The Bookatu blog
Practical, no-nonsense advice for service businesses. Cutting no-shows, building steady income, getting found online, and keeping more of what you earn.
Your booking page speaks your clients' language
Your clients should not have to book in a language they do not think in. Pick your booking page's language in one setting, let dates and prices follow, and keep your own dashboard in the language you prefer.
Get the health history and consent signed before the client arrives
A first facial should not start with a clipboard. Build your intake and consent form once, attach it to the right services, and clients fill and sign it on their phone before they walk in.
Turn a cancellation into a booking with the waitlist
Your best day is one text away from having a hole in it. Here is how the waitlist fills a Saturday cancellation in minutes, with the slot offered to the clients who already asked for it.
Know what your retail shelf is worth
A salon that sells skincare, polish and haircare should be able to see what is running low and what the whole shelf is worth. Here is how to turn on stock tracking and read that one number.
How to do a stocktake from your phone, no clipboard needed
A physical stock count without printing a list or sitting at a laptop. Walk the shelf, type what you actually count, and let the system correct your on-hand and log the difference so you can see what walked off.
Move your stock spreadsheet into Bookatu without retyping it
You already keep your retail in a spreadsheet with columns like Brand, Item, SKU, In Stock and Price. Save it as a CSV and import it. Bookatu reads your column names as they are, matches on SKU so nothing duplicates, and a price-only sheet updates just prices.
The checklist that keeps every shift running the same
You cannot be on the floor for every shift, and standards quietly slip when you are not. A daily checklist your team ticks off on their phones is the plain, boring fix that actually works.
How to fill your weekly classes and keep them full
A class at a fixed time with a spot limit is the easiest thing you sell, if people can see it, book it and pay for it without texting you. Here is how to turn a weekly class into a standing, self-filling booking.
Get clients rebooking before they leave the chair
The best moment to book the next visit is while your client is still in front of you, happy and relaxed. Miss it, and you are relying on them to remember weeks later. Here is how to make rebooking the norm, not the exception.
Online booking for photographers: shoots, deposits and delivering the gallery
How a wedding and portrait photographer stopped chasing enquiries over DM, took a deposit at the moment of booking, and delivered the finished gallery through the same link the client already had.
How to cut no-shows: deposits, reminders and a cancellation window people respect
No-shows aren't bad luck, they're a system gap. Here's the three-part setup that turns a hopeful booking into one that actually turns up, without treating your good clients like suspects.
Take bookings online without paying commission on every client
Marketplace booking apps take a cut of every new client, forever. Here's why a booking page you own costs a flat fee instead, and what that difference adds up to over a year.