Insight Reviews

It serves it purpose.

Pros:

Customer support. They are friendly and very helpful and are always there when we need them!!! 24/7!!

Cons:

There are so many features. There really should be a class to talke for about a week to learn everything. I've had it for almost three years still am not using everything because I'm don't know how it works. I also think it's crazy we have to pay extra for text messaging. I was also told when ai bought the system it would become apple friendly which was why I chose it. Now I am told that will never happen because of the platform it was built in. Basically your sales department lied to be to get the sale.

Great Choice Overall

Comments: We took over ownership of a salon that has used Insight for years, so we decided to keep using it. Overall it functions well and has pretty much all of the features we need.
Throughout the last year we ran into a few technical hiccups but customer service was helpful in getting things ironed out. We have an excellent representative that is okay with us emailing her directly which is a rare thing and is much appreciated. Most of the support staff is helpful but there's one person that seems to get annoyed or sound inconvenienced when I call in about something. It's happened a handful of times with that support staff member.
If you're a relatively small salon & spa, Insight is a great choice. We have found that the monthly fee added on top of the price to purchase SMS bundles has caused the cost of Insight to exceed other software on the market. If you send a lot of text messages to clients, keep this mind since it can increase your budgeted expense for software.
Overall quality (4) - It works well but at times throws error messages for certain reports that requires a call to support staff.
Ease of Use (4) - There's a learning curve to Insight but that's nothing new. There's a TON of reports which takes considerable time to learn, and no one report includes a dashboard of all statistics an owner might need. I find this tedious having to run several reports multiple times for each team member.
I can recommend Insight to anyone looking for a salon & spa software, but felt it's my duty to cover both the pros and cons. Hopefully this review will help.

Pros:

Offers several features that most owners need. Relatively easy to learn and support staff seems willing to help if you're lost or have issues with anything. Uptime is good if you're using the cloud version, which is recommended over the installed version.

Cons:

Having to buy SMS bundles drives up the cost of the software. Budget wisely. Random errors when running some reports, which are usually fixed once support knows about it.

Not impressed with the software at all, but the customer service in the help department rocks.

Comments: Not intuitive at all, tedious to work with, clients not able to enter credit cards at booking, which for me was a major necessity. I was told if I integrated my credit card processing and bought their code card swiper clients would be able to enter their card info at booking. That was not the case. I would still have to call each one to get their credit card info and save it to the system, which defeats the purpose of online booking saving me time. Once integration was enabled, I had to enter a password 11! times just to check someone out. The support staff fixed it a bit, which brought it down to 6 times per checkout, which is still too many. The owner told me that's the case with all software programs and told me the new one I switched to, as well as 4 of the other major spa software programs were operating outside of PCI compliance by not having to enter a password that many times, but that was an "alternative fact." Online booking is also not intuitive, especially for spas that offer quite a few services, as the drop down menu of services is alphabetized, rather than grouped by category (i.e. facials, waxing, tinting, etc) and then alphabetized. The new software I have has a grouped drop down menu and also allows for further customization if needed. The reports were confusing, more so than any other software I've used. It's a very nickel and dime software, where you are charged for text message reminders, data conversion (mine may have been waived at sign up, but there was just no charge with the new software at all), and it was poor service and representation to sell me a customized credit card swiper to solve a problem it didn't solve, and then tell me I couldn't get a refund when we realized it wouldn't work within 3 days. The response was that, "it states on our website that the hardware is not refundable," but I wasn't on the website when they talked me into signing up for the swiper by phone. If you have Macs and iPads, steer clear. They claim to work with those, but neglect to reveal the 10 sec delay each time you do anything, while Apples "talk" to Windows. I had the same awesome software for years but outgrew it and was looking for more. What I got with Insight, was just more headaches.
The one glowing review I have is for everyone at their tech support office. They were very patient and extremely helpful, and if the call was during their office hours, they were pretty quick to answer and were almost always able to solve the issue. :)

Pros:

The customer support team is awesome!

Cons:

Clients cannot enter credit cards at booking, drop down menus were tedious as all services are lumped together alphabetically, reports are tedious, paying for text reminders is tedious, doesn't work well at all with Macs, and occasionally, I couldn't even get into the system. Also, the owner is not pleasant to deal with and sounds like a mini Trump whenever he is called out on an issue. He doesn't operate in good faith. Sold me hardware that wouldn't work and wouldn't take it back or even give me credit towards my account for it, since it cannot be used for anything else.

Great but needs some improvement

Comments: I have been using Insight for a few years now. The software is somewhat user friendly, once you know your way around it's pretty easy to navigate around. I love the fact that I can schedule appt from an app on my phone, I don't ever need to call the salon to see when my first apt is in the morning. Having said that there are a lot of things that still need a little improvement. Example: I can't double book from my phone. I can't change my working schedule from my phone. I can add a special break or block a time when I know I won't be available but then I can't see the notes I have under that block. On the software itself, when I'm using the computer I can schedule multiple services for one client (I can however it will show as separate appts and opposed to one long appt.
I also would love to get texting with my service, however for a booth renter like myself that service is a little too pricey. Would be nice if it was included in the $35/month I currently pay.
The customer service is excellent. I always get to talk to someone quickly and they always have been able to help me.
After all the little things that I know one day will be fixed I love this program. Easier than a few I have tried in the past.

