PetGroomBossPro Blog — Pet Grooming Software

Choosing Pet Grooming Software: What to Check Before You Switch

Switching software is a real cost. You move your clients, retrain your habits and ask your customers to get used to new texts and a new app. So it is worth choosing carefully. This last guide in the series pulls everything together into a checklist you can use on any grooming software, ours included.

Where You Work Shapes What You Need

Pet Grooming Software in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK covered one practical check: does the software work where you work, in your currency? Here are the rest.

1. Is It Built for Mobile, or Adapted From a Salon?

Salon software books chairs and tables. Mobile software books driveways. Look for an address on every appointment, van notes for parking and hookups, navigation on the groomer's phone, routing for each van and texts that tell the owner when you are close. If the software treats the address as an afterthought, it was probably built for a salon.

2. How Much Does It Keep for Each Pet?

Open a pet record and look. Is there a place for breed, size and coat, a rabies due date and notes for the cut and behavior? Can a home have several pets, dogs and cats together, each with its own details? Then check the most important thing: does the next visit fill in from the last one, or do you re-type the pets every time? That one feature saves more typing than anything else. See The Next Visit Fills In From the Last: Why Nobody Re-Types the Pets or the Cut.

3. Does It Handle Set-Time Repeat Appointments?

Most mobile grooming books are regulars. Check whether you can put a client on the same weekday, time and van every 4, 6 or 8 weeks, or any frequency, and whether every visit is written up front. Check how easy it is to change a series: a new day, a new van, a new price for every upcoming visit at once. And check how you confirm the next day's work. A screen like Pending Jobs that shows tomorrow first and confirms with one click makes the day-before routine quick. See Set-Time Repeat Appointments Every 4, 6 or 8 Weeks in Mobile Pet Grooming Software.

4. What Does the Groomer See?

Put the groomer app on your own phone. Does it need an app store download, or does it run in the browser? Does each groomer get their own PIN? Are the appointments in order with their times? Are the pets, cut notes, add-ons and van notes on the card? Is there a grooming checklist, photos, Start / Skip / Complete and a time clock? Does Complete create the invoice?

5. How Do New Clients Get In?

Look for a booking page you can link from your website and social bios. Can a customer enter their pets and sizes and see a price? Does the request come to you with everything they picked, so you can confirm a time that fits your route? Is there a way to send estimates for unusual homes and turn an approved estimate into a job?

6. Does It Keep Customers in the Loop?

Check the automatic alerts: night before, when they are next, when the groomer arrives. Can customers choose which ones they get? Is there two-way texting from the office? Is a text allowance included, and does it count sent and received? Is there a customer app with a live map, invoices, online payment and a way to update their card?

7. How Do You Get Paid?

Check for card on file with auto-charge on completion, online payment, sales tax on invoices, tips on paid invoices, past-due follow-up and monthly statements for accounts like senior living communities and daycares.

8. What Does It Really Cost?

Add up the monthly price with everything you need included. Check whether the groomer app, customer app, booking page, texting and payments cost extra, and whether the price rises per user or per van. PetGroomBossPro is $59, $89 or $199 a month on Start, Pro or Crew.

9. Can You Test It Properly?

Look for a demo you can open without signing up, and a free trial long enough to run real days. PetGroomBossPro has a live demo with no signup and a 14-day free trial with no credit card. Use them on your own week.

Make the Choice on Your Own Clients

Every checklist is only a starting point. The real test is a week of your own regulars running through the software: confirmed the day before, groomed from the phone and paid at the curb. If that week is easier than the last one, you have your answer. For every guide in this series, return to the pet grooming software page.