This walkthrough takes a hair salon from a new account to its first day on the calendar. Follow it in order: each step uses what the one before it set up. Most salons finish it in an afternoon.
1. Create the business and say what kind it is
- Choose Start free on BookNovi's site, or Create an account on the sign-in page, and make your account. The guided setup starts on its own.
- Type the salon's name under The business’s name, pick Hair salon under Beauty, and choose Next. It answers the setup questions a salon says yes to, and once the business is made it fills in a starter menu of haircuts, color and treatments, three chairs and two shampoo bowls, and three forms (an intake, a color consent and a photo release), every one yours to keep, change or delete.
- Check the Time zone, type the address and phone (or leave them for later), and choose Next.
- Under What do you sell and book?: say yes to selling products if you sell retail or want to track back-bar color, to tracking hours or chair rent if you pay a team, and to forms if clients sign consent. Choose Next.
- Say how many people work there, how you heard of us and, if a rep or a partner gave you a code, type it in. Choose Start my business.
Color formulas are on for every salon. Anything you said no to stays out of your way, and you can switch it on later in Settings, under Menu.
The business opens with What to do next: the steps of this walkthrough as a list that ticks itself as each gets done, under the top bar and in your menu at the top right. Your free trial starts the same day; see Plans and billing.
2. Set up the business
- Open Settings and stay on the Business tab.
- Check the Company name and set the Time zone the salon is in.
- Under Calendar, set the hours the calendar Shows from and Until, and the Time slots (15 minutes suits most salons).
- Choose Save.
- Under Location and Tax, type the address and phone, and the sales tax On services and On products. Choose Save.
With a second salon, use More than one location? to add it. Each location gets its own calendar, register, cash drawer, tax rates and report.
3. Make your menu of services
- Open Services from the Apps menu.
- The starter categories are there. Rename them, or choose Add category for your own, such as Cuts, Color and Treatments.
- Open a service to change it, or add one under its category. Give it a name, a price and a length.
- For color, switch on Has processing time: the stylist is free for another client while the color processes.
- For a service offered in different lengths or prices, use Add an option.
- Leave Available in online booking on for what clients may book themselves.
See Your menu of services for options, extras and buffer time.
4. Add your team and their hours
- Open Staff and choose Add staff member. Give their name, email and phone, and leave Performs services on so they get a column on the calendar.
- On their Services tab, tick what they do, and choose Save.
- On their Work hours tab, set each weekday's shifts. These hours are what online booking offers.
- On their Pay tab (owners only), set how they are paid: hourly, salary, commission, the greater of hourly or commission, or chair rent.
See Your team and their schedules.
5. Set up chairs and stations
If you said yes to chairs, rooms or equipment, open Resources. The starter salon has a group called Stations with two chairs. Add a chair for each one you have. Then on a service, tick the groups it needs under What it needs, and booking it holds a free chair.
6. Bring your clients over
- As an owner, open Settings, then Records.
- Under Bring Your Data Over, pick the client export from your old system (Booksy, Vagaro, GlossGenius, Square, Fresha, Mangomint and most others work) and check how the first few come in.
- Bring them in.
Or add clients one at a time from Clients with Add client. See Clients.
7. Turn on online booking
- Open Settings, then Online booking, and switch on Take bookings online.
- Set the Earliest booking and Furthest booking, and how long before a visit clients may Change or cancel online until.
- Choose a deposit and a cancellation policy if you want them.
- Choose Save. Copy Your booking link and put it on Instagram, your Google profile and your website. The code beside it is the same link for the front window.
See The calendar and the front desk.
8. Take cards
An owner opens Settings, then Card payments, and chooses Set up card payments. It takes about ten minutes: the business's details, who owns it and the bank account payouts go to. Until then, Card at the register means a card you run on your own terminal. See The register and payments.
9. Send confirmations and reminders
Open Settings, then Messages. Switch on A confirmation when a visit is booked and choose when the Reminder goes out (a day before suits most salons). Each client gets them only the ways their own record allows. See Messages.
10. Keep color formulas
Open a client and choose the Formulas and Notes tab. Choose Add a formula, say what it is for (root color, toner, gloss) and write what was mixed, how much, the developer, how long it processed and how it turned out. The last formulas show on the client's next appointment.
Your first day
- Open Calendar. Tap an empty time in a stylist's column to book, or choose New.
- When the client arrives, open the appointment and set its status to Arrived, then In service.
- When it is done, choose Check out. The sale opens at the register with the services on it.
- At the end of the day, count the cash drawer from the register's Cash drawer.
Best practices
- Set processing time on color services. It is the single biggest win for a busy stylist's day.
- Keep the menu short online. Offer the services clients book most; leave corrective color as a consultation.
- Turn on a card hold for new clients only. Regulars are not asked, and no-shows from strangers drop.
- Write a formula every time. The next stylist, or you in six weeks, will thank you.
- Put Calendar, Checkout and Clients on the top bar, and leave setup in the Apps menu.
- Invite each stylist with their own login so their sales, tips and changes are theirs.