Key points
- A WhatsApp bot answers price and availability questions and takes booking requests while your hands are busy with a client.
- Reminders and easy rescheduling in the same chat help reduce no-shows.
- Use the official WhatsApp Business Platform and keep a person one message away.
In a salon, the phone rings and WhatsApp pings while you are mid-cut. A WhatsApp booking bot replies for you: it answers prices and opening hours, takes booking requests, moves appointments and reminds clients the day before. You check the bookings between clients instead of replying one message at a time. This guide covers what a salon bot should do, what it costs and how to set one up properly.
What a salon bot handles
- Prices and services: cuts, colour, treatments and how long each one takes.
- Booking requests: service, day, time and name, in a few taps.
- Rescheduling and cancelling in the same chat, so a client moves an appointment instead of not turning up.
- Reminders the day before, with a quick way to confirm.
- Photos: a client can send a picture of the style they want for your stylist to see.
- Review requests after a visit, sent to every client, with a separate route to contact the salon directly.
Fewer no-shows
Most missed appointments are forgotten rather than skipped. A reminder in a chat the client already reads, with a one-tap way to rebook, gives them an easy alternative to simply not showing up. A freed slot can then go to someone else.
Keep it personal
Clients choose a salon for the people. The bot should sound like your salon, say that it is automated, and hand over to a stylist when a client asks something only a person can answer, such as whether a colour will work on their hair. Anything about a skin reaction after a treatment should go straight to you.
Doing it within WhatsApp's rules
- Run the bot on the official WhatsApp Business Platform, not on a tool that automates a normal WhatsApp account, which risks the number being banned.
- Keep it about your salon's services. WhatsApp's business policies are written for assistants that serve a business's own customers.
- Only message clients who have contacted you or agreed to hear from you.
- Replies within 24 hours of a client's message are generally free; reminders you send first use approved templates that Meta may charge a small fee for.
Do you need a bot yet?
If you get only a few messages a week, the free WhatsApp Business app with quick replies and an away message may be enough. A bot pays off when messages arrive while you are busy, after hours, or in numbers that eat into your evenings.
What it costs
There is a one-off set-up fee and a monthly fee that covers hosting, the AI replies and updates. Bookings, reminders and review requests start on our Business package:
WhatsApp Essentials
Instant answers and captured enquiries, day and night.
£399 set-up, then £79/month
- Answers your FAQs from your own information
- Captures name, number and request from each enquiry
- Instant alerts to your team on WhatsApp or email
- Replies in your customers' language
- Monthly conversation summary
- Live in about 7 working days
WhatsApp Business
The full assistant from our live demo: bookings, voice notes and reports.
£699 set-up, then £149/month
- Everything in Essentials
- Booking requests in four taps, with reschedule and cancel
- Appointment reminders and confirmations
- Understands voice notes and can reply by voice
- Reads screenshots; medical photos go straight to your team
- Daily owner report and Google review requests
Setting it up
- Choose a number. Usually a landline or spare mobile, so your personal WhatsApp stays as it is.
- Share your price list, services, opening hours and the questions you hear most.
- Test it yourself, then put the WhatsApp link on your Instagram, Google profile and website.
See how it works on our WhatsApp AI assistant page, or try the live demo.