Category: Beauty Salon

Seven ways to fill your schedule

On March 24, 2017

In Articles, Beauty Salon, Business, Hair Salon, Hairdressers Journal, Salon Business, Salon Marketing, Spa, Spa Marketing, Wellness

By Chris Parker

If your appointment schedule is full for the next three years and you have no plans to expand to more branches or more stations in your salon and you are happy with your current turnover then the following information will not be that useful to you.

However, if you still have space in your appointment book that you would like to fill then perhaps some of these tips may come in handy.

Book their next appointment before they leave

This practice is nothing new but very often is not used. When a client walks out make sure it is with some sort of retention plan in place. Try and not ask a closed end question like “Would you like to book your next appointment?” to which a client can simply answer no and close down the discussion. Rather ask “When would you like to book your next appointment for?” If the client says they will get hold of you when ready then ask if its ok for you to send them a follow up reminder, just keep the door open.

Remind them of their appointments

A client who does not show up for their appointment means empty slots that will be harder to fill on the day. Two SMS notifications should go out, one when their appointment is first made that confirms the fact that you have in fact scheduled them and secondly a reminder the day before. Ideally this should be automated so that its not up to staff members to remember to do it.

Work harder to find an opening

If you are fully booked don’t let the conversation end there. If it’s a new client then work hard to make a plan because the cost of acquiring new clients is very high and may be worth your while to offer an incentive to come at a different time. If it is a regular client then work just as hard to make a plan as regulars are your bread and butter throughout the year. Encourage staff members to check a clients profile while they are on the phone to give them a sense that they know the client and make them feel important to the salon. If you are anticipating a busy time ahead and perhaps a lot of tourists then a good practise would be to send out an SMS to your regulars to encourage them to book early to avoid disappointment during busy times.

Find out what their goals are

The consultation with your clients is the focus area here. Finding out what their desired outcomes and goals are regarding their hair implies a journey rather than a once off stop. A journey implies future visits and the question “What are we doing today?” starts to feel a little bit out of place because it has no greater context and it’s almost like you are surprised they came back to see you for another haircut.

Flag first time visitors

Take special note of first time visitors. These are your most expensive to acquire and so you want to make especially sure that they come back again. All of the other points in this article are especially true for first time visitors and you want to get some sort of sense of how many first time visitors you are retaining.

Give them a chance to complain

I recall getting my car serviced recently. When I collected the car I asked the service advisor if all the headlight bulbs had been checked as I recalled that one was faulty. He advised that it is a standard check and that they were all fine. I asked him to double check as I was sure there was a problem. A technician from the workshop re-assured him that the bulbs had been checked and were all fine. However, we all went over to my car to check and it was confirmed that there was actually a problem with one of my bulbs. The concern for me was, if such a simple problem had been overlooked what else had they missed. Nevertheless the service advisor was very apologetic and advised me they would order the bulb and call me to bring the car back when the bulb arrived. I left without kicking up much of a fuss.

A few days later I received a machine generated follow up SMS to find out if I was happy with the service received. At that point, when I was not face to face with the service advisor I felt the need to say something, and I did. I then received a follow up call to further understand my dissatisfaction and take further measures.

Now, the point here is that they found out about two things, one the fact that poor service had been offered, which they could address internally and two, that I was actually an unhappy client even though I didn’t say anything at first.

It takes very little to get a follow up SMS going out to your clients each day and in most cases your clients will not respond to them if they were happy. However, if they were unhappy it gives them a safe way to complain and gives you an opportunity to save a client. 25 cents for an SMS versus the cost of losing a client..? It seems like a no-brainer to me.

And one more thing … if a client complains then give them something as an incentive to come back. Start with a “sorry” but finish with something enticing like a freebie or a discount of some sort. Nothing tells them you actually mean it like when you put your money where your mouth is.

Contact them if they don’t come back

Follow up with clients who do not come back to your salon. Your methods should be slightly different for different types of clients. For example, in one process you want to know of any of your top spending clients who have not come back and then follow with them with one particular message. Then, in another process you want to know which of your first-time visitors have not been back and then follow with a different message. Then for the general population of your clients who have not been back you may follow up with a more generic bulk message.

