05Solutions
Zero-commission booking and WhatsApp reminders for salons and barbers
Your regulars already know where you are. Give them a booking link of your own that takes no cut of any booking, a WhatsApp reminder the day before, your review link after the visit, and a friendly nudge when they're overdue.
- Appointment reminders
- Review requester
- Repeat-customer tracker
- from $149
01Where clients go
Where the chair goes empty.
- 10:15
Hands in someone's hair
The phone rings in the middle of a colour. By the time you've rinsed, the caller has booked somewhere that answered.
- 14:00
The no-show at two
A cut booked a fortnight ago, forgotten. A reminder the evening before keeps the chair full, or frees it in time for someone else.
- 18:40
A regular, booked through an app
Someone who has sat in your chair for years books through a marketplace app, and depending on your plan, the app takes a share of a booking you'd have had anyway.
- Week 7
The regular who went quiet
Every six weeks like clockwork, until they weren't. A short message saying it's been a while costs nothing to send.
02The arithmetic
Know what the app's cut adds up to.
A marketplace that sends you a new client has earned its fee. A share taken from a regular who'd have booked you anyway is a different matter, and it's worth knowing the yearly figure before you decide where your regulars should book.
For example: 60 bookings a month through the app, an average ticket of $45, and 10% taken from each. That's $270 a month, or $3,240 a year.
Calculator · your numbers
What a booking app's cut adds up to
For the clients who already know you and book through an app that takes a share. Slide in your own numbers.
The app's cut each month $270
- Over a year
- $3,240
- Months of that cut to equal our price
- 0.6
Your own booking link with WhatsApp reminders is $149, once, at launch pricing, and takes no cut of any booking.
Bookings × average ticket × the app's share. Apps charge in different ways: some only for new clients they send you, some a flat monthly plan. Use what your own plan charges; a new client an app finds for you can be worth its fee.
03How it runs
One booking, start to rebooking.
Booked through your own link on Monday, reminded on Friday, the review link on Saturday, a nudge six weeks later. Simulated data, for a fictional salon; switch between the client's phone and the salon's side.
Client's phone
Booking link, from the salon's Instagram · 20:14
Book an appointment
- Service
- Cut and blow-dry
- Stylist
- First available
- When
- Saturday, 10:00
See you tomorrow at 10 for your cut and blow-dry at Studio Nine. Running late or need to move it? Reply here.
Thank you for coming in today! If you're happy with it, a Google review helps a small salon more than anything. The link opens our review page.
Hi! It's been six weeks since your cut. Shall we save you a Saturday? Book with the usual link.
Salon · Studio Nine
- Saturday3 booked
- 09:00Colour · ••• 1022
- 10:00Cut and blow-dry · ••• 8810
- 11:30Trim · ••• 4567
- Booked through your own link: no commission
- Reminder sent, Friday 18:00
- Review link sent after the visit
- Six weeks without a booking: nudge sent
04What we'd set up
Three services that share their groundwork.
-
01
Appointment reminders
Customers book a slot and get reminded on WhatsApp, so fewer of them miss it.
Ready in under 3 days, once we have your details. (plus Meta's approval time)
$149
standard price $299 -
02
Review requester
After a visit, the customer receives your Google review link.
Ready in under 3 days, once we have your details. (plus Meta's approval time)
$149
standard price $299 -
03
Repeat-customer tracker
Shows who hasn't come back in a while and sends them a gentle WhatsApp nudge.
Ready in under 3 days, once we have your details. (plus Meta's approval time)
$149
standard price $299
Your price will be under$249at launch pricing
Custom pricing unlockedOne custom price for the whole set, almost always lower than adding them up. We set it together on a 15-minute call.
Want a site to put the booking link on? See Cut Above, an unsolicited concept for a long-established salon with a price list you can search, the team and the gallery, or the business website on the menu.
05Compared
A marketplace app, and a link of your own.
| Question | Marketplace app | Your own booking link |
|---|---|---|
| Finds you new clients | Yes. That's what it's for | No. It's for the clients who already know you |
| Fee per booking | Depends on your plan: a share, a fee, or a monthly subscription | No cut. You pay once for the setup; each WhatsApp reminder carries Meta's small fee, at cost |
| Whose name the client sees | The app's, alongside other salons | Yours, on your own link |
| Reminders | From the app, in its words | On WhatsApp, from your number, in your words |
| Your client list | Held in the app, under its terms | In your own calendar and sheet |
You don't have to choose: a marketplace can keep finding you new clients while your regulars book on your own link.
?Questions
Questions salons ask.
- Should I leave the booking apps?
- Not necessarily. They're good at finding new clients. The point of your own link is that the clients who already know you don't have to book through someone else.
- Where do bookings go?
- Into your own calendar. The client gets a WhatsApp reminder the day before, from your business number.
- Can clients move an appointment?
- They reply to the reminder and you move it, or they rebook with the same link.
- Will review requests put clients off?
- It's one message after the visit, at a time you choose, with your Google review link in it. Nothing follows if they don't reply.
- Who gets the overdue nudge?
- Clients who agreed to hear from you on WhatsApp and haven't been in for longer than the gap you set. One message, in your words; anyone can ask you to stop.
- Are there running costs?
- Chats your customers start cost nothing extra. Messages your business starts on WhatsApp (reminders, follow-ups) carry small Meta fees, and phone services need a phone line. Both are billed at cost, and we tell you the numbers before anything is set up.
Your chair, your clients, your link.
Tell us how bookings reach you today. You'll get a straight answer on what's worth setting up, and what it costs.