How I handled the transition when moving clients to online booking only
Hugo Marshall
👑 VIP
👑 VIP
Lash Artist · Crawley · 1mo ago
I want to talk about deposits because I see a lot of people in beauty business groups acting like it's somehow rude to ask for one. It's not. It's a completely standard part of running a professional service business and if you're not taking them you're absorbing all the financial risk of someone else's bad behaviour.
I introduced a £15 deposit about 6 months ago through Appointy. Before that I was losing money every single month to last-minute cancellations and no-shows. In my worst month I lost over £15 in wasted appointment slots — that's time I could have given to clients who actually wanted to be there.
Here's exactly how I set it up: 25% deposit, non-refundable if cancelled with less than 48 hours notice. I put this in plain English on my booking page and in my confirmation message. No legal jargon, no passive-aggressive tone. Just clear, professional, grown-up policy.
Three people cancelled their bookings when I announced it. Those three people were also the ones who'd no-showed me previously. Genuinely not a loss. Everyone else either already expected it or said it made them feel more confident that I was a serious professional.
I introduced a £15 deposit about 6 months ago through Appointy. Before that I was losing money every single month to last-minute cancellations and no-shows. In my worst month I lost over £15 in wasted appointment slots — that's time I could have given to clients who actually wanted to be there.
Here's exactly how I set it up: 25% deposit, non-refundable if cancelled with less than 48 hours notice. I put this in plain English on my booking page and in my confirmation message. No legal jargon, no passive-aggressive tone. Just clear, professional, grown-up policy.
Three people cancelled their bookings when I announced it. Those three people were also the ones who'd no-showed me previously. Genuinely not a loss. Everyone else either already expected it or said it made them feel more confident that I was a serious professional.
💬 4 Replies
👁 477 Views
💬 4 Replies
Join the conversation! You need to be logged in to reply.
I use Square Appointments alongside Xero and the integration is really smooth. Invoices sync automatically, payments are recorded, and my accountant has stopped asking me for spreadsheets every quarter. If you're trying to run a proper business rather than a hobby this kind of integration matters.
#1
I made the same switch and I'd add one thing: tell your clients it's for their benefit, not yours. Frame it as 'you can now book at any time of day without having to wait for me to respond'. That framing works really well and it's also genuinely true.
#2
The point about analytics is underrated. I had no idea which of my services was actually the most profitable until Timely showed me the data. It completely changed how I structured my pricing and my service menu.
#3
The deposit psychology point is spot on. I've said this for years — a £20 deposit doesn't stop genuine clients, it stops time-wasters. Anyone who values the appointment enough to actually show up doesn't think twice about a deposit.
#4