How to reduce no-shows in a small studio
A client does not turn up, the hour is gone and you cannot sell it again. Three things that genuinely help, and one that does not.
2 min read
For small service businesses in Czechia and Slovakia
A client does not arrive and that hour cannot be sold again
Termeva takes a deposit when the booking is made and sends a reminder the day before. Studios that take no deposit report 12 to 18 per cent no-shows. With a deposit it falls to 5 to 7 per cent.
- 12-18%
- no-shows without a deposit
- 5-7%
- no-shows with one
- 0%
- commission on client payments
- 15 min
- to a working booking page
Made for your kind of work
One person or a team of ten, the setup is the same.
Two screens, and that is the whole product
What your client sees on their phone, and what you see when you open the laptop in the morning.
Anna Massage
cs / sk / en / uk / ru
Choose a time
Thursday, 18 September
09:00
10:30
11:45
13:00
14:15
16:30
Your name
Phone
Book for 14:15
No account needed
The booking page, on a phone. That is where 80% of bookings happen.
anna-massage.termeva.com
Today, Thursday
All times in Europe/Prague
Today
6
Week
31
Month
124
- 09:00 Maria Novakova Masaz 60 min · Anna Confirmed
- 10:30 Sofia Dvorakova Masaz 90 min · Anna Confirmed
- 13:00 Daniel Svoboda Hluboka masaz · Petr Pending
- 15:30 Jan Krejci Masaz 60 min · Anna Confirmed
Bookings from your site and the ones you add by hand, in one list.
The empty chair is the expensive part
A client asks for Thursday afternoon in a direct message, you hold the slot, and then nothing. The hour stays empty, and there was never anything holding them to it.
- A reminder the day before Most no-shows are people forgetting, not people deciding.
- Cancelling takes one tap A slot you would have lost silently comes back in time to refill.
- A deposit where it matters For the bookings worth protecting, ask for money at the moment of booking.
Everything a small studio runs on
Not a platform with forty modules. The dozen things you touch every day.
A calendar that cannot lie
Two people can never take the same slot. That is enforced by the database itself, not by hoping the code got it right.
Breaks and buffers
Lunch splits the day, and time for cleaning up after a client is taken into account before the next slot is offered.
Reminders that reduce no-shows
Confirmation right after booking, reminder the day before, and a cancel link that actually works.
Deposits when it matters
Ask for a deposit on the bookings worth protecting. The money moves from the client to your account, never through us.
Your team, their own hours
Each person has their own services, schedule and days off. Clients can pick a person or let you decide.
A site you fill in, not build
Pick a template, add photos, set one colour. No blocks to drag, nothing to break on a phone.
Five languages on the booking page
Czech, Slovak, English, Ukrainian and Russian. The confirmation email goes out in the language the client booked in.
Your clients stay yours
Export the full client list whenever you want. No lock-in, no marketplace owning your regulars.
Built for the phone first
Both sides work in portrait on a mid-range Android, because that is what your clients hold.
From sign up to your first booking
The setup is meant to fit in the gap between two clients, not in an evening. Services come pre-filled for your line of work, so you correct numbers instead of facing an empty form.
-
1
Add your services
Durations, prices and the time you need between clients. Pre-filled by trade, so this is editing, not writing.
-
2
Set your hours
Working days, the lunch break, days off. Each person on the team can have their own.
-
3
Pick a template
Choose a look, drop in photos, set one colour. Change it later without losing anything.
-
4
Share the link
Put it in your Instagram bio. Bookings land straight in your calendar, day and night.
Work out what no-shows cost you in a month
Not the price of software, the price of empty chairs. Put your own numbers in and compare them with the plan.
- The appointment you lost, at your price
- The client you turned away because the slot looked taken
- Time spent preparing the room and chasing people in messages
Example, not a promise
- No-shows
- 4 a week
- Average appointment
- 36 €
- Lost per month
- 576 €
- The Studio plan costs
- 29 €
Industry figures put no-shows at 12 to 18 per cent without a deposit and 5 to 7 with one. At that rate a deposit returns roughly two thirds of the loss, about 384 euro a month.