Conclusion

A full appointment book is not the only way to generate revenue but it plays a large roll and very often we have more control over this than we think. Some of the requirements can be automated with technology but others rely on the efforts of your staff members. Therefore it is critical that your staff are trained on what is required of them in order to play a deliberate roll in your salons successful retention of clients.

Communicating to your clients

By Karl

On November 14, 2016

In Articles, Beauty Salon, Hair Salon, Hairdressers Journal, Professional Beauty, Salon Business, Salon Marketing

By Rina McKellar for SA Hairdressers Journal

We’re bombarded by marketing and advertising messages every day. 10 years ago, The Guardian in the UK estimated that Londoners were exposed to over 3500 ads in just one day. I remember when I lived there – my 30 min commute into the city was littered with glamorous faces on large billboards and quirky video ads in taxis and posters plucked in every conceivable corner of the tube station. They all told me about upcoming theatre events, some miracle beauty cream or the new holiday destination I should be trying. My favourite was always the one that told a little story up those L-O-N-G escalator rides. They made the smelly tube stations lightly more bearable and put a little smile on my face for about 2-3 mornings until they lost their lustre and stayed up way too long. They all wanted the commuter’s attention and were all offering me and every other poor London creature something more promising.

We have seen advertising get more clever, more entertaining and more engaging over the years. Mass advertising has its benefits and appeal and there will always be some commonalities that people share. e.g. a tropical beach scene complete with colourful cocktail, palm trees and soft white sand will for sure capture the attention of every London-living individual wanting to escape the sombre greyness of a cold English February.

Fast forward to 2016 and now we have the added luxury of super smart technology, coupled with endless personal data. Ever wondered just how Facebook knew you were in the market for a new car? Try changing your status from “in a relationship” to “single” and you’ll suddenly be bombarded by dating sites galore. I loved the story from a close friend who managed to change her age from 40 to 75 (with great difficulty might I add) – she stopped getting ads about “mature dating sites” and ads for wheel chairs popped up instead. We laughed out loud at that one!

Actually most apps these days require you to log on using either Google or Facebook or something similar and it’s actually just downright scary the amount of info that can be collected on you, your connections and links. It so often feels like big brother is watching our every move. Makes me want to sing an adapted version of Sting’s masterpiece right now: “Every breath you take, every search you make, every bond you break, every friend you take. I’ll be watching you.”
Ha – this sounds just like FB’s personal love song to each of us.

Google and FB are masters at this and run way ahead of the curve. For most businesses and products, it is still advertising old school style – good message combined with traditional means e.g. a beautiful glossy ad in a well- respected magazine and there, advertising and marketing ticked. Done and dusted. Many haven’t quite figured out how to use technology in their mix, let alone understand how to use social media to drive their business. It can be incredibly confusing and even daunting to close the massive gap in your marketing mix.

So let’s start with the mere basics and take a few steps back. There are 2 things that is required to make such specific targeting and advertising possible – data and technology. Google and Facebook have both by the bucket load. In simple non-powerhouse terms for you and me this means:As much information about an individual (the more the better)Mechanism to reach that person (hardware – cellphone/computer and software – application etc.)

Many of you are already deploying this in your everyday business practise. You may be emailing your clients useful info or you may be sending out an SMS to remind your customers of an upcoming appointment. In both cases you have data (their email and the cell number) and then using some form of technology to reach them.
The question then remains: Why are you not doing it more or taking it to the next level?

To have personal information about your customer is really a beautiful and rather rare thing. It has only recently become quite a new phenomenon that’s exploded. I don’t think this fact is truly appreciated in many industries who simply take it for granted and do nothing with it. The mind still boggles at the restaurant industry that handles this info so glibly. They go to all the trouble to ask for your details when you make a reservation and then simply throw it away at the end of the night. To hold personal information of another is a great gift. As a salon owner, I urge you not to fall into that same trap.

