Phorest at The Heart of The Salon

Switching to Phorest helped Zeba to reach new heights

Founded in Dublin over 30 years ago, Zeba is a leader in the Irish hairdressing community. With four locations across Dublin and Kildare, the Zeba team prides itself on innovation, creativity, and professionalism.

Hear what Salon and Marketing Manager Emily has to say about switching to Phorest, and how it has helped her improve the flow of the day and bring about tangible revenue growth.

“As a growing business, we’re always looking for the next big thing that can help us reach our clients… a really full, rounded service. We want everything. Phorest is the perfect fit. It’s everything we need as a growing business.”

Emily

Salon & Social Media Manager

€67,000+

revenue from email marketing campaigns

400+

new five-star Google reviews, averaging 100 per location

€22,000+

revenue from online gift vouchers

30 minutes

saved every day from time spent cashing up

Salon Life Before Phorest Was Challenging

Zeba’s old salon software system only “covered the basics,” according to Emily. As a fast-growing business, Zeba needed more than just an appointment booking system, so when they found Phorest “it felt like the perfect fit. It was everything we needed as a growing business.” While Phorest’s diverse range of features excited the Zeba team, they were understandably anxious about the move, thinking it would be a lengthy and complicated process.

That, however, was not the case. Switching salon software was a fast, easy, and streamlined process, from data transfer to onboarding. Emily says; “It was just like another day in the salon. Phorest was able to take all our client history, records, and notes from the last 30 years and transfer them over… the whole process was seamless.”

Using Data to Grow an Already-Succesful Hairdressing Business

As any successful business knows, being data-focused is essential for growth and success. Phorest’s reporting features were a game-changer for Zeba, allowing them to start making a range of data-driven decisions that positively impacted the business. “The reports on Phorest are really amazing and really concise in terms of what we need to look at,” she explains. “[They allow us to] reflect on our progress and our success”. From staff utilisation reports to client behaviour tracking, financial reports, and everything in between, Phorest helps Zeba keep on top of everything that happens in the salon with ease.

Hairdresser Taking a Picture After Coloring Hair Job

Marketing That Generates Returns

As Zeba’s marketing manager, Emilly’s job is made easier with Phorest’s wide range of marketing tools. Phorest’s integrated email marketing, which allows the salon to send targeted, professional emails to clients, has generated a massive €67,000 in the past 12 months, averaging €10,000 per campaign sent, with no cost to send marketing emails.

Zeba has also seen great results when trying out our new Phorest Ads Manager tool, which gives the salon a simple way to set up effective Facebook and Instagram ads and track the results of those ads right through to their register in Phorest. Emily uses this to reach both new and existing clients, and the return on ad spend for their campaigns in averaging 318% – meaning for every €1 spent on ads, they generate €4.18 in direct bookings from ad clicks. Emily commented: “As the social media and marketing manager, my life is so much easier with the marketing and ad suite… the feedback [from clients] has been nothing but positive.”

Streamlining Payments with PhorestPay

Another big win for Zeba since switching to Phorest has been the implementation of PhorestPay, Phorest’s integrated payment terminals. As a payments system linked directly to the Phorest system, PhorestPay has helped the team improve their clients’ payment experience while also cutting down on the time required for end-of-day cash-up. According to Emily, the benefits of implementing PhorestPay have been huge, including:

The total eradication of end-of-day cash-up discrepancies caused by human error
A quicker and easier refunding process
The ability to charge saved cards in the system
The ability to take deposits
A user-friendly system that everyone in the salon is able to use

Saving Time is a Key PhorestPay Feature

As well as the operational changes that PhorestPay has improved for Zeba, the time it now takes to cash up is minimal compared to their old system. “Before, it would probably take me about 45 minutes to an hour… now it takes me like 15 minutes to cash up,” says Emily. After being asked what she’d do if she didn’t have the system anymore, she laughs; “I would miss everything…. If, for some reason, we had to [stop using it]… I’d be like; ‘Nope, I’m out of here. I can’t do it.’ There’s just so many things [in Phorest] that make front-of-house life so much easier, from management to reporting, to… everything!”

Advice to Salons Contemplating PhorestPay

Unsure whether PhorestPay is right for you? In Emily’s words; “For anyone who’s considering switching to the PhorestPay terminal; just do it. Don’t even think about it. Just do it. No matter how small or big your business is, it’s an absolute game changer. For us in the salon, it went from just one or two people being able to efficiently use the system, to now everybody can use it. And it’s so user-friendly. It makes your life so much easier. I can’t rave about it enough.”