We know reopening and rescheduling is stressful and we often don't know where to start. Here a our checklist to ensure a smooth reopening:

Your text reminders will be turned on automatically by Slick according to government guidelines for your area. If you would like them switched on/off at different times, please let us know by chatting to Customer Support via the chat bubble.

Remember you can choose to set your SMS reminders to go out at 72, 48 or 24 hours before an appointment.

Given we've been closed for so long, we need to ensure every single penny comes through the door. For that extra belt and braces, turn on SMS confirmations so that your clients automatically receive that confirmation text when you make their booking. Contact support to do so.

Whether you have a priority list or have a 'first come, first served' policy, make sure your clients know what the plan is.

If you have a priority list for all the clients that were due to come in during lockdown, go to 'Marketing,' select your 'date range' for the dates of lockdown and select 'Not got a future visit' in the 'Next visit' filter so that it looks like this. If you're a new salon, create bookings for clients anytime on any date in the past month to get some data into the system.

Then send them a message to book in and that's your rescheduling done! Make sure you include your online booking link to ensure maximum bookings.

Once your priority clients have booked in or if you are doing a 'first come, first served' policy, you can then select all clients who do not have a future appointment and do the same!

Make sure your online booking is switched ON and all your services are correct.

Write a description of your services to prevent clients booking in for the wrong thing. Here are some templates.

You can also create a waitlist for clients to reserve a slot. Note: please do not amend your current columns to waitlist columns otherwise clients will not receive their SMS reminders and confirmations and won't receive a deposit request. You will need to create a new waitlist column either for each staff member or for the whole salon.

Your clients will now receive a confirmation email for online bookings. Make sure your salon address and email address are correct in your 'Business Info & Hours' section of Settings. You can also include additional info e.g. 'please wear a mask and arrive on time' just fill out this form

Clients can now cancel their appointments online if you choose for them to do so. Select the window within which they can cancel and receive their deposit back by completing this form

Make sure your online booking is linked to your website, your Google Business Page, your Instagram and is posted on your Facebook posts. (We will be integrating with Facebook and Instagram fully so that you'll have lovely 'Book Now' buttons on your social media pages soon.)

Top tip:

You may want to pass the online booking (and deposit) fee onto the client. Just add the amount (e.g. £1.50) onto your services and write in the description e.g. 'A £1.50 Booking Fee is included.'

It is absolutely vital to protect your diary from no shows and last minute cancellations. There's been an enormous shift in the industry and salons know they can't afford to lose a single penny anymore. You can now choose to take deposits for online bookings, in-salon bookings for selected or all clients or both.

If you haven't yet setup your Stripe account to receive deposit payments, do so here

Make sure your deposit amount is set to 100%, 50% or a custom amount in £. Most salons go for 50% as it's easier for both salon and client to track.

Provided your Stripe account is setup and your deposit amount is set, online bookings will automatically take a deposit. To take deposits for in-salon bookings, click here

Should you prefer not to take a deposit online, you can choose to collect their card details when making a booking so that if they no show or cancel last minute, you can charge their card. To setup 'No Show Protection' click here (Remember if the client cancels their card or has no funds at the time of no-show or cancellation, you wont be able to charge the card.)

Make sure your cancellation policy is up to date and is visible in your online booking as well as on your website.

Make sure all prices and timings for all your services in correct for each staff member. You may want to add an additional 15 minute cleaning time onto some or all services.

Ensure each staff member's time off is accurate (particularly from now until your intended reopening date) to prevent clients booking in a stylist is away. If your salon opening hours are changing, make sure these are reflected in your Settings.

Whether you're placing a new stock order or just updating your stock quantities, keep your stock up to date so that you don't need to worry about it when those doors fly open.

You got this!! It's going to be utter madness for a while but if you've got all these things in place, you will smash it.

Don't forget our 'Reopening Recap' and other 'Business Growth' Masterclasses are at your disposal. Either book your place on the next one or rewatch our past ones here

As ever, we're here to help with anything so don't forget to ask!