How To Calculate your Salon No-Show Rate

Ever stared at an empty chair in your salon, knowing a client should be there?

Having clients who don’t show up is really frustrating because they don’t just interrupt your workflow but also cause financial loss and create gaps in your schedule that cannot be easily filled.

Of course, having a few missed appointments is normal for any salon, but if you don’t constantly keep track of your no-shows, those skipped appointments can multiply faster than you think.

They will translate into significant financial losses, impacting your ability to buy new equipment, implement new services, or even pay your staff.

Since you don’t want that, it’s necessary to keep the no-show rate as low as possible.

If you don’t know where to start, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about what a no-show rate is, why it is important, how to reduce it, and how to measure the improvements.

What is the no-show rate

First things first, even though it doesn’t need too much explanation, a no show client is someone who missed the appointment without any notice.

This means that the no-show rate refers to the percentage of appointments clients make but fail to attend without offering prior notice.

Some salon owners also prefer to include in this category clients who canceled the appointment last minute, but it’s up to each salon what they consider a no-show.

Why is it important to know how many no-shows you have

Knowing how many no-shows you have can offer you important data about your customers and about the state of your business.

Having a clear view of this data can give you insights into how to lower your no-show rate.

Here’s how analyzing your no-show rate can help you:

1. Helps you understand your customers

You can identify patterns in clients’ behavior who skip appointments.

Some clients may need a better communication system because they tend to forget the schedules they make. 

This type of pattern can easily be solved by sending a reminder to avoid missed appointments.

Another pattern to observe can be time. Analyze the days or the times with a higher frequency of no-shows. Maybe Mondays are not preferred by some of your customers, or others skip the appointment because it’s in the evening.

Take your time to understand your customers and then tailor your strategies accordingly.

Once you know details about your customers, you can use the Goldie booking app to add client notes.

You can write down your clients’ preferences, like what’s their preferred hour or day of the week.

But if you want to build stronger relationships with your customers, feel free to include a few more notes about their favorite styling methods or products.

There isn’t a customer that doesn’t like to feel special.

2. Gives you insights into your business

A high number of no-shows can tell you that something needs to be changed in your operations.

Your clients may have trouble creating their appointments with clunky booking systems or you only offer slots that clash with the working hours when it’s more difficult for them to attend, especially if you have a long waiting time.

Analyzing your business overall can help you improve customer experience, streamline your booking process, and, obviously, reduce the no-shows.

3. Gives you better financial stability

A high no-show rate represents lost revenue for your salon.

Therefore, calculating your no-show rate and keeping an eye on its evolution contributes to your business stability and helps you remain financially sustainable.

Research shows that 30% of appointments are missed each year in the beauty sector leading to an average of $67,000 lost revenue.

So, how should you avoid such a loss?

Keeping a manual track of your income and appointments can help, but you can easily miscalculate or forget some of the appointments.

You can create an online report that allows you to see the income and number of clients you had in a specific period of time and even see what was your best-selling service.

With an online report it’s easier to see your income evolution and also see revenue forecasts for your upcoming months based on previous data.

Now you know why it’s important to understand how a no-show affects your business, but how do you calculate a no-show rate, and most importantly, how do you minimize it? 

How to calculate your salon no show rate

Calculating the no-show rate is simpler than you think.

You take the number of no-shows, divide it by the total number of scheduled appointments, and multiply it by 100 (Number of no shows : Number of total appointments x 100).

To better understand, imagine your salon had 200 scheduled appointments last month, but out of 200 only 175 clients came.

This leaves you with 25 no-show clients. Using the formula mentioned above, your no-show rate is 12%.

25 : 200 x 100 = 0.12 x 100 = 12%.

What is a good no-show rate percentage?

First of all, there are hardly any salons with 0% no-show rates, and this is due to many factors.

It can be influenced by how many appointments you have, clients’ behaviors, your location, your opening hours, or the efficiency of your booking system.

For example, having your salon in a seasonal area will impact your no-show rates more.

To understand what a good no-show rate is for you and your salon, you must first understand all these influencing factors.

The average no-show rate percentage for beauty professionals is between 10% and 20%, so whether you’re a beginner or an advanced beauty professional you should aim to reduce it as low as possible.

