially helpful if you sell retail products as well as services because it allows for real-time updates on your inventory and consolidated reporting.
Special Offers, Memberships, and Loyalty Programs
In all of these experiences, your loyal customers can be rewarded with points coupled with referrals or membership programs. The more of these features that a CRM supports, the more likely they are to help drive repeat business and client satisfaction.
Reporting and Analytics
It needs paid in full reports on sales, staff quality, and customer retention rates. Ensure the CRM you select comes with insightful dashboards that help you make data-driven decisions.
Automation Capabilities
Automated appointments, reminders, follow-ups or birthday greetings save your time and keep your salon efficient. Choose a CRM that offers strong automation tools to lighten the administrative load.
Integration with Other Tools
Your CRM needs to work alongside the tools you rely on like Google Calendar, bookkeeping and accounting software or payroll systems. To avoid loss of productivity, check if the CRM supports these integrations.
User Friendliness and Customer Support
Lead management features help keep the whole team on the same page when it comes to prospects and client conversations. A salon CRM should be easy to use for you and your staff. Seek out platforms that provide robust customer support, whether via email, chat, phone or a detailed knowledge base.
The 10 Best Salon CRM Software [Ways to Find CRM in Salon]
So, without further ado, here are the 10 best CRM software solutions for salons, going from best to very good. Whether you’re a boutique salon or a growing chain, these platforms address the particular needs of the beauty industry. Let’s start with the clear standout in our list:
1.) ManageEase (Our Top Pick)
ManageEase is tailored to meet the increasing demands of salons and spas. With the all-in-one platform, you get an extensive feature set combining appointment management, personalized marketing, loyalty programs, and powerful analytics.
Key Features:
- In-built online booking system.
- Dynamic Scheduling with Real-Time Availability.
- Email and SMS Marketing Automation Implementations.
- Take for example: Advanced customer profiling and segmentation.
- Built-in loyalty and membership programs.
- Analysis and reporting from every angle.
- 24/7 customer support and an extensive knowledge base.
Why It’s Perfect for Salons: Designed in consultation with salon professionals, ManageEase is able to streamline business processes in a way that is relevant to day to day beauty business operations. From front-desk check-ins to follow-up appointments, it’s all run smoothly. Their loyalty and referral program modules are especially potent, allowing you to quickly configure rewards tiers for your most devoted customers.
Who Should Use ManageEase:
If you need everything to happen in one place (without integrations in between), ManageEase is worth the price. The solution grows as your business does, being suitable for teams in both small salons through to multi-location franchises.
2.) Mindbody
Mindbody is a leading platform in the beauty and wellness industry. Since then, they have improved their ability to also cater to beauty salons and spas. Mindbody is booking and scheduling heavy but does have CRM features for marketing and retention of clients.
Key Features:
- Appointment reminders and confirmations – Automatically.
- Dedicated mobile application for in-patient scheduling.
- Comprehensive reporting, such as sales and customer analytics.
- Email marketing campaigns and text alerts.
- Youtube, Facebook, Vimeo and most of the third-party software integration.
Why It’s Perfect for Salons: Mindbody’s booking system is one of the most straightforward of the market. Combined with marketplace exposure (where customers can learn about new businesses), salons utilizing Mindbody benefit from organic visibility and client acquisition.
Potential Drawbacks:
New users may have to navigate a steep learning curve, and for smaller salons, the pricing may be on the high end. If, however, you are looking for a well-established platform with established credentials in several areas of the wellness sector, Mindbody has the edge.
3.) Vagaro
Vagaro is a top choice for beauty and fitness businesses who need an inexpensive, comprehensive solution. In addition to scheduling and CRM capabilities, Vagaro has a marketplace that helps customers discover providers and book services via the platform (or its app).
Key Features:
- Online reservation and streamlined payment processing.
- How to create social media, email and SMS campaigns.
- Inventory management of retail selling products.
- Salon owners and clients mobile app.
- Powerful review management system.
