Blog | Timely Salon & Spa Software

Latest posts on the Timely blog
Ideas to help your business
Stories about the awesome people who use Timely
Updates and tips for Timely appointment software
Company news and life from Timely’s distributed team

By Tracey Lydiard, 27 Jan 2020

Green Butterfly’s move from pen and paper to Timely

15 years ago experienced hairdresser Natasha and her partner, fashion designer Ewan, started eco-friendly Melbourne salon Green Butterfly using a pen and paper appointment book. Today, they use Timely to power their business.

By Tracey Lydiard, 24 Jan 2020

The SMS messages your business needs

Timely has some of the most competitive and powerful SMS features on the market, and we’ll cover what they are, when you should use them and how each one can help your business thrive.

By Team Timely, 12 Nov 2019

My way or the high street way?

Business experts have been talking about the long, drawn-out death of the British high street for years. As big names shut up shop, many home-based hairdressers, beauty therapists and barbers are thriving. So, what's the secret of their success? Is it possible to run a successful high street salon or has that dream died? Timely investigates.

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 8 Nov 2019

How to use Afterpay to Boost Your Business

Since launching our partnership with Afterpay, we’ve seen some of our customers double their revenue! We want you to have the same insane success with Afterpay too. Here’s some in-depth expert advice on making Afterpay a game changer in your business.

By Ryan Baker, 1 Nov 2019

Is Free Software Worth the Cost?

With 'free software' you get what you pay for, this means limited features and paywalls. When it comes to running your business, you need the best solution, and that doesn't come for free.

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 30 Oct 2019

Stock ordering is now SO quick, you could do it in under a minute!

Life is short and you shouldn't waste your precious time tediously ordering stock, that's why we've made stock ordering and stock receipting faster than ever! In this blog, we'll teach you how to use these new features so that you can get back to the things you enjoy most!

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 30 Oct 2019

Find out why Anna Dempsey from Skinvae ditched paper and loves Consult

New Zealand’s lack of regulation in the aesthetics industry allows amateur cosmetic tattooists to freely wreak havoc with countless botched jobs. Skinvae owner Anna Dempsey is one of New Zealand’s top specialists in corrective work, and with the help of the Consult app she is rescuing New Zealand’s eyebrows.

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 24 Oct 2019

Take silly-season to the bank! These new features will help you tackle it head-on.

It’s coming up to that crazy time of year again, where lunch breaks are a luxury and there are never enough hours in the day! But Timely is here to help with online booking tips to ensure you maximise your time and revenue this holiday season.

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 23 Oct 2019

Why UK Salon, ‘Asylum Hair and Beauty’ Uses Free App ‘Consult’ to Protect their Clients and their Business

When your salon saves water, is powered by 100% renewable energy, and is cruelty-free and vegan, it makes sense to be paperless too. Salon owner Jason Donnelly uses our Consult app to manage all his client records, but it hasn’t always been that way. Find out what it’s like to switch from paper forms to Consult and how it can save you time, money, and give you peace of mind.

By Pip Knight, 27 Sep 2019

Grow your business with these targeted SMS campaign templates

The key to maintaining great relationships is staying in touch - and what better way than running targeted promotions that your clients will love, which don’t cost the earth!

By Ryan Baker, 26 Sep 2019

Wellness @ Timely

As a founder of Timely, I take the wellness of our people seriously. People who are healthy, engaged and motivated will delight customers and make us more successful. But that’s not the main reason we care. We care because it’s the right thing to do. It’s our responsibility to look after the wellbeing of our people.

By Pip Knight, 24 Sep 2019

Create a great checkout experience for you and your clients with Timely and iZettle

We’re super excited to let you know that Timely has partnered with Swedish payment provider iZettle, so businesses in twelve of our regions now have access to a one-stop-shop for all their business software.

By Alan Bauchop, 23 Sep 2019

No big deal, but we’ve got a new logo

Today we’re launching a new logo that reflects the Timely of 2019. Much the same way that beauty, hair, barber, massage and health practitioners apply their skills in order to transform their clientele, we’re giving Timely a makeover.

