Offering the extras – is WiFi a necessity for 2018?

With the rise of technology and social media, many salons are seeing the demand for guest WiFi increase, with some finding a decrease in the rate of younger generations visiting the salons unless there is complimentary facilities, allowing them to roam.

When visiting a salon, many salons ask clients to ‘check in’ via their Facebook apps, or tag them in their Snapchat or Instagram stories, creating awareness of the salon and some even argue that this is even promoting the name – so should salons offer WiFi as a complimentary service? Here we examine the pros and cons of adding such a service;

Pros

• By offering complimentary WiFi you are providing for the clients, and providing a paid for service for free as part of their appointment.
• Clients are more likely to tag you on social media platforms when they are in the salon – raising awareness.
• You can improve your search engine ranking. With clients logging on within your premises and also tagging you it will build your online reputation.

Cons

• When offering such a service, you must remember that legalities come with this and you must be fully compliant, or you could land yourself in trouble.
• This can be a costly service to provide. Depending on the speed of the WiFi and also the firewalls, you could end up spending more than you anticipated.
• You must also be very careful, as a client may illegally stream or download content through your IP address. If this came to light, it would show your IP address and could cause a very serious situation.