Top Treatwell Connect features you might not know about

Running a salon is a massive undertaking. You’re managing your team and your clients, keeping on top of finances, running marketing, and everything else that comes with it.

Treatwell Connect is built to take some of that off your plate: growing the business, saving you time, and making it easier for clients to book with you. Here are the features worth knowing about.

What Treatwell Connect can do beyond the basics

Treatwell Connect does a lot more than the calendar and confirmation emails. It stores every client’s history in one place, from colour formulas to patch test dates. It sends rebook reminders on its own while you’re elbow-deep in a balayage. It handles prepayments through to refunds, and the daily reports actually make sense. And it spots patterns you’d never catch by eye, like which slots always fall flat, or which treatments your Instagram followers actually book.

A quick look through your settings usually turns up the same few gaps: rebook reminders that never got switched on, or treatment info that never got fully filled in and trips up your marketing later. Sorting these out tends to lift rebookings, bring in more good reviews and give you a clearer picture of the money coming in and out.

Start with one feature at a time

There’s only so many hours in the day, and getting to grips with new software tends to rank somewhere between doing your tax return and deep-cleaning the colour room. So the tools that could actually be earning you money sit there unused, waiting for a spare afternoon that never comes.

The trick is to pick one thing at a time rather than tackling everything at once. Some of it is a single tick, like flagging which services need a patch test. Other bits, like getting your waiting lists working or actually reading your reports, are worth a proper sit-down.

Client messages that go out on their own

Treatwell Connect sends appointment reminders for every booking, free, on every plan. Clients get a confirmation when they book, then a reminder before they’re due in, and nobody on your front desk has to chase any of it. Patch test alerts work the same way, going out a few days ahead for any treatment that needs one.

Appointment reminders are the cheapest way to cut no-shows. There’s no cap and the cost is fully covered by Treatwell: every booking can have one, on every treatment, for every client.

Rebook reminders that fit the treatment

Appointment reminders cover the booking someone’s already made. Rebook reminders are the other half: the nudge that brings them back in. Treatwell Connect handles the timing in the background, working out roughly when each client is due based on what they booked, so lash clients get nudged on a different rhythm to colour clients. Someone in every four weeks for nails won’t get the same reminder as someone booking highlights every few months.

There’s nothing to set up beyond switching them on and topping up your messaging credits so they go out when they’re supposed to. They still work best when your team also mentions the next booking in the salon. The reminder backs up what the stylist said, and the rebook happens without anyone feeling pushed into it.

Patch test and pre-booking reminders

Treatwell Connect can send automatic reminders for any treatment that needs a patch test, going out a few days before the booking. It cuts forgotten tests, saves last-minute cancellations and keeps you covered without your receptionist chasing every client by hand.

Just tick the “patch test required” functionality when setting up a service in your menu, and Treatwell Connect takes care of the rest.

A fully integrated checkout: quicker at the till

Checkout in Treatwell Connect takes a handful of taps. Imagine the time saved when you welcome forty clients a week. You can go from finishing the treatment to taking payment without leaving the booking, with tips and confirmation right there. It’s built for phones and tablets, so your team can wrap up at the chair instead of queuing at the front desk. You can use it on a bigger screen too, of course.

You can add retail, extra treatments or bundles on the fly, without going back to the start. It takes about fifteen minutes to walk the team through it, and everything moves quicker straight away.

Payments through Treatwell Connect

Prepayments are on from day one, and you set your own cancellation policy. Every one lands in your daily reports next to the booking it came from, so at the end of the day you’re not playing detective matching receipts to bookings. You choose whether to ask for prepayment on everything, on certain treatments, or from certain clients.

For payments at the desk, Tap to Pay turns your phone into the card reader. Just hold the client’s card or phone against yours, and the payment lands in your reports the same way a prepayment does. No separate machine to tot up at the end of the day.

If a proper card machine suits you better, Treatwell Pay includes one you can order from Treatwell Connect. It arrives in a few working days, and card, Tap to Pay and prepayment transactions all sit in the same reports.

Sending a client a quote before they commit

When a client’s weighing up two or three treatments and wants to know what the whole lot would come to, you can put a quote together from their booking rather than doing sums out loud at the desk. Open the booking, click create quote, add or drop treatments until it matches what they’re actually considering, and apply a discount if you want to nudge them. Save it as a quote instead of taking payment, and Treatwell Connect gives you a reference to print or email over.