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 12 Sep 2019

Multi-location? Lots of staff? You’re a large business and we’re your soulmate.

We’ve been building features that are especially important for large businesses like yours, to help give you more control over locations and more insight into daily staff activity. All in all, we’re helping you run a smoother operation and provide a better client experience. Sounds good right? Well, keep reading.

By Pip Knight, 9 Sep 2019

Timely’s powerful marketing tools now include targeted SMS campaigns

Timely is more than just appointment booking software; we have all the tools to run your business including a suite of world-class marketing tools that will help to grow your business and provide an exceptional client experience.

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 29 Aug 2019

Why UK CEO Haylee Benton uses Timely’s Online Booking to help her Spa, Salon and Skin Clinics Thrive

With three booming businesses under her name, you could say that CEO and marketing extraordinaire Haylee Benton has a flair for creating first-class ‘me time’. We spoke with her about standing out in the UK, her five-star client experience and how she uses Timely to grow her three businesses.

By Simon Christie, 28 Aug 2019

Timely Product Roadmap – Here’s What’s Coming Soon!

We’ve got some really exciting features being released over the next few months, which will give you more control and power over your business while saving you time!

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 21 Aug 2019

Growing Your Salon and Social Media Presence with Stevie Vincent

Stevie Vincent is an award-winning Perth hairdresser with a booming high-tech salon and over 24k followers on Facebook and Instagram. We spoke with Stevie about her success philosophy and how she grew her following as well as her business. Here’s what she had to say.

By Ryan Baker, 15 Aug 2019

Not another “who owns the client” article!

In our increasingly digital world, some salon software companies are entering the race to own your client relationships.

By Team Timely, 9 Aug 2019

9 Unique Ways for Salons to Attract New Clients

You can be the best hairdresser or nail artist in the world, but it means nothing if you aren’t working to promote your business to new clients.

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 5 Aug 2019

How 5 Sisters are Taking Over the Gold Coast Lash World with Afterpay

The Rerekura sisters grew The Lash Room from zero to 1600 clients and have expanded from one location to three in the short span of twelve months. How did they do it? Simple — old fashioned customer service and a little thing called Afterpay. Here’s their story:

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 28 Jul 2019

Supercharge your Sales with Timely’s Point of Sale

Deliver a fast and seamless checkout experience your clients will love.

By Pip Knight, 26 Jul 2019

Introducing Consult, the most efficient way to manage forms in your business

Consultations are great for building client relationships, but uploading and storing the forms can be painful. Not anymore! The team at Timely have improved and re-launched Consult; the free iOS app that allows you to turn all your paper forms digital.

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 26 Jul 2019

How SMS and Email Marketing helped UK Salon ‘The Hair Boutique’ Flourish!

The Hair Boutique opened their Exeter (UK) salon in 2014 and have used Timely from day one. From humble beginnings, The Hair Boutique have seen their stations grow from four to fifteen in 2019. How did they do it? With their love for hairdressing, marketing smarts and a little bit of Timely magic.

By Jaki Wilkinson, 9 Jul 2019

I Went To Cambodia With Hair Aid

I remember chatting to a lady at Hair Expo in Sydney a couple of years ago about Hair Aid. She was extremely excited about what the organization was about and what they did. I walked away thinking that it would be interesting to find out more, but never did. I had opened my new salon a month prior and got caught up in the whirlwind of a new business. Until...

By Ryan Baker, 8 Jul 2019

Disrupting the Hair and Beauty Industry

“Disruption” is the buzzword. Everyone seems to be disrupting one thing or another. It’s hard to know what is and isn’t disruption any more. Innovation, disruption, disruptive innovation… where does one start and the other end?

By Team Timely, 8 Jul 2019

How Do I Deliver The Perfect Client Consultation?

Want to crack the client consultation code? We’ve got you covered. Learn how to deliver the perfect client consultation, why consults are so important for both your clients’ happiness and your business's reputation, and get insider consult tips from some of the world’s leading hair and beauty experts.

