Spa Clientéle Marketing Tips

Members Only? How you can create your own country club

Regularly answering your email questions! Just click banner above, or to the right to submit your questions!

Dear Heather,

Hello - thanks for your articles - they're always very helpful!  Just curious ... what are your thoughts on a "membership program" in terms of loyalty & helping to make those current clients more repeat??  Have you seen any membership programs that are really good or really bad??

-Mandi

Mandi,

Thanks for your comment and question!  The way I see it, there are two types of spa membership programs.

Are your clients crazy? They should be.

When business slows and there are more openings in your books that you'd like, do you ever ask yourself:

• If more people knew about us...
• If there was more awareness about where we are...
• If I had the budget to do a big ad...

than we'd be busier?

While this is common and not an entirely bad way to think, it is not be way that the most successful salons and spas think.  Here's a different question to ponder instead:

How busy would you be if every single one of your clients was a regular repeat client?

The bottom line is that the client in your chair or on your table right now, as well as your previous clients are the most valuable awareness tools you have in your business.  And they are your best advertisements, too.  While there are multiple ways to build your relationship with your clients, the most important one is to meet and exceed their expectations for their experience at your spa or salon.  Because unhappy clients don't come back, and they don't recommend your business to their friends.

So here is another incredibly powerful question to ask yourself:

What would I have to do so that my clients would say: "I would have to be crazy to go anywhere else!"

When your clients are that enthusiastic, that supportive and that loyal because they are crazy about your service....they will gladly tell everyone about it.  They will become a walking advertisement for your services.

Not only will your crazy clients be repeat clients, they will naturally bring in other crazy clients to fill up your books.

So, what do you need to do to make your clients crazy about you?  [Hint: if you don't know, the first people you should as are the clients you are seeing tomorrow!]

When it is too good to be true...

Regularly answering your email questions! Just click banner above, or to the right to submit your questions!

Dear Heather,

I attended one of your marketing classes last year and I found it very very useful. Implementing a yearly marketing plan has been working very well for us. Since you have been in the spa industry for a long time, I was hoping that you could offer me some advice about a particular situation that I find myself in:

At the end of last year I partnered with a company called SampleSpa (name changed). This is how the program works: they put together these nice looking cards/ gift certificates that includes a sampler of spa services (a 30 min massage; a 30 min facial; a manicure; and shampoo & style). They print the cards and incur all the costs associated with creating and printing. They then send out sales people out to neighborhoods and businesses and sell these cards for $40 each. Basically, one can get those 4 services (a total value of almost $150) for $40. This is a great value. SampleSpa keeps all the money. We, the spa have to redeem the cards. Each service can be upgraded (to a full hour, or other additions) and the price difference is kept by the spa. In addition, only one service can be used per visit, per week, so it would take someone a full month to redeem the card. The good thing about this partnership was that it brought us A LOT of new customers. SampleSpa sold 400 cards in 2 weeks and then we told them to stop. The bad part (which we didn't really think through initially) was that if customers didn't upgrade, we ended up incurring great losses. Here's how it turned out: a lot of customers did end up upgrading, so in the end we maybe lost $2,000 from this campaign. In return, we got our name in front of more than 300 new people that didn't know we existed (our spa is located in the back of a strip mall, with limited road side exposure, and a lot of people don't even know we are there). From that standpoint, it was good that we got our name out there. Another bad part is that most people that bought the cards were just looking for a great deal and that will probably not come back for regular priced services. (we only realized that once we started redeeming the cards and noticed that 80% of the SamppleSpa clients, even though they leave very happy and satisfied, don't tip!).

Here comes the problem: the gift cards expired on June 1. There are about 100 cards out there that never made it to our spa, basically 100 people that have expired cards. They are now starting to call and want to redeem them. We've been telling then that the promotion ended and that we no longer accept the cards. In an attempt to be even fairer, we agreed to give those people a $40 credit to use in the spa (this is the price they paid for the cards, money that SampleSpa got, not us). We are not in any way obligated to do that, but we've decided to go that route to appease some of the people that are getting mad when we tell them we no longer accept the cards. Still, there are some customers that get very mad. I was hoping that you might have some suggestions as to how to best handle this. I obviously don't want a bunch of unhappy people talking bad about us, but on the other hand, this promotion has already cost us a lot of money and I really don't want to extend it. Plus, these people had more than 6 months to redeem them, but they waited until the last minute to do so.

Heather, please help!!!!!

Thanks so much,

Corina (the eternal people pleaser!)

Do you need to Man-Up your Spa Menu?

With Father's Day right around the corner, many spas and salons are already in full-swing promoting specials for men.   Top services are massages and manicures for men who make up 30%+ of spa goers and should be the primary focus in packages and promotions.  However, how well do men connect with your services or respond to your promotions?

Some easy to implement, limited-time-only massage series promotions include:

• Buy three and get the fourth at 50% off
• Sign up for a series of four or more massages and receive a free post-workout care package (e.g., soaking salts, tension balm, MSM joint balm, massage oil)
• Purchase a six series massage and receive two free manicures, a $40 value!
• Laser hair removal offer: Purchase a full-back package and receive shoulders for free.

While the "limited-time-only" option is intended to generate action, massage series are often great year-round sellers as gift certificate options or a standard upsell option for your front desk staff to recommend.

Beyond a seasonal approach to attracting male clients to your spa or salon, it is important that your services menu communicates that it is a safe and welcome space for masculine energy.   This can be tricky to do without becoming so generic that neither men or women feel your services are designed for them. [I talk more about this in Smart Spa Marketing.] Here are some things to consider whether you need to "man-up" your menu of services.