It is one thing to dream of owning a salon business and it is another thing to efficiently and effectively run the business. Successful salon owners and managers need to always be at their best, deploying the best payroll software for salon, tools and other technologies for the best results, especially when it comes to managing salon employee payroll.
For example, many salon owners struggle here and there with finding sustainable, effective and efficient solutions. They struggle with the pains and losses that come with long hours, error-prone manual data entry, and tax compliance worries.
If you are stuck with such challenges for your salon business, here is what you can do for the best result; implement and utilise payroll software for salons.
Therefore, this blog focuses on how you can use salon accounting software solutions to free yourself from payroll-related headaches.
What are Some Important Questions Answered in this Blog?
The blog answers important questions like;
- What is salon software?
- Why does your salon need payroll software?
- what is the best solution to salon employee payroll challenges?
- What is the best Salon Software with Payroll Management?
- How much does salon software cost?
- How do I choose the best salon software?
The blog is designed to help you free up time for you to focus on other important aspects of your business.
Now let us dive into discussing the main points of the blog. Read along.
What is Salon Software?
When we talk about salon software, we are simply referring to an innovative technology that eases the management of salon business operations. According to homebase, these operations may include;
- Point of sale (POS) transactions
- Scheduling and managing client appointments
- Managing staff Communication
- Staff hiring, training and performance monitoring
- Organizing time tracking and payroll management
- Salon tax preparation
Looking at the operations that salon software can handle, you can tell that it’s a technology that enhances the smooth running of your business, including your payroll. This takes us to the next section; Why does your salon need payroll software?
Why Does Your Salon Need a Payroll Software?
We have introduced what salon software is and the salon operations that it enhances. Now we want to how salon payroll software can help your business.
First of all, what are the pain points of salon management?
The summary of the answers includes;
- Waste of significant time and resources.
- Inaccurate payroll calculations for all employees.
- Difficulty in tax compliance and tax filings.
- Complex management of commissions, bonuses, and booth rentals.
- Issues with consistency on reports for better financial decision-making
Considering the pain points, let’s dive into how salon software helps your business.
Payroll Software For Salons Digitalised Your Records
First of all, you need to get rid of those paperwork and go digital. It’s easier, faster and safer to digitalise your bookkeeping processes and operations. Doing this will enable you to have more time to focus on other important things at work.
For example, with a salon employee payroll software, you can easily keep records, manage taxes online and follow up on customer complaints.
Payroll Software For Salons Saves Your Time
Salon software offers you the benefit of time-saving on everything. You can even automate repetitive tasks and keep track of your employee performance.
You also have all your data in one location, properly backed up so if you need anything, all you need do is search and it will pop up. This saves a chunk of your time and will lead to an increase in workplace productivity.
Salon Software Reduces Risks of Errors
Once you deploy the power of salon software automation, the errors of manual work are reduced or even eliminated. For example, you will not be making careless mistakes in salon tax preparation, salon accounting and other important things.
Also, you will be able to properly calculate the working hours and salaries due to each employee at the end of the month week or day.
There are also no issues with who did better or who didn’t as all the relevant data will be readily available to you. if there are any rewards for best-performing staff, you know just who to honour.
Salon Payroll Accounting Software Offers Automation
If you are a salon owner or manager, you agree with us that payroll calculations can be a daunting task. Imagine calculating the payment of your staff – in large numbers. This will take up your time, may cost extra resources, and affect other goals.
But with salon accounting software and the power of automation, it will only take you a matter of seconds to achieve this.
You do not even have to do anything, just program it to make the calculations daily and add everything up by the end of the day, week or month, depending on your payment agreement and it is already a done deal.
Salon Tax Preparations
Another reason why your business needs salon software is to adequately calculate the tax of your employees and business. once again, you can use the data of your finances to automatically generate tax and remit as at when due.
Key Salon Payroll Features to Look Out For
Having learnt how software payrolls for salons can help your business, you need to also know the key features to look out for. Let us take a look.
· Automation
Automation is one of the important trends in scaling workplace operations, and management and increasing performance is automation.
Your business needs a technology that will take care of repetitive tasks and deliver better results than human inputs offer.
So, if you are choosing the best salon employee payroll software for your business, ensure it has automation features and functionality.
· Salon Employee Scheduling
You need the employee scheduling feature to easily put your staff on shifts and schedules.
This is also important for determining their due salaries. Employee scheduling software for salons usually displays the staff portfolio for clients to see and choose from. They can come with client ratings and reviews, staff specialities, gender and experience.
· Employee and Commission Tracking
Your salon software needs to keep track of your staff and their work activities. This does not only boost productivity; it also encourages hard work.
When your staff know that you can virtually monitor their work, they will give their best and bring in results.
Another important thing to consider here is the commission tracking.