Just think: You can still just walk in to any grocery store, buy a litre of milk and 2 bags of apples and walk out anonymously. They have no idea how to reach you or talk to you again. That shop will not have a clue about your age, your name or your needs – no idea about your buying patterns or that you may have an apple addiction J. For years, large retailers were left with few options to attract and talk to customers – they were limited in many instances to publish big inserts in newspapers to announce of specials and promotions, then they’d hope and pray that those nameless people came in to buy. It was impersonal. Cast your minds back a few years and you were simply greeted at the checkout counter. Now, you barely get a hello, but get a snappy “do you have a ………. card” instead. Yes, this once limiting barrier has been overcome by shopper cards and loyalty programmes.

This has really changed the marketing and shopper landscape. Suddenly retailers not only knew the names and locations of their customers, but they also knew how regularly they were coming in and what they were buying. They began to see patterns and links and correlations and the science of buyer behaviour went to new levels. It could dictate trends, showed learnings and even influenced business processes like the lay- out of shelves and the placement of products. Data become information became powerful knowledge. Business Intelligence became a household term and industry boomed all round.

It also meant targeted advertising and speaking a specific message people wanted to hear. It wasn’t just blanket advertising – one message to the masses. The pendulum however has swung and now the problem is we have far too many cards and schemes from far too many retailers and they are impossible for a consumer to keep in a standard wallet. The loyalty market has become yet another bandwagon for companies to hop and sadly some have no clear strategy as to how their data should be effectively mined and used to radically enhance their business as it did in the grocery business.

Again, this is an example of large scale industry change – but what about in a small business? The good news is, is that most of you are already holding the keys that is needed and the rest is quite close by. Even if you do not have data about your clients and your business – you still have the basic information, perhaps not the best information (yet) – but at the very least you have names and numbers and it is a start. This means you can at a very nominal cost communicate with your clients on a regular basis. A simple example is an SMS telling them of a special or offering a discount can be at your complete control and discretion. You can choose to send to your top 50 clients or 500 clients. It’s your choice of message and quantity. You can monitor uptake and see the ROI. It really is a no- brainer and while rather old technology, it still works. Your software provider can help with this. In fact, what I am saying is not that new, Chris Parker, MD of ESP Salon Software, has made mention of this in several of his previous articles and can be found on their website for ease of reference. They have a module aimed to do just this and use it effectively and often for many clients.

You can construct your campaigns based on what info you have. It may well be an incentive for you to collect more RELEVANT information – take your lead from the big grocery stores out there. How often does your customer come in? What treatment do they normally have? Do they have a time or day preference? We all like to be offered something – but it has to be RELEVANT. When we get offered something totally irrelevant and we have no interest – it’s SPAM. We all get highly annoyed with SPAM.

The do’s and don’tsUse your data and business intelligence to drive your campaignCommunicate with relevanceCommunicate at regular intervals (one hit wonders are not cool)Get familiar with POPI (The Protection of Personal Information Act)Ask their permission if you can send them infoDon’t SPAMDon’t communicate too oftenDon’t only send blanket messages – show that you know your customer

The permeations of groups and messages are endless. You can target new clients or send birthday messages with a discount. You could send out an incentive to your top clients. You could send to clients you haven’t seen for months. Let your business mind flow – I am just going to encourage you to try and do something a bit more with the precious personal information you have. Let it help you increase your presence and awareness and generate even more business for you. All the best!

Guidelines for effective email campaigns

By Karl

On October 11, 2016

In Articles, Beauty Salon, Business, Business Intelligence, Hair Salon, Hairdressers Journal, Les Nouvelles Esthetiques, Professional Beauty, Salon Business, Spa, Wellness

Email was first introduced in the 70’s and by the 90’s it revolutionized the way we communicated with one another, it opened doors that postal mail could never have accomplished in reaching the masses instantly. Then the SMS appeared, this enabled us to send shorter messages to each other via mobile phones, this made email seem a bit archaic coupled with the explosion of social media to our everyday life. Approximately 40 odd years later, however, email has been given new life and has prevailed as the best way to communicate effectively with intended recipients.

