What do you notice when you enter a salon or spa? Maybe it’s the soothing music. Perhaps it’s the lovely scents of massage oil and product. While you might not notice behind the scenes factors—like appointment bookings—you’ll certainly become quickly frustrated if you’re left waiting for your manicure or if your appointment was lost altogether. In fact, if that’s the case, you’ll likely never return.

Salon and spa software can help smooth the behind the scenes aspects of your business. Everything from appointment booking to scheduling to payments to ordering can be managed smoothly with salon software. Here’s the many ways spa and salon software can improve customer service and business efficiency:

1. Streamline marketing efforts

Thankfully, spa and salon software programs start helping business owners right at the marketing level. Not only do they offer you a bird’s eye view across all social media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Pinerest, Instagram, Twitter, etc.), they can also identify social media mentions (i.e., likes, shares, reviews) and what networks you should be focusing on to help increase your online presence, improve your brand, and boost potential customer base by tracking interets and reminding you to reach out to customers who interacted with your business online by offering them a survey or welcome promotion.

2. Attract new clients

Now that you’ve boosted your marketing efforts with the help of spa or salon software, you can actually bring new customers through your door by tempting them with electronic promotional and discount emails, and bonuses if they refer a friend. You can even use the software to track who sent the referral and who clicked and followed through with an appointment. And send them appointment reminders to decrease no shows.

3. Keep on top of inventory

In a busy salon or spa, inventory can be tough to keep a handle on. However, if you manage your stock using salon or spa software, the system will alert you when stock levels are low on any certain product. And you can also use software to prepare for seasonal products or seasonal spikes in customers (i.e., New Years, wedding or prom season). Salon and spa workers can also use the software to save customer preferences (i.e., nail, hair color combinations) and customized customer profiles.

4. Keep you business secure

Any business with clients must make a effort to protect their privacy. Most salons and spas keep records of everything from client information to employee information and from product to sales records (and personal payment information), which means securing your business is a matter of great importance. Paper and even computer records can be scattered and confusing. However, storing all data in a centralized software program will prevent data loss and security breaches.