3 ways to retain more clients for your salon, spa or clinic

The hair and beauty industry is highly competitive, as clients have an abundance of salons, spas and clinics to choose from. It’s more important than ever to ensure your clients keep coming back and that you grow your regular client base.

Here are three ways you can improve the client experience at your salon, spa or clinic to retain more clients.

Enhance your client journey

Your client journey encompasses everything a client may experience while visiting your salon, spa or clinic. Understanding your clients journey can help you identify areas you can improve on at your business so your clients have the best experience.

Online client experience

First, look at your online client experience and presence and ask yourself these three questions:

Do you have social media accounts, a website and an online booking site?

Are they all linked to each other so potential customers can find you easily?

Do they look consistent? (e.g. using the same colours, fonts and logos that you use in-salon).

Secondly, do you make it easy for your clients to make an appointment with you? People increasingly want to book online rather than pick up the phone, so ensuring you have the ability to take online bookings will help encourage return visits.

Your salon, spa or clinic software should allow you to customise your online booking site with logos and colours to keep your online presence consistent. Consistent branding looks professional and helps you build a recognisable brand.

In-salon client experience

It might be hard to be subjective so enlist the help of a friend as a “secret shopper” and get them to walk into the business and note down any areas that need improvement.

Your physical space needs to reflect your values as a business. If you strive to be a more eco-friendly and sustainable business, you want your salon to reflect that, by using warm-toned energy saving lighting, natural materials, and less plastic or disposable marketing materials. These little things can help your beauty salon, spa or clinic stand out from your competitors, showcase your values and make it an inviting place to return to.

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With Kitomba Pay you’ll have all the features you need to streamline your online payment process and provide a simple and secure experience for your clients.

Improve your cash flow by getting paid faster, with funds automatically paid into your account the next business day.
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Offer incentives to encourage return visits

One reason that you might be experiencing less rebookings is that clients don’t have any incentive or reason to return. To encourage clients to return, you could offer a small incentive, such as an exclusive discount on their next service, a reusable sample pot with new products to try out, or referral cards. These are all great ways to give your clients a reason to come back.

Another option is to create a loyalty program. Your salon, spa or clinic software should allow you to easily create a loyalty program so your clients can earn points and redeem them on gifts and discounts for their future visits.

Stay connected with text and email marketing

A lot of people are wary of sending emails to their customers. They might seem too admin-heavy, or take up too much time in your already busy day, but text and email marketing is one of the most powerful ways to stay connected with your clients, or to bring back old clients who haven’t visited in a while.

Your software should allow you to generate specific lists of clients to send emails and text messages to at the click of a button. For example:

When a staff member is going on holiday, send a message to clients who visited them at least twice in the last 6 months to tell them that the staff member will be away and to call and book in to secure a spot before they leave.
If you’re introducing a new facial, pull a list of clients who have had facials before and send them an email outlining the benefits of the new one, along with a link directly to that service’s booking page.

You can even set up messages to automatically send to your clients based on parameters like:

3 weeks after a client has visited but hasn’t rebooked, so you can remind them to book in to maintain the best results.
6 months after a client purchases a specific product, so you can prompt them to buy a replacement before they run out.
1 week before a client’s birthday to offer them a small gift or free makeup application if they’re going out to celebrate.

These automatic messages are great because they only take a few minutes to set up and then work in the background so you don’t need to spend anymore admin time on them!

So there you have it – a few tips and tricks to help improve the retention rate at your salon, spa or clinic. If you want to keep your clients coming back regularly, take the time to look at your client experience from start to finish so you can make it as smooth and memorable as possible and watch your client retention rate grow!

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