Pros:

I'm able to use my phone to schedule appts

Cons:

I can't double book from my phone I can't change my working schedule from my phone Too expensive to have access to text to confirm or cancel appts

Insight Makes My Life Easier!

Comments: PROS: Ease of use, Great Technical Support, Very Affordable
CONS: This isn't necessarily a con, because the program's functionality is effective, but it would be nice to have a greater range of options in some areas of the program Our salon and spa has been using Insight for a number of years. Insight Salon Software is so easy to use. Steps are intuitive. Even if you didn't have someone available to show you how to use the program, you could learn the system fairly quickly on your own. The price point is reasonable, and there have been no hidden costs or fees. About a year ago another software was highly recommended to us, and we opted to give it a try. And try we did; we struggled to learn and use the system. 6 months later, we took the loss on the other software and came back to Insight. The support I received to transition back made it so quick and painless that I almost couldn't believe it. And when I announced to my staff that morning that we were back live with Insight, every member either hugged or thanked me profusely! Now, we could get back to focusing on important things, not on a software program!! One thing I love about Insight is the ease of movement within the program. For instance, when you open a search screen, your cursor automatically appears in the search box and in many places you can simply hit Enter to move to the next box. These may seem like minor details, but if you've ever worked with this capability and then tried to use another program that doesn't have it, the time saving aspect becomes quickly apparent. We do at times have issues with the automatic features working correctly - appointment confirmations, nightly backups, phone app - and end up having to these things manually. But it is also a problem we had with the other program. These types of issues are just part of it. When something goes wrong, though, the technical team is always available and always friendly and helpful. We work off a fairly detailed business plan, and I wish there were more detailed options available for some areas - such as special commissions on specific services, report sorting, etc. - that would be more in line with some of the particulars of the way we operate. I hope to be able to work with Insight on some of these things. Bottom line, Insight Salon Software is more than worth the investment.

Seamless transition, and the solution to many issues we had in the past made Insight a smart choice.

Pros:

The ability to find and run any report we may need in order to keep an eye on benchmarks and create goals is the most valuable tool for us. Insight makes it easy to look back in time, make changes where we need; as well takes the manual work out of marketing and reminders/confirmations of our appointments. We have been able to use the tools given to keep a closer eye on client trends and make sure we can solve even the smallest problems within salon functionality.

Cons:

The thing that makes it a little harder to use is a small lack of customization in regards to what we can view on the appointment book screen, certain fees and services in our salon that don't really fit into any category or place, and the lost ability to add unlimited service providers in our quickly growing salon. Though Insight does offer the best they can when calling for solutions, and usually provides an alternative way of doing things. It is disappointing to have to continue to pay more each time we are ready to add a new feature.

Amazing experience- the company really cares about you and stands for their product

Pros:

Amazing experience from the start. Sales got me best fit and deal. Support helped set me up the first phone call I made on the equipment arrived. Every time we had questions they answer the call right away and they are very very knowledgeable. I also had two reports I needed to be tweaked to how I am managing my business and I actually had discussions with the President of the company who went completely above and beyond with his whole team to get the report modifications (a LOT of work too) ahead of the regular release schedule because they knew how much they impacted us. I recommend this as the definitive and premiere salon software to use. I could not imagine a better piece of software with a company ran by better people in the world. I feel like we got lucky by selecting Insight!

Excellent

Comments: I can't run my spa now without this software

Pros:

Easy to manage and quick at help. I like their remote access too. I am going to start their SMS tool to do reminders for client that's great it save lot of time.

Cons:

I can't move all appointments at once and that's only my concern. Oh yes I would like to have their birthday pop up for that month beginning for all month of birthday but instead it is from day to day month goes.

User friendly and a helpful support system.

Comments: Ease of understanding how my salon is performing.

Pros:

You can't "mess" anything up that cannot be corrected. It is easy to train staff and extremely user friendly just "surfing" through reports.

Cons:

Not having an integrated electronic signature program for credit card processing. Keeping printed receipts is outdated.

Great program for my salon

Comments: I've been using insight for 11+ years at the salon I've been working at. Just recently opened up a salon in my own home, and chose to use the ro gram for my new business as well. I have now used the installed version and the cloud version, and both are easy to use. If unfamiliar with the program, it takes a bit to set-up, but the customer service is great, so they can help you out so you get the most from the program. Highly recommend!

Pros:

Easy to use and has all the information I need to run my business.

