
Do you own a salon? Aren't you able to generate a good amount of revenue out of it? Is there something you wish you could know to invest your time, energy, and money into, to enhance the business? Well, if it's a YES to every question that we have just asked over here, then this article is for you. Well, nowadays, it is not enough to just own a store, shop, showroom, or whatever in a particular location and generate loads of revenue.
Forget revenue, today, it's become crucial to have a presence online because people are more interested in buying services online. This is because of many reasons, including discounts, offers, coupons, convenience, easiness, time-saving aspect, and more. And hence, customers hardly like to roam around, especially when our life doesn't allow enough time for certain things.
Similarly, Salons are something if someone has to get a few things done; making the way through traffic, waiting for the turn, etc., that has become a headache. This is where online mobile app bookings and appointments are useful, which saves a lot of our time. So why not make a Hair Salon Application like Glamsquad and use its services to draw more people to your business?
Moreover, it’s equally important to understand multiple and necessary aspects before you invest to make an app for your Beauty Salon. This is because these aspects play a huge role in the estimation of the cost of building a salon application like Glamsquad. The exact cost of an on-demand app development includes must-have and advanced features, team structure, technologies, and more. So, let’s dig into it right away:

Team Structure needed to build a Salon Appointment Booking App
Depending upon the mobile application you want to develop, ensure to hire a professional team who has a good salon appointment booking app portfolio. It's crucial that the person or team that you choose should have enough work experience and the required skill set. If you are new to on-demand app development, rather than risking your hard-earned money, get familiar with the team members that you need to develop a salon appointment booking app. Here find below the list of technical people you need to stay on the correct track.
App Developers: Includes App Developers i.e. Back-end App Developers, Front-end App Developers, Android App Developer, iOS App Developer, etc. as per your needs.
Project Manager: Includes a project manager that is experienced and has a managerial skill set.
App Designers: Includes Graphic Designer as well as Expert UI/UX designers.
App Testers: Includes a skilled team for detailed reviews or feedback to keep on improvising and upgrading the quality.

Must-have Features required to develop a Salon Appointment Mobile App like Glamsquad
Pre-booking feature:
A smart app must contain a pre-booking feature for its clients, as this helps with managing time and gets you more customers. For instance, think of standing in line for hours to get a slot for yourself. Surely it will be tiring as hell and will cost your entire day. Direct your clients on the slot from the beginning, i.e. the app menu page. Keeping your customers happy by introducing new ways to pamper them and it is a key recipe behind a successful business.
List out the services:
Try to opt for a smart catalog to make your clients' experiences wonderful. No one wants to wait for hours after clicking on any option. Remember your app is the mirror of your business. Therefore, don't let it pass in any way. You can opt for a 3D look and also introduce a feature of voice recognition. List your services and courses in two different slots, as this will help your clients’ checkout without any confusion. This will also enhance curiosity among app users.
Multiple payment methods:
The most important part of any application is its payment methods. People comfortably prefer to pay online rather than cash payment as they need to carry them everywhere. Integrate quality mobile a wallet with that they can pay easily, faster and feel safe. Many payment gateways have been introduced in the online payment industry, so it won't be hard to select the prominent ones.
Push Notifications:
These can either attain you profit or can hamper your growth, if not properly maintained. It helps any business to grow by notifying clients of the latest offers, their pending payments, and even any new update of the app. It also helps clients to schedule their whole process according to the appointments of the day.
Also, you can send notifications to end-customers in the form of SMS and Email. Remember not to send over 3 notifications per day as it will not get you any customers and will subsequently remove the existing ones from the slot because too much notification can make them frustrated and disturb. Therefore, have a daily limit set for the app notifications enough to draw clients’ attention.
List out the prices and offers:
Other features like coming with offers for the regular loyal customers is another great thing you can add on the list. It will not only give a sign of gratitude to your customers but will also acquire new clients to your business.
Choose your beautician:
You can give your clients the freedom to choose their beautician. It will help you to train others beautician on the flaws, they aren't able to solve. This will also make your profits both by clients and students opted for courses at your salon. You can also include categories like the best haircut of the week that will help other clients choosing the same and likewise help your workers to perform well on their strengths.
GPS navigation:
Don't forget to introduce technology into your application. Enable the use of GPS navigation. It will help clients find the direction of your salon outlet easily and if you have multiple outlets, the features would help your clients to find one nearer by their location.
Additional Features required to Build a Salon Appointment Booking App
Geofencing
Check-in Rewards
Push Notifications
Customer Reviews & Feedback System
Before and After
Team Member Profile and Availability Status
Appointment Setup For Salon
Appointment reminder
Contact Us
About Us
Custom App Branding
App Sharing via Social Sites
Mobile Referral Program
Click to Add or Click to Call in the Contact book
GPS Directions for driving
Gallery
Services Menu
Appointment Reminders on Smartphone
Gift cards
News
Technology stack needed to make Beauty Salon App
Below mentioned are the technologies needed to build a Salon Appointment Booking App:
Push Notifications: FCM and APNS
Powerful Programming Mandrill: GWT
Database: MongoDB, Cassandra, HBase, Postgres
Cloud Environment: Google and AWS
SMS, Voice as well as Phone Verification: Twilio, Nexmo, or Sinch
Universal Operating System: Debian, Macintosh, Ubuntu, CentOS
Data Management: Datastax
Available payment options: Stripe and PayPal
Real-time Analytics: Apache Flink, IBM, Spark, Hadoop, BigData, Cisco
Business Model to develop a Salon Appointment Mobile App
Here are a few aspects of the business model that make an app ready to generate wholesome revenue.
Commission
Various brands that market their services online are using mobile apps including GlamSquad. They ensure that they earn a certain percentage of profit in the form of a commission whenever a purchase is made.
Sponsorship
This one involves generating some revenue by allowing your associated partners i.e. best service providers to advertise under a sponsorship program.
Advertising
This involves generating some revenue through display in-app adds of other third party businesses in your app and earning money depending upon how many clicks are made.

How much does it Cost to Develop a Salon Appointment Mobile App like Glamsquad?
As mentioned in the introduction above, the cost to build a Salon Appointment Booking App is based on the below aspects:
App features, including both must-have and advanced
The selection of the platform i.e. iOS or Android or both
Front-end app development
Back-end app development
Website connectivity
The estimation of the cost to make an app for your Beauty Salon depends upon what features or functionalities you want to add to it. The cost can increase with the addition of various advanced features to the application other than must-haves features.
Moreover, hiring the development team including programmers, testers, developers, or designers also impacts the overall app cost. This further depends upon the respective countries they live in or reside and their hourly rates. And hence, the cost can vary a lot. Other than the above aspects, the app platforms additionally enhance the overall cost of developing the app.
This is because using a single platform such as Android or iOS will definitely cost you less in comparison to developing an app for both i.e. Android and iOS. In India, the app development company costs you around 10,000 USD to 40,000 USD to make a Hair Salon Application, that provides you with a polished application.
Sanjay Kidecha
CMO