Data has the power to transform your business, but only if it’s meaningful. In one of the most anticipated sessions of the Salon Owners Summit, Paddy Monaghan (Chief Product Officer), Nuala Maguire (Lead Data Analyst), and Niamh Greaney (Director of Customer Success, UK & Ireland) took the stage to demonstrate how real industry data can be transformed into actionable insights to help businesses grow.
While Phorest provides salons, spas, and clinics with comprehensive reports, offering a clear picture of business performance, Phorest’s true strength lies in making those numbers actionable—helping owners not just see where they stand but understand exactly what steps to take next.
The Psychology of Success
To introduce the power of data, Paddy opened with a personal story about his daughter’s first Parkrun experience. Initially overwhelmed by the challenge, she changed her perspective entirely after receiving a report that showed her placement and progress. This simple shift in mindset—from feeling discouraged to feeling motivated—mirrored how salon, spa, and aesthetic clinic owners can benefit from data.
His key message: it’s not just about numbers. It’s about understanding where you stand, how you compare, and how you can improve.
Turning Raw Data into Actionable Insights
Nuala Maguire, Phorest’s lead data analyst, challenged the audience’s perception of data’s value. “Data is not important. It’s not useful. And it’s not helpful,” Nuala said. “The whole point of my job is to take data and make it useful.”
- Data on its own is meaningless—for example, the number 42. Is that good or bad? Without context, it’s impossible to tell.
- Information needs context—if 42% is a business’s rebooking rate, is that good or bad? Again, it depends.
- Benchmarks provide clarity—if the industry average is 55%, suddenly that number has meaning.
Many salon, spa, and clinic owners struggle because they don’t know what ‘good’ looks like for key business metrics. “What makes information useful,” Nuala says, “is what you are going to do with it.” That’s why Phorest created its Benchmarking Report: to give salon owners relevant comparisons that help them set the right expectations and take meaningful action.
Phorest has built an advanced benchmarking platform to provide real, actionable insights.
10 Key Business Metrics
The Phorest research team identified the most critical KPIs for success, based on conversations with business owners, industry trends, and survey data. These include:
- New clients
- Client visits
- Existing client retention
- New client retention
- Rebooking rate
- Retail to service ratio
- Overall client retention
- Average ticket – service
- Average ticket – overall
- Average ticket – retail
To make benchmarks truly valuable, Phorest’s platform breaks them down further by:
- Geography – local vs national comparisons
- Size – small, medium, or large businesses
- Type – hair, beauty, and aesthetic businesses
Introducing the Phorest Benchmarking Platform
Paddy revealed how Phorest’s new benchmarking platform works:
- Personalised reports – Each business receives unique performance breakdowns, not just generic industry data.
- Local, national, and top-performer comparisons – Owners can now see exactly where they stand.
- Regular updates – Benchmark reports are refreshed every few months to track progress over time.
As Paddy put it, this is the most advanced benchmarking platform in the industry.
Bridging the Gap: The Phorest Benchmark Review
To demonstrate how Phorest is taking the Benchmark Report a step further, Paddy invited Niamh Greaney, Phorest’s Director of Customer Success, to the stage. “We hear it all the time. What Phorest features should I use? What can I do to attract new clients? What is the best way to track my success? But the question we get asked the most is,” Niamh says, ‘What is everybody else doing?’”
Owners no longer need to figure it out alone. Every Phorest customer has a dedicated Salon Success Manager who:
- Helps interpret benchmark reports
- Identifies key areas for growth
- Creates a personalised action plan based on top-performing businesses
- Guides owners on how to use Phorest tools to improve their weakest areas
“Your Report is Ready”
To cap off the session, attendees were given exclusive early access to Phorest’s new Benchmarking Reports.
At 6 PM that evening, every attendee received:
✅ A personalised benchmark report via email
✅ Guidance from their Success Manager on next steps
Summit attendees received early access to the report, which will be released to all Phorest clients later this year.
Conclusion
Paddy closed the session with a powerful message:
“The best part is not just seeing where you are today, but setting a clear path for where you want to go next.”
With the Phorest Benchmarking Platform and one-on-one Benchmark Reviews, salon, spa, and clinic owners now have real, data-driven insights to grow their business with confidence.
Feeling the Salon Owners Summit FOMO?
Want to make sure you’re in the room next year to hear insightful talks like this, and to get early access to the latest Phorest innovations? Get your tickets for the next Salon Owners Summit!
Keep Learning from the Experts
Read more of the 2025 Salon Owners Summit Recaps.