Cons:

I'm not a fan of the iPad/iPhone version. True touch screen capabilities are lacking, as you have to find the cursor and drag with your finger. Would like to have an installed version for Macintosh computes as well, as opposed to just the cloud version.

The worst spa and salon software by far!

Comments: I joined insight 6 months ago and have had nothing but problems with this company. They never answer their phones, and when they do they seem not very interested in sorting any of your problems out. What I am most upset about was them turning off my program when I tried to call not once but twice to make a payment with them. I spoke to a rep who basically threw it in my face that they have a right to disable your account. I have had a lot of software and normally they give you a grace period especially since your trying to make that payment.

Pros:

None

Cons:

Rude Hard to get a hold of

Archaic platform and terrible customer service...

Comments: There are many better options out there that are more with the times.

Pros:

When I first started with them in 2010 they were a bit more affordable than other options out there. Now there are many more options available.

Cons:

Their platform looks like it is from the 80's, it feels very outdated. When I spoke with customer support about this they said they had been around for 25 years and had no intention of changing. when I needed customer support, even though I often needed it only because of issue that was because of the software, not me or my staff.

Terrible Customer Support

Comments: Don't waste your time or money, there are much better products out there. Big thumbs down on this program.

Pros:

It has potential to be a powerful program, but the lack of training and customer support, along with the terribly written instructions rendered most of the application useless to me.

Cons:

Difficult to use, difficult to learn, terrible customer support, very little training or assistance with set-up. Lots of reports, however, most of them are pretty useless. I had to re-enter my data into other programs to get the reports I wanted. Instead of saving me time it added more time to manage my business. Way overpriced for what you get. Customer service people were not very nice or helpful. Caused me a lot of stress.

Very Affordable

Comments: I have been using insight in my salon for six years. It was easy to learn and very affordable compared to other booking/POS systems that do not offer half of the features.
The only thing that Disappointed me was that I purchased two additional licenses to run insight on other computers and they were VERY slow. I had IT come in and try to figure it out with no success. Customer service keeps saying it's a problem on our end... I'll never know! So we only use it on our main computer and the app.

Pros:

Affordability

The Best Salon Software!

Comments: We've been with insight for 9 years and love it. It does everything going email need it to, and, most importantly, it supports full payroll. It makes everything so much easier!

Pros:

Full payroll.

Cons:

I wouldn't mind a few, more specific reports and some different functionality regarding resources.

I have had Insight for 10 years and it's improved greatly. I am very satisfied with this software.

Pros:

The customer service is speedy and attentive. I enjoy the fact that they are always willing to problem solve with my team and improve reports when we need something changed. It's very easy to navigate through reports.

Cons:

Sometimes the reports haven't made sense and we've called support and they usually try to fix it asap.

Insight for salon & spa

Comments: It has worked great for our salon! We are contemplating the online version but still reading reviews.

Pros:

Record keeping

Cons:

When it gives errors and that you cannot add a tip to the gift cards when people purchase them

Great booking program

Comments: Love the customer service, always so great! Whole system is easy an friendly to use. Highly recommended. Have been using for 7 years.

Pros:

Ease of use.

Cons:

If I could tweak a few things to work with what I need it to do.

Used it for years , still love it

Comments: Switched over from professional salon more than 10 years ago and I would never go back. The program is easy to learn, and easy to use and the tech-support is unparalleled.

Pros:

Easy to learn easy to use.

Cons:

I still wish there was a way of getting all the clients appointments on the confirming page to avoid duplication of appointments because I forgot to erase the old one

I'd be lost

Comments: I'd be lost without this program. I work two jobs and then just a small business but I am a mess on paper so this program keeps my life sorted out it does everything I need to do right to my year-end bookkeeping. I love how I can customize this and make it work for me even my personal appointments.

Pros:

Customisation

Cons:

You can only make payments by credit card.

Salon Review

Comments: Mostly good. Just very difficult to learn. Had the system 3 years and Ibknow I only though the tip of what it could do. Need to offer a hand ms on class to salons.

Pros:

Customer support was great. Very supportive when I called.

Cons:

Marketing options and confirmation options

Excellent software, easy to use

Comments: Excellent customer service, well built program, user friendly, beginners can easily use the program

Pros:

Very easy to use, multiple ways to do things, user friendly.

Cons:

Their software team is out of province and 2 hours behind Ontario. No tablet use.

I recommended everyone to use this

Pros:

I like it most for tracking the appointments

Cons:

I have nothing like least about insight software

Great software to help your small business

Comments: This software is very helpful fir keeping all my information on my clients and my salon spa products etc . My clients love to go online and book their own appointments as I am a sole owner .

Pros:

Online booking

Cons:

Making my email Specials more fancy

Mixed Frustrated to the at times with how the online part works and then ok.

Pros:

The support staff most of them are awesome. The can get to the bottom of things with in an hour most of the time.

Cons:

To many screens to open and close to book appointment from start or to do any thing really .. Time is money.