PetGroomBossPro Blog — Pet Grooming Software

Tips in Pet Grooming Software: Letting Customers Tip the Groomer on a Paid Invoice

Plenty of pet owners like to tip their groomer. The trouble is that mobile grooming does not always leave a natural moment for it. The card on file was charged automatically, the owner never reached for a wallet, and the van was gone before anyone thought about it. A tip button on the paid invoice gives owners that moment back.

Tips Live in the Customer App

The app itself was covered in The Customer App and Live Map: Letting Pet Owners See the Grooming Van Coming. Tipping is one of the things owners do there, right after the groom.

How It Works

When a groomer taps Complete, the invoice is created and, if the customer has a card on file, it can be charged on the spot. The owner sees the paid invoice in the customer app. On that paid invoice there is a tip option:

• $10
• $20
• $30
• Or another amount they type in

The owner taps one and the tip is added. They do not need cash, and they do not need to catch the groomer before the van leaves.

Why After the Invoice Is Paid

Putting the tip on the paid invoice keeps the two things separate. The groom is paid for first, at the price the owner agreed to. The tip is an extra, offered once the owner has seen their dog come back clean and happy. That feels better to most owners than being asked to pick a tip before the work is done.

It also means a customer on auto-charge, who never has to touch the invoice to pay, still gets a clear chance to tip when they open the app to look at it.

The Tips Report

Tips show up on their own tips report, separate from the price of the grooms. That makes it easy to see what came in as tips over a period of time, rather than having them blur into the rest of your revenue.

How you handle tips with your team is your own business decision. Some companies pass every tip to the groomer on the visit; some share between a groomer and a bather who worked the van together. Whatever your policy, having the tips in one report gives you the numbers to work from. For more on reports, see Reports in Pet Grooming Software: Seeing the Work, the Money and the Tips.

Tips and Two-Person Vans

Many mobile grooming companies run a groomer and a bather in the same van. In PetGroomBossPro, employees are assigned to vans, and a groomer and a bather can share one. The visit records which van did the work, which helps when you are deciding how tips from that van's day are split.

Making Tipping Easy Without Pushing It

The tip button is there for owners who want it. Nobody is forced through it, and a customer who does not tip still has a paid invoice and a finished visit. That is the right balance for a repeat-client business. You want owners to feel comfortable, not pressured, every four or six weeks.

A few simple habits help tipping happen naturally:

• Let new clients know the customer app has their invoices, so they open it after the first visit.
• Make sure the arrived and on-the-way texts are turned on, so owners are already in the habit of checking.
• Leave a short note for the owner on the grooming checklist, so the visit feels personal when they look at it.

Cash Tips Still Count

Some owners will always hand the groomer a few bills at the door, and that is fine. The tip button does not replace cash; it simply covers the owners who do not carry any. If your groomers receive cash tips and you want a full picture, you can decide as a business how those get recorded. The online tips, at least, are already counted for you on the tips report without anyone writing them down.

Tips for Monthly Accounts

Monthly accounts, like a senior living community or doggy daycare, get one statement a month instead of an invoice per visit. The account contact is often not the pet owner, so many groomers think of tips as a residential thing and leave monthly accounts to their statement.

A Small Feature That Matters to Groomers

Tips are a small line on the books, but they matter a lot to the people doing the work. Making it easy for an owner to say thank you is good for your groomers and good for keeping them. For every guide in this series, go back to the pet grooming software page.