I tracked every no-show for 6 months — here's what I found
Thomas Miller
🏪 VIP Seller
🥇 Gold Seller
Salon / Hair Studio · Birmingham · 6mo 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 £50 deposit about 3 months ago through Vagaro. Before that I was losing money every single month to last-minute cancellations and no-shows. In my worst month I lost over £50 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: 40% 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 £50 deposit about 3 months ago through Vagaro. Before that I was losing money every single month to last-minute cancellations and no-shows. In my worst month I lost over £50 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: 40% 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.
💬 5 Replies
👁 557 Views
💬 5 Replies
Join the conversation! You need to be logged in to reply.
I've been in this industry for 6 years and the switch to online booking was the best operational decision I ever made, full stop. Not even close. The time saving is enormous and the professionalism it adds to your brand is something clients notice and comment on.
#1
I've been in this industry for 8 years and the switch to online booking was the best operational decision I ever made, full stop. Not even close. The time saving is enormous and the professionalism it adds to your brand is something clients notice and comment on.
#2
Completely agree about the Sunday evening admin. I never quantified it until I read a post like this and actually counted. I was spending 6+ hours a week on booking admin. Six hours I could have been doing literally anything else. The system pays for itself in week one if you value your time properly.
#3
I've been in this industry for 8 years and the switch to online booking was the best operational decision I ever made, full stop. Not even close. The time saving is enormous and the professionalism it adds to your brand is something clients notice and comment on.
#4
Been using Appointy for two years and I'd echo everything in this post. The one thing I'd add: set up the automated follow-up message asking for a review. I get four new Google reviews a week without doing anything. Massive for local SEO.
#5