Most shops should put a review tag next to the card reader. A barbershop or salon is the one trade where that is the second-best answer.
The mirror wins here
A client in a chair looks at one surface for forty minutes. Nowhere else in retail gives you that. A small stand on the shelf in front of the mirror, or a sticker at the edge of the glass, is in front of somebody who is not doing anything else and who is about to be very pleased with how they look.
The moment to ask is before the payment, not after
The chair is turned, the client sees the back of their head, and they say something nice. That is the moment. Once they are at the till they are thinking about their card and their next appointment. A tag by the mirror is reachable at the point where somebody is actually happy; a tag by the till is reachable at the point where they are leaving.
What to put where
- Mirror shelf: a Table Stand or a Tap Card in a small holder, one per station, each counted separately so you can see which chair collects most.
- Reception: a second card by the card reader, for the ones who forget.
- Staff keys: a keychain each, for the mobile ones and for home visits.
- The window: a decal, for people who look before they book.
Per-chair counting is the useful part
Every tag can point at the same review link and still be counted separately. Give each station its own tag and after a fortnight you know which stylist asks and which does not. That is a management fact you cannot get any other way, and it is usually more useful than the reviews themselves.
Buy the ones above
The tag is a one-time purchase and the tap works forever without a plan. Pro at $9/mo per business adds the stats history, the review funnel, your Action Link profile, multi-site reporting and the ability to change where a tag points.
