A woman wants highlights. She has looked at three salons and none of them publish a price for anything involving colour.
She is not trying to find the cheapest. She is trying to establish whether a salon is in her range at all, before she commits to a consultation she would have to take time off for.
She books at the fourth salon, which published a range and explained what moves it. The first three never knew she existed.
What a colour price is actually made of
Four components. The consultation and preparation, the product used, the technical time at the chair, and the finishing.
Component 1: consultation and preparation
Including any test required beforehand, which is the ground in patch tests aftercare and pre appointment questions.
Component 2: product
Which scales directly with length and thickness, and is the main reason a single price cannot cover every client.
Component 3: technical time
The hours at the chair, which depend on the technique, the starting colour and how much correction is involved.
Component 4: finishing
Cut, treatment and styling, which may or may not be included and which clients almost always assume is.
A worked example on short hair
A straightforward application on short hair, with no correction and an existing colour that cooperates, sits at the lower end of any range.
The same service on long thick hair
More product, considerably more time, and frequently a correction stage first, which is several times the cost and is entirely legitimate.
Why the correction stage surprises people
Somebody going lighter from a previous box colour is buying a different and longer service, and discovering this in the chair is where most disputes begin.
Why a range works better than silence
Clients accept variation readily when the reasons are stated, and they do not accept discovering the variation after the service.
Why the photograph converts
A client sending a picture of their current hair can be given a much closer figure in minutes, which is more useful than any published table.
Why the deposit conversation belongs here
Long colour appointments are expensive to lose, and a deposit is accepted far more readily when the price was clear beforehand.
Why the maintenance cost should be stated
What the upkeep is, how often and at what cost, since a client choosing a service is committing to a cycle rather than a single appointment.
Why silence reads as expensive
Consistently. A salon with no published prices is assumed by every comparing client to be the most expensive of the ones they looked at.
Why the time slot matters to the salon
A colour appointment occupies a chair for hours, and one booked without an accurate assessment either overruns and delays everybody or finishes early and wastes the slot. The pricing conversation and the scheduling one are the same conversation.
Give a range and ask for a photograph
An assistant that gives an honest range for each colour service, explains what moves it, asks for a photograph to narrow it and explains the deposit before taking a booking request reaches the client who otherwise books at the salon that gave her a number. The wider pricing conversation sits in treatment price questions every salon receives, and a comparable variable pricing case in upholstery and rug cleaning questions and pricing. See pricing, run the numbers on the chatbot ROI calculator, and the sector view sits under beauty salons.