Your own site vs a marketplace profile — when to use which
A marketplace is great at catching new clients. Your own site keeps the regulars. The best salons do both — here's how.
You're paying commission on someone who'd come back anyway.
This isn't an either–or. They're two different jobs.
Marketplace = acquisition
Someone new in town searches "barber near me" and lands on a list. Booksy or Instagram do real work here: they put you in front of people who don't know you yet. You pay for it — a subscription and a per-visit commission. That's a fair acquisition cost.
Your own site = retention
The problem starts when a regular — someone you already have — keeps booking through a list where six competitors and a "sponsored" banner sit right next to you. You're paying commission on someone who'd come back anyway.
Your own site removes that cost. A regular lands on your address, sees your work, your prices, your vibe — and books with no distractions. The data stays with you.
How to set it up
- Keep the marketplace for catching new clients — it works.
- Stand up your own site and send regulars there: your Google listing, Instagram bio, a post-visit SMS.
- Connect the calendars so a slot taken in one place is taken everywhere.
The result: you still catch new clients cheaply, and you stop handing over commission on regulars. It's not a war with Booksy — it's a division of labour.