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Hair salon websites: service menus clients can understand

SiteSmith · · 5 min read

A salon service menu often makes perfect sense to stylists and very little to clients. "Partial foil", "gloss", "lived-in color", "dimensional balayage", "Level 3 cut": a new client staring at that on a phone may simply close the page instead of guessing wrong. The fix is not to dumb anything down, but to give each service a plain description, a starting price, a time and a hint of who it suits. This guide shows how to write the menu, and the pages around it, on a hair salon website.

Start with what the client wants, not with salon terms

Clients think in results: "I want to cover my gray", "I want to go lighter", "I want my curls to look better", "I need a trim". Group your menu that way, under headings the client recognizes:

  • Cuts: women's, men's, children's, curly cuts, bang trims
  • Color: all-over color, gray coverage, root touch-ups, highlights, balayage, glosses, color correction
  • Styling: blowouts, updos, special events
  • Treatments: conditioning treatments, smoothing treatments, scalp treatments
  • Extensions, if you offer them
  • Bridal and events

Within each group, put the most booked services first. A client looking for a root touch-up should not have to scroll past three kinds of balayage to find it.

Give every service one plain line

Under each service name, add a sentence that says what it is and who it suits. Some examples to adapt:

  • Root touch-up: color on new growth only, for clients who already have all-over color and are due for a refresh.
  • Partial highlights: lighter pieces around the face and top of the head, where the light hits most.
  • Full highlights: lighter pieces throughout the whole head, for a brighter overall look.
  • Balayage: lightener painted by hand for a soft, grown-out look that needs fewer touch-ups.
  • Gloss: a sheer color that adds shine and tones out brassiness. Often added after highlights.
  • Color correction: fixing color that did not turn out as planned. Always starts with a consultation.
  • Curly cut: a cut shaped for curls, usually done dry so the stylist can see how each curl falls.
  • Smoothing treatment: reduces frizz and makes hair easier to style for several weeks.

Rewrite them to match how your stylists do each service. The point is that a client can read one line and know if it is for them.

Prices: starting at, by level, and what changes them

Most salons cannot give an exact price for color online, and clients understand that, as long as you explain why. A few common ways to show it:

  • "Starting at" prices. The minimum, with a note on what raises it: hair length, thickness, extra product, extra time.
  • Pricing by stylist level. If your salon has levels (for example new talent, senior, master), show a small table with each level's starting price per service, and explain the levels in one line each. Clients who want to save can book a newer stylist; clients who want the most experience know what it costs.
  • Price ranges for services that vary a lot, such as extensions and color correction.

Add one line that sets expectations: "Your stylist confirms the price at the start of your appointment, before any color is applied." That one sentence prevents most price disagreements. The guide on whether to list prices on your website covers the general trade-offs, and including a price list as a PDF vs a web page explains why the menu should be text on the page.

Add the time each service takes

Times help clients plan and help them book the right slot. "About 45 minutes" for a cut, "2 to 3 hours" for full highlights with a cut, "plan for half a day" for a color correction. If the time depends on hair length, say so. Clients who know a balayage takes three hours do not book it in their lunch break.

Consultations: when, why and how

Some services should not be booked blind. Say which ones on the menu, right next to the service:

  • Color correction: always a consultation first.
  • Big changes, such as dark to blonde, or a first balayage.
  • Extensions: to match color and length and order the hair.
  • Bridal: to plan the trial and the day.

Then explain the consultation itself on the menu page or the new client page: how long it takes, whether it is free, whether it includes a strand or patch test, and how to book it. If you charge for consultations but credit the fee toward the service, say so.

Stylists' pages and the menu work together

If clients book a specific stylist, the menu and the stylist profiles should point to each other. A few ways:

  • On each stylist's page, list the services they specialize in, linked back to the menu.
  • On the menu, note which stylists offer specialty services, such as curly cuts or extensions.
  • If prices vary by stylist level, show each stylist's level on their profile.

A client who reads "Maria, senior stylist, curly cuts and natural color" and then sees the curly cut price for a senior stylist has everything needed to book.

New-client information that belongs near the menu

First-time clients have questions that sit between the menu and the booking button. A short block on the menu page, or a link to a new client page, should cover:

  • Whether a patch test is needed before color, and when to come in for it.
  • What to bring: photos of what they like and do not like, any color history.
  • How to arrive: clean, dry, styled as they usually wear it, depending on the service.
  • Your cancellation policy, in one friendly line.

The menu only works if the booking link matches it. Check:

  • Every service on your website exists in the booking app with the same name.
  • The Book button on the menu opens the app at the right salon and, ideally, at the right category.
  • Add-ons, like a gloss with highlights, appear in the app in the same way the menu describes them.
  • The app shows the same starting prices as the website.

Test it on your own phone, from the website, as a new client would. When names and prices drift apart between the site and the app, clients lose confidence quickly.

Rewriting your menu in an afternoon

  • Regroup services by what clients want: cuts, color, styling, treatments.
  • Add one plain line under each service.
  • Choose your price approach and add the "confirmed before we start" line.
  • Add times, and mark which services need a consultation.
  • Match every name and price in your booking app to the website.

For the full set of pages around the menu, see what a hair salon website needs. If your current menu is a scanned image or hard to read on a phone, you can see your site rebuilt first, with the menu written out as text, and decide once you have seen it.

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