Online booking - pros and cons

Videos

Powder Brows

Procedure, Techniques, Pigments, Aftercare...

Microblading

Procedure, Technique, Patterns, Supplies, Retention...

Ombre Brows

Soft Ombre, Pixels, Whip, Pendulum techniques...

Hairstrokes

Nano Brows, Hairstrokes patterns, Natural PMU...

Combo Brows

Powder + Miroblading, Powder + Hairstrokes...

Marketing

Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Organic growth...

Removal

Saline, Lactic Acid, Laser removal procedure...

Articles

Powder Brows

Procedure, Techniques, Pigments, Aftercare...

Microblading

Procedure, Technique, Patterns, Supplies, Retention...

Ombre Brows

Soft Ombre, Pixels, Whip, Pendulum techniques...

Hairstrokes

Nano Brows, Hairstrokes patterns, Cashmiere...

Getting started

Starting artist adivce, practical first steps...

Marketing

Offline marketing, Online marketing, website, domains...

Practical Tips

Guides, Tips, Suggestions, Walkthroughs, Case studies...

Removal

Saline, Lactic Acid, Laser removal procedure...

Tops Pricing

"As a rising artist in the PMU industry, you might think streamlining the booking process is the key to growing your client base. However, while convenience is essential, it's not a guaranteed solution for attracting more customers. Today, unlike in the 18th century, communication isn't our primary obstacle. The true challenge is engaging effectively with potential clients, capturing their interest, and providing services they can't resist. Read about the factual results from research and the potential “catch-22” situation of brow artists with online booking systems from this article."

1. Background

This article is based on interviews with 83 pigmentation artists who primarily offer services like powder brows, microblading, hairstrokes, and lip blush, all using or using online booking systems for their brow business. Most of these artists - 71 - are located in countries of the EU, with 8 in the UK and 4 in the US. There were no significant differences in the opinions of artists in different locations, as this article will explain in more detail; the differences in views were more closely related to the services provided. The research projects the interviewed were part of have been conducted from 2020-2024, and most are still ongoing. Additionally, the observations from the interviews were compared against empirical research about using online booking systems that were conducted over 8 months with 27 powder brows artists, during which over 600 potential and enrolled customers provided feedback. This article offers objective information about using online booking systems in the brow business.

2. Defining the actual problem

The Right Time for Optimization

When starting as a Powder Brows artist, it's common to attribute slow client uptake to various factors, from the aesthetic appeal of models to the absence of ambient music on your website. While addressing these elements is tempting, they seldom represent the root cause of limited clientele.

The essence of business growth is to prioritize foundational aspects before refining the details. The adoption of an online booking system is one such consideration. For new artists facing challenges in attracting clients, this feature might appear essential for success. However, from a marketing standpoint, it is a "creaking door" issue.

In simpler terms, the primary challenge for both new and seasoned brow artists is the disparity between available slots and client numbers. This issue becomes more pronounced as artists enhance their skills and reduce the time needed per procedure. To put it succinctly, the core problem is a lack of clientele, too few clients, or, in other words, low demand. Resorting to an online booking system as a solution - a tool designed to facilitate the final conversion step for customers at the bottom of the sales funnel- often signifies a profound misunderstanding of the brow business fundamentals.

3. The "creaking door” metaphor

The "creaking door" metaphor symbolizes minor annoyances that don't substantially affect the overall customer experience. Consider a restaurant offering excellent, reasonably priced food but featuring an old, creaking door. Although the noise may be slightly bothersome, the high-quality food continues to attract patrons. Conversely, a restaurant with poor-quality food won't see improved customer traffic simply by having a noiseless, smoothly operating door.

Similarly, an online booking system for Powder Brows services is considered a 'luxury' problem. While it may appear crucial, it only becomes a significant concern when there's already a substantial influx of clients. Initially, the focus should be on enhancing your core services and effectively marketing them to lay a strong foundation for your business before attending to finer details.

Empirical research and conclusions

Just as a well-functioning door doesn't increase a restaurant's patronage if the food quality or the price-to-quality ratio is lacking, a sophisticated online booking system alone cannot boost a brow artist's business volume. It's virtually unheard of for clients to choose a restaurant solely for ease of entry, just as no booking system directly elevates demand for an artist's services.

