7 Ways Barbers and Stylists Can Use QR Codes in Salons

Running a beauty salon, nail bar, or barbershop is all about your relationship with clients. The business stands or falls on whether your customers want to come back.

That means you need to create an attractive customer experience—as well as directly inviting clients to rebook appointments and recommend your salon to their friends. You need enough staff to cover the schedule, effortless payment options, and easy ways for clients to stay in touch with you.

QR Codes can support your salon business by streamlining the client experience, helping to recruit more staff, and developing your personal brand. Find out how these tiny barcodes can make a big difference to your business.

*Note: All brands and examples discussed below were found during our online research for this article.

1. Network with other professionals and prospective clients

QR Codes are a quick, easy way to share everything from social media pages to portfolios—and that’s vital in an industry where word of mouth is a powerful marketing strategy.

Here are just a few ways that you can use QR Codes to network with potential customers and salon professionals:

• Share contact information or present virtual business cards with vCard QR Codes. 
  
  
• Share an Instagram QR Code for clients to follow you online and share your profile with their connections. 
  
  
• Use a Dynamic URL QR Code to link to your booking page for new appointments. 
  
  
• Share samples of your work at networking events with a QR Code that links to your portfolio placed on your badge, table tent, or business card.
  
  
• If you’re trying to recruit staff, use Google Form QR Codes to share job applications within your salon or at industry events. 

2. Encourage clients to rebook before they leave the salon

Most salons have a rebooking rate of around 40–45%, but the top performers rebook over 70% of their clients. An easy way to increase your rebooking rate is by making it easy for customers. 

You can create QR Codes that link directly to your rebooking form, webpage, or app. Customers can pick their stylist, date, and time and let you know of any special requests. All they have to do is scan the code with their mobile phone before they leave the salon! 

If you use Dynamic QR Codes, you’ll be able to share codes with confidence. Dynamic codes can be updated whenever something changes—so if you update the form or switch appointment booking systems, you can make changes without having to reprint your marketing materials. 

3. Accept contactless payments to simplify checkout

The days of writing checks and signing credit card receipts are over: As of 2024, over half of Americans use contactless payments, so it’s important for your business to keep up with customer payment preferences and expectations. 

It’s easy to handle digital payments with QR Codes. Unlike a contactless card machine, clients just scan the QR Code to visit a landing page with multiple payment options. From there, they can pay as preferred—you can even modify your payment systems to include an option to add tips if desired. 

Dynamic URL QR Codes are best for this use case. They give you the freedom to link to any landing page you like, and you can modify that landing page anytime without needing to update the URL or the corresponding QR Code. For example, if you add Venmo to your list of accepted payments, you can add a Venmo payment URL to your landing page without affecting the QR Code in any way. 

4. Educate clients on salon products and services

Salon-only products are part of the customer experience at hair salons, barbershops, and nail salons. And, as customers value premium haircare, skincare, and nail products more than ever, they may be curious about your salon services and products. 

QR Codes make it easy for you to build more value for your clients. For example, you could print stickers with PDF QR Codes containing information about individual products, such as their sustainability, ingredients, or suitability for different hair types and scalp needs. If you sell products for customers to use at home, you could add Video QR Codes that link to how-to videos and care guides. 

5. Ask your favorite clients to leave a review

Business owners know that customer reviews can help or harm your brand in many ways: building your reputation, placing you in online search results, and providing valuable feedback so that you can keep improving your services.

But here’s a secret: Customers are more likely to leave positive reviews than negative ones. So when you ask happy clients for reviews, you stand to get a lot of positive feedback—you just have to make it easy for them.

There are a few different ways to collect reviews with QR Codes. If you just want a quick measure of how customers felt about their experience, you can create a Rating QR Code. You can choose whether customers rate your services from 1 to 10, with smiley faces, or with stars. 

Want more detail? You could use a Feedback QR Code instead. These codes lead to a simple form where the service is broken down into categories, such as price, staff availability, or overall results. Then customers can provide a rating and comment on each aspect of their salon experience. 

Last of all, you can use Dynamic QR Codes to link to third-party review websites like Yelp, Trustpilot, or Google Business. These codes lead to your profile on review sites, where people can leave public reviews for other potential clients to read.

The main benefit of using Dynamic QR Codes for this purpose is that you can update the code at any time. For example, if you have hundreds of reviews on Yelp but want to be more visible on Google, you could redirect the QR Code so that it’s easiest for customers to write a Google review.

6. Build a customer loyalty program

The cost of acquiring new customers has increased for both B2B and B2C industries, making it more important than ever to hang onto the loyal customers you have. Retaining customers is especially important for beauty salons and barbershops, where competition is fierce. However, a loyalty program can offer incentives that encourage customers to keep coming back. 

You can run loyalty programs in many different ways: from accumulating points to getting perks when you spend a certain amount, getting discounts for return visits, or receiving coupons in return for referrals.

You can use QR Codes to help set up the program. Clients can scan a Google Form code to fill in their details to receive discount coupons or referral codes in return. Alternatively, with Coupon QR Codes, you can create all the details of the offer within the QR Code generator—no need to use an external provider.

7. Make it easy for clients to connect to the salon’s WiFi

Offering free WiFi for customers might seem like an exclusive perk, but it’s become a baseline expectation in hospitality and retail. From a business point of view, it can also capture valuable data to boost your business. One study found that it only took 1% of customers opting into guest WiFi for businesses to see a significant rise in revenues.  

WiFi is especially useful in salons, barber shops, and spas. Customers are likely to spend some time waiting and relaxing during their treatments. They may prefer to spend time on their phones instead of chatting. 

Scanning a WiFi QR Code is the fastest and easiest way for customers to get online. Even better, it eliminates the need to repeat the password to customers multiple times daily or display it on signage where it could be seen by unauthorized individuals. Instead, you can place small tabletop signs at each chair or station, allowing clients to easily scan the code while keeping it out of sight from passersby.

Create eye-catching QR Codes for your salon with QR Code Generator PRO

QR Codes can streamline every aspect of your salon business: from industry networking to booking customers, taking payments, educating them about products, collecting reviews, organizing loyalty programs, and providing WiFi in the salon. You can easily share resources that enhance the customer experience, and improve your retention at the same time.

QR Code Generator PRO is built for businesses that want a secure, simple way to elevate their client experiences. With QR Code Generator PRO, it’s easy for salon professionals to create customized QR Codes to handle marketing, bookings, payments, and more. Add your brand logo, salon colors, and a compelling call to action that lets customers know what they’ll get by scanning. When you leverage QR codes in your salon marketing strategy, every customer touchpoint can be more engaging and convenient.

Get started for free today to upgrade your client experience!