A lovely new booking, and a problem
Sunday night, a new client books a half head of highlights and a toner with your senior stylist for Saturday morning. Three hours in the column, a good ticket. On Monday the receptionist spots it and realises the client has never been in. Your policy needs a test in advance. She rings, gets voicemail, sends a text. By Wednesday the client replies that she can come in on Thursday, which is fine, or she cannot, and the Saturday slot is now either uncertain or lost.
Multiply that by a few new colour clients a week. Some are caught early. Some are only noticed on the morning, when the stylist has blocked three hours and the client is in the chair expecting colour.
Why online booking causes it
Online booking is set up to make booking easy, and that is its job. But most booking pages treat every service the same way. They do not ask whether the client is new, whether they have had colour with you before, or when. So the policy is left to the desk to enforce after the fact.
Some salons try to fix it by hiding colour services from online booking entirely. That protects the diary but sends new clients to competitors who let them book, and it pushes existing clients back onto the phone.
Others add a line of text saying 'a patch test is required'. Clients skim it, or assume it means on the day.
The cost of catching it late
| What happens | Effect on the salon |
|---|---|
| Colour booked with no test | Calls and texts to rearrange |
| Found on the morning | A long colour slot empty or cut short |
| Colour hidden from online booking | New clients go elsewhere |
| Policy in small print | Disappointed clients and awkward conversations |
| Desk chasing new clients | Receptionist time taken from the salon floor |
Nothing here involves telling you what your policy should be. That remains yours, set with your manufacturer's guidance and your insurer. The fix is making your booking flow follow it.
How we build the test step into online booking
- When someone picks a colour service online, the booking flow checks whether they are a known client with a valid test under your rule, using the client record in your salon software.
- If they are covered, they book as normal. If not, the page explains in plain words that your salon needs a quick test first, and why it happens before the day.
- They are offered short test slots, at the desk or with a junior, that fit the gap your policy sets before the colour slot they want.
- The colour appointment is held as provisional until the test visit is booked, then confirmed. If no test is booked within a time you choose, the hold is released and the client gets a friendly message.
- The client gets reminders for both visits, and the stylist sees on the colour booking that the test is booked or done.
- Clients who cannot come in for a test before the date they want are offered the next colour slot that works, rather than being turned away.
Some booking platforms, including Phorest and Fresha, offer forms or service rules that can do part of this. We check what yours can do first and build only the missing pieces.
What changes for the desk and the stylists
The Sunday night booking still arrives, but it comes with a test visit on Wednesday already in the diary. The receptionist sees it, checks the client in for a few minutes midweek, records the test and moves on. Saturday's colour slot is safe. The stylist knows from the booking that the client is new and covered, and can plan the consultation.
- New colour clients book online and do it properly
- Tests booked before the colour, not discovered on the day
- Long colour slots protected
- The desk spends less time rearranging
Lapsed clients are handled the same way. Someone returning after a long gap is treated as needing a test if your rule says so, without the desk needing to remember when they were last in.
Signs your online booking needs this
- New clients regularly book colour online without a test.
- Colour services are hidden online because of it.
- Receptionists spend Mondays calling weekend bookers.
- Colour slots are lost on the morning when a missing test is found.
- Clients say they did not know a test was needed.