Time-based pricing sets service prices from the hours (and product cost) a service truly consumes, not from habit or from copying the shop next door. The goal is a healthy revenue per hour after costs.
The pricing chapter shows why a long colour service can earn less per hour than several shorter cuts if you only look at the ticket. UK owners who race to the bottom also lose good staff, because low prices crush commission. Price the hour, describe the value, and raise with inflation instead of panic discounting.
Competitors may be underpricing or running different costs. Your rent, skill, and time mix are yours – copy blindly and you inherit their mistakes.
Divide contribution by minutes. A glamorous high ticket can lose to a shorter service on revenue per hour.
Some will. Chronic underpricing attracts the wrong clients and pushes talent out. Small, regular adjustments beat emergency cuts.
Yes. Clear descriptions sell the work inside the time you blocked – see the community article on service descriptions.
Academy pricing lesson, book pricing chapter, and the articles on time-based prices and cheap-price damage.
Home
Salon software overview and free tools.
About the founder
Real salon-owner experience behind Appointica.
Academy
Hourly thinking and pricing psychology.
Book
Time-based pricing and avoiding the race to the bottom.
Community
Why minutes matter more than service names.
Community
What happens when you undercut forever.
A price list is the published menu of services and prices clients see before they book. It should reflect real time and cost, and use wording that explains value – not a bare name and a number.
A service menu is the structured set of services you sell – names, durations, prices, and what is included. It is the commercial backbone of the diary, the website, and staff training.
Average ticket is total service and retail revenue divided by the number of visits. Raising it often beats adding more hours or chasing endless new clients.
Break-even is the revenue (or number of tickets) you need before the salon starts making profit – covering fixed costs like rent and variable costs per service.
Cost of goods sold (COGS) is the direct product cost tied to delivering services – colour, treatments, disposables as opposed to rent or marketing.