You can keep track of their activities; work completed and know what bonuses or commissions to give them.
· Time and Attendance Tracking
Software for salons helps managers to track employee resumption time, breaks and closing time.
The app keeps track of these and boosts the amount of effort they put into work.
· Tax Calculation
Tax is a very serious feature to consider because the law doesn’t care. If you default, you get punished and it may have adverse effects on your business.
For salon owners, the salon tax preparation feature on the app offers great value. Imagine letting go of the worries of tax deductions, and calculations. You know just exactly what is due.
Choosing the Right Payroll Software for Your Salon
You cannot underestimate the benefits of payroll software for your business, especially with the fact that it is relevant for finance, employee, time, and human resource management.
Here are the ways to choose your payroll software;
What are Your Salon Needs?
Here you need to ask important questions. This includes questions like; what are your salon needs? Are they urgent or important?
After figuring your questions out, you also need to consider the number of staff and customer base you are targeting.
What is your type of service? How many bookings do you receive per day? What are your short- and long-term business plans?
Once you can get all of this right, then you can go for salon software that aligns with your needs, goals and vision.
Compare Different Salon Software Options
Do quality research and ask all the questions in your head. This is not the time to rush things. You must settle and get it right. To this end, ensure you only go for industry-leading salon software.
Other things to consider here include; security, user experience, third-party integrations, ratings and reviews, and the features and functionalities.
Be sure to check pricing and subscriptions and ensure that they fit into your budget. From this step, move to the features.
The Key Features of Your Salon Software
You know just what you want and the features of and functions of the app that will cater for those needs.
You can choose a product with online booking and appointment management, staff management and scheduling, client management, payroll management, tax management, inventory and point of sale (POS).
Other important features to consider are analytics reporting and third-party integrations.
Implementation of your Salon Software
After considering the features of your payroll software for salons, you also need to consider ease of implementation. For example, look at the user-friendliness of the software and how easy it is to learn.
You have no business with a salon employee payroll tool that is difficult to use or difficult to learn. This will affect your salon workflow so by all means, avoid such software.
You will also need to take a look at the team behind the product. what are the post-purchase packages? For example, will you get any technical assistance and support during implementation? How will the updates be? The best method of the update is by Over the Air (OTA).
Importantly too, what is the customer support of the team like? Ensure their customer support is strong and good enough for you. you do not need to be kept hanging in terms of need.
Implementation considerations for your salon software should also include prioritising data security. This ensures your staff can trust you with their data and you will protect them with everything you have.
Budget and Pricing of Payroll Software for Salons
We are sure you have a target budget. This is the amount you would like to spend on purchasing your salon software product. you may like to subscribe to a company or create your salon accounting software from scratch.
Subscriptions may come with some additional costs for premium packages. These are usually in addons, integrations, and upgrades. Whatever you settle for, ensure you go for what suits your needs.
The truth is, that choosing the best salon accounting software with a salon tax preparation feature and other important functions helps in decision-making and impacts your business success.
Here at Prometteur, our best advice to clients is that they should never rush the process. So, take your time and go for the best. Put down your needs in writing and know exactly what you want.
Remember the important features; salon employee scheduling, salon tax preparation, salon accounting, salon payroll management, staff monitoring, online booking, appointment, etc. Also, do not forget to go for easy-to-use, straightforward software with a user-friendly design.
Comparison of the Best Payroll Software Options Available for Salons
We cannot have a complete and adequately informative blog if we do not do comparisons of different payroll software for salons. So, without wasting your time, let us dive right in.
Vagaro Payroll Software for Salons
It is a web-based salon software solution and is excellent for promoting salon and fitness businesses. the tool offers helpful features that support strong connection and communication with customers.
If you own a salon, you can simply just register, create your business profile, promote your business, and events, and schedule appointments.
- Pricing
Vagaro payroll software for salons has its pricing starting from $30/month but it has a free trial period. However, there is no free plan.
- Features
It has a total of 216 features with 31 categories including, employee payroll, tax preparation, accounting, scheduling, staff tracking, and payroll management. Etc.
- Overall Rating
Vagaro has a rating of 4.7/5 stars as customers say it gives them value for their money, it is easy to use and has fantastic features. The ratings also commend their customer support.
Fresha Payroll Software for Salons
You can summarise Fresha to be a subscription-free online booking platform for beauty and wellness businesses. You can sign up for free and onboard your business to start promotion and appointment booking.
It can take your salon bookings and appointments to your Facebook friends, Instagram connections, and websites.
- Pricing
Pricing is free with zero subscription
- Features
Fresha boasts of having 85 features with 8 categories. Its features also include all common features of salon software including, but not limited to, scheduling, automation, reminders, booth rental, accounting, payroll management, etc.
