Setting up Yesoma for a nail salon

This guide walks you through what happens when you select "Nail salon" during Yesoma onboarding, what gets seeded into your workspace, and how to tune the defaults so they match your actual prices and how you run your business. Whether you're a solo nail tech or managing a multi-station salon, the playbook is designed to get you to "ready for inquiries" in under 10 minutes.

1. Applying the nail-salon playbook during onboarding

When you reach the Industry step in the onboarding wizard, select Nail salon. Yesoma will seed your workspace with a full set of services, policies, reply templates, follow-up rules, and a review-request flow — all pre-written for nail work.

Nothing is locked in. Every service, policy, and template is fully editable before you finish onboarding, and you can change anything afterward from Settings → Services, Settings → Policies, and Settings → Templates.

The wizard prompts you for two things after you pick the industry:

• Business model — appointment-based (you book specific slots) vs. walk-in-friendly (first-come, first-served with a digital waitlist). This adjusts how the follow-up cadence fires.
• Market — your country or region. Yesoma maps the USD price anchors in the playbook to a locally credible amount and currency. If you're in the US, the numbers come through as-is.

Once you confirm both, your workspace hydrates in one step. You'll land on the onboarding confirmation screen with a checklist of things to review before you start sharing your booking link.

2. What services and prices get seeded

The nail-salon playbook seeds 8 services:

| Service | Base price | Deposit required | |---|---|---| | Classic manicure | $30 | No | | Gel manicure | $50 | No | | Dip powder set | $55 | No | | Acrylic full set | from $70 | Yes — $25 | | Acrylic fill | from $45 | No | | Classic pedicure | $45 | No | | Gel / spa pedicure | $65 | No | | Nail art / custom design | Custom quote | Yes — $30 |

Each service includes a description, expected duration, the customer information fields you'll need at booking (shape preference, color, length, reference photos, etc.), and step-by-step booking instructions that get included in your booking confirmation messages automatically.

3. Adjusting prices for your local market

The prices above are US national averages. Nail pricing varies more by city than almost any other beauty service — a basic gel manicure that's $50 in a mid-size market can run $80 in Manhattan or $35 in a smaller town. Acrylic pricing in particular scales with length, shape, and complexity in ways that differ by area.

To update your prices after onboarding, go to Settings → Services, tap the service you want to edit, and change the Base price and Price type fields. Price types available:

• Fixed — one price, no negotiation. Good for classic and gel manicures where the service is consistent.
• Starting from — a floor price with length/complexity scaling. Use this for acrylics and fills.
• Custom quote — no number shown; customers are prompted to describe what they want so you can price it. Used for nail art.

A few things worth adjusting:

• If you charge separately for gel removal, add it as an add-on or note it in the acrylic full set booking steps.
• If your fills are priced differently for long vs. short sets, update the description to say so — it heads off the "I thought it was $X" conversation before it starts.
• For nail art, the custom quote flow is already set up. You just need to make sure the quote follow-up template has your turnaround time right (default is 24 hours).

4. Deposits on long-chair services — what's seeded and why

The playbook only requires deposits on two services: acrylic full sets ($25) and custom nail art ($30). Everything else — classic manicure, gel, dip, pedicure — books without a deposit.

That split is intentional. In-and-out services that run under an hour don't need a financial commitment to protect your time the way a 90-minute acrylic set does. Asking for deposits on quick services adds friction and can turn away regulars who would happily book multiple times a month.

For acrylics and custom art, the deposit logic is:

• Chair time is longer and harder to backfill on short notice
• Custom art requires you to prep materials or block a longer window
• A $25–$30 deposit screens out uncommitted bookings without feeling punitive

The deposit is applied to the total price, so the customer isn't paying more — they're just paying part of it earlier.

To turn deposits on or off for any service, go to Settings → Services → edit the service → toggle Require deposit and set the deposit amount.

