Google reviews for hair salons: asking at the moment that works

When should you ask a salon client for a review?

Ask on the evening of the appointment, two or three hours after the client leaves. By then the cut has been seen again at home, the verdict is settled and the phone is within reach. In the chair the hair is wet and the conversation is still running.

A haircut is one of the few purchases where the verdict lands a few hours later. The client walks out, catches a reflection in a shop window, gets home and takes one more look. Only then is there something to write about.

In ReviewsPro you set that hour once. The request then goes out automatically on the evening of the appointment, including on the days you locked up hours ago.

How do you tie the ask to the next booking?

Flag it while you put the next appointment in the diary. The client stands at the counter, looking at dates, phone already in hand. One sentence covers it: a link arrives this evening. The request itself goes out later, once the cut has been seen at home.

Two things happen at the counter in sequence: the payment, then the next booking. The second one is the calmer of the two, because the client is checking their own diary and already picturing the next visit.

• "I will send you a link tonight, twenty seconds and you can leave something on Google."
• "Good to see you back in October. You will get a short message from us this evening."
• "If you are happy with the colour, one line on Google helps us enormously."

"Hi Lien, thanks for this afternoon. If you are happy with your colour, would you leave a line on Google? It takes twenty seconds: [link]. See you on 14 October."

What about regulars who have already written a review?

Leave them alone and aim at the clients nobody has asked yet. Google shows one review per person per business, so a second one adds nothing. Anyone with something real to add after a year edits the review they already wrote. Raise that once a year at most.

In a salon most of the diary belongs to people who have been coming for years. Your monthly supply of fresh reviewers is therefore small and valuable: the clients walking in for the first time, plus the ones returning after a long gap.

ReviewsPro records who has already had a request, so a regular does not get asked again every six weeks. The wording of the request itself is covered in the article on asking clients for reviews.

How does a new stylist get reviews with her name in them?

Reviews always sit on the salon profile, so a name inside the text is the only way to make a stylist visible. Ask the client to say who did the cut or the colour. New clients often search for the name a friend gave them, and they read your replies too.

A new stylist starts with an empty column in the diary. The fastest way to fill it is a handful of recent reviews carrying her name, because a visitor choosing between two salons reads those names closely.

"Hi Sofie, Lotte did your colour today. If you are happy with it, would you mention her name in your Google review? That is how new clients find her: [link]"

• Let the stylist announce the coming message herself, in her own words.
• Put the name inside the request, so the client does not have to hunt for it.
• Repeat the name in your reply, because that reply stays on the profile permanently.

What do you do when a colour goes wrong?

Offer the correction appointment before the client leaves the salon. A disappointing colour often becomes a review that same evening, while the fix is still missing from the story. Sort the hair out first, then ask your question once the correction is done.

A colour that missed the mark shows in the mirror long before anybody says a word. That is the moment to raise it yourself, because someone who only dares mention it at home will mention it to everyone except you.

1. 1Name the problem while the client is still in the salon.
2. 2Give a firm date for the correction, ideally within the week.
3. 3Pause the request for that client until the correction has happened.
4. 4Ask again afterwards, because a problem handled well often produces the warmest review.

If it lands online anyway, reply short, factual and without arguing about who was right. What such a reply looks like is covered in the article on handling negative reviews.

Does the QR code work better at the mirror or at the till?

At the till. At the mirror the client wears a gown, the phone sits in a bag and the conversation carries on. At the till there is a pause while the card goes through, with the phone already in hand. One tidy sign covers the whole salon.

• Stand the sign next to the card terminal, at eye level for somebody standing up.
• Add one line with your salon name and how long it takes.
• Choose matt paper, because the spotlights above a till reflect off gloss.
• Leave the mirror alone, since nobody reads a sign with a gown around their shoulders.

The code mainly catches the clients whose number you do not have. Which spots produce scans and which produce nothing is covered in the article on QR codes for Google reviews.