Printed quotes come out with your salon branding, the treatments and prices, any discount, the total and your contact details, so the client leaves with something to think about rather than a number they’ll have forgotten by the car park. Every quote lands in your transactions report, labelled so you can see what’s been agreed and what’s still sitting there. Nothing’s binding, so if they change their mind you void it and move on.

Getting reviews without having to ask

After each booking, Treatwell Connect sends a review prompt on its own, usually 24 to 48 hours after the visit, when the client’s still glowing from a fresh colour or new set of nails. That steady drip of prompts bumps up your review count and where you sit in the marketplace, without you having to awkwardly ask at the till. You’ll also see feedback as it lands, so you can catch problems before they turn into bad reviews.

Adding portfolio images to your team members’ profiles lets you show off your work next to the reviews, so clients see the words and the pictures together.

Making reviews work harder

Write a few reply templates you can pull out for the usual kinds of review (glowing, mixed, treatment-specific) so you can respond quickly without every reply sounding the same. Look for patterns in what clients say and use them: if everyone mentions you’re always running late, look at your scheduling. If three people this month have mentioned the music being too loud, turn it down.

Put your best reviews front and centre in your marketing and on booking pages. What clients say carries more weight than what you say, and that’s the whole point.

Knowing your clients properly

Treatwell Connect holds more than the basic contact details. Full booking history, treatment preferences, allergies, formula notes, and anything you want to jot down like “prefers morning bookings” or “hates small talk.” It’s the difference between a client feeling remembered and a client feeling like the third booking of the morning.

Getting GDPR consent is on you, and you’ll need to keep it up to date, but once you’ve got it Treatwell Connect records it against the client so you’re not tracking it on paper.

You can filter your client list by whether they’ve opted in, when they last came in, and how many bookings they’ve had. Comeback offers for the ones who haven’t been in for a while, and you know everyone you’re sending to has said yes to hearing from you.

Marketing to the right people

Rather than sending every offer to your whole client list, split them up by what you know. Comeback deals for the ones who haven’t been in for a couple of months. Something for your most frequent clients, who’ve earned it. And because you can filter by opt-in, you’re only ever sending to people who’ve agreed to hear from you.

Ease off on how often you email. Even the best offers get tuned out if they land every week, and Treatwell Connect won’t let you send to the same client twice within seven days anyway. Getting salon email marketing right is as much about who you leave out of a send as who you put in.

Reports that earn their keep

Treatwell Connect shows you daily totals, how each team member’s doing, and where your bookings are coming from. The reports catch trends that are hard to see from the chair: seasonal peaks, treatments that aren’t quite landing, which marketing channels actually bring in bookings and which ones just make noise.

SMS reports show which reminders actually bring people back and which get ignored. Booking source tracking splits out clients who came through the marketplace from the ones who booked on your “Book now” buttons on social media or your own website, so you can put marketing money into what’s actually working instead of what just looks good on paper.

Most useful of all is spotting problems early. If certain slots are always dead, that’s a signal to cut the staffing or run a promotion. If one team member’s cancellation rate is way above everyone else’s, better to catch it before it hits your takings.

Where your clients actually find you

Knowing where your clients come from (marketplace, your “Book now” buttons on social media or your website) tells you where to spend your time and money. Marketplace bookings cost you more in commission but bring in properly new clients who’d never have found you on their own. Bookings from your website and repeat visits cost less but take different marketing efforts to keep coming.

Check every month which sources are actually converting into bookings, then shift your marketing money towards whatever’s working for you.

Filling empty slots with waiting lists

When a client wants a day that’s fully booked, they can join your waiting list from your booking widget instead of giving up and going elsewhere. You’ll see a notification on your calendar for that day, and you can also add people to the list yourself: pick the date, add their details, and note the treatment or team member they were after if you know it.

When a slot frees up, you decide what happens next. Email everyone waiting for that day in one go, or send an invitation to one client in particular. The email carries a Book Now button that takes them to your widget with the date and treatment already filled in, so there’s very little standing between the message and a booking. You can also just book them in yourself and let them know it’s done.

