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CallPad is an AI receptionist built for hair salons. It answers your salon phone while you're with clients and after you close, handles questions about prices, hours and services, and books, moves or cancels appointments in your booking system. Anything it can't handle goes to your team, either as a transferred call or as an emailed message.
Most salons don't miss calls because nobody cares. They miss them because everyone is busy doing the job. The stylist is halfway through a color, the junior is at the basin, and the phone on the desk rings out. Then there are the hours when nobody is in at all: early mornings, late evenings, and the days you close. Two of the salons in our case studies, Wilkinson Smith and Adamson Jones, close on Sundays and Mondays. Over 10 months, clients still called them about 95 and about 100 times on Mondays.
Voicemail doesn't catch much of that. In a survey of US consumers, only 42% said they leave a voicemail when a business doesn't answer, and 21% said they immediately call another business (CallRail, 2025). For salons and spas specifically, Zenoti reports that only 24% of callers who reach voicemail leave a message (Zenoti, 2025).
People also expect a quick answer. Almost two-thirds of buyers expect a reply within 10 minutes, whether they're asking about sales or service (HubSpot Research, 2018). A callback at the end of the day often comes too late, and the client has booked somewhere else. We go deeper on this in why salon clients won't leave a voicemail and what missed calls cost a salon.
CallPad picks up the calls your team can't get to. It talks to the client like a receptionist would, using your services, prices, stylists and rules.
This is what most callers want. Across the four salons in our case studies, between 61% and 71% of calls were to book, move or cancel an appointment (CallPad case studies). CallPad checks your live calendar, offers real times, and books the appointment with the right length and the right stylist. Moves and cancellations update the calendar straight away.
"How much is a full head of highlights?" "Are you open late on Thursday?" "Do you do men's cuts?" CallPad answers from the services, prices and opening hours you give it, so your team isn't pulled away for questions with a quick answer.
Clients can ask for their usual stylist by name. If that stylist is off, CallPad can offer someone else. You can teach it the way your salon works, for example "Katie is best at balayage, so suggest her when someone asks for it." At Adamson Jones in Llandudno, CallPad explains the salon's 48-hour deposit policy on every call and reminds color clients about patch tests (Adamson Jones case study).
If a caller wants a person, or asks for something you'd rather handle yourself, CallPad can transfer the call to a team member or take a message. With a message, you get an email that says what the caller wanted, so you can call back ready to help. Every call is in your dashboard, where you can read what was said or listen to the recording. Julie at Wilkinson Smith gets an email with the full transcript of each call (Wilkinson Smith case study).
Yes. High-value services often start with a consultation, and those calls are easy to lose. CallPad can book consultation appointment types, explain your deposit policy, and remind color clients that they need a patch test before their appointment.
CallPad books multi-service appointments and handles processing time, such as a color plus cut with the gap while the color develops.
If you take deposits, CallPad can take a deposit on the call, either by texting a payment link or using a card on file in your booking system. You choose the rules. If there's a service you never book over the phone, tell CallPad to take a message and offer a callback instead. There's more on this in how to book color and extension clients from consultation calls.
You don't have to hand over the whole phone on day one. You can start in one of three ways:
The after-hours share can be bigger than you'd expect. At Adamson Jones and Lime Salon Group, 1 in 4 calls came while the salon was closed. At Wilkinson Smith and Essence of Beauty, it was 1 in 5 (CallPad case studies).
Two real calls show what that looks like. At 8:18pm on a Wednesday, after Wilkinson Smith had closed, a regular called and asked for her usual stylist. CallPad recognized her number, offered two times, and booked one. The call took 80 seconds. At Adamson Jones, on a Tuesday morning in January, a client's stylist was off sick. CallPad booked her in with another stylist at 1:30pm the same day. For more, read our guide to after-hours salon calls and whether stylists should answer the salon phone.
CallPad books in real time, with a named stylist, in these systems:
On Vagaro? CallPad answers every call and captures booking requests. Live booking into Vagaro is in the works: join the waitlist to be first to know.
In the UK, CallPad also works with SalonIQ, Phorest, Salon Manager and Shortcuts, and it powers the AI receptionists inside SalonIQ (IQ Connect), Shortcuts and Salon Manager.
Some booking platforms, such as GlossGenius and Zenoti, offer their own AI receptionist that works inside their platform. CallPad is built for beauty businesses and connects to the systems above. Not listed? Ask us about your system. See also how your booking software and phone should work together.
All four of our published case studies are independent salons in the UK that use SalonIQ. Here's what changed for each of them.
It's the most common worry, and it's fair. CallPad sounds natural and lets callers know it's an AI. You can change its greeting, including its name and what it says first. Nobody has to book with it: a client can ask for a person, and CallPad can transfer the call to a team member or take a message.
Here's what owners in our case studies have found. Julie at Wilkinson Smith didn't announce the change to clients. "A couple of my older clients, they're the ones that think it's a real person. 'I spoke to your receptionist.' No, you didn't, but you did," she says. John at Lime Salon Group says: "We've never had anyone say it couldn't understand me, even with a Scottish clientele." For the wider research, read will clients accept an AI receptionist at your salon?
About 10 minutes. You connect your booking system, set your phone to forward missed calls to CallPad, add your notes and instructions, and make a test call. Emma at Adamson Jones put it simply: "Within 10 minutes it was done, it was set up, there was no problems."
After that, you keep teaching it. Email us notes like service nicknames or stylist strengths, and we update how CallPad answers, usually within 24 hours. The setup guide walks through every step, and the call forwarding guide shows how to send missed calls to CallPad.
CallPad plans are quote-based and depend on how many staff calendars you connect and how many hours of calls you need each month. Solo covers one calendar, Standard up to 10, Pro up to 20, and Enterprise is for multi-location businesses. Every plan answers calls 24/7 and books into your calendar. See CallPad pricing to get a quote.
To weigh it up, compare it with what a salon receptionist costs and read our guide to AI receptionist costs for salons. You can also work out what missed calls cost your salon with our calculator.
Yes. CallPad books, moves and cancels appointments in your connected booking system in real time, with the stylist the client asks for. On Vagaro, it answers every call and captures booking requests.
CallPad books in real time with GlossGenius, Square, Booker, Mindbody, Setmore, Zoho Bookings, Zenoti and Google Calendar. On Vagaro, it answers calls and captures booking requests. If your system isn't listed, ask us.
CallPad can transfer the call to a team member or take a message. With a message, your team gets an email that says what the caller wanted, so you can call back ready to help. Every call is in your dashboard, where you can read the conversation or listen to the recording.
Yes. CallPad answers 24/7, including evenings and the days you're closed. In our case studies, between 1 in 5 and 1 in 4 calls came while the salon was closed.
CallPad sounds natural and lets callers know it's an AI. You can change its greeting, and clients can always leave a message for a person instead. Our case studies share what salon owners have found.
About 10 minutes. You connect your booking system, forward missed calls to CallPad, add your instructions and make a test call. At Adamson Jones, the owner said: "Within 10 minutes it was done."
CallPad plans are quote-based and depend on how many staff calendars you connect and how many hours of calls you need. Visit the pricing page to get a quote.
The quickest way to judge an AI receptionist is to listen to one. Hear CallPad answer a salon call, or get a quote for your salon.