Email’s resurgence continues to revolutionize the way we communicate with each other in a smarter and more effective ways; it is mobile friendly (stats show that around 65% of all mails are first opened on a mobile device), it delivers rich content with the likes of graphics, icons, buttons and very importantly it can track the engagement of readers tell us how many people have received, opened and clicked on the emails and even what they have clicked within the emails. All of these factors combined is why in 2016 email is noted as the most effective marketing tool available.

Have you adapted?

Now, considering that email is a far cry from what it used to be it begs the question, have you adapted to capitalise on the new way of managing email campaigns or are you still emailing in the same way as you have always done?

Here are some pointers to take into account when sending out emails to your clients:

1. Create mobile friendly emails (responsive)

Before you start ensure that your emails are built using a mobile friendly platform. The majority of readers are now reading email on their mobile phones and therefore your emails need to be easy to read on a phone. Responsive emails simply means that the size of the email will automatically be altered to the device the email is being viewed on – small and readable if opened on a mobile device, normal size if opened on a computer, also. Creating one big image as your mailer with all the text within the image is a bad idea as you will have to zoom in and scroll around the page to view the entire message. The more “html” the better.

2. Have a very clear purpose

Establishing the purpose and objectives of the email campaign you are about to embark on will keep you focussed on what is important as you create content for your mailer and sure that it flows logically in a top down manner.

As part of this process try and stick to just one clear message per email campaign. Just because you now have a very powerful way to share content with your readers doesn’t mean you should do it all in one email. In this process think about what you want to say to your clients and what you want them to do in response. This way of working also makes it easier to measure the success of your campaign.

3. Use catchy subject lines

Your subject line will determine whether or not the reader continues reading. It must be catchy yet also have great integrity, ie if the reader does open the email then the content of the email must directly relate to the subject line (it must deliver on its promise). This will further re-enforce the message you are trying to get across as well as increase the chances of the reader opening emails from you in the future.

For catchy subject lines try using the headline approach as our Newspapers and Magazines have taught us (relevant, short & catchy), it’s been capturing readers since the beginning of time – so make it short and catchy – “Summer is Here – Time for a Change”.
Or, try using a question – as recent studies show that subject lines phrased as a question perform better than using statements in the subject line – “Need a Beauty Boost?”
Or, if your email campaign is targeting by a specific location – incorporating the location reference into the subject line could also add a touch of relevance – “Special Offers at our Sandton Spa.”

4. Keep your message as concise as possible

Stats also show that readers generally only spend 15 seconds scanning an email – therefore we have to catch their attention from the get go. Capturing our audience will determine the success rate of the campaign. A good combination for this is a good image that tells your story, then a brief write up that further elaborates on the image – all of which must be consistent with your subject line. The less you can say to get your message across the better.

Put the most important information first as people have stopped reading longwinded text therefore let the content expand or flow from the subject line. Also note that you can add more value by providing access to exclusive content. Remember that email marketing success is to get credibility from the first email so readers look forward to the next email campaign, rather than delete upon receipt because we didn’t get it right the first time.

If you do have a lot to say on a particular matter then add this to the blog page on your website and put a link for the reader to “read more” on your web site. This allows the reader to easily scan your mail for topics that interest them and then focus in on that particular part of the email. It also helps drive traffic through to your website, which gives you further opportunities to engage with them.

5. Include a clear call to action

A call to action is an instruction to the reader to provoke an immediate response by clicking a button and engaging in whatever the required action is. Preferably only use one call to action per email and make it easy to see. Examples of Call to Action buttons are – Book Now; Contact Us; Find Out More; Click here to Enter.

Provide incentives for readers to respond to the call to action. Readers love getting offers, discounts etc. Competitions is another sure way to entice the reader to participate using the call to action button and thereby assist in increasing your email open rate.

6. Identify yourself clearly

This may seem very obvious, however, it is surprising how overlooked this very simple requirement is. This is a simple matter of making sure the from address and reply address are correct as well as your business name being used. This will help the reader to trust the mail before they open it. Ensure that you have your own domain name rather than using free email accounts like Google for your business. The domain name is what you get when you set up your web site address, ie www.yourdomain.com. You will then be able to use “yourdomain” for your emails.