For the slots that are always in demand, prepayments help stop last-minute no-shows.

Filling cancellations quickly

Nothing goes out automatically, so the speed is down to you. Get into the habit of checking the waiting list when a cancellation lands, and a gap that would have been dead time turns into a booking. Keep an eye on which treatments and slots get cancelled most, and think about tighter prepayment rules for the bookings that keep falling through. One thing worth remembering: take the client off the list once they’re booked, or you’ll email them again next time.

Bookings from Google and your own website

Treatwell Connect works with Reserve with Google, so people can book directly from Google Search or Maps without ever visiting your website. The website widget lets clients book straight from your own site without being sent over to Treatwell. Both sync instantly with your calendar, so you’re not double-booking anyone.

Bookings that come through your own website are free. Marketplace bookings work differently: when a new client finds you there, you pay commission on that first booking, but being on the marketplace still brings in new clients who’d never have found you. If a client finds you on Google, they’ll get redirected to your marketplace page, so they work the same way. The reports show which is working best for your salon. Share the booking widget link on your social channels for wider reach, without having to check your DMs for booking requests all day.

Adding the booking widget to your website

Treatwell Connect gives you a booking widget you can put anywhere: your website’s booking page, your homepage, your social profiles. There’s nothing to set up beyond putting it where clients will find it.

If you’d rather clients browse without leaving your site, you can embed your service menu into your website instead. Either way, test it by making a real booking to check the calendar sync works, and keep an eye on how often bookings actually come through.

Team profiles and portfolios

Each team member can keep their own profile showing their specialties, qualifications and portfolio. Clients want to know who they’re booking with, especially for anything transformative, and stylists with their own following bring more repeat bookings. Someone booking colour correction for the first time wants to know they’re in safe hands, which is a good reason to put popular treatments and qualifications front and centre.

When your team update portfolio images, the changes show up on your public listings. Tag every photo with the right treatment so clients find the work they’re actually after, and swap images out regularly so the page doesn’t look stale.

Making your portfolio work harder

Sharp photos with consistent lighting and angles do the heavy lifting here, and you’ll want permission to use anything featuring a client. Before-and-after shots work particularly well for anything transformative, like colour correction or extensions. Swap images out monthly to match what’s actually being asked for right now, rather than recycling the same portfolio from 2019.

A well-kept portfolio brings in bookings, especially for visual treatments like nails, brows and hair, where clients want to see your style matches theirs before committing.

The Treatwell Connect mobile app

The Treatwell Connect app puts your calendar in your pocket. You can see and manage every booking, add walk-ins on the spot, and respond to reviews while the client’s still fresh in your mind. Client and sales reports are there too, so you can check how the week’s going without being in the salon.

It also keeps track of your stock and lets you reorder when something’s running low, which is the sort of job that otherwise gets remembered at the worst possible moment. Updating your treatment menu and pricing works on an iPad or tablet rather than a phone, so that one’s worth doing when you’re sitting down.

What your team can see and do depends on the permissions you give them. In general they get their own calendar, notifications about their bookings, and a public profile with a portfolio of their best work.

Which bits of Treatwell Connect matter most for your setup

Whether you’re on your own, running a boutique team or managing several locations, different bits of Treatwell Connect will do the heavy lifting. If you’re solo, the biggest win is auto rebook reminders and simple marketing that would otherwise never happen. Small teams get quick wins from the automatic messages and having payments all in one place. Bigger salons get the most out of the detailed reports, complex scheduling, and being able to control what each team member can see or do.

Small salon priorities

If you’ve got one to three team members, focus on the basics first: automatic reminders, and prepayments set up properly. Sort those before you dive into anything fancier. Give the reminder settings and client details a quick check every month so nothing slips through the cracks.

If you’ve got a bigger salon or several locations

Bigger venues get more out of the deeper reports and complex scheduling, but setting it all up takes more thought. Sync calendars across every room and section, check the reports are pulling together properly, and make sure the team knows who can access what before the salon grows too fast.

Ready to get more from Treatwell Connect?

If you’re already a partner, log into Treatwell Connect and pick one feature from this list to switch on this week.

Not on Treatwell yet? Start for free and see what your dashboard could be doing for you.

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