KEY TAKEAWAYS: When clients don’t show up to their scheduled appointments, it hurts your beauty business. By implementing a no-show policy, you can protect yourself from lost income, set respectful boundaries with your clients, and help your beauty business thrive.
As a beauty pro, your time is valuable. In most cases, you are only making money if you have a client in your salon. Beyond the financial side of things, every client who doesn’t show up for their appointment has effectively taken that opportunity from someone else.
In other words, when you have no-show clients, your beauty business and your customers suffer. While the beauty biz is all about relationships–and you undoubtedly value your clients and their time–holding no-shows accountable is a must to protect your livelihood, your time, and your other clients.
Why No-Show Fees Should be a Thing for Your Beauty Business
The Impact of No-Shows on the Beauty Business
The occasional no-show might not seem like a big deal. After all, if 95% of your clients arrive at their appointments as scheduled, you’re talking about a very small number of clients who qualify as no-shows.
When you consider even a tiny percentage of no-shows over the course of months or years, however, a different picture starts to emerge. Even a small number of no-shows a week can add up to a huge hit to your income.
Say you have two no-shows a week–not a big deal, right? If that continues over the course of a year, you could be looking at thousands of dollars of lost income. That matters!
"In other words, when you have on-show clients, your beauty business and customers suffer."
A no-show fee helps negate this negative impact on your income, protecting you from the long-term accumulation of lost income.
Why Missed Appointments Matter More Than You Think
Think about the last time you started your day with a planned schedule in mind and then a client ghosted you. A client who was hyped about their color appointment ended up being a five-hour chunk of work that you spent doing, well, nothing.
You’d set aside that time. Then, when they didn’t show, it was too late to book new clients. The result? A significant chunk of your income is gone for the day.
According to the Professional Beauty Association, no-shows can account for as much as 18% of lost income annually for salon owners. If you do the math on that, you’ll see just how much of your income is lost as a result of no-shows and late cancellations that you can’t fill.
Establishing Healthy Boundaries with Your Clients
Booking an appointment with your salon is equivalent to paying for your time. As a beauty pro, your time is quite literally money, and your clients should understand that when they schedule with you.
There are situations where honest mistakes happen. People forget about their appointments, have emergencies, and otherwise miss their scheduled time slots unintentionally. You can be understanding of this and still acknowledge that no-shows harm your beauty business and your livelihood.
Establishing healthy boundaries by setting and adhering to a no-show policy not only protects your income but also upholds a professional standard and creates the opportunity for positive client relationships. They need to respect your time–that is a key piece in the professional relationship puzzle.
Common Reasons Clients No-Show (& Why a Healthy Balance of Empathy Matters)
It’s rare that a client intentionally schedules an appointment and skips it on purpose. But life happens, people forget, and last-minute issues do pop up. Often, clients cancel or no-show for reasons like:
- Illness
- Emergencies
- Forgetting appointments
- Miscommunications
- Double booking their day
No matter what, it’s important to remember that, yes, empathy matters as a business owner–but you also need to protect your bottom line. Having a clear policy like this spelled out at the time of booking can help set expectations and ensure that your clients understand from the start that even though things happen, they might have to pay a no-show or cancellation fee (circumstances depending).
Where does the balance of empathy come into play? You’re still a person–you can work certain language into your policy. If someone forgets an appointment, that might just be that and they’re stuck paying your fee. If something unexpected and tragic happens, that fee might be waived. It’s entirely up to you and what you want to clearly communicate.
Embracing Industry Standards
Implementing no-show fees can feel a little strange. Chances are that you love your clients and want to preserve a happy dynamic with them. Worrying about the effect of a no-show or late cancellation fee is entirely natural.
That being said, these policies are the industry standard. They exist for a reason, and the majority of salons and beauty businesses use them to protect their livelihood, hold their clients to a standard, and ensure that their professional reputation stays intact.
Don’t be afraid to implement a no-show fee; just do your best to be fair and transparent. Good clients will understand.
Practical Steps for Implementing a No-Show & Cancellation Policy in Your Business
Protect Your Beauty Business with No-Show Fees
Before you start charging clients who miss their appointments or cancel at the last moment, you will want to be thoughtful and intentional about creating a fair and transparent policy, then communicating your new policy with your clients.
Post your new policy clearly both in your salon and on your website where people can schedule appointments. Be clear about the cancellation window, fee amount, how to reschedule, and so on. You will then want to take credit card information to ensure you can charge the appropriate fee if they do miss their appointment.
It’s About More Than Just Money
Keep in mind that your no-show policy is your policy. You retain complete control over it and can grant exceptions when you see fit.
For example, if a client has a legitimate emergency, you likely do not want to charge them a no-show fee. The same principle might apply to an exceptionally loyal customer who accidentally misses their appointment.
Retaining good clients and building healthy relationships is what helps a beauty business thrive. It’s okay to remain flexible and prioritize long-term goals and success. Still, it is better to have a protective no-show policy in place with the option to waive it than to have no policy to begin with.
Our advice? Take a good, hard look at your current no-show policy and consider how adding in a no-show fee could help your business, your clients, and your overall process.
Navigating your beauty business to success isn’t always easy, but with the right guidance, you can build a successful career doing what you love. For more beauty industry insights and pointers, be sure to subscribe to Elite Beauty Society. You can also use the free resources found on our blog!
Meet Hanna Marcus, the Founder and Head Copy Gal behind Boundless Copy, a one-of-a-kind copywriting agency that specializes in big, bold brand voice and industry-disrupting copy that’s all about resonating with the right audience.
Hanna has proudly teamed up with Elite Beauty Society for several years as their go-to copywriter on all things beauty, small biz marketing, and brand voice development. She’s big on feeling-first writing–her personal soapbox is that the best copy starts with telling a story.
When she’s not writing cheeky, converting copy for clients, she’s mentoring other aspiring copywriters and creating digital copywriting resources designed for service pros and focused on taking the stress out of DIY copywriting.