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 7 Jul 2019

The World’s Smartest Online Booking – only available with Timely!

It's 2019 and your clients expect you to have online booking, but not all online booking is the same. Timely's online booking app lets you choose how you want your clients to book, eliminating the possibility of annoying time gaps in your calendar.

By Ryan Baker, 17 Jun 2019

New Timely board member: Deb Farnworth-Wood

I’m excited to announce a new appointment to our board of directors. Deb Farnworth-Wood is a serial entrepreneur and founder of the medi-aesthetic franchise Australian Skin Clinics. Born in Kenya and raised in the UK, Deb brings to Timely a deep knowledge of the global beauty/aesthetics industry.

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 7 Jun 2019

How Stevie Vincent Runs her Booming Salon on 2 iPads and 7 iPhones

With over 24k followers on social media, growing from one to seven staff within a year and being booked up until October, it’s obvious that Stevie Vincent is doing something VERY right.

By Team Timely, 7 Jun 2019

The Ultimate Making Tax Digital Guide for Beauty, Hair and Wellness Businesses

What does Making Tax Digital mean for my business? The Making Tax Digital (MTD) programme means that from April 2019 UK businesses earning over £85k will need to submit digital tax returns.

By Pip Knight, 7 May 2019

Timely Product Roadmap – Here’s What’s Just Around the Corner

Welcome to another update! We’re super excited to highlight some powerful new tools we’ll be rolling out over the next couple of months; helping you to grow your business and deliver better client experiences.

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 7 May 2019

Improved Timely Tools for Smashing your Goals and Managing Staff Performance

Setting targets and motivating your staff are crucial for growing your business and bottom line, but it’s not easy to know where to start. This blog takes you through setting targets, and how the improved Dashboard makes it easier to track and measure performance.

By Ryan Baker, 30 Apr 2019

We’ve got a BIG announcement: introducing new Timely packages

Read on to find out what these changes involve and what this means for you (spoiler alert: there's more features, next level SMS marketing, and plans tailored to your business needs).

By Team Timely, 18 Apr 2019

Why SMS is the undercover game changer for your business

You can’t run a successful business without nailing your communication. How you communicate with your current clients and future clients is vital to your success.

By Harry Dalton, 28 Mar 2019

Willow Day Spa – People of Timely

On a peaceful sunny day in Brisbane, we popped in to see Laura at her tranquil little haven that is Willow Day Spa. See how she went from renting a back room to opening her very own space. Watch the video

By Team Timely, 22 Mar 2019

How to use Afterpay to Boost Your Salon Business

Since launching our partnership with Afterpay, we’ve seen some of our customers double their revenue! We want you to have the same insane success with Afterpay too. Here’s some expert advice on making Afterpay a game changer at your salon. Read all about it below.

By Alex Davies-Parmenter, 19 Mar 2019

Major Updates to Lift Your Client Experience

You know what they say about first impressions, ‘you only get one go at it’. We’ve got you covered with the most effective client experience tools on the market...and they’re looking hot!

By Andrew Schofield, 18 Mar 2019

BotStock 2019 – Timely’s Convention of Innovation

Seven teams compete over 24 hours to design and build brand new features from scratch!

By Andrew Long, 26 Feb 2019

Leave a deposit with Timely

Deposits are great (unless you're talking about..er..the animal kind) here's how to use them in Timely.

By Team Timely, 6 Feb 2019

More Power in Your Pocket

Running your salon or spa on an iPad or iPhone just got even easier. Here are some of our recent updates that will save you time and keep you organised.

By Ryan Bronson, 1 Feb 2019

10 Ways to Upsell at Your Salon or Spa

Every day brings new opportunities to upsell products and services in your salon or spa. Here's a few tactics to help you get started with upselling.

By Nicky Shore, 29 Jan 2019

5 Tips for Building a Successful Beauty Brand, and Business

Nicky Shore is the founder and owner of OFF Wax & ON Brow House. As well as pioneering microblading in New Zealand, Nicky also shows us the importance of a strong brand in running a successful business.

