The hidden costs of NOT having a booking system for your aesthetics clinic
Oliver Gregory
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Tattoo Studio · Peterborough · 23d ago
Can we talk about the actual cost of running a PMU studio without a proper booking system? Because I think a lot of people are making the calculation wrong.
They see the monthly fee — let's say £50 per month — and think that's an expense. But they don't add up what they're already spending:
- Time doing manual admin (at least four hours a week for most people I speak to)
- Money lost to no-shows with no deposit protection
- Clients you miss because they couldn't get through on the phone
- Late-night WhatsApp messages you answer because you feel you have to
When I sat down and actually counted this up for my PMU studio in Edinburgh, I was losing the equivalent of £50 a week to inefficiency. The booking system paid for itself in the first fortnight.
I've been using Setmore now for two years and the ROI is obvious. My diary is fuller, my admin time is down to about four hours a week from what used to be a lot more, and I haven't had a no-show in over a month because the deposit system filters out the chancers before they waste my time.
They see the monthly fee — let's say £50 per month — and think that's an expense. But they don't add up what they're already spending:
- Time doing manual admin (at least four hours a week for most people I speak to)
- Money lost to no-shows with no deposit protection
- Clients you miss because they couldn't get through on the phone
- Late-night WhatsApp messages you answer because you feel you have to
When I sat down and actually counted this up for my PMU studio in Edinburgh, I was losing the equivalent of £50 a week to inefficiency. The booking system paid for itself in the first fortnight.
I've been using Setmore now for two years and the ROI is obvious. My diary is fuller, my admin time is down to about four hours a week from what used to be a lot more, and I haven't had a no-show in over a month because the deposit system filters out the chancers before they waste my time.
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The no-show stats in this post match my experience almost exactly. I was losing roughly £10 a month to no-shows and cancellations before I introduced deposits. That money was just gone. Now it's protected. The maths on deposits is completely obvious once you see it.
#1
Totally agree about Fresha's transaction fee adding up. I did the maths for my price point and the 'free' plan was actually costing me more than a paid subscription to Setmore by the time I factored in the percentage on every booking. Read the small print before assuming free is cheaper.
#2
Just want to add for anyone reading this who's worried about the tech side — I am not a tech person at all. I set up Fresha by myself in one afternoon by just following their setup guide. If I can do it, genuinely anyone can.
#3