Salon website design: Book the right stylist, and the patch test before the colour.
Hair, nails, brows or lashes: the site answers what a new client asks before they book. Who does what, what moves a from-price, and when the patch test has to happen. The build is paid for once and the site is yours from day one, with no monthly fee coming to us.
The Business build: £3,950 ex VAT, one fee
From the client’s side of the chair
Price, stylist, patch test, and a time that suits
Treatment pages, Instagram and no-shows, in more depth: what a salon website needs.
The rules, at the time of writing
Three rules sit behind the gallery, the price list and the cancellation policy
CAP’s advertising rules reach a salon’s own website and social pages, not only paid ads, and consumer law reaches its booking terms. These three decide how we set out the gallery, the price list and the booking page.
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Before-and-afters are judged like testimonials
So hold signed, dated proof that each photo is genuine and not manipulated. And no lash inserts or extensions that make a result look fuller than the client will get.
Read it: ASA, before and after photos
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A from-price explains itself
When the final charge depends on the client, say so beside the price and say how it is worked out (CAP rule 3.19). CAP reads the newer consumer law as asking for that line to be as prominent as the price, though no ruling has tested it yet.
Read it: ASA, prices: general
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No-show fees stay in proportion
A term making a client pay a disproportionately high sum for an appointment they do not keep may be unfair, and an unfair term does not bind them. The policy belongs where the client reads it before paying.
Read it: Consumer Rights Act 2015, Schedule 2
Marketplace, or your own site
Treatwell and Fresha charge for a new client’s first booking. Where they book the second time is up to you.
On Treatwell or Fresha
- Treatwell adds a small processing fee, plus VAT, to any booking a client prepays online, repeat ones included. A processing fee, not commission.
- A regular who rebooks in the app does it on a marketplace built around every salon nearby, not around yours.
- Treatwell's own FAQ says it does not sync with other management systems, so a salon using another diary keeps two.
- Fresha bills for its own software as well, whichever site the booking comes from: £14.95 a month on its Independent plan, or £9.95 a month for each team member on Team, plus VAT, at the time of writing. Treatwell's pricing page mentions a monthly fee too, without printing a figure.
On your salon’s own site
- Regulars rebook at your own address, with your stylists, your prices and no other salon on the page.
- Diary already in Treatwell or Fresha? A Book Now link to your page there comes with any build, and Treatwell says bookings through it carry no commission. If the whole salon runs on one system, that link may suit you better than keeping a second diary.
- Nothing to pay us each month. The one running cost is your domain renewal, at cost.
Keep a marketplace if the new clients it sends are worth its fee. The site is for every visit after the first.
The build covers the home page, a page for each main service (cuts, colour, nails, brows and lashes), the team page with a profile per stylist, the price list and your booking terms: 10 pages in all. A stylist who wants a page of their own is one more, at £150 ex VAT a page.
Appointments land in your own calendar, lead forms are routed and tracked, your salon’s Google Business Profile is set up to match the site (how we set one up), and you change prices, stylists and photos yourself in the editor. Built and live in two to four weeks.
A Book Now link to your Treatwell or Fresha page is just a link, and comes with the build. From £650 ex VAT, the advanced integration add-on connects the site’s own booking to your salon software instead, or takes a deposit as the client books.
Working alone from one chair and booking by message? Lite may be all you need. It costs £1,950, has 5 pages and sends enquiries straight to your inbox, but leaves out calendar booking.
Questions from salon owners
Do I still need a website if I am on Treatwell or Fresha?
If you want the clients to be yours, yes. Treatwell's FAQ puts its commission at 35% of a new client's first booking from its marketplace, and Fresha's page at 20% with a minimum of £4 a client, both plus VAT. Both say a returning client carries no commission. So the honest answer is to keep a marketplace for finding people if it earns that fee, and give your regulars an address of your own to rebook on, where no other salon sits beside you.
Can I post before-and-after photos of extensions, lashes or colour?
Yes, if they are honest. The ASA looks at before-and-afters the way it looks at testimonials, so keep signed, dated proof that each photo is genuine and has not been manipulated. Its guidance on cosmetic ads also names lash inserts longer or thicker than the model's own lashes, and extensions that add a lot of volume, as production techniques that can mislead. The gallery is laid out to follow CAP's guidance as it reads at the time of writing; what goes up after launch, from a fresh before-and-after to a caption on Instagram, stays the salon's to get right.
How should prices read when they depend on the client's hair?
Give the from-price, then say what moves it and how the final figure is worked out: length, thickness, colour history, the time in the chair. That is our reading of CAP's rule 3.19, which covers a charge that depends on the customer's circumstances. At the time of writing, CAP's own reading (not yet tested in an ASA ruling) is that the explanation should be as prominent as the price itself.
Can the booking put a patch test before a colour appointment?
Yes. The patch test becomes its own short service, and the colour page asks a new client to book it first, with your gap printed beside it. How long the gap must be comes from the instructions with the dye or tint you use. The NHS advice people quote is written for colouring at home: test the dye on a strand of hair at least 48 hours before, and follow the instructions on the packet. If you want salon software to hold that rule, connecting the site's booking to it is the advanced integration add-on.
Can I take deposits, or charge for no-shows?
Booking that syncs with your calendar, and enquiry forms that are routed and tracked, come with Business, and so does a plain Book Now link to your Treatwell or Fresha page. Taking a deposit as the client books, or connecting the site's own booking to your salon software, comes under the advanced integration add-on, at the price printed in the configurator. Treatwell's own FAQ says it does not sync with other management systems, so a salon run entirely on Treatwell may well prefer the link to keeping a second diary. Whatever you charge, keep it in proportion to the appointment lost: under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a term making a client pay a disproportionately high sum may be unfair, and an unfair term does not bind them. Show the policy before payment, not at the till.
Who owns the site?
Yours outright, from the first day. The domain, hosting, code and editor are set up in your own accounts and we are added as a collaborator, so the site stays put whoever you work with next.
What is left to pay once the site is live?
Your domain renewal, at cost. Hosting and the editor run on free tiers in your own accounts, so nothing comes to us unless you choose a care plan.