By Team Timely, 21 Jan 2019

Deliver the Perfect Salon Consultation Every Time

Consult for Hair Salons – give your clients comfort in the fact that you’re capturing their wishes and relax knowing you're protecting your business’ brand, reputation, and bottom line.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 14 Jan 2019

Text Message Templates for Client Reminders and Automated Marketing

Text messages are a great way to stay in touch with your clients and increase revenue, with little effort. We’ve whipped up a few text message templates to make it even easier for you!

By Team Timely, 8 Jan 2019

The Ease of Switching to Timely – A Customer’s Perspective

Leah Miller, Director at Waxed (36 staff across five locations) highly recommends switching to Timely. Here's what she had to say about her experience...

By Andrew Wassenaar, 1 Jan 2019

What to Consider When Switching Salon Software

Is your new year’s resolution to switch to a salon and spa management software that actually works the way you do?

By Team Timely, 14 Dec 2018

It’s Been a Jolly Good Year & There are Still a Few Goodies to Share

2018 has flown by and there is a lot we are proud of at Timely. We’ve released a sleigh load of goodies to help you attract new clients, retain existing ones, and improve your business.

By Team Timely, 10 Dec 2018

Nicky Shore: Providing the Perfect Customer Experience

Nicky Shore changed the way New Zealanders think about hair removal by opening the country’s first dedicated waxing salon in 2008. Now she’s also expanded into the business of putting hair back on, pioneering the microblading technique throughout NZ.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 28 Nov 2018

Paper Not Foil – A Sustainable Solution for Hair Salons

Amanda Buckingham is the creator of Paper Not Foil, a sustainable alternative to hair foils. Unlike foil, Amanda's 'paper' alternative is made from 100% recycled materials and is completely degradable... a first for the hair industry.

By Jess Free, 21 Nov 2018

Tips to Survive the Silly Season

It’s that time of year again! The Christmas carols are playing in the shopping malls, sparkly paraphernalia is beginning to appear, and you’re probably thinking about how to make the most of the holiday buzz for your business.

By Pip Knight, 19 Nov 2018

Our Gift Vouchers Have Had a Makeover…Just in Time for the Christmas Rush

From the mother in-law who has everything, to the favourite niece... everyone loves a gift voucher. They’re a great way to capture new business and to entice regulars back. We’ve made some changes to make them even easier for you to sell this Christmas.

By Team Timely, 14 Nov 2018

Kylie Hayes: The Freedom to Do What I Love

Owning a salon and winning countless awards might seem like a lofty goal, but our longtime friend and Timely user, Kylie Hayes from Moha Hairdressing, takes it all in her stride. We chatted to Kylie about business, being an artist, and how Timely has given her the freedom to do what she loves.

By Lisa Conway, 7 Nov 2018

The Big Ask – How to Narrow Down Your Niche

Knowing your target market is crucial to the success of your salon, clinic, or day spa. With the technology available to you today, there’s never been a better time to narrow down and develop your niche.

By Pip Knight, 29 Oct 2018

Instagram Booking Now Available with Timely

Timely users can now easily add a ‘Book’ button to their Instagram account, for free. This allows your clients to be able to book an appointment straight from your Instagram profile without leaving the app.

By Team Timely, 24 Oct 2018

How to Select and Mentor Junior Salon Stylists

We asked salon veteran Karl Ross for insight around hiring and mentoring juniors, taken from his 20 years in the salon business.

By Faye Murray, 16 Oct 2018

The 6 Most Expensive Words for Any Business

The most expensive 6 words for the owner of a business are: "We've always done it this way". In this post (read time 2:45) I share how change can be used to improve the way you do business.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 12 Oct 2018

Salon Trends 2019: 10 Hair & Beauty Industry Experts on What to Expect

We picked the brains of 10 experts in the hair and beauty industries on what they see as the salon trends for 2019. How many can your business tick off?

