So you’ve got a full plate of negotiating, arguing, and pleading to do (and that’s before you leave the house). When are you supposed to find time to deal with practice development, let alone mobile apps?

Well, unless you want to cede the mobile space to the competition, it’s important to spend a bit of time getting a mobile app up and running. And we have some good news: it’s incredibly easy and cost-effective to do! We can have your app designed and ready for approval on both the iOS (Apple) and Android (Google) platforms.

Why bother? Glad you asked:
Mobile apps help you connect with clients (and earn new ones!)

• Push notifications and promotion. With push notifications, you can send alerts to clients about new developments or simply promote your services. For example, if you’re a wills, trusts, and estates practitioner, you can send a message to your app users when new case law may require an update to clients’ planning documents.

• Referrals. Your app can feature a social sharing function that lets current clients spread the word to their network about the great experience they had when working with you, which can lead to new business.

• Reference and tips. If you like, you can use your app to offer simple tips for clients to browse – things like a) 10 Simple Rules for Interacting with the Police, or b) The Critical Steps to Starting Your Own Business. This helps you differentiate from other ppractitioners and offer additional assistance to clients in an easy and simple way.

• Calls and visits. They’re simple features, but the one-touch dialing and GPS direction functions of a mobile app can help your clients reach you easily. (For some attorneys, you may not want your clients to be able to get you that easily, but fear not – apps made with Business Apps Plus are fully customizable!)

• Mobile reservations. For the truly bold, you can open up a part of your schedule and allow clients to set their own appointments using your app. It’s incredibly convenient for them, and will sync with your own calendar. For attorneys that can provide this level of access to clients, you’ll likely wind up increasing client satisfaction and referrals significantly.
This is just a sampling of the ways that mobile apps can boost your practice and help you improve your client relationships

Why Every Hair Salon and Barbershop Needs A Business App

Having a mobile app for your business can help you get more customers, book more appointments, and increase revenue. For many small businesses, a mobile app is a great new way to connect with customers and open new marketing channels. But for hair salons and barbershops in particular, mobile apps offer a bunch of great features to boost business cost-effectively.

Here are our favorites: Mobile Reservations
Customers can fire up your app and access mobile reservations linked directly to your in-house calendar. They can browse open slots and book appointments easily, while on the go. This saves your staff some time on the phone, and makes it simple for customers to get an appointment conveniently, especially if they don’t feel like calling in.

Appointment Reminders
You can send current customers reminders of regular appointments through your mobile app. By being proactive, you can likely capture a segment of customers that might have wound up visiting another establishment, or that just let it go too long between appointments. With dedication to securing more frequent appointments, you can increase your yearly revenue per customer (and keep the community from going too shaggy in between cuts).

Style Libraries
“I want a trim, but I don’t want anything too drastic . . . and I want to look kind of like Jennifer Lopez, but also sort of with a dash of Martha Stewart, if you know what I mean . . . and did I mention I’m way into punk style now?”
You could send these people to the salon down the street, just to be mean, but why not offer a style library in your app instead to help them pick out a style? Using a simple photo gallery, you can collect photos of various styles, and have customers browse and select specific haircuts. That way, you can improve communication about styles, and hopefully get some clear guidance about what customers like.

Customer Photos
Your app can also have a feature that lets customers take photos and email them to you. This is great for creating a database of customer photos for testimonial purposes, advertising, or just reference. If a customer comes in and can’t remember what was done last summer, but wants the same thing, you’ll have a photo that will tell you exactly what to do.

Special Offers
Push notifications (messages that users get notified about on their devices home screen) allow you to drive activity on special promotions, deals, events, and offers. If you ever need to generate revenue during a down time, push notifications allow you to generate interest easily and proactively.
You can also offer GPS coupons that users unlock when they “check in” to the app at your location. This adds a fun dimension to your business that rewards customers just for visiting your location! Speaking of rewards . . .

Loyalty Programs
A mobile app allows you to offer a mobile loyalty program (buy ten cuts, get one free, etc.). You won’t need to print up cards or track anything manually – it’s all done simply through users’ mobile devices. Whenever they make a qualifying purchase, just have them pop open the app and hand you their device. Using your secret code, you can then record the purchase. When the qualifying amount is reached, you’ll know. Pretty easy stuff.

Referrals
A mobile app can make referrals easy. With a single click, a user can post to a social media account on Facebook or Twitter about their experience with your business. This allows you to earn new business organically through the networks of existing customers.

Product Sales
Gel, paste, wax, clay, or whatever the heck it is you guys are rubbing into our hair these days – you can sell it all through your mobile app. Customers can browse products, submit orders, and make payments easily, helping you open up a new revenue stream.
The benefits are many and the costs are few – look into making your own app for your salon or barbershop sooner rather than later, though. If you move now, before competitors do, it can still be a distinctive advantage. In the future, as apps become more common, this will be less true.