7. Segment your recipient list

When sending emails you want to try and reach the people who are most likely to open the mails as well as respond to your call to action. Sending emails to your entire database is not always the best way to do that. In many instances it is better to target segments of your database based on things like gender, purchase history, loyalty status etc. This will also help connect the content to the reader more effectively and be more meaningful for them.

8. Analyse reader engagement

Not only is Email Campaign the No.1 digital marketing channel, it is also the top source of data for analytics as the data generated from the tracking stats enables us to get results quickly to determine the success rate of our campaign as well as the relevant stats to assist us in other marketing outlets.

Data from stats include – how many of your mails are opened on a mobile device, total number of emails sent, total number of emails delivered, the breakdown on opened mail on Mobile, Desktop & Web, what the click rate from and more.

Its not enough to just have the stats though. Each time you do an email campaign you should be smarter than the last time. In order to do so you actually need to learn from the analytics and change your behaviour accordingly.

Conclusion

Email has changed and so must you if you wish to remain competitive. Therefore create mobile friendly emails, have a clear objective for each campaign, create subject lines that grab the reader’s attention, have clear concise messages consistent with your subject line and objective, store bulky content on your website with links to read more, segment your database in order to target specific recipients and finally have a clear call to action. Most importantly be ready to respond. It would be a shame to run a successful email campaign only to drop the ball when readers respond.

Email Vs SMS

By Karl

On June 2, 2016

In Articles, Beauty Salon, Business, Hair Salon, Hairdressers Journal, Les Nouvelles Esthetiques, Salon Business, Spa, Wellness

What a co-incidence – I’m sitting at my coffee shop of choice just about to start writing this article on the difference between SMS and Email and I receive an SMS notifying me that ABSA Insurance phone lines are down due to the storm in Gauteng yesterday.

Now, Im aware that there is some irony in the fact that there has probably been an increase in insurance claims (and therefore attempted phone calls) due to the storm and the fact that the insurance lines are down due to the storm, but the fact that I have just received this SMS highlights for me the need to be clear of when, how and why different communication methods are used.

In the “old days” I’m sure the questions facing business owners when it came to sending communications would have been things like, do I fax or do I phone or do I send a letter via the post office. These days, however, the question is more “Do I Email or SMS, or do I communicate via Social Media?” For this exercise I’m not really going to discuss much detail (if any) about social media because I really want to take a look at SMS and Email messaging, which although they have been around for quite some time, still seem to be quite prevalent despite the competition from social media.

What’s the difference?

Content

Probably the most obvious difference between SMS and Email is the content. With SMS messaging you are limited to text only and a limited number of characters, ie 160 characters per SMS. Now you might argue that it is now possible to type messages longer than 160 characters and our smart phones intelligently handle these as one message but the truth is that you are being billed for two messages if you use more than 160 characters.

With Email on the other hand your content can be very rich, ie images, longer messages, different fonts and layouts etc.

Instant Delivery

A major difference between email and SMS is the fact that SMS is instant and pops up on your phone screen almost immediately, whereas email is usually downloaded either via your computer or via your phone periodically. Although it is possible to change the settings of your phone to alert you when you receive a new email this setting is often turned off by users because they prefer to not use their cell phone network to download mails due to the cost and would rather wait until they are on a wireless network at home or work to do so.

Stats

Although it is possible to track how many messages were delivered for an SMS batch, Email has far greater reporting capabilities due to the fact that you can use tools like Google Analytics. The Email is very much like a web page and you are able to tell how recipients engage with your email, ie how many were delivered, how many opened the emails, how many clicked on links, the locations of the recipients who interacted with your emails and so on.

Cost

Cost is always a factor and most of us are used to the idea that you have to pay for SMS but the idea that you may have to pay for email is sometimes a foreign idea because of the fact that you don’t pay for the individual emails that you send out each day for personal and business reasons through your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

However, for bulk business emailing, there is usually a cost involved for delivering the message. This is because a bulk emailing company is required between you and the recipient to manage delivery of content and the providing of stats and for this they charge a fee. If you send through your ISP you won’t incur any other costs but you will encounter other problems (see SPAM) and you won’t get any stats of who opened and interacted with your messages.

