Q&A with Medusa Hairdressing

Award winning Edinburgh hairdressing salon, Medusa, is known for consistently creating new styles and doing things differently in the industry. The team are known for their creative, on trend collections, continuous high standards and for their commitment and passion to the industry.

Here we welcome Director Colin McAndrew, to discuss how the salon used the software to monitor and grow the business, as well as his favourite feature – text messaging!

Why do you feel text reminders are important to your business?

Here at Medusa they’ve helped massively when it comes to reducing our no shows. A simple text reminder can alert a client instantly and allows them to confirm or change the appointment if it is not suitable anymore, whilst it opens the space to potential clients who require that specified slot. This service also allows us to send selected promotions to lapsed clients, which a must have for us.

Do you feel clients respond well to this type of reminder?

Absolutely. If for some reason they don’t receive a reminder due to a change in contact details, they actually mention it to us. I feel having this service is extremely important.

How often in advance do you send text reminders?

Our text reminders are sent out at 4.30pm every day, and this has always been the case. Sending them at this time alerts them and gives them plenty of time should they wish to cancel or perhaps reschedule.

Do you feel this helps reduce the number of no shows/cancellations?

100%, we noticed a decrease in cancellations almost immediately, and even clients were telling us how helpful the reminders were.  To date we have reduced no shows by 35% since introducing text reminders.

Tell us, do you feel that iSalon helps your business grow?

Yes, absolutely. Here at Medusa we use the online booking system and also the online booking app, which means we really are a 365 day/24/7 salon. I really love this feature as I feel it maximizes our potential when reaching out to new and potential clients.

How does the software help you and your team in the salon?

In the salons we are very religious when it comes to our reporting systems and with iSalon we religiously use these reports to communicate at management meetings and also at our staff appraisals and one to ones. I feel the software really gives us an in-depth knowledge of each salon and team, as well as individuals. Our staff grading and promotion systems are based on these reports too, so everyone understands the importance.