Why It’s Perfect for Salons: User-friendliness: Vagaro takes the cake. Its user-friendly interface makes it easy for salon staff to learn quickly. File the special offers under the marketing suite, and shunch the booking item onto your website or social profiles for visitors to book seamlessly.
Potential Drawbacks: Although Vagaro is quite versatile, some users feel its reporting features are not as advanced as they should be. But for small to medium salons, it’s more than enough.
4.) Fresha
Fresha (previously called Shedul) has taken the salon sector by storm with its no-subscription fee. With Fresha, you pay only when customers book through their marketplace, or for certain add-on features, such as payment processing.
Key Features:
- Mobile pocket billing app for free appointment booking with unlimited personnel.
- No monthly subscriptions or fees.
- Calendar updates in real time and automated reminders.
- POS have and accept payments.
- Feature to sell gift cards and memberships.
Why It’s Perfect for Salons: If you’re a small or newly launched salon wanting to keep software costs to a minimum, Fresha’s pricing structure is extremely attractive. The platform also features simple, intuitive design that allows for easy onboarding of even the most novice staff members.
Potential Drawbacks:
Some advanced features, particularly detailed marketing automation, may be slightly limited compared to premium platforms. And you’ll be charged transaction fees for processing payments through Fresha.
5.) Zenoti
Zenoti is an enterprise-grade platform designed to meet the needs of multi-location salons, spas, medspas, and fitness centers. They provide a complete set of features, including scheduling, CRM, marketing, staff management, and more.
Key Features:
- Easily manage multiple locations from one centralized dashboard.
- Behavior-driven automated marketing campaigns.
- Extended reporting and analytics (sales, inventory, staff productivity).
- Includes membership and loyalty program capabilities.
- Stream integration with the widely-used payment gateways.
Why It’s Perfect for Salons: Zenoti is especially powerful for larger salons or franchise operations that require extensive infrastructure. Their enterprise-level reporting and analytics capabilities allow you to analyze and monitor KPIs across all your locations while ensuring the consistency needed for growth.
Potential Drawbacks:
Zenoti’s scale and enterprise-friendly features can make the platform overkill for smaller salons. Implementation time and cost are typically higher than for simple solutions.
6.) Square Appointments
Square Appointments is a piece of the Square ecosystem, popular for its multi-use payment processing services. Salon owners currently using Square for POS will also find Square Appointments a natural extension of their set up.
Key Features:
- Fully integrated with Square’s POS system.
- Waitlisting or automatizing appointment reminders.
- Staff calendars that are customizable and scheduling options.
- Device with built-in CRM that lets you see client profiles and purchase history.
- Website and social media online booking widgets.
Why It’s Perfect for Salons: Square Appointments is easy to use and integrates smoothly with other Square products such as Square Marketing and Square Payroll. An ecosystem approach HR + tools = ecosystem. This ecosystem approach allows you to store and manage all your operational data on a single platform, simplifying management on a daily basis.
Potential Drawbacks:
Square Appointments is great for small businesses, but salon software generally offers more advanced CRM and marketing tools. Some features, such as text marketing or advanced analytics, may need an extra Square subscription.
7.)Booker
Booker, which is also owned by the Mindbody, provides salon and spa management software with scheduling, customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing features. A very simple solution at heart, Booker tries to simplify front-desk work, marketing and staff coordination.
Key Features:
- Real-time availability for online booking and scheduling.
- Email campaigns and promotions marketing suite.
- Inventory management and point-of-sale.
- Not hundreds are of Growbots customer database with segmentation tools.
- Social media and popular business apps integrations.
Why It’s Perfect for Salons: Why is Booker the best appointment booking software? It has a relatively simple interface, designed so that salon owners can train viewing staff easily.
Potential Drawbacks:
Since it is in Mindbody, some functionalities are the same, and you will still find yourself comparing Booker vs. Mindbody. For smaller salons, pricing can tend to be on the high side, particularly when you start adding on additional marketing or reporting modules.
