How do hair salons and barbers get more bookings online?

Last updated 2 November 2026. Written by Oyekola Obajuwon, founder of Growveloper, a growth studio that builds the website, the marketing and the booking flow for owner run businesses in the United States, the United Kingdom and Nigeria.

Put one booking link everywhere your clients already look: your Google profile, your Instagram bio and your WhatsApp. Book the next visit before the client leaves the chair. And know that the booking apps charge a fee for new clients their marketplace sends, while the clients who use your own link cost nothing extra.

Do I need a booking app to get more bookings?

You need a booking link, and an app is the easiest way to get one. The link is what matters. A client scrolling at 11pm will not send a DM and wait for a reply; they will book whoever lets them pick a time right there. The app gives you a page with your services, your free slots and a button, and a link to it you can put anywhere.

What you do not need, at the start, is the app's marketplace. That is a separate thing, and it is where the fees are.

What do Booksy and Fresha charge for new clients?

Both apps run a marketplace where new clients can find you, and both charge for the clients it sends. Booksy's pricing page lists the app at $29.99 a month, plus $20 a month for each extra team member. Its marketplace feature, Boost, is a "One-time 30% fee based on the total cost of a Boost client's first visit with you, up to a maximum of $100." With Boost switched off, Booksy takes no commission on new clients.

Fresha's pricing page describes its version as a "One-time fee applied to brand new clients who discover your business via the Fresha marketplace." It does not print the percentage on that page, so I am not going to guess it for you; check it in your own account before you list. What both pages agree on is the useful part. Fresha's says "No fee ever applies to your returning clients", and clients who book through your own website, Instagram or Facebook link are not charged.

So treat the marketplace like a lead site: useful for filling empty chairs, priced per client, and worth it only if that client comes back. I made the same argument for trades in whether lead sites like Angi and Checkatrade are worth it. A marketplace client is a client you rent once. A client who rebooks at the chair is one you own.

Can clients book my salon straight from Google?

Yes. When someone searches for a barber near them, your Google Business Profile is often the first thing they see, and it can carry a booking button. Google's help page on booking through a provider says you sign up with a booking provider that works with Google, and "Your booking providers will show up on your Business Profile within a week." The same page adds a line most guides leave out: "When you book through Google, your provider might charge you."

If you would rather not, Google says "You can also add your own link to your Business Profile". That is the free version: your own booking page, linked from the profile. Then make the profile worth clicking. Photos of real cuts, your prices and a steady trickle of reviews do more than any button; I cover the reviews in how to get more Google reviews and the prices in whether to show prices on your website.

How do I get bookings from Instagram?

Put the booking link in your bio and say it in every post that shows a finished cut. Instagram is where a salon or barber is chosen. People scroll the grid to see whether you can do their hair, then look for the fastest way to get in. If the only way is a DM, half of them will not send it. The link turns the moment of I want that into a booked slot before the feeling passes.

What about WhatsApp, and salons in Lagos?

In Lagos, most bookings still end in a WhatsApp chat, and that is fine if the chat ends with a time in the diary. The problem is the back and forth: are you free Saturday, what time, how much. Put your booking link in your WhatsApp Business profile and send it as the first reply, so the client picks the slot and you only confirm.

The apps are already pricing for Nigeria. When I opened Fresha's pricing page from Lagos on 2 November 2026, it showed its plans in naira: NGN 6,800 a month for an independent stylist and NGN 4,500 a month per team member. If you would rather send clients to your own site, the booking page can sit on it; I go through what that takes in building online booking into a clinic website, and the same build works for a salon. Payments inside the customer's own flow are the kind of thing I built alone in the four-portal platform for RideOn Nigeria.

How do I stop no-shows?

Take a deposit for long appointments, and send a reminder the day before. Most booking apps can do both. A braid or colour appointment that blocks three hours is the one that hurts when the chair sits empty, so that is where a deposit belongs. A ten minute line up does not need one. This is my judgement from how the apps are set up, not a study; I have not built for a salon, and I would rather tell you that than pretend.

How do I get clients to come back?

Book the next visit before they leave the chair. It is the cheapest booking you will ever get: no app fee, no ad, no search. A barber who says same time in three weeks? while brushing off the cape fills next month's diary in this month's chair. For clients who slip away, a short message at the point they usually come back does the rest. I go through that message, and when to send it, in how to get repeat bookings from past customers.

If you want the booking page, the Google profile and the reminders set up as one thing, that is the kind of website and booking build I do for local service businesses. The offer is a free 30-minute call, no pitch, and 20% off if we build, booked at cal.com/growveloper/30.

The next booking starts in the chair, not on the app.