If you operate a hotel or day spa and you’re in the market for the best software out there to help run your business more efficiently, you certainly have a lot of them to choose from. But this doesn’t mean that all spa software is alike. In fact, choosing the right software for your business is a very personalized experience, especially because there are so many different types currently on the market. To help you make the right decision, here are a few questions you need to ask yourself first.
1. How Easy Is the Checkout Experience?
Let’s face it, your customers love you, but they don’t want to wait a ridiculously long period of time to be checked out after their time with you is complete. They want to pay their bill, leave their tips, and head on out to the rest of their day. The customers’ checkout experience should be seamless and include an integrated payment system, including a system that complies with Level 1 PCI standards so that no data breaches occur. Your customers will trust you a lot more with their personal information if you do things right.
2. Does it Provide Ways to Expand My Business?
All businesses want to grow, but you have to be prepared at all times for that to happen. The right spa software will be able to accommodate you in multiple locations, even if you currently only have one location. It should have API integration so that opening up a second or third location is never complicated but comes together just as it should. When you open up a spa, you should automatically plan for future growth, and your software should be able to accommodate that growth regardless of when it occurs.
3. How Easy Is it to Market to and Acquire Customers?
Your customers are the centrepiece of your business, and to keep yourself afloat, you need to be constantly acquiring new customers and staying in touch with existing ones. Any software you buy should allow customers to book online and allow you to send out highly targeted emails, let everyone know about any specials you’re having, and schedule text marketing campaigns. These things should be done around the clock, not just at certain times. All of these things do their part to make sure your calendar is as full as possible at all times.
4. How Complicated Is This Software?
Above all else, your spa software needs to be easy to learn and to use. This means easy for you, easy for the staff, and of course, easy for customers to use regardless of what they’re trying to do. Keep in mind that not all of your customers and staff will be young and adept at computer work and that sometimes older clients can have trouble with it. This is why your software needs to be as user-friendly as possible. When testing out the software, make sure you can do what you need to do with just a few clicks and that the on-screen instructions are easy to understand. This way, everyone will be accommodated.