64. Timely

Company: Timely

Founders: Andrew Schofield, Ryan Baker and William Berger

Website: https://www.gettimely.com/gb/

About Timely

NOTE: The h3adshot is of Ollie Smith, Managing Director for UK & Ireland.

Founded in 2011 in New Zealand, Timely has been providing beauty business owners with an all-in-one salon management and appointment booking software for over a decade. Having cemented its reputation as the market leader in both New Zealand and Australia, Timely made the jump to extend its services to the UK in 2019. Since then, it has served over 6,700 businesses across the nation, helping over 16,000 users to streamline their operations with its bespoke, easy-to-use booking software.

Timely’s ethos centres around supporting beauty businesses to drive efficiency, growth and productivity, through the integration of digital services and automated processes. In doing so, they have significantly impacted the SaaS industry by revolutionising how small businesses in the beauty and wellness sectors, manage appointments and client interactions. As a SaaS solution, Timely streamlined traditionally complex scheduling processes, through reducing time spend on admin, removing the need for manual bookings and providing a bespoke, easy-to-use platform accessible from anywhere. This shift has empowered businesses to operate more efficiently, saving time, reducing errors and improving overall customer experience through personalised SMS and email reminders, calendar integrations, and online bookings.

Timely has played an instrumental role in raising the bar for user-friendly design in SaaS platforms. Their easy-to-use interfaces and seamless integration with businesses tools has been the key to getting customers on board and what makes them stand out from competitors. Their approach also highlights the need for scalability, making it possible for smaller businesses to access advanced tools that were once only available to bigger companies.

Timely’s use of subscription pricing and their Timely Pay terminals has shaped customer expectations, with businesses now looking for a seamless, all-in-one solution that complements other tools they already use.

Taking a company which has majority market share in AUS and NZ, with an award-winning team, to an entirely new market – and one which is highly saturated hasn’t come without its challenges though. When Timely initially launched in the UK instead of building brand awareness, understanding the competitor landscape, and showcasing their value, a lift and shift approach was done to their introduction to the UK. There was an assumption that customers would know Timely, and as a result the key building blocks of brand building were not laid. To overcome this, they relied on their strong community ties; many of its UK employees have been hired directly from the industry, meaning they now not only have a team of industry experts, bringing years of experience, but they also have firsthand experience to design the solutions of the needs that drive the demand.

While there has been significant growth – with over 7.6 million UK clients served to date – they haven’t lost touch with their roots. Timely remains committed to empowering beauty and wellness professionals across the UK and beyond.

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