5. Policies that matter most for nail salons

The playbook seeds 7 policies. Two of them are specific to nail work and worth reading before you publish:

Chip and lift guarantee (7 days). If a nail chips or lifts within 7 days of the appointment — and it wasn't from outside damage — you fix it free. This policy is seeded because it signals quality without costing much. The vast majority of gel and dip lifts are either application issues or aftercare issues. When it's your side, fixing it builds trust. When it's theirs, the "if not caused by outside force" clause gives you cover to have that honest conversation.

Service redo, not a refund. A completed service doesn't come with a cash refund. If something isn't right, the customer tells you within 48 hours and you fix it. This is standard in the nail industry — it's fair and it keeps the relationship intact. The language in the seeded policy is direct but not defensive; edit the wording if you want to soften or tighten it.

The other policies — 24-hour cancellation, 10-minute late grace, no-show charge in full, payment methods — are straightforward and apply to every service. The no-show policy in particular is worth keeping because nail salons run on tight scheduling; one no-show in a solo tech's day is a significant hit.

To view or edit any policy, go to Settings → Policies.

6. What your reply templates look like in action

The playbook seeds 8 reply templates that cover the full inquiry-to-completion arc:

• First reply — asks for service, date, and reference photos if it's art. Sent automatically when a new inquiry arrives (day 0 follow-up rule).
• Pricing reply — a fill-in-the-blank structure with a [price] placeholder. You fill it in per inquiry or connect it to your service prices so it auto-fills.
• Booking confirmation — includes service, date, time, address, total, deposit status, and a "things to know" block (open-toed shoes for pedicures, bare nails if possible, etc.).
• Deposit reminder (48h out) — sent automatically for acrylic full set and custom art bookings where the deposit hasn't come in. Fires 48 hours before the appointment.
• Same-day thank you + review request — sent the evening of the appointment. Includes a {{review_link}} token that Yesoma replaces with your Google review link. Peak satisfaction is when clients leave with fresh nails — this is the right moment to ask.
• Custom art quote follow-up (3 days) — checks in on pending custom quotes. Fires 3 days after the quote is sent if no booking has been confirmed.
• No-availability reply and Reschedule request — short, warm, offer alternates. No awkward filler.

All templates use {{customer_first_name}} so they feel personal at scale. The [bracket] placeholders are things you fill in per case — dates, prices, addresses. You can edit any template from Settings → Templates.

If you're on a channel where most of your clients come through WhatsApp, check that the templates sound right when read as a WhatsApp message. They're written to work in both channels, but WhatsApp conversations tend to run shorter — you can trim the confirmation template if it feels long for your audience.

Common questions

Do I have to use all 8 services? No. Delete the ones that don't apply to your menu from Settings → Services. If you only do manicures and pedicures and no acrylics, remove the acrylic services. The playbook seeds more than most businesses need — the goal is to cover the full category, not to tell you what to offer.

Can I add services that aren't in the playbook? Yes — Settings → Services → Add service. The custom nail art service is flexible enough to cover most bespoke requests, but if you want a dedicated "chrome powder add-on" or "paraffin wax treatment" line item, add it directly.

My gel removal is a separate charge — where do I add that? Add it as a standalone service or add-on under Settings → Services. Then update the booking steps for gel manicure and acrylic full set to note that existing product needs to be flagged at booking. The first-reply template already asks about this.

The chip-fix guarantee feels too broad — can I narrow it? Yes — edit the policy under Settings → Policies. A common adjustment is to specify the nail products covered (gel and dip only, not regular polish) or to reduce the window from 7 days to 5. The default is generous by design; tighten it to match what you're comfortable standing behind.

When exactly does the review request send? The default is the same day as the appointment (evening). Yesoma sends the thank-you + review request template after the case is marked complete. If you close cases the same day clients leave, this fires automatically. If you batch-close at the end of the week, adjust your workflow so individual cases are closed on the day — it makes the timing accurate and the message more timely.