Your booking system should do some of the work
You probably don't need another piece of software to manage — you need something that removes work from your day. Encorra acts more like an extra member of staff than a basic appointment calendar. It can:
- Take barber appointments online
- Manage individual staff calendars
- Send confirmations and reminders
- Fill cancelled appointments
- Identify clients who are due back
- Protect against no-shows
- Detect suspicious bookings
- Help run marketing campaigns
- Track appointments and revenue
- Organise holidays and sick days
It works quietly in the background while you concentrate on the person in your chair.
Professional software built around real shops
Generic scheduling software has to work for hundreds of industries. Encorra has one job: help barbers run better appointment businesses. It's designed around what actually happens inside a barbershop:
- Different services and appointment lengths
- Several barbers working different hours
- Walk-ins mixed with online bookings
- Last-minute cancellations
- Clients arriving late
- Parents booking multiple children
- Individual barber payments
- Staff holidays and sick days
- Regulars returning every few weeks
- Busy Saturdays and empty midweek spaces
Professional barber appointment software — without forcing your shop into a workflow designed for dentists or dog groomers.
Everything you need to run your barber appointments
Online booking page
A professional place for clients to choose a service, barber, date and time — on phone, tablet or desktop. No call, no message, no app to download.
Barber appointment calendar
Online bookings, staff appointments, blocked time and walk-ins in one view. Add, move, reassign or shorten appointments — freed time reopens when there's no conflict.
Multiple barber calendars
Each barber gets their own hours, calendar, breaks, services, prices, holidays, permissions and Stripe account. The owner sees across the whole shop.
Confirmations & reminders
Automatic booking confirmations, plus SMS and email reminders that cut forgotten appointments and give clients time to cancel or rebook.
Client self-service
Clients view details, cancel, choose another time, rebook after time off or claim a waitlist slot themselves — less back-and-forth, less admin.
Fake-booking protection
Email verification, disposable-detail detection, rate limiting, suspicious-IP monitoring and bot protection keep your calendar for real clients.
Family bookings
One parent manages several family members — their own cut, one child, several children or back-to-back appointments — with reminders to the parent's phone.
Holidays & sick days
Pick your dates; Encorra closes availability, finds affected appointments, notifies clients and sends a rebooking link. Handle the day as one event.
Fill cancelled appointments automatically
A cancellation is lost income, not just an empty slot. Encorra's Smart Waitlist offers the open time to clients waiting for something earlier — they get a message, open the link and claim it. No calling around, no interrupting a haircut, no "last-minute space" post that reaches people too late.
Protect your shop from no-shows
Enable card-on-file for selected barbers, ask new clients to save a card, auto-release unconfirmed appointments, charge for no-shows or late cancellations, waive a fee when it's fair and refund when needed — each barber on their own Stripe account. You choose where the policy applies.
Know which clients are due back
Encorra learns how often each client normally visits and flags who's due, due this week, overdue or at risk of going inactive — so you message when another cut actually makes sense. A regular who books every three weeks shouldn't silently vanish for three months.
An online scheduling assistant
Ask Cora helps you understand the shop — "where are my empty spaces this week?", "which clients are overdue?", "how much revenue this month?". It prepares and recommends; for sensitive actions like charges and messages, you stay in control of what gets sent or changed.
Marketing connected to real availability
Most marketing tools don't know if you're full. Encorra's Marketing Agent uses your appointments and client records to promote empty slots, fill quiet days, win lapsed clients back, spotlight a barber, turn five-star reviews into posts, send SMS/email and publish approved posts to Facebook — then tracks opens and clicks.
Manage every client relationship
Encorra combines scheduling with practical client management. Each record can contain:
- Contact information
- Previous appointments
- Visit history
- Usual barber
- Services booked
- Total spend
- Private notes
- VIP status
- Predicted return date
- Marketing preferences
- No-show information
Your client list becomes something you can use — not just somewhere phone numbers are stored.
Track the numbers that matter
Monitor weekly and monthly revenue, completed and upcoming appointments, available spaces, new and returning clients, no-show rate, top services, barber performance and 7-, 30- and 90-day trends — so you can see where the business is improving and where money may be slipping away. No giant spreadsheet required.
Barber booking software vs a basic appointment calendar
| Basic appointment calendar | Encorra |
|---|---|
| Displays appointments | Helps manage the whole appointment journey |
| Takes online bookings | Takes bookings and helps fill cancellations |
| Stores client details | Predicts when clients may be due back |
| Sends basic confirmations | Supports reminders and win-back campaigns |
| Records no-shows | Helps protect appointments with card-on-file |
| Shows empty spaces | Helps promote and recover those spaces |
| Manual staff coordination | Individual barber calendars |
| Leaves marketing to you | Helps create and run campaigns |
| Built for many industries | Built specifically for barbers |
A calendar tells you what has been booked. Encorra helps you decide what to do next.