Therefore, there is cost for both bulk SMS and bulk Email but the cost for SMS is usually higher – usually because of the fact that the cell phone network companies themselves charge a minimum fee for delivery and these are marked up by the third party SMS providers. (Note that you cannot under normal circumstances deliver your bulk SMS messages directly through your own cell phone network company).

Another potential cost worth mentioning is the design of the message itself. Because you cannot change the layout of an SMS message there will be no cost involved in creating the message content itself. However, Emails often require the help of a design agency, because of the fact that they are basically web pages that are being sent to your clients. Some providers offer you templates as part of their services but if you want something that is unique to you and meets all of your brand requirements then you will most likely end up paying someone to assist you with the design.

SPAM (Junk Mail)

In order to prevent SPAM being sent through their servers your ISP (ie the company that you have your email account with) will generally not allow you to send bulk emails through your normal business account and can even blacklist you for doing so and can block your email account for a period of time as a consequence.

Therefore you would need to use a bulk emailing service that is set up for sending large volumes of emails and there is usually a cost for this, but as already mentioned above there are many other benefits, ie the delivery and engagement stats.

SMS works in much the same way, ie you will set up an account with a Wireless Application Service Provider (WASP) and you will send your bulk SMS messages through them and there will be a cost involved.

You will generally find a lot more SPAM in Email than you will in SMS and perhaps this is self regulated due to the costs involved in sending SMS messages as well as the fact that through email you can advertise a lot more or disguise a scam more effectively.

When to use what?

Transactional vs Bulk

The first step in deciding which medium to use is to first understand the nature of the communication. Identifying whether your messages are transactional or bulk is part the process.

Transactional messages are usually in response to an event (ie a booking confirmation, loyalty notification etc). Transactional messages are usually sent on an individual basis as events (transactions occur) and are more informational than promotional. Hence, recipients tend to be far more tolerant of them by virtue of the fact that they must have recently engaged with your business.

Bulk Messaging for Information Purposes

Bulk messaging can be used for both promotions and for information. For example, you may need to advise your entire database that your trading hours during the festive season have changed, or you may need to advise them that there is a problem with your telephone lines and that if they need to call your salon then they need to use an alternative number.

Bulk Messaging for Promotions

Bulk messaging for promotions is usually where you invite the most colourful responses from your clients – language of the likes that you will not find anywhere near a Concise Oxford English Dictionary – and it is here where you need to be most careful (see the section below on “Whats your story?”).

Urgency VS Content

Keeping in mind all of the above – choosing between SMS and Email will most commonly be determined by the nature of the content and the urgency of the message.

If it is urgent, then it should be via an SMS. The recipients will get their notification immediately and the chances of them actually viewing the message are greater via SMS.

If the message can wait and has more content then it should be via Email.

What’s your story?

Because of the damage that can be done in sending unsolicited messages to your clients you need to do as much as you can within your own power to get their permission to communicate with them via SMS and Email.

This starts at the very beginning – you need to sell them the reason why you want their cell numbers and email addresses and they need to buy into it.

For example, if you say to them that on their birthday they get a free service then they will be more likely to give you their details and allow you to communicate with them. Also, if you say to them that you always send SMS appointment reminders or notifications that a free loyalty service has been awarded then they are more likely to respond positively.

All too often you hear receptionists saying that clients do not want to give out their details and you can’t expect receptionists to force clients to do so.

Opt Outs (Unsubscribes)

Depending on how you deliver your bulk messaging will affect how you manage your opt outs, ie clients who do not want to receive any further messages from you.

Your database should have separate options for SMS and Email opt outs in case the client wishes to receive SMS notifications but not Email.

Keep in mind that your source database should be kept up to date with clients that have opted out in case you choose to use a different email / sms provider as the new provider will not have the opt out list that the old provider has and you may end up sending messages again to your unsubscribed clients.