- Overall Rating
excellent rating, 4.9/5 stars with client reviews showing it offers value for money, a straightforward interface, strong customer support and that they are most likely going to recommend the salon payroll software to others.
Marketing 360 Payroll Software for Salons
Marketing 360 is a technology company offering one of the best salon management services. It functions like a marketing platform and helps with management functions.
- Features and Services
Its services are amazing as they include; payment processing, website creation, social media management, marketing, content marketing, advertising, monitoring, payroll management, accounting, scheduling, appointment bookings, leads management, etc.
- Pricing
Pricing starts from $25/month. It also has a free plan and free trials.
- Overall Rating
Users have given it a rating of 4.6/5 stars and say they get what they pay for. The software is easy to use and comes with feature-rich packages. They also have good customer support.
Once you visit their site, you will be greeted with these words; “Zenoti is designed with over 21 features to help you grow your revenue. And it’s a fully integrated solution that helps manage that growth smoothly, without the problems that come with growing.”
Zenoti is the world’s number 1 cloud software for salons and it offers a very powerful and elevating user experience.
- Pricing
As at this time, we were unable to get the actual pricing. But we are sure that they have an affordable subscription plan.
- Features
It has a total of 91 great features with 11 categories to support your salon business. the features also include common features of payroll software for salons as well as automation, among others.
- Overall Rating
Zenoti offers clients great value, it is easy to use and has great features. Also, their customer support is top-notch. Their overall rating is 4.4/5 stars.
Phorest Payroll Software for Salons
This is one amazing software with an all-in-one solution for salon businesses across the globe. You can sign up on the platform, onboard your business, and access the best tools for managing, promoting, marketing, and growing your salon business.
- Pricing
Pricing is $99/month with subscription fees. No free trial and no free plan.
- Features
Its features support the modernisation of salon businesses and it also comes with all the common salon accounting software supporting features.
- Overall Rating
Using these rating criteria; value for money, ease of use, great features, customer support services and likelihood to recommend, users rate it at 4.8/5 stars.
Cost Factors for Salon Payroll Software
There are many contributing factors to the cost of salon software. In many cases, the number one cost factors are the features and expected number of users of the salon software.
But from the previous section, we have seen that salon software can be entirely free while some can be as low as $25/month.
When choosing your ideal salon software development company, ensure you go for those that are transparent about the cost of their payroll software development.
Do not rush the process. Settle down and have them explain their pricing structures. See how your budget and project may fit in.
It is important to note that ideal salon employee payroll software is a potential cost-saving tool for your business. It increases your business efficiency and reduces errors.
Access our salon software cost calculator for the best salon development pricing in the market.
Success Stories: Salons Winning with Payroll Software
Envy Hair Salon and the Milano Software for Salons
Alison Macleod is the founder of Envy Hair Salon and for many years, has been in search of how to optimise her operations. In the past, she struggled with her business and did not find it easy at all to manage staff, employee schedules, salon accounting and payroll management.
But all of these became a thing of the past when she implemented the use of salon software for her business, especially, Envy Hair Salon uses the Milano Software for its salon.
In her words, the payroll software for salons is simple to use and can be customizable to whatever you need”.
“I started my career in a Spa that used Milano and when I opened my business almost 20 years ago, I knew I was going to use their software. Haven’t regretted it ever! Great program and great customer service”
DejaVu Salon/Spa and the Milano Software
This is also another salon business owner who has used the Milano salon software for her business. Attributing the success of her business to the software, she says “I started my career in a Spa that used Milano and when I opened my business almost 20 years ago, I knew I was going to use their software. Haven’t regretted it ever! Great program and great customer service”
Other businesses that use this salon software include; Greenwich Medical Spa, Sheraton, Alyeska Nordic Spa, and Seneka.
Book Salon Software for Salon Business
Royal Beauty Spa
Royal Beauty Spa used to battle with time management as they spent too much of their time doing repetitive tasks. They were wasting too many important and productive hours on less important areas of their salon and spa business until they adopted the Book Salon software. The software helped them in freeing up 104 hours of their time every year.
“The decision to Switch to Book Salon was based on the fact that bookings, checkout and payment terminal were all integrated, resulting in time and money savings. Before Book Salon, I used to spend about two hours every Sunday going through last week’s mistyped receipts. In addition, I save over €1,000 a year in monthly payments compared to previous systems.”
Conclusion
In these modern times, salons need to offer great value to customers, including seamless experience and excellent customer support.
Also of importance is that they need to adequately take care of employee payroll-related issues. Doing all of these will boost productivity and promote efficiency.
Salon software offers all of these and even more. It gives your business a competitive edge and keeps it ahead of the market trends. When you embrace such technology, you will surely improve the value of your salon business and your success level will increase.
Do you want to build the best payroll software for salons? Reach out to us now and we will offer you the best solution.
