How to set up online booking for your salon in an afternoon

1. Start your free trial

   On the home page, enter your salon’s name, your name, your email and the kind of salon. Your booking address is made from the salon name, for example doppler.work/rosas-salon; choose Change if you want a different one.

   We email you a confirmation link. Open it, choose Create my salon, then pick a password of at least 12 characters. Your workspace opens with a short setup checklist.

2. Add your services

   Go to Services and use Quick add. Paste your whole price list the way you already have it: a menu, a text or a spreadsheet. Lines like “Gel manicure ..... $40” or “Color from $85, 1 hr 30 min” become services. A line without a price starts a new group.

   Where a line has no time, Salon Bell guesses one from the service name and marks it “guessed”. Check those before you save. You can then set prep and clean-up time, and a different price or length for each stylist.

   Open a service to add a Question for clients, such as “Any allergies?”, that clients answer when they book. You can also turn on Remind clients to book again (add your salon’s address in Settings first): 2 to 16 weeks after a visit, clients who agreed to news from your salon and haven’t booked again get one email with a link to book.

3. Add your team and their hours

   In Team & hours, choose Add team member. People with an email get an invite to sign in; someone who only needs to be bookable can be added without one. Give each person a role: owner, manager or stylist.

   Set weekly hours with breaks, use “copy Monday to weekdays” to save typing, and press Save hours. Block time for holidays or training. Clients only see times when someone is working and free.

4. Set your booking rules

   In Settings, under Booking rules, set how many hours before an appointment clients can still change it for free, a late-cancellation fee and a no-show fee, and the rules text clients agree to before booking. The cancellation policy template gives you text to start from.

   Also in Settings, choose when reminder emails go out (a day before by default), how soon and how far ahead clients can book online, and whether clients must give a phone number.

5. Write your salon page

   In Website, add a tagline, a few lines about the salon, photos and your hours, plus links to Instagram, Facebook or TikTok. If you add your Google reviews link, clients get an email after their visit asking for a review.

6. Make a test booking

   Open your booking page on your phone and book something as a client would. Check the confirmation email, then cancel the appointment from the link in it. Now you know what your clients will see.

7. Share your link

   In Website, Get more bookings has your booking link with Copy link, step-by-step instructions for adding it to your Google Business Profile, Instagram and Facebook, and Print counter sign, a one-page sign with a QR code clients scan to book.

   If you already have a website, add a Book button that links to your page, or embed the booking flow with the one line of code under Website → Embed booking on another site.

8. Bring your clients over (optional)

   Moving from another booking app? Export your clients as a CSV file and use Clients → Import clients. Name, email, phone and notes are found by their column headings.

After the first week

Look at Client emails to see every confirmation and reminder that went out, and check the Waitlist for clients waiting for a full time. When you mark a visit completed you can note what the client paid and tipped; Reports then shows your takings for the month next to visits, new clients and no-shows. To keep more of those appointments, read how to cut no-shows.