Start Free - 30 Days to Transform Your Grooming Business

Switching software mid-year is one of those jobs groomers keep putting off. "Maybe in the summer, when it's quieter." Except it never really gets quieter, and even if it does, nobody wants to spend their quiet time setting up new software. A long, painful onboarding is exactly the barrier that keeps groomers on systems that don't fit them anymore.

That's why the first 30 days should cost nothing, ask for no card, and be built around the idea that you're still running your salon while you set it up. You shouldn't have to take a week off to try something out.

What's in the GroomSome free trial?

The trial is the full product, not a cut-down demo. Calendar, customer and pet records, invoicing, reminders, online booking, the mobile app: all of it, for 30 days, with no card on file. At the end of the trial you can upgrade, or your account quietly pauses until you decide.

You're not left to figure it out alone. A guided onboarding wizard walks you through the essentials in a sensible order: business hours, services, first customer, first booking, first invoice. Each step takes a minute or two. You can skip anything and come back later.

Why a trial matters

Grooming software is not a decision that should be made from a screenshot. What looks nice in a video ad feels very different in the middle of a Friday afternoon with three dogs waiting and a phone ringing.

• Test with real bookings. The only way to know whether the calendar fits your week is to put a real week into it.
• See how clients react to online booking. Turn it on for a week and see how many of your regulars actually use it.
• Check the mobile app between dogs. The thing you'll notice on day one is how much you use the phone, not the laptop.
• Experience reminders. No-show rates drop inside the first fortnight if reminders are set up correctly. That's measurable during the trial.
• Try the invoicing. Send a couple of real invoices and watch the difference in payment timing.

By the end of the trial, you have evidence, not opinions.

What the onboarding actually covers

The goal of onboarding isn't to show you every feature; it's to get you using the ones that matter, in the order that makes everything else easier.

• Your business basics. Company name, address, hours, VAT details, logo. Ten minutes.
• Services and durations. List the main services you offer, with realistic durations. You can refine later.
• Breed-based pricing (optional). If you price by breed group, load the basic list; if not, skip.
• Your first customer and pet. Add one regular client, including the dog's profile. Get the feel of the flow.
• First appointment. Book the real thing: something on your calendar this week.
• First invoice. Issue one from a completed appointment, download the PDF, send it.
• Reminders on. Set the schedule. One day before plus three hours before is a good default.
• Online booking link. Grab it and paste it into your Google Business profile.

After these steps you've already done the work most groomers never quite get around to, and it's taken about an afternoon.

What happens when the trial ends

On day 30, nothing dramatic happens. You can either:

• Start a paid plan. Everything stays exactly as it is. No migration, no change.
• Let it pause. Your data stays safe; you can come back and continue whenever you're ready.
• Export your data. Customer and invoice data can be exported; you don't get locked in.

You won't be surprise-charged, and you won't lose what you built.

How to get the most out of 30 days

A trial is only useful if you actually use it. A few practical suggestions:

1. Start on a Monday, not on a Friday night. A week with bookings in it is far more informative than a weekend with nothing to try against.
2. Run it in parallel with whatever you use today for the first two weeks. Don't rip the paper book out yet; write into both.
3. Set reminders early. They only prove themselves once a whole reminder cycle has run.
4. Use the mobile app. It's where grooming software either feels right or feels wrong.
5. Check the revenue dashboard at the end of week four. That's often the moment of "oh, so that's where the money actually came from".

Thirty days isn't very long, but it's long enough to see whether a piece of software is pulling its weight. Pick up the trial, use it like you'd use the real thing, and at the end you'll have a genuinely informed answer, not a guess based on a landing page.