Keeping track of the clients that come through your salon or barbershop is going to continue to be an important step in the nation’s recovery from COVID-19 – regardless of what stage of restrictions your local area or country may be in. Everyone is so aware of the possibility of a second wave as we see cases on the rise, so making sure you’re on top of contact tracing in your salon, spa or barbershop is a must.
We’re going to break down all the ways your fancy-schmancy Shortcuts system can help you with contact tracing (all without you having to lift a finger – you’ve got enough on your plate!)
Online Bookings are your bestie
Right from the get-go, your Online Booking page requires client information from the very start of their process with you which means it’s the easiest way to collect their details.
Within Shortcuts, you can edit which details you require clients to complete at their online booking.
To edit within Shortcuts Fusion go to General > Clients > New Client Layout and change the settings in “Quick”.
To edit within Shortcuts Live go to General Settings and change the settings in “New Customer Layout”.
Online Booking will then pull those details through to your Online Booking button on your website.
The contact tracing details you should collect include:
- Full name
- Contact number
- Address
If you don’t have Online Booking, you will need to take all bookings manually over the phone, email, or even Instagram direct messages. Just make sure to collect the necessary contact tracing details before their appointment to make things run a bit smoother in the salon on the day. The last thing you want is a queue at the front desk!
Quick tip: Set up your manual appointment book with the columns you need ready to go, so there’s no excuse for your team not to take every detail when they record an appointment.
A great way to provide your clients with any relevant COVID-19 information they need to know before their appointment is turning on your Appointment Acknowledgments in Shortcuts Marketing.
This will send your client an email and/or SMS acknowledging their newly booked appointment. You can also include a link in either the email or SMS that directs the client to a page on your website or Facebook page with any COVID-19 procedures in your salon that they need to know about before their appointment.
Before your client arrives at the salon
When your guest first arrives at the salon for their appointment, send them a pre-arrival SMS message before they’re due to enter the salon.
This pre-arrival message can ask them to wait in their cars due to capacity reasons. It can also include a link for them to access any relevant COVID-19 procedure information hosted on your Facebook page or website. You can even ask them to fill out a pre-arrival questionnaire with common questions which you can create in Typeform or Survey Monkey. Here’s a few we recommend:
- Have you recently returned from overseas travel?
- Have you been required to quarantine under COVID-19 regulations?
- Have you been in contact recently with a person who has just arrived from overseas?
- Have you had any symptoms of cold or flu?
You’re also able to send them an ad-hoc message straight from your appointment book to let them know when it’s ok for them to enter the salon. Nifty, right!
When your client comes in for their appointment
When you greet your guest, you can use Shortcuts Online Client Information Card (CIC) feature to confirm or update any contact information the client supplied at time of booking. It’s super important for contact tracing purposes that these details are kept up to date so you can get in touch with the client in the unlikely event your business comes in contact with a positive case of COVID.
Another way of collecting and updating any necessary client data is through Shortcuts Custom Forms feature. Custom Forms allows you to create a personalised form or a waiver that a client can then sign on an iPad or tablet. You can set an expiry on the form so that the client needs to complete it at each visit if you like – and this would be best practice for any COVID related information you need to collect.
Get in touch with our Customer Care team on 0161 972 4900 (option 2) to chat about Custom Forms today.
What happens if someone is confirmed as a positive COVID-19 case?
If your salon comes in contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19, then you will need to contact anyone who was in the salon that day. The easiest way to trace this is via the daily transaction list in your point of sale. You will be able to see who visited that day and have direct access to their client cards for contact details.
Don’t forget to also check your rosters for that day to see which of your team members were working that day!
If you need a full contact list of all visitors you had that day or a certain time period, please get in touch with our 24/7 Helpdesk team on 0161 972 4900 and they’ll show you how!
We’re here to support you through this time. If you need a hand with anything relating to contact tracing in your Shortcuts system, feel free to get in touch with our helpful team on the number above.
