Guides
The tattoo studio scorecard: monthly KPIs explained
Tattoo studio KPIs for a monthly sheet: seven measures in named variables, the record each comes from, the decision each changes, and what each cannot tell you.
What to take away
- Seven measures, defined precisely, from records the studio already keeps, read on the same day each month. Anything more is a dashboard nobody opens.
- Each measure is paired with the decision it changes. A measure that changes nothing is not tracked.
- The sheet says what each measure cannot tell you, because a number read past its meaning causes the wrong fix.
Definitions
Per month, per chair where the measure is per chair:
- H_avail = hours the chair was available.
- H_booked = hours booked with a deposit recorded.
- H_sat = hours actually sat.
- H_unbilled = consultation, drawing, revision, and message hours.
- H_touch = free touch-up hours.
- Rev = session revenue collected, deposits included when the session sat.
- Sup = supplies consumed.
- Pay = artist pay for the chair, or zero for a renter with rent counted as studio income.
- Cash = cash on hand at month end; Dep = deposit balance held for future sessions; F_week = weekly fixed cost.
- Inq = inquiries received; Dep_new = new deposits taken.
The sheet
| Measure | Formula | Source | Decision it changes | What it cannot tell you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utilization | H_sat ÷ H_avail | Calendar and session record | Recruit, market, or add a chair | Whether the hours were priced right |
| Deposit coverage | Sessions with a deposit ÷ sessions booked, for the coming week | Ledger and calendar | Whether the desk holds the gate | Whether clients will still show |
| Sat rate | H_sat ÷ H_booked | Calendar and session record | Whether the deposit rule works | Why a session did not sit |
| Unbilled ratio | (H_unbilled + H_touch) ÷ H_sat | Artists' logs, touch-ups tagged | Design fee, consultation cap, touch-up terms | Which line caused it, unless tagged by line |
| Contribution per sat hour | (Rev − Sup − Pay) ÷ H_sat | Ledger, supplies, payroll | Rate review, pay structure | Whether the rate could be higher, which the waiting list tells you |
| Weeks of cash | (Cash − Dep) ÷ F_week | Bank, ledger | Whether a slow month is a problem | Whether next month's calendar is real |
| Inquiry conversion | Dep_new ÷ Inq | Desk's inquiry log, ledger | The reply pattern and the booking page | Whether the inquiries were for work the studio does |
Weeks of cash subtracts the deposit balance deliberately. Deposits are cash in the bank and sessions owed; counting them as free cash is how a studio with a full calendar runs out of money.
KPI sheet at a glance
Measure
- Utilization
- H_sat ÷ H_avail
- Deposit coverage
- Deposits ÷ booked
- Sat rate
- H_sat ÷ H_booked
- Unbilled ratio
- (H_unbilled + H_touch) ÷ H_sat
- Contribution per hour
- (Rev − Sup − Pay) ÷ H_sat
- Weeks of cash
- (Cash − Dep) ÷ F_week
- Inquiry conversion
- Dep_new ÷ Inq
Formula
- Utilization
- Recruit or add chair
- Deposit coverage
- Desk holds gate
- Sat rate
- Deposit rule works
- Unbilled ratio
- Design fee, terms
- Contribution per hour
- Rate review, pay
- Weeks of cash
- Slow month problem
- Inquiry conversion
- Reply pattern, page
Decision
- Utilization
- Deposit coverage
- Sat rate
- Unbilled ratio
- Contribution per hour
- Weeks of cash
- Inquiry conversion
Reading the sheet
Read the measures in pairs. High utilization with a low contribution per sat hour is a pricing problem, not a demand problem. Low utilization with high conversion is a marketing problem: the people who inquire book, and there are not enough of them.
Read the measures in pairs
High utilization + low contribution?
pricing problem, not demand
check low utilization + high conversion
A falling sat rate with steady deposit coverage means the deposit is too small to change behavior. A rising unbilled ratio with stable utilization means the artists are drawing more than they are tattooing, and the design-fee rule is the fix.
The records behind the sheet
Every formula reads a record the studio keeps for another reason. The ledger and session record are the income and expense records the Internal Revenue Service: What kind of records should I keep? page describes.
Artists' hour logs are what the pay structure and the licensing body's apprentice rules may already require. The software and KPI guide explains what a system must record so the sheet is a report, not a project.
Keep the records safe as well as complete. The client record behind the sheet carries names and identification. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency: Cyber Guidance for Small Businesses page lists the basic actions for a small business.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology's National Institute of Standards and Technology: NIST Small Business Quick-Start Guides cover backups, logins, and recovery topic by topic. A sheet built on a record that was lost is not a sheet.
Per chair, and by arrangement
Utilization, sat rate, and the unbilled ratio are per chair because artists differ, and the fix is per artist.
Contribution per sat hour is per chair in an employment studio; in a rental studio, rent received and chairs occupied replace it, since rent is the studio's income. The hiring and training guide explains why the two arrangements produce different sheets. Do not read one with the other's formulas.
What the sheet leaves out on purpose
Left out on purpose
- Reviews and followers. They are inputs to inquiries, and inquiries are on the sheet.
- Revenue as a total. It hides the chair that is carrying the studio and the one that is not.
- Supplies as a total. Supply cost per sat hour is inside contribution; the total on its own moves with volume and tells you nothing.
- Anything about the room. Whether the station is set up as the equipment and setup guide describes and stocked to the opening-day equipment checklist is a walk through the studio, not a number.
Running it
- Same day each month, before the artists arrive.
- Fill the sheet from the records; where a record is missing, write "not kept" rather than an estimate, and fix the record.
- Read the pairs.
- Choose one measure to move, and one change to move it.
- Next month, read that measure first.
Common questions
What are good values for these measures?
Nobody can tell you from a page. The studio's own values from the first three months are the baseline, and the direction each month is the answer.
Should artists see the sheet?
Their own chair's utilization, sat rate, and unbilled ratio, yes, privately. Contribution and cash are the owner's.
How does a renter use this?
With their own numbers: their chair's utilization and sat rate, their own unbilled ratio, their own contribution with rent as their fixed cost. The formulas are the same; the perspective is theirs.
What if the unbilled ratio cannot be measured because nobody logs hours?
Then the sheet has a hole where the most useful number sits. Ask the artists for two weeks of half-hour rounding; the number usually surprises them into keeping it.
