How to Use Smart Technology in Your Salon

For years, we’ve romanticized the idea of living in a smart home, fully equipped to do anything and everything. Although a fully automated smart home is still a futuristic fantasy, there are a lot of smart gadgets salon owners can invest in to strengthen their businesses.

Here’s how we transformed Arsova Salon, and how we amazed customers in the process.

1. Salon music made simple.

Top salons provide a great customer experience, which includes a relaxing and inviting atmosphere. Many salons achieve this through music, but professional audio equipment prices are enough to make anyone’s head spin.

Here’s our math:

• Receiver: $400
• Audio player tablet: $200
• In-ceiling speakers: $600 (3 x $200)
• Professional gauge wire: $50 (200 ft)
• Wiring and professional installation: $500+
• Grand total: $1,750+

All we really wanted was a great sounding and easily expandable audio system. We also wanted to keep things simple for our staff. After all, their skills are better utilized providing services to customers.

As a result, we decided to go with a truly wireless solution with everything we needed in one package: Sonos Playbar.

Our total cost broke down as follows:

• Sonos Playbar: $650
• Sonos Play 1 x 2 devices ($150 each): $300

The total expense? $950 for an amazing sound system that’s compact, wireless and integrates with plenty of streaming services. It’s easily controlled from our front desk, where we simply press play.

2. Smart thermostat.

Operating a salon in Chicago means dealing with constant changes in temperature—seasonally, and even daily.

A good thermostat can save money on power while keeping your salon comfortable. Most importantly, the ideal solution is conveniently managed with other smart salon components at the front desk.

After trying Nest (which unfortunately wasn’t compatible with our HVAC), we tried (and recommend) ecobee3. Its room sensor detects the temperature in the salon as a whole, and also our heavily trafficked reception area. 

3. Nest cameras for security.

Moving from one salon location to another was just the nudge we needed to update technology, specifically security cameras. We took a critical look at our older camera systems, and how they were set up. We had a central unit with all the cameras wired together. Unfortunately, this setup did not offer the flexibility we wanted in the new salon. So, we decided to update our surveillance with a Nest Camera system.

This wireless solution allowed us to easily set up cameras around the salon. Total install time? Just 30 minutes—no technical experience necessary.

4. Mevato social marketing display.

Digital signage really took our branding to a new level. Mevato’s Social Marketing display complements our salon’s customer experience by educating and engaging our customers through an interactive social marketing display.

With the subtle push Mevato provides, guests are encouraged to post their selfies to our digital signage, using our hashtag #arsovasalon. This simple reminder to get active on social media has resulted in:

• Over 900 social posts by clients reaching out to their thousands of friends and followers.
• An increase in more than 6,000 followers on our Instagram account, @ArsovaSalon.

Since we’re using a TV as a marketing display, we can show social media posts as well as videos featuring the beauty brands we carry. Overall, our Mevato display helps us educate clients, increase sales with product advertisements and engage clients on our social media channels.

5. Mevato's social WiFi.

Although most wireless carriers have started offering unlimited data plans, customers without this luxury appreciate the opportunity to stay connected while at the salon.

We offer free gated WiFi that delights customers, and also acts as a marketing tool. Social WIFI by Mevato leads customers to a branded login page. Different calls-to-action can be specified on this page, such as collecting emails or encouraging a specific action, thanks to:

• Service discounts that are great for upselling
• Links to social accounts to encourage engagement
• Calls-to-action to visit the salon website

Offering free Wi-Fi in your salon is a win-win: your customers enjoy a great experience and you get a useful salon marketing tool.

Will you implement any of these smart salon solutions at your business? Tweet us at @ArsovaSalon, and we’d be happy to share any of our relevant experience to help get you started!