Three golden rules
Ninety percent of every question we've ever been asked is answered by these three rules. Everything else in this guide is detail.
RULE 1: NOTHING IS EVER SENT FOR YOU
Kipas will never message your customers by itself. Every reminder, follow-up, and booking confirmation appears in your Messages queue as a prepared WhatsApp message. Your staff taps it, reads it, edits it if needed, and presses send, from your own WhatsApp number. In this release, Kipas AI does not write messages addressed to customers. Kipas AI still helps staff with reports, record explanations and summaries, briefings, setup guidance, import and attachment previews, and Guide questions. WhatsApp opens the exact text that is on screen. Deterministic controls exclude anyone marked Do not contact from reminder and follow-up targets until an owner turns that setting off. Start morning queue presents reminders and follow-ups one at a time. Each tap opens one prepared message, and Skip records that the item was set aside. In a public demo, reminder and follow-up drafts open without a recipient, so the experience cannot address a real person. Booking confirmations stay preview-only because they create a live customer action link. If the queue is empty, nothing went out.
RULE 2: VOID AND REFUND ARE DIFFERENT THINGS
Void = the sale was a mistake and should never have counted. It disappears from the day's money and anything the customer spent (package credit, a free visit) is given back.
Refund = the sale really happened, and later you returned some or all of the value. The sale stays in history; the refund is recorded as its own event on the day you issue it.
Both are owner-only, both ask for a reason, and both are written permanently into the Audit Log. Chapters 09 and 10 explain exactly when each is allowed.
RULE 3: A CLOSED DAY IS LOCKED
When you run Daily Closing at night, that branch's day is sealed: no new sales into it, no refunds from it, no edits. If you must fix something, reopen the day, fix it, and close it again. This is not the app being difficult: a locked day is what makes your cash, commissions, and reports trustworthy.
A QUIET FOURTH
Your data is yours. Customer lists and receipts export to CSV whenever you want. There is no lock-in, and leaving never strands your records.
This guide uses one salon day as the fully worked example. Other service businesses follow the same operating rules. The workspace adapts its language and visible modules to the selected business type.
Prefer everything on one page? Read the whole guide.