8.) Boulevard
Boulevard is an upscale salon software with a contemporary design and a premium customer experience orientation. They want to simplify every aspect of the salon experience, from client check-in to tip split.
Key Features:
- Intelligent scheduling that aligns staff availability.
- Auto waitlists, instant book features.
- Integrated tipping options in a POS system.
- Reports and analytics customizable.
- Client experience management tools that are built-in.
Why It’s Perfect for Salons: With its intuitive dashboard and far-cooler design touches, Boulevard is well-suited for boutique salons looking for an upscale, smooth customer experience. The platform has a strong emphasis on client engagement, allowing salons to receive feedback from customers and take action.
Potential Drawbacks:
Boulevard lags behind some of its competitors in the length of time the brand has been around, but its features are all up to date, though it may not integrate with third-party tools as widely as more established players. Pricing can also run on the higher side.
9.) DaySmart Salon (Formerly Iris Salon)
DaySmart Salon, a tried-and-tested salon management software that has been in market for years. On a single platform, it offers appointment scheduling, CRM, marketing, and POS features.
Key Features:
- Appointment scheduling via drag-and-drop.
- Automation of email and text message reminders.
- POS integrated with Retail Management.
- Loyalty programs and marketing.
- Scheduling of employees and payroll processing.
Why It’s Perfect for Salons: DaySmart Salon caters specifically to the salon environment, so features like color-coded scheduling and tip handling are designed with hair and beauty businesses in mind. The software features an offline mode that allows it to work during internet interruptions.
Potential Drawbacks:
Although DaySmart Salon has graduated to modern codecs, some users still feel the interface is showing its age compared to newer solutions. Some of the advanced marketing options may also come as third-party integrations.
10.) GlossGenius
GlossGenius provides a clean, mobile-first platform designed for — mainly — independent stylists, booth renters and boutique salons. Its primary purpose is to help salon professionals promote themselves effectively whilst making scheduling and payments easier.
Key Features:
- Gorgeous booking pages and mobile apps.
- Contactless payments and POS.
- Automated notifications and confirmations.
- Simple CRM features such as client notes and purchase history.
- Basic analytics and reporting tools.
Why It’s Perfect for Salons: GlossGenius is strong on branding and presentation, providing customizable websites and booking pages that align with the looks of your salon. And it’s highly intuitive, minimizing the learning curve for individual stylists who require a simple answer.
Potential Drawbacks:
If GlossGenius excels in design and user experience, it falls short in some of the deeper CRM and marketing automation functionality you’ll find in robust platforms such as ManageEase or Zenoti. It is most appropriate for small salons or individual practitioners.
What Makes ManageEase Different from the Pack?
Now that we ran through the top salon CRM software options, let’s get back to why ManageEase takes the top slot:
Tailored for Salons
ManageEase (salon-specific CRM); while other CRMs are suitable for a wide range of businesses, ManageEase is for the salon and spa niche. This line of thinking means they design every feature—be it appointment booking, loyalty programs, and client segmentation, for example—with the salon challenge in mind.
All-in-One Platform
With ManageEase, you are not forced to cobble together a bunch of systems. The platform has you covered from scheduling, to marketing, to inventory tracking. This approach minimises compatibility issues and increases day-to-day operational efficiencies.
Scalable for Growth
Whether you’re a single-location boutique salon or a multi-location chain, ManageEase has tiered packages to match your growth. Because the service is scalable, adding new staff, services or locations doesn’t require a software platform switch.
Superior Customer Support
The ManageEase support team is very responsive and supportive. The extensive knowledge base, tutorial videos, and training sessions they provide ensure that you can take full advantage of the features offered by the software.
Data-Driven Insights
ManageEase offers advanced analytics that not only surface data but also provide insights that can drive decision-making at critical business points; whether this is in understanding customer behavior, staff performance or inventory turnover. These insights enable you to make decisions that ensure better business results.
