Real talk: is Treatwell worth listing your PMU studio on?
Francesca Barker
🏪 VIP Seller
🥇 Gold Seller
Beauty Academy · Brighton · 3mo ago
I want to be honest about this because I wasted money making the wrong choice first. I started with Vagaro when I opened my spa in Leeds 8 years ago. It looked great on the surface but the client-facing booking page was clunky and I had three people drop off mid-booking every week. Switched to Trafft 6 months ago and haven't looked back. Here's what the switch actually involved and what I think matters most when choosing a system.
First thing: don't just look at the price. Look at the booking flow from a client's point of view. I had a client tell me my old booking page made her feel like she was filling in a tax return. That stung but she was right. Trafft took me about half a day to set up properly, and within the first week I noticed clients were actually completing their bookings rather than dropping off halfway through.
Second: SMS reminders are non-negotiable. Email reminders get ignored. My no-show rate went from roughly 25% down to almost nothing once I turned on the automated text reminder 48 hours before each appointment. Worth every penny of the monthly cost.
Third: deposits. I introduced a £25 deposit about 6 months after switching and honestly I should have done it from day one. The people who complained were the people who would have wasted my time anyway. My regulars didn't blink.
First thing: don't just look at the price. Look at the booking flow from a client's point of view. I had a client tell me my old booking page made her feel like she was filling in a tax return. That stung but she was right. Trafft took me about half a day to set up properly, and within the first week I noticed clients were actually completing their bookings rather than dropping off halfway through.
Second: SMS reminders are non-negotiable. Email reminders get ignored. My no-show rate went from roughly 25% down to almost nothing once I turned on the automated text reminder 48 hours before each appointment. Worth every penny of the monthly cost.
Third: deposits. I introduced a £25 deposit about 6 months after switching and honestly I should have done it from day one. The people who complained were the people who would have wasted my time anyway. My regulars didn't blink.
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I had the same fear about telling clients I was switching to online booking only. Turns out most people actually prefer it — they can book at midnight if they want to without feeling like they're bothering you. The ones who complained were the ones I could afford to lose.
#1
Been using Square Appointments 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 six new Google reviews a week without doing anything. Massive for local SEO.
#2
This is really relatable. I went through almost the exact same process 6 months ago. The biggest thing for me was realising that the clients who pushed back hardest on deposits were the ones who'd let me down before. Once I saw it that way the decision became very easy.
#3
Been using Appointy for 18 months 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 three new Google reviews a week without doing anything. Massive for local SEO.
#4