Why is there a setup fee and a monthly fee?
Setup is the work that makes it sound like your salon. The monthly keeps it running —
hosting, models, monitoring, fixes. Splitting them shows what you paid for.
What’s the difference between Starter and Full?
Starter covers the one inbox most salons actually lose bookings in: Instagram DMs and
website chat. It answers, quotes from your real menu and sends your booking link.
Full adds WhatsApp, writes the booking into your calendar where the platform allows it
instead of handing over a link, and covers the follow-ups your platform cannot send.
If you mostly lose
people at 9pm on Instagram, Starter is enough to start.
Do guests have to leave the chat to book?
Where your system allows writes: no. Ava offers real times inside the
conversation and books the chair. No link, no new tab, no popup.
On your website: where your platform gives you an embeddable booking
widget — Fresha, Booksy, Vagaro, Boulevard and Square all do — the booking step opens in
a panel over your own page, so the guest never leaves the site.
Inside Instagram and WhatsApp: a popup is not possible. Meta does not
allow custom screens inside a DM. There she either writes the booking by API, or sends
one tap-to-confirm link with the service already picked.
My booking software already sends reminders. What am I paying for?
Then keep them. Fresha, Booksy, Vagaro, Boulevard and Square all send a 24-hour reminder
and a rebooking nudge, and you have already paid for that. We check what your platform
sends during setup and switch ours off where it would be a duplicate. No double texts
to your guest, no paying twice for the same message.
What none of them do is answer the 9:40pm DM, quote a price from your menu, pick the
right artist and hold the slot. That is the front door, and it is the only part we
charge for. If your inbox is already covered, you do not need us.
Which systems can it actually book into?
Writes the appointment: Cal.com, Google Calendar, Square Appointments
(Plus or Premium), Mindbody, Acuity (Premium or Powerhouse), Phorest, and Boulevard on
Enterprise. Those platforms let an outside tool create a booking, so Ava checks real
availability and writes it.
Link only: Fresha, Booksy, Vagaro, GlossGenius, Mangomint and Boulevard
below Enterprise. They do not allow outside writes at all, so she answers, quotes, sends
your own booking link with the service already picked, then follows up once before the
slot goes. If you want her to book the chair herself, we can move you onto Cal.com in
the same week, at no extra platform cost.
Do you replace Boulevard?
No — Boulevard runs your booking, payments and client records, and it does that well.
We cover the door it doesn’t: the Instagram DM at 9:30pm asking “how much is a
balayage with Maya?”. We answer that, then put the guest into your booking flow. On
Boulevard Enterprise we can write the appointment through the API; below Enterprise
Boulevard doesn’t allow outside writes, so we hand over your link with the service
already picked and your deposit rules still apply. Same for Square, Vagaro and
Mindbody — we check what your plan actually allows before quoting.
Monthly or yearly?
Yearly takes 10% off the monthly price: $1,609 instead of $1,788 for Starter, $4,309
instead of $4,788 for Full. Setup is charged once either way and isn’t discounted.
Monthly billing is month to month after setup, 30 days' notice; yearly runs for twelve
months.
What isn’t included?
Your booking platform’s own subscription, Meta’s WhatsApp conversation charges where
they apply, ad spend, and a phone line. If WhatsApp’s volume pricing matters at your
size, we’ll show you the estimate before you sign rather than after.
What happens if I cancel?
Month to month, 30 days' notice. Your accounts and transcripts stay yours, and setup is
not refunded once the build has started.
Is there a contract?
No minimum term on a single location. The terms mostly say
who owns what and what happens when something breaks.
What if I go over a message limit?
There isn’t one. No per-message billing and no credits to run out of. Genuinely heavy
volume (thousands of conversations a month) is a conversation, not a surprise invoice.
Can I start smaller?
Ask. For the first few salons we would rather scope a one-month pilot than sell a full
build.