It’s cheaper to retain a client than to attract a new one. In fact, some sources estimate that it can cost up to 10 times less!
With that in mind, how can salons and spas improve their client retention rates? It should come as no surprise that customer service, satisfaction with the product (or result of service), and salon environment (appearance, cleanliness, noise, etc.) play a significant role. But even with all that, you may need to give customers a little extra incentive to return.
A loyalty rewards program is a great way to have your salon clients come back regularly. Further, it is vital to engaging them and increasing their customer lifetime value. Take a look at how the loyalty program benefits your business:
Contact Details
As privacy and security become greater concerns, fewer people are willing to give away their information for free. By encouraging your salon clients to sign up for the loyalty program, you can get access to important information like phone numbers and email addresses. This enables you to follow up with them after a service to ensure satisfaction, to persistently engage them with e-newsletters, and to convince them to return with special offers.
Referrals
Word-of-mouth and online reviews are the cheapest, yet most effective, methods of attracting new clients. Especially with the growing discussion of “alternative truth,” people are becoming increasingly critical of the media and marketers. Instead, people are relying on the experiences of influencers and other consumers to form their opinions about a brand.
To encourage clients to tell their friends and everyone else about their awesome experience at your salon, offer bonus loyalty points for referring new customers and writing a review (Yelp, Facebook, Google+, etc.).
Client Engagement
Beyond referring new clients, you can also utilize your loyalty rewards program to spur them on to taking other actions. Free up your phone line by offering bonus points for booking online. Entice them to try a new service. Give them a reason to prebook early rather than procrastinate and book later. Reward them for purchasing gift cards.
These loyalty points can then be used towards retail products or a future appointment.
Spreading out appointments
For every business, there will be peak times and slower times. Often, those peak hours are so heavily requested that you may have to turn certain clients away or book them in weeks after their supposed return date.
Free up these busy times by motivating flexible clients to visit during the quieter periods. Whether it’s offering Salon Happy Hours or Bonus Point Wednesdays, offering extra loyalty points can give them that extra push. (Plus, you can let clients know that when you’re less busy, you can focus more on each individual client.)
You'll quickly notice that your appointment schedule is busier, clients are visiting more frequently, and profits are rising.
Retail sales
Are some clients hesitant to purchase a product? Maybe they’re wondering if the conditioner from your salon is worth the higher price than the conditioner at the neighborhood grocery store?
Sometimes people just need proof that one product is better than the other. To achieve that, they need to try out the product for themselves. So whether it’s an incentive to make a purchase (earning points) or to redeem them, loyalty points present an opportunity to get new products in clients’ hands. Once they test the product, they’ll hopefully become hooked!
Conclusion
A loyalty program is necessary for engaging clients, attracting new customers, and growing profit. Create and manage a loyalty program with Insight Software. Learn more by calling 1-888-919-5841 or by downloading a free trial.
