It’s easy for salon and spa owners to be swept up in the day-to-day operations of running the business; there’s a lot to do! You aren’t just doing one job, you’re likely doing many. From one hour to the next you might be a manager, the sales team, the marketing director, accountant, mentor, and maybe even a service provider with your own clients. And sometimes, in the midst of wearing and changing all of these hats, you might lose track of one of the most important aspects of building a successful business: developing strong client relationships.
You might not realize that salon management software can help you develop stronger relationships with your clients, but, drawing from our experience, we have learned that salon software can indeed help you accomplish this goal. Now, we’ve got some great tips on how you can leverage those tools to engage, nurture, and build those relationships while also making your business look great.
Why Customer Relationship Management Is Critical To Your Business
Strong client relationships are the backbone of every small business. Your customers do more for your salon or spa than simply book appointments and pay for their services. They are also your connection to your community, your street level marketers, the ones who sing your praises and make those referrals that help grow your business. And so, it’s critical that they have positive experiences and perceptions of your salon or spa business.
The better you serve your customers, the better your business will do. And the more you do to meet your customers’ needs, the happier they will be. Happy customers become repeat customers who will also bring in more business in the form of their friends, family, and neighbors. So meeting their needs should be at the top of your to-list as a business owner. The best way to do that is to pair excellent salon and spa services with the conveniences and automation of salon software.
Bring Salon Software Convenience To Your Customers with Online Booking
Appointment scheduling is not generally a task that people enjoy. If your salon booking is complicated, time-consuming, or limited to the hours that your business is open, you risk losing your customers to other businesses that use a more convenient booking system. Offering your customers an appointment booking experience that is easy for them also encourages booking more frequently.
The top convenience of an online booking solution is that it enables salon customers to book appointments when they have the time to do it, and not just when the salon is open. Many people simply don’t have time during the business day to manage their appointment scheduling; they rely on online booking to make their appointments. And your customers who juggle jam-packed family and work calendars may need the extra time it takes to closely compare their calendars to the available appointment times on your booking page to make sure they minimize potential conflicts. Doing this over the phone, in a rushed call, on an all-too-brief lunch break isn’t ideal – and for some of your customers it might just not be possible at all. Further, if a conflict does arise they will need to go through the scheduling process all over again. This can lead to clients canceling without rebooking and delaying making appointments for weeks or even months. Both scenarios lead to a loss of income for you and your service providers.
Meet your clients’ needs, and give them a positive booking experience with your salon or spa by using a great booking software. They’ll be impressed with the ease of booking (and rescheduling when necessary) and you’ll be on your way to building a positive relationship from their very first experience with your business.
Building Customer Loyalty With Salon Management Software
One of the best ways to strengthen your customer relationships is to create reward and loyalty programs. These programs establish a commitment between the client and your business. There are a couple of ways that you can do this with your salon and spa management software. Some of the most popular programs are reward points, memberships, and packages. Let’s take a look at each type of program.
Loyalty Rewards
Reward points programs are easy to implement and your salon software does the heavy lifting for you. And customers like to earn discounts, so reward programs can encourage a little nudge in spending today to earn a discount on a service or product that they will need at their next visit.
You can customize your reward points program to help drive certain types of sales, such as retail products. You’ll also want to let your customers apply their reward points to salon or spa services. Using points can be a great enticement to add services to their bookings or try new services that they might be considering but haven’t committed to yet. Doing it at a discount can be the deciding factor. And if they love it, chances are great that they’ll rebook for the service again – and pay the full price.
Monthly Memberships
Monthly memberships are a very attractive program for your frequent customers and are an easy way for you to generate recurring revenue. Create a monthly membership that offers a selection of services at a fixed, discounted price. You can use your salon management software to look through your services by sales to decide which to include in the membership. Including some of your most popular services is the best way to encourage membership sales!
For hair salons, your package might look something like this: 3 blowouts, 2 hair styling appointments, unlimited bang trims, and 10% off of all retail products.
For your massage and spa business, a package might include: 1 facial or 60 minute massage, 1 manicure or pedicure at 50% off, and 15% off of all retail products.
Packages
Packages are essentially bundled services with either a discounted price or an extra service included for free. You can use packages to increase add-on sales and to encourage repeat business. Packages might be set up by themes, such as a “staycation package” that includes a pedicure and 30 minute massage and a “getaway package” that offers a deluxe pedicure and 60 minute massage. The key is to offer a range of packages and prices so that you have something that appeals to every level of customer, from the newcomer to the frequent visitor.
Once you create your loyalty programs in your salon management system, it will keep track of your customers’ reward points, memberships, and packages as they are applied to your customer’s accounts. So, you won’t be creating any extra work for you or staff to keep up with each customers’ current program status.
The Best Salon Software Tools For Improving Communication With Customers
Effective communication with your customers is essential for building strong, lasting client relationships. The best salon management software programs will keep your clients informed and engaged with your spa or beauty salon business. Meanwhile, your clients will be pleasantly reminded of the thoughtful details that make your salon or spa stand out above the rest.
Using the right software will make communication with your customers virtually effortless. Tailor your messaging in appointment reminders and confirmations to include a personal touch. Send follow-up messages thanking your customers for visiting (and maybe ask for an online review!). Send a happy birthday message to your clients and include a special offer encouraging them to treat themselves on their birthday.
Personalize promotions with email marketing campaigns that target the right customers at the right time. Automated marketing is a powerful tool that will help you drive business and increase revenue, even during those typically slow times of the year. It doesn’t require much time to create a marketing campaign, and (with an all-in-one salon software that has business management and reporting tools) you can leverage your business data and analytics to create marketing promotions to achieve specific goals.
Automate Your Client Management Tasks
The most important thing you can do to build strong client relationships is to provide exceptional services and make your clients feel like you are genuinely invested in them. These actions take time, and you can’t devote the time necessary to provide great client care if you’re bogged down with tedious operations tasks. Investing in a salon scheduling software will take many of these tasks off of your plate and give you back the time you need to build better client relationships.
Top salon software automates tasks such as appointment confirmations and reminders, follow-up messages, inventory management, and marketing emails. These features, coupled with the online salon booking system, will help you recover hours in your day that you can redirect toward client care.
Mobile App Salon Software Features
A cloud-based salon software program that has mobile capability will further streamline your client management tasks, so you can work more efficiently and effectively. Having business and client information at your fingertips gives you the freedom to leave your office desk behind. You can quickly navigate client data, history, and notes; search appointments; access scheduling and more – without having to leave your clients’ side to get to a computer.
Not only does this mean you don’t have to walk away from your client during their time with you, it also makes you and your business look great: organized, efficient, cutting edge, and attentive. These characteristics will give your customers confidence in your salon or spa, and confidence leads to trust which leads to loyalty.
Build Stronger Client Relationships And Grow Your Business With STX Software
If you’re looking for a top salon management solution with all of the features discussed in this blog post, STX Software is your number one choice. STX is an award-winning salon and spa software that will give you the edge you need to run a thriving business and have time to build strong client relationships.
You can give us a call at (800) 766-4778 or visit our website to book a live demo with our team. Contact us today to learn more about STX!