This has been consistently validated by empirical research involving hundreds of clients. The proportion of clients who opted for a different brow pigmentation artist because "their first choice did not have an online booking system" was zero. Similarly, virtually no potential clients ranked "ease of booking through an online system" among their top three criteria for selecting a brow pigmentation artist, with the majority considering it "irrelevant." This isn't to say booking systems aren't helpful in other sectors that typically require frequent, short-interval bookings. However, their impact is markedly different in the brow pigmentation industry, which involves semi-permanent aesthetic enhancements rather than routine services like haircuts.

4. The mechanics of choosing the artist

Another example often used to underscore the importance of quality and reputation in decision-making is needing brain surgery. In such a critical situation, you would naturally opt for a reputable, professional surgeon rather than an unknown individual, regardless of how quickly their website loads. For emerging artists, this serves as a reality check to manage expectations realistically. Potential clients have their thought processes, needs, and concerns, which likely mirror your own and those of others. Therefore, the focus should always be on providing value-packed services rather than merely simplifying the purchasing process. Attracting a loyal customer base goes beyond having a swift-loading webpage; it requires professional skills, authenticity, and a client-first approach to sales offers.

This principle has been consistently validated by extensive empirical research examining the factors customers consider when choosing a pigmentation artist for their brows. The decision is influenced by the artist's authority, experience, quality of work, price, and location, among other factors. The existence of an online booking system, merely as a convenience for finalizing a decision, does not even rank within the top 80% of factors considered when selecting an artist.

5. Misconception of Scarcity

Let's address many artists' misconceptions about online booking systems working to their advantage. They believe presenting potential customers with limited available slots can create a sense of scarcity, prompting clients to book appointments more quickly due to fear of missing out.

This approach, however, is often based on a misunderstanding of how scarcity impacts client behavior in online booking scenarios. Artists might think a narrow selection of times will generate urgency, encouraging clients to secure one of the "last available" spots rapidly.

Yet, this strategy seldom yields the desired outcome. The effectiveness of such a tactic depends mainly on the number of potential clients viewing the available slots. For artists who aren't widely known, this audience is typically small. Prospective clients generally require several interactions with an artist's work before feeling confident enough to book an appointment.

Moreover, even with engaging advertisements highlighting "last available times," achieving significant organic reach is unlikely without a substantial investment in advertising. Empirical studies indicate that around 3,000 targeted views are necessary for a single booking, necessitating a considerable advertising budget.

Therefore, artists should temper their expectations. Setting up an online calendar and announcing its availability through channels with minimal traffic won't lead to instant bookings. Instead, focusing on enhancing visibility and reputation should be the priority. This strategy allows artists to build a dedicated clientele that is more inclined to seek out their services, making an online booking system more effective when introduced.

Facts from empirical research

The opposite effect has been observed. If an artist has only a limited number of time slots, it reduces the likelihood of a client finding a slot that suits them best. One crucial factor in choosing an artist is whether clients can find a convenient time that doesn't require excessive travel time, rearrange their work schedule, or manage additional childcare costs. Therefore, increasing the likelihood of securing a booking involves offering a broad range of suitable times from which clients can choose, minimizing inconvenience and additional expenses related to the appointment.

6. The Actual Pitfall: Over-availability

Over-Availability and Perception of Demand

When artists offer a wide range of available time slots in their online booking system, it can paradoxically have the opposite effect of what's intended. Instead of encouraging bookings, excessive availability might discourage potential clients. This situation arises when artists ensure their calendar accommodates various preferences, aiming to provide a time slot that suits everyone.

The presence of numerous open slots can lead potential customers to second-guess their decision to book. They might wonder, "If the artist has so many open slots, does that mean they're not in high demand? Could it indicate a lack of interest in their services, or, even worse, question the artist's proficiency?" This line of thinking is grounded in introductory marketing psychology; assuming high availability equates to low demand is a natural reaction.

From the perspective of a potential client, seeing a service provider with ample availability might spark doubts about the quality and appeal of their services. While artists could theoretically manipulate their booking calendar to create an illusion of scarcity, such tactics are often easily seen through and may fail to produce the intended effect.

