The art of turning lapsed clients into "regulars", then into your business advocates.
Lilit Nersisyan
Oct 20, 2019 · 7 min read
If you want your salon or spa to succeed, you need to establish a bond between the salon image and the client.
And most easily it can be done with the help of a conversation: a conversation between you and your client.
Marketing is not only sending text messages, showing ads again and again until the client is completely sick and tired․ Salon marketing should not resemble a monologue, but a dialogue.
The communication with the salon clients should be personal, the client should feel that the salon values and appreciates their loyalty.
There are different channels for communication with the customers, like phone calls, email, text, but the most efficient one is messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, or Instagram DM.
Engage your salon clients starting from today, and if you need some helpful ideas on how to organize the process, we are here to help.
Missed appointments can cost a lot of money to a salon and affect the bottom line. If you decided to calculate how much the no-shows cost to your business, the results would not make you happy, to put it mildly.
When clients forget their appointment dates, you not only lose money but also waste your precious time. After all, how many clients called you to book an appointment and learned that the salon is full for the week?
Always remind your clients about the visit a day before. The clients will be much impressed and happy, as the booking reminders will not only increase the visits but also evoke a feeling of gratitude for the salon management.
Even if your clients don’t have an upcoming appointment, they will fall in love with your salon if you help them schedule their next visit and cross one thing off their todo list․
Tell your clients when it’s time to dye the hair, do a haircut or it’s high time for a manicure. People are usually busy and they may just forget the pedicure or leave it for another day, then for another, and then for the next week.
Who doesn’t love birthdays and congratulations? Your clients will probably love and appreciate their birthday congratulation on that very special day. Make the birthday congratulation as personalized as possible. Always know and mention the client’s name while addressing her. Let the clients feel special.
A real birthday should be with a present: offer a discount or a free service as a birthday special. If your salon uses a salon loyalty software, give the client special reward points which can be redeemed and used in your salon.
Birthday congratulations change the client’s attitude, impact the loyalty and are crucial if you want to make them brand evangelists.
Congratulating the birthdays is an awesome idea, include it in your must-do list. But besides the birthday congratulation, offer them to book on their special day. Invite her to your salon and offer a special discount for making a festive updo. The clients will love the idea of having a birthday hairstyle with a discount, and your salon will move her a step forward in the brand advocacy journey.
When you remind them and tell them their favourite hairdresser has free hours for the weekend, you bring the visit closer, thus increasing your salon visits and the revenue. The customers feel that you remember them and care about them. While it may seem a little thing to do, actually it fosters client loyalty.
Engaging your clients is effective when you speak not about you and your salon, but about the client. Send a happy congratulation, when the clients have reached a milestone, for example, it has been a year since they use your salon products or services.
Tell them you are happy to have clients like them for a whole year and you hope your friendship and collaboration will last forever🤝
Another great event for engaging and retaining your salon clients is the celebration of the 10th or 20th or even the 100th visit.
Prepare a nice cocktail and a cute celebration card for the event. Clients usually love this type of surprises and will be happy to showcase their cute present in social media, mentioning your salon. This will promote your salon and attract new clients.
Remember, acquiring new clients and expanding the client base is important, but loyal clients are the ones who ensure the profitability of your salon.
Acquiring new clients can be from 5 to 25 times more expensive than existing customer retention.
You should be worried about the fact that a client, who used to visit the salon twice a month hasn’t booked an appointment for 2 months.
This is a trigger for you to undertake steps to win back the client. Try to know whether this long gap is connected with your service or not.
Tell the client you miss her/him and have a special offer for her. Rest assured, the client will be impressed by your attention and will book an appointment.
If you have a client who has become your brand evangelist and has already brought in a lot of new clients to your salon, it’s time to be thankful. Determine a number for client referrals for your salon.
If the client has already referred your salon to let’s say to 10 clients, express your gratitude with a nice drink, a free service, a discount or salon loyalty points if you have a loyalty rewards program for salons.
This will motivate your most valuable clients and ensure their long and loyal journey with your salon. If your salon is using a salon marketing automation software, it will be an easy and engaging process.
Clients who praise your salon, show you the mistakes, rate your specialists and care about the quality of your services are your most valuable and loyal customers. These are the clients who are always attentive and sometimes can even show you things you would never notice. If you ask your salon clients for feedback, be more attentive to clients who leave feedback more than twice. And again, determine a number, let’s say, the 5th salon client feedback. When the client leaves feedback for the fifth time, think of the best way to reward her. Maybe a free blowout will make her happy?
Nowadays, many salons have implemented a loyalty program for their clients. The most effective loyalty programs have multiple tiers for their clients, where they enjoy various perks and benefits.
When the client has spent enough in your salon to change the membership status, make it a celebration!
Tell the clients that from now on there will be more benefits, privileges and rewards. Celebrate that special occasion with loyalty points and gift coupons. This is, of course, possible if your salon has implemented a salon loyalty programs, or a salon marketing automation software, which allows the salon owners to establish those vital connections with clients.
All of the abovementioned cases sound quite appealing, right? And we assure you, your clients will love the way you engage them and care about them, remember their birthdays and just want to be grateful for their loyalty.
Some will say that it’s hard to organize, as very often salon owners have to deal with a lot of people and consequently with large data. But It’s quite possible if you try hard.
Besides, the era of advanced technology and innovation we live in has granted us an opportunity to make tough processes easy, engaging and gameful.
Nowadays there are tools for marketing automation, and one of them is RetentionForce, an all-in-one marketing and customer care automation for salons and Spa.
It makes the conversation between the salon owner and the client fun, friendly and delightful. The tool does all the hard work, and you just sit back and enjoy the results.
And again, we just want to remind: despite the method you choose, manual or with a tool, we are here to assist, give advice and help to grow. ❤️🚀
written by
Lilit Nersisyan
Digital Marketing Specialist, Strategist, Content Writer at RetentionForce.