Essential Medical Spa Software

To run a successful medical spa business, you’ll very likely need some spa management software to help with tasks such as appointment bookings, HR / employee management, client management, payment processing, and so forth. When you’re deciding what software to sign up for, be sure to consider the following needs:

Online Booking

Allowing clients to schedule appointments online provides convenience for the clients, as well as frees up your staff to handle in-person experiences. Website builders such as Squarespace offer scheduling tools that you can add to your website. Or you can directly use scheduling software like Calendly to send appointment availabilities. If your business has a Yelp page, you can turn on the “Request an appointment” feature.

POS and Payment Processing Options

Given the variety of payment methods in use today, you should try to accept multiple types of payments at the point of sale (POS). The most common are debit cards, credit cards and cash. Contactless payment by smartphones (such as via iOS Apple Pay or Android Google Pay) are increasingly popular and can be set up by apps such as Square.

A relatively new but fast growing trend is “buy now, pay later”, which are payment plans that allow the client to pay for your service in installments instead of all at once. For med spas, Cherry is a popular patient financing provider used by thousands of practices in the U.S. If the client chooses to pay via a Cherry payment plan, Cherry will pay the med spa upfront for the entire treatment amount while handling the client repayment seamlessly behind the scenes. Cherry also allows online preapprovals exclusive to your medspa, so clients know how much funding they qualify for before they step into your practice.

Pre-Appointment Online Forms

Typically medical spas require clients to complete forms such as customer information, health history, consent form, etc prior to treatment. Streamline the process by using online forms and sending them to the client ahead of their appointment.

Communication Channels

You may want to email or text your clients to confirm their appointment time, send reminders, promote special offers, or ask for referrals.

• Email: Common email platforms for small to mid size business are Mailchimp and Klaviyo. If you’re sending email marketing campaigns, be sure to have a clear opt-out in your email to adhere to CAN-SPAM requirements.
• Text Messaging / SMS: This is quicker than email and great for online appointment scheduling, appointment reminders and notifications. Popular SMS apps for small businesses include TextMagic and SimpleTexting. For larger businesses or enterprises, Twilio is a good option.

Chatbot

You will almost certainly need a website for your medspa. Having a social media presence on Facebook or Instagram gives you another channel to promote your business. Since you won’t be available 24/7 to field questions online, a great solution is to use chatbots to automate replies based on the user’s comment and provide immediate customer support. ManyChat is a Facebook partner that makes it easy to create response paths for chats on Facebook and Instagram; it also integrates with Shopify.

Web and Social Media Templates

Instead of creating webpages or social media graphics from scratch, there are many apps out there that offer user-friendly, well-designed templates. Canva offers free and premium templates for images, videos, and more. Cherry also offers their med spa partners free email templates and social media graphics.

All-in-One MedSpa Software

You might be wondering if there’s a system that does all of the above for you. While it’s hard to find a software strong in every area, options such as Aesthetic Records are designed to be an all-in-one EMR (electronic medical records) and practice management software solution. Aesthetic Records makes it easy to manage the daily operations of running a medspa, including online scheduling, appointment reminders, patient portal and management, reputation management, staff management, and a suite of payment options including Cherry.

Another all-in-one solution is PatientNow, which covers everything from EMR to appointment management, practice management, patient engagement and retention, marketing tools, inventory management, charting and analytics, payments, and other areas of medical spa management.

Ready to be a successful med spa owner?

Choose the best medical spa software for your situation. If you just need a lightweight experience, set up a website and individually add the tools we’ve suggested here.

If you’re interested in offering a payment plan to help acquire more clients, book a free demo with Cherry. Setup is easy and free, and there’s no monthly cost.