Dog Grooming Promotion Ideas: Deals and Multi-Pet Prices

A note on the numbers. Every price and deal below is a made-up example for a made-up salon. Set your own from your own menu and costs. Written November 2026.

Most grooming promotions fail in one of two ways. They're too broad ("20% off everything!") and give money away on bookings you'd have had anyway. Or they're so fiddly the client can't tell what they'll pay until the invoice.

A good promotion does one job: it fills a gap you can name. A quiet Tuesday, a service nobody books, the second dog in a household who goes somewhere cheaper. Here are the ones that work for grooming businesses, and how to set each up in My Pet Groomer.

1. A standing price for the second pet

The best grooming client is a household with three cats. One booking, one set of reminders, one drive if you're mobile, three grooms. Yet many salons charge the third cat the same as the first, and the household quietly splits its pets between groomers.

A multi-pet price fixes that. It isn't a promotion with an end date. It's part of your menu.

In My Pet Groomer you set it on the service's price, as totals, the way you'd say it out loud:

Your booking page shows it on the menu ("2nd cat $40"), so the client sees the saving before they book. Only pets of the same kind on the same service count, so a dog never counts towards the cat price, and a cat booked for a nail trim doesn't count towards a groom.

When to use it: always, if you groom many multi-pet homes. It's the cheapest way to keep a whole household with you.

2. A deal on one service

Every menu has a service that doesn't sell. Maybe it's a de-shed in autumn, a teeth clean, or a bath-and-tidy on weekdays. A service deal takes money off that service only, so it doesn't leak onto the bookings you'd have anyway.

Examples:

• "15% off a de-shed in March and April" when coats start to drop.
• "$10 off a bath and tidy" if your weekday mornings are thin.

In My Pet Groomer, a deal can be an amount or a percentage off. You choose Which services it covers, which pets (dogs, cats, or both), when it starts and ends, and which locations offer it. Service deals go on by themselves on the booking site, and clients see each line's price with the deal before they book.

When to use it: to move demand towards a service or a time you want to fill, for a few weeks at a time.

3. A deal for the extra pet, for a limited time

Sometimes you want a campaign rather than a standing price: "2nd dog $15 off a full groom this month". Set the deal to come off Each extra pet. The first dog added pays full price, and each dog after it gets the deal once.

Use this or a multi-pet price on a service, not both. A pet-count deal never comes off a line that already has a multi-pet price, so there's no double discount by accident. And each pet gets at most one pet-count deal.

When to use it: to test whether a multi-pet price would win you households, before you commit to one on your menu.

4. An offer for new clients, with a minimum spend

A first-visit offer works when it's big enough to notice, and small enough not to attract people who only come for the discount. Two settings keep it honest:

• New clients only: set the deal for new clients, so your regulars don't get it on their next booking.
• Minimum spend: "$10 off your first groom over $80" stops it eating a nail trim.

You can also limit uses per client, so a first-visit offer can't be claimed twice.

When to use it: while you're growing the book, especially in your first year. Pair it with a deposit, so a discounted first booking still turns up.

5. A discount for paying another way

Card surcharges ended in Australia on 1 October 2026, but a discount for paying another way is still allowed (the Reserve Bank's FAQ on the removal of card surcharges, read on 31 October 2026, says businesses "can continue to offer discounts for particular payment methods"). Some groomers offer "5% off when you pay in cash".

In My Pet Groomer, a deal's How it's paid setting does this properly. The deal comes off only when the whole balance is paid the chosen way, and it's settled at check-out. Paid by card, it simply steps aside. On the booking site, the client sees it as something that comes off at the salon when they pay the rest that way.

When to use it: only if cash or bank transfer really saves you money. For most salons, putting card fees into the price is simpler.

Promotions for a quiet week

Every groomer has slow weeks: after Christmas, during school holidays in some suburbs, in the cold snap when owners decide the coat can wait. A few ways to fill them without discounting your whole menu:

• Pick the gap, then the deal. If Tuesdays and Wednesdays are thin, a service deal that runs for two weeks on a bath-and-tidy fills those days better than a storewide sale.
• Go after the second pet. A short "2nd dog $15 off" brings in pets whose owners split them between groomers.
• Fill the day before you discount it. A cancellation is usually better filled from your waitlist than with a deal: see filling last-minute cancellations.
• End it on a date. A quiet-week deal with no end date becomes your new price.

When two deals could apply

You don't have to work out which deal wins. My Pet Groomer works it out the same way every time, and the client gets the better deal:

• One deal per line. If a booking qualifies for several service deals, each line gets the one that saves the client most.
• Whole-booking and service deals. A whole-booking deal (like the new-client offer) and service deals don't stack unless you tick Can be used with service deals. Otherwise the client gets whichever saves more.
• Never more than the balance. Deals together never take off more than what's left after the deposit.

On bookings your team makes, nothing comes off by itself. Staff tap Apply, so a deal is never given away by accident at the desk.

Promotions that backfire

• Discounting your regulars. They were booking anyway. Use new-client and service deals, not storewide sales.
• Deals with no end date. A permanent deal is just a lower price. If it should last, make it a menu price, like a multi-pet price.
• Deals that change the groom. A discount is never a reason to rush a dog. Keep the booked time the same.
• Too many at once. Two or three live deals are plenty. More than that, and clients stop reading them.

For what to charge before any discount, see what to charge for dog grooming in Australia. For filling a gap on the day, a waitlist usually beats a discount: filling last-minute cancellations.

Try it on your own menu

Multi-pet prices and deals are on every My Pet Groomer plan. See what's in My Pet Groomer. Your first 30 days are free: get started and set up your first deal in a few minutes.