By Jess Free, 4 Oct 2018

Balancing the Till isn’t a Chore with Timely

Keeping your till balanced and reconciled is an important part of managing your cash flow. Timely makes it easy, even at the end of a long, busy day.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 27 Sep 2018

The Importance of Education in the Beauty Industry

Jazz Pampling was in Auckland recently teaching a brow sculpting masterclass. We caught up with her to chat about the importance of education in the beauty industry.

By Pip Knight, 24 Sep 2018

Timely Roadmap – Here’s What’s Just Around the Corner

Welcome to another update! We’re super excited to let you know that these features will be rolling out any day now; helping you save time and grow your business.

By Harry Dalton, 18 Sep 2018

Free Social Media Management Tools for your Salon or Spa

There are a myriad of free social media management tools out there that can help you save time and money. Let's take a look at some of the best!

By Pip Knight, 13 Sep 2018

Afterpay Comes to Timely

We’ve partnered with Afterpay, making it easier for your clients to get pampered more often, and spend more each visit.

By Pip Knight, 12 Sep 2018

Another Reason to Keep Your Business in Your Pocket

The latest functionality to help you run your salon or spa is the ability to store all your clients documents in Timely. Yip - no more messy files all over the show.

By Andrew Schofield, 6 Sep 2018

Cloud Software: Dispelling the Myths

Do you sometimes get mixed messages about technology? Timely are passionate about being straight up, informative and helpful when it comes to our cloud software.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 6 Sep 2018

Madam Frou Frou – People of Timely

In the second episode of 'People of Timely' we meet Dawn from Madam Frou Frou, and talk about the importance of the client experience.

By Jess Free, 30 Aug 2018

Timely makes managing your stock a breeze

Managing your retail and professional stock is an important part of running a profitable business, and Timely’s new stock management features have made keeping track of your stock a breeze!

By Ryan Baker, 28 Aug 2018

Timely and Instyle Industry Roundtable

I recently attended Hair Expo Australia in Melbourne and had an absolute blast meeting new people, chatting with existing customers, and showcasing our software.

By Faye Murray, 23 Aug 2018

Are You Missing Opportunities? Salon Advice from Faye Murray

Salon owners come across opportunities to help their clients on a daily basis. In this post (read time 2:00) I explain how to recognise these opportunities.

By Team Timely, 17 Aug 2018

Dario Cotroneo: Everything I need to run my business is in Timely

We recently caught up with one of our favourite Timely users, Dario Cotroneo, Dario Salon & Founder of DCI Education. We talked about how Timely has helped him with the flexibility and control of his business.

By William Berger, 15 Aug 2018

Smile! Client Photos Have Arrived at Timely

When a client comes into your business we know how important it is to have the relevant details available at your fingertips.

By Melanie Morris, 14 Aug 2018

Winter Warmer Thoughts for your Clients

Mel Morris looks at how to keep existing clients from going cold towards your services.

By Ryan Baker, 9 Aug 2018

Tabatha Coffey Joins Timely Board of Directors

We have been searching for an amazing person to add to our board of directors at Timely and I'm very excited to announce that Tabatha Coffey will be joining us in this role.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 3 Aug 2018

Jazz Pampling: How Timely Helped Me Be a Better Business Person

We sat down with Australian Brow Artist and long-time Timely user, Jazz Pampling, to talk about how Timely has changed the way she does business.

By Ryan Baker, 1 Aug 2018

Welcome to the Team, Colin!

Please say hello to our Chief Financial Officer, Colin Rohloff!

By Andrew Long, 31 Jul 2018

Skip the Queue with Timely Premium Phone Support

On hectic days, you can’t afford to wait. So we’re making Timely support even more timely.

By Grace Carter, 25 Jul 2018

8 Tips for Writing a Spa Menu that Sells

A good spa menu will help clients decide what sort of treatments they'd like. When done exceptionally well, a menu will even sell treatments for you.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 20 Jul 2018

How to Surprise and Delight Your Clients

Every salon and spa wants to go the extra mile to make their client's day. You need to surprise and delight your clients in order to succeed.

