What to look for in booking software for a small salon
Choose salon booking software by testing a real day's appointments, client records, checkout, costs, and the process of moving your existing client list.
The best starting point for choosing salon software is your own working day. Write down the tasks your team repeats, the mistakes you want to reduce and the information you struggle to find. Use those as your demo script.
A feature list can tell you that a calendar or checkout exists. A walkthrough shows whether your team can use it comfortably. This checklist helps you compare systems on the same practical tasks.
Start with your salon’s working day
Choose a representative day: several stylists, services of different lengths, a returning client, a cancellation and a retail purchase. A solo stylist can use the same method with one calendar.
List your must-haves separately from things you may need later. Seeing staff availability might be essential now, while automated marketing may be a later project.
Ask the provider to show the current product. Note features described as planned, in development or dependent on additional setup. Decide whether you can run your day with what is available now.
Test booking and changes
Have someone walk through these tasks while you watch the calendar:
- Find a free time for a service with a specific stylist.
- Create the appointment and find it again.
- Move it and check what happens if the new slot is occupied.
- Cancel it and confirm how the change appears to the team.
- Check the rest of the day without opening every appointment.
Ask which booking channels are supported. An internal calendar, a public booking page and bookings imported from another provider are different workflows. Confirm what you need rather than assuming they all come with “booking.”
Soloona’s booking and calendar view puts staff across the top and appointments through the day. Moving an appointment checks whether the target slot is free. Use a demo to check how that fits your schedule.
Look beyond the client’s name
Test how you search for a client, what you can view, and what you can bring from your existing system.
- Can you find someone by the contact information you have?
- Can you see their last visit, visit count and historical spend when available?
- Can you distinguish missing history from a long gap between visits?
- Which notes, formulas or photos does the system support, and which can actually be imported?
Ask to see an import preview. Column mapping, duplicate handling and skipped rows matter as much as the upload button. Our client-record migration checklist gives you a sequence for checking the result.
Follow checkout through to the payment
Try a service, a retail item and a tip on one ticket. Check how tax is handled and where the sale appears afterward. If you sell retail, inspect stock before and after the sale.
Then ask how the money moves. Recording a card sale and processing the card payment are separate actions. Confirm the required terminal, processor and associated fees.
In Soloona, checkout records services, retail, tips and sales tax. Your existing card terminal processes card payments; Soloona does not store card numbers. Retail sales update stock, and reorder points flag products running low. See checkout and inventory.
Compare the whole cost
Build a monthly comparison using your own team size and expected usage. Ask each provider for current terms, then record these items:
| Cost to check | Question to ask |
|---|---|
| Subscription | Is the price per business, location, staff member or plan? |
| Payment processing | Which processor and fees apply to our payment setup? |
| Messaging | Is it available, and is usage included or separate? |
| Setup and migration | What is included, and what needs a separate quote? |
| Website | Is website setup included or an additional purchase? |
| Contract and exit | What are the billing term, cancellation process and export options? |
Check Soloona’s current pricing and ask about your setup. Website setup is a separate, one-off add-on; messaging features remain coming soon.
Check the limits and the handover
Write down any requirement the software does not meet. For Soloona, payroll and clinical charting are not included, and the built iPhone app is not yet in the App Store. If those are essential today, include them in your decision.
Before switching, agree on who prepares the export, reviews the import and trains the team. Keep appointments and balances on a separate checklist unless the provider has shown exactly how they move.
Have the person who will use the software most repeat the core tasks. Their ability to book, find a client and finish checkout is useful evidence for your decision.
Bring this checklist to a demo
Your demo should answer these questions:
- Can we book and change a typical appointment?
- Can we find the client information we rely on?
- Can we finish checkout with our payment setup?
- Can we understand the total cost and current limits?
- Can we move our records and verify what arrived?
Book a Soloona demo and bring a typical schedule, your must-have list and your questions. We can walk through those tasks before you decide whether the software fits your salon.