What you pay, and to whom
Marketplaces are cheap until they are not. Their price depends on how much you earn, and on which clients they decide are theirs.
| Termeva | Marketplaces | Instagram DM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | Flat, from 0 Kc | Free, then a cut | Free |
| Commission on your clients | None | A share of new client payments | None |
| Who the client belongs to | You | The platform | You |
| Deposits | Included from Studio | Sometimes | Bank transfer by hand |
| Your own site | Included | A profile page | None |
| Client list export | Any time | Restricted | Your contacts app |
| Double bookings | Impossible | Rare | Regular |
| Works while you sleep | Yes | Yes | No |
Compared one by one
You are holding your clients' personal data
Names, phone numbers and visit history belong to your clients, and under GDPR you answer for them. We build the tools so that you can.
Separated by design
Another studio cannot see your clients, and that is checked by an automated test on every change we ship.
Servers in the EU
Data stays in the European Union, which keeps cross-border transfer out of the conversation.
Export and deletion
Export a client record or erase it on request, in one click, as the law requires.
Consent kept separate
Consent to be contacted about a booking is not the same as consent to marketing, and we never merge the two.
Pricing
One price per studio, not per person. Pay yearly and take 20% off.
Free
0 €
forever
Enough to get your first bookings.
- 1 person
- 25 bookings per month
- Subdomain site
- Email reminders
Solo
14 €
/ month
For one person working alone.
- Unlimited bookings
- No Termeva branding
- Your own domain
- Client export
Studio
Most studios29 €
/ month
Deposits live here. Most studios pick this.
- Up to 5 people
- Deposits and prepayment
- Booking page in 5 languages
- 100 SMS per month after launch
- Google Calendar sync after launch
Salon
59 €
/ month
For larger studios and several locations.
- Unlimited people
- Priority support
- 400 SMS per month after launch
- Analytics and reports after launch
- Several locations after launch
Prices exclude VAT. In Czechia we charge in koruna: 349, 749 and 1 490 Kc a month.
Anything marked after launch is on the roadmap and not in the first release. You will not be charged for a plan before the features you signed up for are in it.
From the blog
The business side of a small studio: no-shows, deposits, pricing and getting bookings out of your messages.
How to ask for a deposit without scaring clients away
Most owners are afraid a deposit will cost them bookings. In practice it costs them the bookings that were never going to happen.
2 min read
Your direct messages are not a booking system
It works fine until it does not: two clients in one slot, a booking lost in a thread, and no way to know what next week looks like.
2 min read
Questions
Do you take a percentage of my work?
No. You pay a fixed amount per month and nothing per booking. When a client leaves a deposit, the money goes from their card to your account through Stripe, and card processing fees are the only cut in that path.
I work alone from home. Is this too much for me?
The free plan covers one person and 25 bookings a month, which is enough to run a small practice. You can hide your address and still take bookings.
Can my clients book without registering?
Yes, and that is deliberate. They pick a service, a person and a time, leave a name and a phone number, and that is it. Every extra step loses people.
What happens to a deposit if a client cancels?
If they cancel inside the window you set, it is refunded automatically. Later than that, it stays with you. If you cancel, it is always refunded.
Do I need a website already?
No. The site comes with the booking system. Pick a template, add your photos and text, and it lives on your own address from the first day.
Can I move my existing clients over?
Your client list is yours and can be exported at any time. Import is on the roadmap for the first months after launch.
Which languages does the booking page speak?
Czech, Slovak, English, Ukrainian and Russian, switchable by the visitor. Confirmation emails go out in the language the client booked in.
What if two clients pick the same time at once?
Only one of them gets it. The database itself refuses overlapping bookings for the same person, so a race between two phones cannot end in a double booking.
When does it launch?
The first studios get access in the first quarter. Early access members are onboarded personally and keep their launch price.
Something else on your mind? Ask it in the form below and it gets answered by the person building this.
Get early access
The first studios come on board in the first quarter. Early access means we set your studio up together, and you keep your launch price for as long as you stay.
- Personal setup, we move your services and hours over with you
- Your launch price is locked in
- A progress email every few weeks, no marketing noise