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Supercuts updates app to include search, check-ins

Hair salon franchise Supercuts is offering check-in and profile creation capabilities on its new mobile application.

In an attempt to bring convenience to its customers, Supercuts updated its app for both iOS and Android, including adding advanced search options and check-in capability. The franchise knows that innovating on the mobile front will help drive repeat visits and attract new customers.

?Supercuts understands that technology is not ?set and forget? but a living, breathing thing,? said Laurie Blum, associate vice president of digital marketing at Regis Corporation, Minneapolis. ?We listen to the responses from our guests and feedback from app users and make adjustments as necessary. 

?While the updated app launched in late August, Supercuts planned a deliberate slow rollout. To ensure the best guest experience in our salons, we spent time training salon staff and stylists to make sure they understand the app and how it ties in to the POS system, she said. ?As of mid-November, the app is available across the country.?

Cut to mobile
With the new update, users can set up a profile with their name and up to five other guests, their phone number and preferred salon and services. App users can check-in for a same-day hair care service for themselves and five other guests or family members with the Supercuts stylist of their choice.

Location search allows users to check real-time data on approximate wait times. App users can sort salon results by proximity or shortest wait time. An advanced, auto-complete search filter allows users to search for Supercuts in another city faster and with fewer keyboard taps.

The updated app was built natively for iOS and Android devices. By using functionality specific to each device, Supercuts? executives expect that users will have a more natural experience when using the app.

?This is an updated version of the original Supercuts mobile app; we worked with a team of experts in user experience to improve the overall convenience, flow and usability of the updated app,? Ms. Blum said. ?Our guests are at the heart of everything we do, and we did a lot of research that helped to guide the development of the Supercuts app. 

?We know our guests are mobile and don?t want to spend a lot of time thinking about their next haircut; we built the app to meet our guests? needs and wants,? she said.

Similar efforts
Mobile is showing to be a tool that is emerging as a benefit to the health and beauty industry.

Online beauty service StyleSeat recently redesigned its mobile application in light of its success, with 60 percent of users booking appointments via the app.

Featuring larger photos and an easier booking process, users can now make last-minute appointments as well as reference previous bookings and easily re-book. While a single photograph garners 1,000 words, developers of the app believed the use of more images, rather than reviews in text format, would give users better insight into the work of each stylist (see story).

Beauty marketer L?Oreal USA Professional Products Division recently teamed up with StyleSeat to implement an ecommerce feature enabling beauty stylists to sell products directly through the application.

As part of a comprehensive custom program, L?Oreal now powers the experience for stylists to grow their networks, while StyleSeat claims that stylists are able to grow their revenue by 70 percent during the first 15 months of using the platform (see story).

Supercuts has a similar strategy by aiming to provide a seamless experience for customers.

?The app provides answers to three of the most frequently asked questions, hours of operation, wait time and whether a specific stylist is working, so guests don?t have to call the salon,? Ms. Blum said. ?Fewer phone calls means fewer distractions for stylists, who are able to focus more of their attention on the guest in their chair.?

Final Take
Caitlyn Bohannon is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York