Why does the tattoo industry need a CRM or how going digital can benefit tattoo shops?

It has become commonplace among the owners of tattoo studios (and not only) that task automatization and, therefore, a CRM tool, is intended only for large or network companies. Thousands of entrepreneurs don't automate small businesses by saying that:

"We have just opened and we'll wait for customers to come to us",
"We have a small tattoo studio, we don't need CRM",
"We don't have a lot of customers",
"Automatization is expensive, time-consuming, and complicated",
"The administrators of tattoo studios are against implementing a CRM system",
"The new system will be inconvenient for my employees",
"We don't have the time to implement CRM",
"We have everything automated in familiar spreadsheets and we don't need a special program."
"We decided to check and use real examples to see if these statements are really the reason not to automate work in tattoo shops".

What's interesting, is the fact that most of the described events, which are initially intended to be the cause why a given studio doesn't need a CRM tool, are actually the reason why you need to implement CRM as soon as possible to minimize the problems just described.

In this article, we will analyze what a CRM system is, who can benefit from using it, and we will see how automatization affects key business performance indicators, especially in a tattoo studio.

How to increase efficiency in your tattoo studio? Learn about the CRM tool INKbusiness and manage #LIKEAPRO!

Small business and hundreds of tasks

Despite the fact that most tattoo studios are small businesses, the amount of tasks that managers and administrators have to control on a daily basis is impressive and shocking. I'm talking about marketing management, client communication, planning visits, managing the artists and their tasks, financial oversight, etc. Due to the so-called "manual" management of so many procedures, tattoo shops face a number of challenges, such as:

Lack of an organized customer base with detailed profiles for each customer, which means that he must notify us about the same things each time (e.g. allergies to some ink or cream).
Chaotic paper calendar entries: absences and late customers inevitably lead to financial loss.
Tough time in keeping track of products, which leads to untimely or urgent purchases, shortages of goods and consumables, promotes theft and loss of products.
Customers not returning and the lack of understanding of why this keeps happening
Low productivity of managers who are usually responsible for dozens of various processes - from customer booking to filing reports. Tasks that could be performed automatically: customer reminders, scheduled customer invitations,
Errors and the lack of attention of employees - assigned tasks are forgotten and not completed, and what has been done must be double-checked.
Lack of streamlined processes and a clear organizational system
Lack of reliable data and comprehensible analytics for business management. As a rule, without a CRM system, the company is not able to quickly determine the current state of affairs: how many new customers were acquired, from which advertising channels they came, how many came back, how many customers were lost, and for what reasons, how many bookings are planned for a week, how many of them were canceled and why, how much inventory is left and when to make another purchase.
Lack of time for business development due to numerous manual processes executed by a single manager, which may slow down some activities

If we take a closer look at these examples, we can see those small businesses need the extra time for organizing their tasks the most. Then we come to a vicious circle: on the one hand, companies postpone the moment of business automatization until they grow, and on the other hand, they pay for it with their time, quality of service, loss of customers, and a decrease in income, which prevents the arrival of these "better times" sooner.

How can CRM and automatization help your business?

For starters, let's take a look at what CRM is and how it relates to the optimization of business procedures.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is primarily a business strategy based on a customer-centric approach. It is a technique of systematically gathering information about customers at all stages, in order to analyze and use this data to improve the user experience, and the quality of service and build long-term relationships with each customer. The result of implementing such a strategy is a competitive, profitable studio with an effective system of acquiring and retaining customers.

INKbusiness is a business management and automatization software designed specifically for the tattoo industry. Unlike most universal CRM systems, INKbusiness was originally developed taking into account the specifics and business processes of tattoo companies. Thanks to this, it was possible to design the tools and modules of the system so that each user, regardless of whether it was the tattoo shop owner, manager, administrator, accountant, marketer, or artist could not only perform their daily tasks faster and more conveniently but also be more effective in communication with customers, marketing, sales, and service.

In tattoo shops that have started to use INKbusiness CRM, you can already notice the first advantages of use, such as:

Improving the quality of customer service, including personalized notifications before the visit or visit history, which allows for an individual approach to each client, so that they feel taken care of by us.
Fewer losses and costs. Automatic reminders about visits and a prepayment system will help to minimize the absence and delays of customers, thanks to which the studio can save from a couple to even several hundred thousand zlotys of losses per month.
Increased team productivity. Employees whose routine tasks are performed by the program gain more time to communicate directly with the customer, make fewer mistakes, and are able to complete more tasks. Organized information about customers, a convenient schedule, automatization of reminders and reoccurring visits of customers, and other features of the modern program allow you to save up to 20 hours a month. For comparison, the total working time of an average studio is about 300 hours a month.
Reduced possibility of financial fraud and theft. As you well know, the more chaos in finances and reports, the easier it is for unethical employees to manipulate data. After the implementation of the CRM system, all processes become transparent. With just a few clicks, you can analyze data on customer visits, cancellations, transfers of records, keeping track of products, financial transactions, and all user activities.
More effective marketing. Customer acquisition source analytics identifies effective and ineffective advertising channels. Booking history and in-depth customer analysis allow you to create more efficient advertising campaigns. Thanks to this, you can reduce the cost of customer acquisition and at the same time increase the effectiveness of all marketing activities.

Now we know that thanks to INKbusiness CRM, tattoo shops can improve service quality, optimize costs and increase their profits. The next step is to think about how to switch from manual business management to a more effective management with the use of a modern CRM system.

How do I switch from "manual" tattoo studio management to a CRM system?

Despite the obvious benefits of switching to a CRM system, many people in our industry still lay aside business automatization for later, fearing the complexity of implementing a new tool. Indeed, business automatization and the transition to CRM is sometimes quite a time-consuming and multi-stage process. Before making the change you should:

analyze which processes demand automatization in the first place and define the requirements for the CRM system,
select a specific software,
fill in the data to begin and configure the system,
train your staff.

Furthermore, it is worth remembering that when choosing the right CRM tool for you, the first thing you need to do is determine who will be involved in the implementation process and how the system will be configured and launched in your company.

By choosing INKbusiness CRM, you receive qualified help and support at every stage of the work. Our knowledge and experience in implementing CRM in many tattoo studios allow you to avoid unnecessary stress and make the transition to the new management method simple and convenient. How do we do it?

We will carry out a personal presentation of our tool online or directly in your showroom. During the so-called demo, our Artist Ambassador will show you what effect the implementation of CRM can have on your studio. We will also discuss your tasks and goals and suggest what features can help you with this.
We will provide 14 days of free access to the demo version. During this time, you can check to what extent INKbusiness meets your requirements and make sure that it is a way for much more convenient and faster work.
We will implement and configure CRM in your company. With your consent, the Artist Ambassador will enter all data and set up the program. The implementation will only be considered complete when you confirm that the program is configured according to your needs.
We will train your employees to work in the new system. Understanding the system is very simple, and you will have one of the INKbusiness crew members assigned to you, who will conduct as many training courses as needed.
We will provide technical support 7 days a week. We know that our clients do not have days off, so we are ready to help whenever the need occurs. Our specialists are available on all channels: phone, social media, and e-mail.

If you're still wondering when is the best time to implement the CRM system, the answer is… right now! In order to avoid mistakes and losses in business management, CRM should be implemented simultaneously with the opening of the studio. If you already have an existing business that you manage without technology, the faster the processes are automated, the faster it will develop.

Join dozens of tattoo studios from all around the world that have already learned that automatization with INKbusiness is a must-have for every, even the smallest studio!