Email marketing for salons and clinics

That’s a lot to cover in one guide, so I’ve turned it into a series. This page is the overview. It explains why email is worth your time, the UK rules you need to follow before you send anything, and how to choose a platform. Each part of the series then takes one piece and goes into it properly, with examples you can adapt for your own salon or clinic.

You don’t own your Instagram followers. You can post a lovely reel and have it shown to a small slice of the people who follow you, and if the app changes how it works next month, there’s nothing you can do about it.

Your email list is different. Those people asked to hear from you, the list moves with you if you change platforms, and the only things standing between your email and their inbox are your sending reputation and how relevant you are to them.

It also suits how beauty and aesthetics clients behave. Most of your revenue comes from people who already know you, and the money is in the second, third and tenth visit. Email is the cheapest way to make those visits happen on time. I still think social media is worth doing, and I talk about how to make it work in my salon marketing ideas, but social finds new people and email is where you turn them into regulars.

Marketing emails to individuals in the UK are covered by PECR (the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations) and UK GDPR. Please treat what follows as general information rather than legal advice. The ICO’s guidance on electronic mail marketing is the place to check the detail. It’s currently under review following the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, which also raised the maximum PECR fine to the same level as UK GDPR, up to £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover.

To send marketing emails, you need one of two things.

For a salon or clinic, someone booking a treatment can fall under the soft opt-in for your own similar treatments, as long as they were given the chance to opt out at the time they booked. A line on your booking form along the lines of “We’d love to send you occasional offers and news. Untick this if you’d rather not hear from us” handles that, or better still, an unticked box they choose to tick. A consultation enquiry may also qualify if you offered the opt-out when you took their details, but the ICO doesn’t spell out where an enquiry ends and a negotiation begins, so I’d ask for clear consent at that point too. Competition entries, bought lists and contacts from someone else’s business never qualify.

A few other basics:

Service messages are separate. An appointment confirmation, a reminder the day before or a patch test note are part of the service someone has booked, so they aren’t marketing. Don’t sneak a promotion into them, because then they become marketing and the rules above apply.

Before you sign up for anything, look at your booking system. Many of the systems salons use, such as Fresha, Phorest and Timely, have email marketing built in. That can be the simplest place to start, because your client list and their booking history are already there, which makes sending the right email to the right client far easier.

If you want more design control or stronger automation, there are dedicated tools such as Mailchimp, MailerLite, Klaviyo and Flodesk. Prices and plans change often, so check each one directly. When comparing, I’d ask:

Here’s what each part covers. I’d work through them roughly in this order, because each one builds on the last. I’ll link each part here as it goes live.

If you only have time for one thing this month, start with Part 1. A good welcome email works for you every time someone joins, without you having to remember to send it.

Your emails will send people to your website, so it needs to make booking easy once they land there. If yours doesn’t, it’s something I can help with through my bespoke websites.

You can if the soft opt-in applies. That means you got their details when they booked or bought, you only email about your own similar treatments, they were given a chance to opt out at the time and every email has an unsubscribe link. Otherwise you need their clear consent first, and you can’t email or text them to ask for it.

Once your list is established, a weekly or fortnightly newsletter plus planned campaigns suits most salons and clinics. Start fortnightly, watch bookings, unsubscribes and complaints, and adjust. Your automated emails run separately and are triggered by what each client does. Part 3 of the series goes into this in detail.

Start by checking whether your booking system has email marketing built in, because it already has your client list and booking history. If you want more design freedom or stronger automation, tools like Mailchimp, MailerLite, Klaviyo and Flodesk are popular. Choose one that connects to your booking system and lets you send from your own domain.

No. Confirmations, reminders and aftercare about a booked appointment are service messages, so the marketing consent rules don’t apply to them. Once you add a promotion or offer into the message, it becomes marketing.

Get the opt-in wording onto your booking form, pick a platform, then set up a welcome email so everyone who joins hears from you straight away. Part 1 of the series walks you through writing it.