Kitomba blog

COVID-19 continues to change the world, so we’ve created this blog to provide you with ways Kitomba can help you and your business at this time. Whether your business is temporarily closing, or you’re just trying to manage your new normal, we’ve put together some information and resources that might be useful at this time.

If your business is preparing to open again after a closure, check out our helpful tips in our reopening your salon, spa or clinic blog.

Make sure Kitomba is working for you

Set up your main Kitomba to auto start daily

If you still want your automated messages and reminders to be sent out, your main Kitomba needs to be running. If you won’t be able to get into your salon to start up Kitomba, it’s best to set it up to start automatically.

To set up Kitomba to auto start on your computer check out one of these guides:

• Setting up an auto start for Mac
• Setting up an auto start for Windows

Check your computer settings

Kitomba shuts itself down automatically every night, it does this so we can collect a backup of your data. To ensure this is able to happen, you need to set up your computer so that it doesn’t go to sleep and don’t close the lid of your laptop if you’re using one.

Communicate with your clients

Send a message to your clients

Kitomba integrates with MailChimp so it’s easy for you to stay in touch with your clients by email. Or if you’d rather communicate by text message, you can use Campaign Marketing in Kitomba or create a text campaign in Kitomba 1 to set up a message to go out to your clients.

You may want to:

• advise them of any business closures or changes to your regular opening hours,
• let them know the steps you’re taking to ensure their safety,
• remind them to follow you on social media for updates, or
• promote your online store to cover their product needs.

To get started with creating a MailChimp campaign, watch our video.

Stop your appointment reminders

If your business is temporarily closing or things have changed, you might want to stop your appointment reminder messages. That way your clients won’t be confused by an appointment reminder message and your business won’t incur any unnecessary costs at this time.

You could either:

• set your appointment reminder messages to “call me” so they aren’t sent to clients and you aren’t charged or
• cancel any appointments and contact your clients to reschedule for when you’re open again.

Update your Online Booking site

Edit your opening hours

If your business is closed but you’d like your clients to be able to make bookings for when you reopen, we recommend adding business leave in Kitomba to show the dates you’re closed. Visit our support guide for help doing this.

Turn off Online Booking

You may want to turn Online Booking off while your business is closed. It’s easy to do – just visit your Kitomba 1 Settings, select ‘Business details’ and switch your Online Booking website to ‘Off’.  

Add a message to clients

You might want to update your Online Booking page to include any new policies or procedures you’d like your clients to know about. It’s easy to update the description on your Online Booking page, simply visit your Online Booking settings in Kitomba 1 and update the About your business section.

Manage a waitlist

If you’re a Platinum or Diamond customer, you can use our Waitlist feature. It allows you to add clients to your waitlist, from anywhere, on any device. It’s easy to seamlessly move them onto your appointment book when you reopen, or when you have a space available. To learn more about how it works, visit our blog.

Keep a close eye on your business

Kitomba is a business management software that makes it easy to see what’s going on in your business, whether you have one or multiple locations. We help you to manage your business in the good times, when your business is booming and your client list is growing. But we’re also here to help you navigate the hard times. At times like these, having a clear picture of your business is more important than ever. It allows you to understand the health of your business, identify opportunities and make informed decisions. Here are some of the features you can use to do this:

Business Summary

The Business Summary report allows you to keep an eye on your overall revenue and revenue sources and keep track of your clients’ behaviour. For everything you need to know about the Business Summary report, check out our support guide.

Future appointments

For information on future bookings and revenue refer to your Scoreboard in Kitomba 1, the Future Appointments report in Kitomba and the Appointment Value report in Kitomba 1. 

Staff utilisation

The Staff Utilisation report provides you with a summary of each staff person’s utilisation for a specified date range, outlining the ratio between their working and non-working hours. This report may come in handy if you need to create new rosters to cater for busier or quieter days.

Client lists

If a staff member is unwell or needs to self isolate, you’ll need to contact all of their upcoming appointments to reschedule or cancel. You can use the Customer Retention report to see all client appointments for that staff member across the affected dates. The report includes contact details for those clients so you can get in touch with them individually, or use the list to create a marketing message in Kitomba.

Leave reasons

Make sure you’re accurately recording the reason for any staff absences. In addition to the default leave reasons, you can create custom leave reasons and decide if they’re paid or unpaid leave types. To create new reasons check out our guide for single site businesses and for businesses with multiple locations.

Kitomba support

As always, our incredible support team is here to help you via phone, email or webchat whenever you need us.

Kitomba resources

If you need additional help and support, we have a number of resources available to our customers:

• Visit the Kitomba COVID-19 Resource Centre to access a collection of blogs and videos that will provide you with advice, assistance and tools that can help you as you navigate the effects of COVID.
• Our business videos page is full of advice from business coaches and experts on a range of topics.
• The Kitomba blog as well as our business guides provide lots of information to assist you with any area of your business.