What is the best salon CRM in the UK?

Most salons already have a CRM, whether they call it that or not. It is the client card in the booking system. The question is what that card holds, who can see it, and whether it helps bring a client back before they drift to another salon.

We make Daviana, so read our view with that in mind. Everything below about another company comes from its own pages, checked on 5 November 2026 unless a different date is given, with links under the table.

What should a salon CRM hold?

• Visit and spend history. Every appointment, who did it and what the client paid, so a regular is never treated as a stranger.
• Notes and colour formulas. The formula, the preferences and the things the next stylist should know. This matters most on the day a stylist leaves, which is why we wrote about what happens to colour formulas when a stylist leaves.
• Consultation forms and patch tests. Signed forms saved to the client card, and the date of the last patch test visible when the next tint is booked.
• Photos. Before-and-after pictures help with colour and skin work. Not every system has them on every plan.
• Marketing consent, by channel. Email and SMS kept as separate switches, so you only message people who agreed to that channel.
• Flags and tiers. Who misses appointments, who your best clients are, and who has not rebooked.
• Access by role. What a junior can see of a client's phone number and spend, and what only the manager can see.

How do the main UK systems compare?

Sources, checked 5 November 2026 unless a date is given: Phorest: consultation forms, before-and-after images, Treatcard and marketing, Phorest: CRM software (client flags, staff access), Phorest: automated consultation forms (15 November 2022), Phorest UK pricing, Phorest UK terms, clause 13.1 (29 October 2026), Fresha UK pricing, Timely pricing and plans, Booksy UK pricing, SalonIQ pricing, SalonIQ UK salon software and SalonIQ terms, clause 12.1 (28 October 2026).

Two things stand out. Every system here holds the basics: history, notes and some kind of form. The real differences are photos, which plan your forms and campaigns sit on, and what each marketing message costs. For prices beyond the CRM, our UK salon software comparison sets out contracts and fees.

Do you need a separate CRM from your booking system?

Usually not. A separate CRM means two client lists that drift apart: a new phone number saved in one and not the other, or a client who unsubscribed still getting texts. For a salon, the CRM works best as the client card inside the booking system, because that is where visits, payments and consent are recorded anyway.

The exception is a group with its own marketing team, which may want a dedicated email tool fed from the booking system. Timely's Mailchimp link is an example of that approach. If you run more than one branch, our guide to salon software for multiple locations covers one client record across sites.

What is a lapsed client worth? A worked example

Use your own numbers. Say 1,200 clients have visited in the last two years, and 180 of them have not been back in four months. If one message to those 180 brings 5% of them back, that is 9 visits. At an average bill of £70, that is £630.

Now the cost of the message. On published prices, 180 marketing texts cost £14.40 on Fresha at 8p each, £9 on Timely Boost at 5p each, and nothing extra on Booksy if they fit inside its 500 included texts. An email costs less again. The message is cheap. What costs money is not knowing who the 180 are, so check that the system can list clients by last visit, and include only people marked yes for marketing by text.

Put in your own client count, how long counts as lapsed for you, your average bill and a return rate you believe. If the answer is a few hundred pounds a month, a good lapsed-client list is worth more than most features on the demo.

Which salon CRM fits your salon?

• You want marketing and loyalty to bring clients back without you. Phorest, with automated rebooking texts and Treatcard loyalty. It is quote-only and on a one-year term, so get the price in writing. SalonIQ also says its marketing reaches lapsed clients automatically.
• A small team that wants photos and forms on a budget. Timely Boost, at £7 a week, adds before-and-after photos, forms sent before the visit and SMS campaigns.
• You want to know what each message costs. Fresha and Booksy both publish what marketing emails and texts cost. Fresha's loyalty is an add-on at £49.95 per location a month.
• A colour-led salon, or a group. Daviana's salon booking system and client records keep colour formulas, patch tests and spend on one card across every branch, and with ColorLab the formula is weighed and costed on the same record. For email and SMS campaigns, ask us what is available today. It runs in six working salons, far fewer than the larger systems above, so weigh that too.

What should you check before you move your client list?

• Do colour formulas and notes come across, or only names and phone numbers?
• Does marketing consent come across as it was, channel by channel? We keep whatever consent came across from your old system.
• Do signed consultation forms and patch-test dates move, or stay behind in the old system?
• Are photos included in the export, and in what format?
• Who can see client phone numbers and spend after the move?

Our guide to switching from Phorest covers notice dates and exports, and our questions to ask before switching salon software cover the rest. If you run a beauty salon, our beauty salon booking system guide goes deeper on forms and patch tests.

Questions salon owners ask