One system instead of several disconnected tools
Without the right software, you can end up paying for — and connecting — all of these:
Encorra brings the main parts of barber appointment management into one place. Your appointments inform the client records, the records inform the reminders, the calendar informs the marketing and completed bookings inform the analytics. It works together because it was designed together.
Built by a barber with 20+ years' experience
I'm Craig Mariner. I opened my first barbershop at 17 and have spent more than 20 years behind the chair. Encorra wasn't created because I thought barbers needed another app — I built it because I was tired of doing all the work that came with the appointments: the messages, the no-shows, the last-minute cancellations, the empty spaces, the reminders I forgot to send and the regulars I didn't realise had disappeared.
I wanted something to help run those parts of the business while I got on with cutting hair. So I built Encorra inside a real working barbershop — and today it runs my shop too.
Who is Encorra designed for?
Solo barbers
Your own booking page, calendar and client list — without unnecessary complexity.
Chair renters
Control your own schedule, services and appointments from your phone.
Multi-barber shops
Separate calendars, hours, permissions and payments from one system.
Growing barbershops
Automation, analytics and marketing to turn more availability into completed appointments.
Barbers switching systems
Import supported client data and move off software that no longer fits.
Choose the right Encorra plan
🔥 Launch offer: £10 off every month for your first 2 months
Starter
Free forever
For solo barbers who need the essential booking tools.
- Online booking page
- Barber calendar
- Client list
- One staff member
No long contract — cancel anytime. See current pricing, the free barber booking app, or how Encorra compares.
How to move to Encorra
- 1Create your accountChoose the plan that fits your current shop.
- 2Add your barbersSet individual working hours, services and access permissions.
- 3Add or import your clientsUpload supported client information by CSV, or build your list through new bookings.
- 4Configure your servicesAdd prices, durations and the barbers who provide each service.
- 5Set your availabilityAdd opening hours, breaks, holidays and blocked time.
- 6Share your booking pageConnect the link to your website, social profiles and Google Business Profile.
Frequently asked questions
What is barber booking software?
Barber booking software helps barbers accept and manage appointments digitally. Depending on the system it may also include online booking, client records, staff scheduling, reminders, payment protection, reporting and marketing.
What is the best booking software for barbers?
It depends on your shop size and the jobs you want it to handle. Encorra is built for UK barbers who want online booking, barber calendars, client management, automated reminders, no-show protection and marketing in one system.
Is Encorra suitable for independent barbers?
Yes. Encorra has plans for solo barbers, including a Free Forever Starter plan with an online booking page, calendar and client list.
Can Encorra manage multiple barbers?
Yes. The Business plan supports up to 5 barbers, each with their own calendar, working hours, services and access permissions.
Can each barber receive their own payments?
Yes. Encorra supports individual Stripe connections, so participating barbers can connect their own payment account.
Does Encorra prevent double bookings?
Encorra calculates availability from existing appointments, service duration, barber working hours and blocked time to help prevent scheduling conflicts.
Does Encorra send appointment reminders?
Paid plans support automated SMS and email reminders. The Free Starter plan focuses on core online booking, calendar and client-list features.
Can clients reschedule their own appointments?
Yes. Encorra supports client booking management, so applicable appointments can be cancelled or rearranged without the barber handling every change.
Can Encorra help fill cancellations?
Yes. The Smart Waitlist can notify waiting clients about newly available appointments and let them claim the time through a link.
Does Encorra include no-show protection?
Yes. Encorra supports card-on-file protection, late-cancellation charges and no-show fees. The shop controls when charges are applied, waived or refunded.
Can Encorra detect fake appointments?
Yes. Encorra includes email verification, disposable-detail detection, rate limiting and suspicious-booking monitoring to help protect your calendar.
Is Encorra an automated scheduling system?
Encorra automates parts of barber scheduling — online availability, reminders, waitlist offers and rebooking — while important business decisions stay with the barber.
Can I import clients from another barber system?
Yes, by CSV, when your existing provider lets you export. Available fields depend on the source system and your chosen Encorra plan.
Do clients need to download an app?
No. Clients book through your mobile-friendly online booking page in a normal web browser.
Can I connect Encorra to Google?
Yes. Add your booking link to your Google Business Profile so people can move from Google Search or Maps into your available appointments.
Is there a contract?
No. Encorra doesn't require a long-term contract, and paid plans can be cancelled at any time.
Related guides
Stop running your software. Let it help run the shop.
Encorra takes appointments — but that's only the beginning. It helps protect your time, organise your team, recover empty spaces, bring clients back and show you where the business can improve.
No contract. Cancel anytime.