This percentage means that only 80% or 90% of your appointments are attended by your clients, or they reschedule beforehand.

Also, if you’re a beginner beauty professional a 20% no-show rate can be considered normal because you are still building up your client base, but it’s highly important to implement strategies to lower this percentage.

So let’s see some of the tips you can apply.

5 Strategies to reduce the salon no show rates

Now that you understand why the no-show rate is important and how to calculate it, you can start implementing strategies to reduce it and hopefully bring it as close to 0% as possible.

1. Use an online booking system

The days of making an appointment via phone calls should be over since most clients don’t think of their days in advance which leads to overlaps ending in no show.

Or they just might not note it down and forget about the appointment altogether.

Due to these situations, it is better to provide an easier solution for your customers. They can book their appointment online, leaving them with enough time to check their calendars for a free spot.

Using a straightforward online booking system allows your customer to set up their appointment in minutes directly on their phone without the need for a call.

A booking system like Goldie can benefit both you and your customers, saving you both the trouble of calling and manually writing down the appointments.

2. Send booking confirmations

Once the client makes an online appointment, send an appointment confirmation with all the details.

They will have all the information at hand helping them reschedule if necessary or simply keep in mind when and where they made the appointment.

Some online booking platforms like Goldie, offer the possibility to send automated text messages, sparing you of manual work and leaving you time to focus on your job.

3. Send reminders before the appointments

One way to diminish your no-show rate is to send reminders before the appointments just like an alarm that gets you up in the morning.

This is highly beneficial for those clients that keep forgetting about their booking.

But when would you have time to manually write each of your customers a message with the appointment details?

Time is short in a day and it’s better to be filled with clients than to waste time texting.

Try sending a reminder message one day before or even some hours before the appointment for the clients who repeatedly forget their appointment.

4. Offer prepaid packages

Offering prepaid packages that clients can purchase in advance is a perfect way to reduce cancellations and no-shows because clients don’t want to lose their money.

Think about multiple visit packages, like hair treatment and hair styling packages, or a mani-pedi combo.

Feel free to create any type of package, but keep in mind the services your salon offers.

You can create promotional packages for different holidays or even create limited-time packages to create that FOMO effect on your clients.

When it comes to the payment, you can require a deposit to create a consistent source of income or you can ask for a full payment to manage your cash flow better.

The advantage of creating these types of packages is that clients will try not to miss their appointments since they paid in advance for these services.

5. Create a loyalty program

Loyal clients respect their appointments because they value your time and services. And creating loyal clients is much easier than you think. You should focus on offering quality services, reducing the waiting time, and focusing on your salon hygiene.

These are mandatory if you want to build stronger relationships and transform your clients into loyal ones. Besides helping you reduce the no-show rate, loyalty programs can help your customers feel appreciated. To show them you value them, add points for clients who show up and offer them free express services when they accumulate a certain number of points.

There are some strategies you can apply, but how will you know if implementing any of these no-show strategies will work?

How to measure improvements

After you use the no-show rate calculator and find out your rate, you should start to implement some no-show strategies or even create a no-show policy.

Then, you should monitor your no-show rate over a period of weeks or months to see if the implementations work for you.

If you see a consistent downward trend that means you’re on the good track.

You will probably see the improvements without recalculating your rate, but keeping a monthly updated spreadsheet of your no-shows will help you find other patterns with time.

Seeing more online rescheduling and a decrease in cancellations can be a good indicator that the online process is more convenient for them, leaving you with fewer missed appointments.

You can also reduce friction by adding a more personal touch to your clients by offering them the ability to text back to your reminders.

Keep improving the customer experience through great service, loyal programs, and rebooking reminders to make your customers feel valued, and you’ll see your no-shows diminish and your customers’ lifetime value increase.

Wrapping up

Now you know how to calculate your no-show rate and understand why it’s important to keep track of it to ensure your customers have the best experience.

A high no-show rate costs your salon time and money, but setting the right strategies in place will help you reduce the rates and possibly gain more loyal customers.

Using an easy-to-use online booking system will help you automate as much as possible.

Send booking confirmations and reminders, making it impossible for your clients to miss their appointments.

You just focus on providing excellent services and let Goldie do the rest for you.