Tried a cheap CRM for my grooming shop booking and got way more replies than I expected

I run a small dog grooming shop here in Austin, and for the last two years I was using a $50 a month CRM that everyone in the tech meetups swore by. Last month I got tired of the bills and switched to a free Google Sheets setup with a simple form for customers to book slots. Turns out my clients actually preferred the no-frills system because they could see open times without logging into another account. Has anyone else here dropped a paid tool for something simpler and seen better engagement?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencer_coleman1mo ago

Betting your clients liked not having to remember yet another login.

gracec161mo ago

People act like remembering logins is some huge burden but most folks just use the same password for everything anyway. Is typing a username and password really that much harder than scanning a QR code? Maybe it's just me but I don't see the big deal either way.

ruby_jones1mo ago

Swapping to a shared calendar app did basically the same thing for my friend's hair salon. People just want to see what's open and click a time, not jump through hoops. She had way fewer no-shows too since clients could pick slots that actually worked for them without back and forth texts. Sometimes the fancy tools just add extra steps nobody asked for. Simple wins when your customers are busy.