By Ben Chartrand, 11 Jul 2018

Code Club: Inspiring Future Techbots

Three years ago my daughter came home from school and I could tell something was wrong.

By William Berger, 6 Jul 2018

New Features to Boost Your Client Retention

Client retention just got even easier, from the moment your clients walk through your door to the moment they leave.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 4 Jul 2018

Nexus Barbershop – People of Timely

We recently caught up with Danny from Nexus Barbershop, located in West Auckland, New Zealand. We talked about life, love, and giving back to the community.

By Larissa Macleman, 27 Jun 2018

Time Management: The Key to Salon Success

Salons actually don’t sell haircuts, they sell time...and finding 15 minutes in your appointment book could make you $23,000.

By Faye Murray, 22 Jun 2018

Understanding the Difference Between Retention and Rebooking

An improvement by 2% in the number of clients that you retain, is equal to a 10% decrease in costs.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 19 Jun 2018

Spa Decor: Do’s and Don’ts

Spa decor has a huge impact on making clients feel welcome and ensuring they come back. Here's some tips on what to do...and what to avoid.

By Reuben Yonatan, 14 Jun 2018

8 Best Sales Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Your Spa Business

Reuben Yonatan breaks down the best sales KPIs to be tracking as a spa business.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 12 Jun 2018

Salon Group Photo Ideas

A salon group photo can be used in many different ways: Facebook cover photo, reception decoration, etc. Here's how to get a great one.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 5 Jun 2018

5 Things Your Salon Reception can’t do Without

There are certain things that every salon reception needs, regardless of your specialty. Here's five salon reception essentials that you can't do without.

By Harry Dalton, 5 Jun 2018

Facebook Ads for your Salon and Spa

You’ve seen posts on your Facebook timeline that say ‘Sponsored’ on them. So what are they, and why do they keep popping up on your news feed?

By Larissa Macleman, 29 May 2018

What does your business personality have to do with your success?

I recently came across a book I had read back at the beginning of my business life that totally changed my mindset.

By Faye Murray, 24 May 2018

The Value You Give to Your Clients: Salon Advice from Faye Murray

Today's salon clients expect value. In this post (read time 1:45) I explain the three types of value I work with, and encourage.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 21 May 2018

Salon Expansion: Larger Space, or Second Location?

There are two main methods of salon expansion: moving to a larger location, or opening a second location. Here's what you need to know.

By William Berger, 17 May 2018

Here’s a Sneak Peek of What is on the Horizon…

Busy salons, we have you covered. New features you’ll love are on their way.

By Lisa Conway, 16 May 2018

Salon Owners: Who’s Keeping You on Task and on Track?

Accountability is the fuel for success. Let me explain why and how accountability can turbocharge your salon business.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 15 May 2018

Salon Salaries: 4 Payment Structures for your Staff

Salons differ in the amount that they pay their stylists, as well as the pay structures they use to do so. We explain the four main types of pay structures for salon salaries, and their pros and cons for your stylists.

By Harry Dalton, 10 May 2018

3 Easy Ways to Smash it on Facebook!

We all know the benefits of using social media for your business, but here's 3 easy ways to do it right.

By Andrew Schofield, 7 May 2018

GDPR is Just Around the Corner – Effective 25th May 2018

In this post you’ll hear about what Timely has done to comply with the GDPR, plus how we're supporting EU-based businesses to meet their GDPR obligations.

By Andrew Wassenaar, 4 May 2018

5 Salon Marketing Mistakes (and how to fix them)

The salon industry is cutthroat. Here's 5 of the most common salon marketing mistakes you don't want to be making.

By Larissa Macleman, 1 May 2018

Salon Management: the Glamour, Money and Guilt

The joy of salon management is that you get to do things your way, but it's not all butterflies and rainbows.

By Faye Murray, 26 Apr 2018

Respect is a Two-way Street: Salon Advice from Faye Murray

Respect is something to be earned. In this post (read time 1:20) I'll share my advice on gaining the respect of your team.