What the customer sees: How are salons usingAI tools to boostfront-of-house operations?
Salon and spa executives cite multiple AI use cases that are already benefiting their customer interactions.
Automated appointment scheduling is now a borderline must-have for salon and spa businesses. In fact, 91% of respondents said their clients book appointments through a reservation or appointment-setting app. As scheduling apps evolve, businesses could improve communications through machine-learning upgrades like voice scheduling, calendar-matching technology for appointment windows, and follow-up messages sent when clients are most likely to respond.
Meanwhile, chatbots hosted on spa or salon websites or inside scheduling apps may be key to helping busy beauty practitioners in the near future. In fact, a spa chatbot trained to help schedule appointments, share service options, or even suggest treatments based on user answers doesn’t seem futuristic at all. The Sephora Reservation Assistant for Facebook Messenger, which uses natural language processing to let users book in-store makeovers and boasts a higher conversion rate than the brand's other makeover-booking channels, is a great example of this in action.
who use reservation or appointment-setting applications say they already have AI tools in those apps, and another 44% say they’ll add AI tools in this area in the next two years.
The AI-powered Square Assistant is a smart, automated messaging tool that helps your clients confirm, cancel, or reschedule appointments, 24/7. Thirty-six percent of appointments booked through Square Appointments are made between 6 p.m. and 10 a.m., and Square Assistant handles over 80% of incoming appointment-related inquiries.
How do you find a stylist when you move to a new city? Some start with reviews, others try word-of-mouth, but almost everyone ends up checking one last place before they book an appointment: social media.
Generative AI’s time-saving power for producing written content for both social media and business websites is potentially the clearest use case for artificial intelligence in the beauty industry today. And less time creating the right words for an Instagram Reel or service menu update means more free time to spend consulting clients. Industry heavyweights have already jumped in, with Prada using generative AI to create images for a recent fragrance campaign.
who use content generation software say they’re using AI tools, and an additional 18% of respondents plan to adopt AI solutions in this area in the next two years.
Generative AI with Square: Build your brand and engage your customers with personalized, one-time, and automated email and text campaigns using AI features:
Personalize email copy to clients.
Level up your salon or spa website by using the AI-assisted copy generator built into Square Online.
Personalize chat messages to clients with pre-populated names and AI-powered suggested replies.
Smart mirrors for skin and beauty – much like their counterparts in the fashion industry that have enabled virtual try-ons – could bring a new depth of analysis and quality to the industry. Potential use cases include:
Aestheticians: Help analyze skin conditions, recognize patterns, and inform treatments. Not only can this help clients better understand how to care for themselves, it can also make room for highly effective, innovative care.
Makeup artists and sellers: Determine the best products for each client’s complexion by looking at their undertones, texture, and face shape. The demand for this technology exists, too. L’Oréal reported a 150% spike in virtual makeup try-ons in 2023 through its Modiface virtual mirror product.
Hair salons: Preview haircut and color options. Google recently partnered with L’Oréal to create a virtual hair color preview tool for users, where users can "try on" different L’Oréal hair colors.
already use facial recognition as a guest-facing application, and another 34% of respondents plan to adopt AI tools in this area in the next two years.
While 59% of salon and spa respondents say their businesses use point-of-sale applications (POS), only 14% of them say those POS systems use AI tools. But that may be about to change: 46% of respondents expected to see AI tools in their POS and payment apps in the next two years.
So what does that mean in practice? AI in POS software can quickly identify and alert business owners about slow-selling or low-inventory products. The AI could then suggest the slow-selling products be discounted or automatically reorder the popular products, helping manage sales and inventory. Longer-term, a point-of-sale analysis could generate easy-to-understand reports that measure the health of a business.
Square Appointments POS automatically syncs inventory, provides low-stock alerts, and runs custom, easy-to-understand reports so you can keep track of how your business is doing in real time.