7. Bluffing will not go a long way

Consider this scenario: an artist claims that a month's worth of appointments was instantly booked. To convincingly support this claim, the artist must regularly showcase a substantial volume of before-and-after work on their sales channels, like social media. If these updates don't align with the claimed high demand, most people will suspect the closed slots were due to a lack of bookings, and they would likely be correct.

In summary, an online booking system must be thoughtfully implemented and managed to stimulate demand and secure bookings effectively. Mismanagement or creating artificial scarcity can harm your business's reputation and deter potential clients. As previously mentioned, when choosing a service as critical as surgery, the decision isn't based on the doctor's availability or website speed, highlighting the importance of genuine demand and reputation over perceived availability.

8. Catch 22 Explained

Fundamental Limitation of Online Booking Systems

Based on empirical research, it's clear that utilizing an online booking system in the pigmentation business presents a significant dilemma for artists, akin to being caught between a rock and a hard place. This predicament can be understood through the following argument.

The factors related to availability that maximize inbound bookings are misaligned when a pigmentation artist begins using an online booking system. To increase the likelihood of an ideal match between the client's preferred times—which minimizes their extra expense and inconvenience—and the artist's available slots, opening as many time slots as possible would seem logical. Studies have consistently shown that not finding a suitable time can drive a client to seek services from another artist. Finding a matching time encourages immediate booking, especially when the potential customer is ready to decide.

On the other hand, one key criterion for presenting an artist as being in high demand involves having limited available times. The principles of social proof and scarcity work simultaneously to enhance the artist's perception as sought-after and their services in high demand. This suggests that the number of available slots in any online booking system should be relatively small, reassuring potential customers that the artist is not merely idle but actively engaged in procedures.

However, when analyzing these factors together, we encounter a significant discrepancy—these two approaches are inherently contradictory, a fact acknowledged by many seasoned artists. The workaround for artists with a busy schedule and ongoing business has often been to employ an assistant who can determine the best time for the client. Yet, post-2023, in a period dubbed the "PMU Apocalypse," the prevailing sentiment among most clients is an awareness that even top-tier artists have more availability than clients, making it relatively easy to secure an appointment.

9. Conclusions

In the pigmentation industry, effectively utilizing online booking systems demands an in-depth understanding of client behavior and market dynamics. The main insights from this article highlight the need for foundational business practices over simply implementing technological solutions. Artists are encouraged to enhance their services and marketing strategies before focusing on the booking process's convenience. The concept of the "creaking door" demonstrates that minor enhancements, while positive, don't tackle the fundamental challenge of drawing in more clients.

The critical insight is that the online booking system acts as the final step in the sales funnel, facilitating a smoother and more seamless client conversion. However, it does not address the problem of attracting clients into the sales funnel in the first place. This implies that the lack of booking options must be highly limiting to securing actual inbound business. Likewise, regardless of the booking system's quality, empirical research consistently shows that it does not generate new inbound business for the artist.

The primary issue with online booking solutions is not that they fail to produce new business by themselves but place the artist in an unsolvable predicament of balancing two opposing goals. Firstly, artists must offer a maximum number of available times since research has shown that matching a client's specific needs with minimal extra expenses, time loss, and inconvenience boosts final conversion rates. Secondly, being perceived as a sought-after choice is tied to social proof and scarcity - research has indicated that artists perceived as in high demand are more likely to attract new customers. This requires showing only a limited number of available slots on the booking system.

Considering these two conflicting factors, optimizing for maximum inbound business places the artist in a classic “catch-22” scenario, making using online booking systems in the pigmentation business a less viable solution.

Readers suggest

Using scarcity in brow business (research results)

Building Authority in Brow business

Personal Branding and "pocket brow brands"

Find this interesting?

Share this article

Comment

Comments

Erica

Friday, Feb 16, 2024

Very clear and easy to understand and to apply perspective. I absolutely agree to this.

Sinthia

Friday, Feb 16, 2024

I love the articles that are straightforward and easy to understand. A very practical perspective!

Powderbrows.com LLC serves as the premier resource for material related to Powder Brows, Microblading, and the business of brow services. For collaboration opportunities, contact us here
Powderbrows.com partner in Scandinavia: Brows.fi

Holistic PMU

Company

User

Do you want a similar private portal platform? Contact developer: stprivatdevserv@gmail.com