High ROI on Marketing Efforts
The built-in email and SMS marketing suite lets you run laser-targeted campaigns based on client history and preferences. The automations that work best are the birthday offers, re-engagement campaigns, and post-appointment follow-ups that turn clients into flywheels who spend more and tell others.
New and Fresh Loyalty and Referral Programs
ManageEase is a superpower in loyalty. Rewarding clients with points or special discounts encourages repeat business, while referral incentives make your happiest clients brand ambassadors.
Regular Feature Updates
ManageEase having a voice of your salon owners, beauty professionals. New technologies integration and user-requested enhancements happen regularly because of the frequent software updates.
ManageEase combines deep industry knowledge with robust technology to deliver a salon CRM software solution that is hard to beat. It is the highest quality, one-stop shop for salons that want to streamline operations, generate more revenue and maximize client retention.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Salon CRM Software
Ideation of the Platform is just the first part. This article discusses best practices that could help you get maximum benefit from your CRM:
Train Your Staff Thoroughly
Make sure to schedule some time for dedicated training so your team knows how to use all features—booking, payments, marketing and reporting. With very aware staff, clients are provided better customer service, resulting in reduced administrative errors.
Maintain Your Client Database
Be diligent about entering accurate customer information and tagging them where applicable in your CRM (i.e. VIP, frequent buyer, referred by friend, etc.) Personalized marketing and accurate reporting require clean, segmented data.
Be Efficient, But Be Personal
You can automate reminders and follow-ups. Do personalize in messages whenever you can. Simply sending a short, sincere thank you message after the job is done can help you retain and build client loyalty.
Prop up decision-making with Analytics
Utilize any reporting or analytics tools your CRM has available. Monitor, average ticket size, re-booking rates, client retention, etc. to catch pain areas in your service and also track opportunities.
Keep Updating Your Offers / Programs Regularly
Get your promotions, loyalty points, and referral rewards. Seasonal offers and special packages can renew the interest of inactive clients as well as attract new ones.
Solicit Client Feedback
Leverage your CRM’s email or SMS functionality to send out post-appointment surveys. It will help you collect testimonials and show you the surprises that need improvement.
Integrate Where Possible
If you use accounting or inventory software, look for integrations that allow for data syncing. It minimizes manual data entry, enabling you to maintain accurate records such as:
Complying with regulations
Automated messages and data collection need to follow regulations in your local area, like GDPR or the CAN-SPAM Act. Failure to follow the regulations can lead to hefty fines, as well as a damaging reputation for your salon.
Understanding ROI for Marketing Campaigns
Always analyse the results of your campaigns — click-through rates, conversions or appointment bookings. You can then realign your marketing strategies based on its actual performance data to be efficient in expenditure.
Encourage Team Collaboration
Create a culture where employees talk about things that are relevant to clients, such insights, marketing ideas, or promotions that have worked well for your clients. It will make your CRM system central to the way you run the salon, rather than a back-room tool.
With these tips, you’ll make sure that your salon CRM software is as impactful as possible while also building a customer-oriented culture for years to come.
Conclusion(CRM Software is Must for Salons)
Let’s explore how an effective salon CRM software can help you in creating a seamless and delightful client experience. From the time a customer finds your salon online until they walk out with a new style, a solid CRM means that every interaction is maximized.
Among the platforms reviewed—including Mindbody, Vagaro, Fresha, Zenoti, Square Appointments, Booker, Boulevard, Salon Iris and GlossGenius—ManageEase emerged as a complete, salon-specific powerhouse. With its comprehensive feature list, scalability, and user-friendly design, it’s no surprise that salon management software is the best for salons of any size. With ManageEase at the heart of your operations, you’ll have more time to focus on what truly matters—providing outstanding beauty services and turning your clients into loyal ones.
Whether you are opening your first salon, or expanding your existing operation, an investment in ManageEase is an investment in efficiency, growth, and customer satisfaction. So why wait? Get started with your salon’s operations today and see for yourself how the best salon CRM software can change the face of your business!
