South Africans are terrible customers! A recent marketing study found that only one in fifty-six South African customers are moved to complain about bad service. The rest don’t want to create a scene or hurt anyone’s feelings, so they just walk away and they never come back to your Spa. Customers do talk, for example, an unhappy customer can tell up to ten other people about their bad experience. That’s ten people who most likely live near your Spa who now have an unfavourable view of your business. Customers do talk – the trick in our day and age is to get customers to talk to you.
“Your customer database is your target market. It deserves all your attention and your highest priority” Michael Gerber
One way marketing is dead. Stop thinking about marketing campaigns and start thinking about marketing conversations. The world has changed, with the rise of Google, Facebook, twitter, mobile marketing and the like, customers’ expectations have changed. Customers want to be able to hold two way conversations with businesses. So, from now on make sure that you use marketing that is interactive and allows your customer to communicate with you. Here are a few ideas on how to get your database to talk to you.
1. Create safe forums for customers to talk to you.
In other words, make it easy for people to talk to you. Today, technology gives us so many tools and opportunities to do so. The great news is, most of these opportunities are either free of low cost. Here are two simple ideas. Before you implement any of these ideas, please make sure that you and your staff train and educate the customer how to use them and then reward customers for doing so.
Idea # 1: Consistently send out after service sms’s to all of your customers.
Very few Spa’s actually follow-up twenty four hours after their customers have paid for their treatments. I guarantee you that if you follow-u consistently by using sms, you will differentiate yourself from all the other spa’s in your trading zone. Below is a sample of sms templates that you can customise and use in your Spa.
Dear <FIRST> thank you for visiting ABC Spa. Please let us know your satisfaction level. Reply text 1, 2, or 3. 1=poor 2=average 3=great.
Dear <First Name> You are a VIP. If you are not completely satisfied with your nails or nail tech, sms HELP to and we will gladly fix the problem
Dear <First Name> You are a VIP. If you are not completely satisfied with your treatment or therapist, sms HELP to and we will gladly fix the problem
Smsing a keyword or a number back to the Spa is non-threatening, quick, cheap and easy for the consumer.
Idea # 2: Setup a Facebook page and reward clients for their comments, compliments and complaints
Social media is currently the number one online activity and sites like like Facebook now influence consumers purchasing decisions. If your business has trusted fans it is deemed to be a trustworthy credible business. Whatsmore, if those fans rave about you you, you have a bunch of credible, unbiased customer testimonials at your disposal. In short, your competitors are on Facebook and many of your customers have been there for a long time so make sure your business is there.
2. Always have a call to action in all of your marketing material.
One of the easiest methods of getting your database to talk to you is include a call to action in all your marketing material. From now on, think of your all your marketing, whether electronic or print, as salesmanship. In other words, every method of marketing you use must do the work of a sales rep. Your signage, business card, treatment menu, brochure, website, Facebook page, everything must do one job – sell more products and services. It must sell your business, your treatments and your staff to the customer. Your menu must give an invitation and a compelling reason for people to do business with you. To do this, every piece of marketing must contain a call to action. Before you create any marketing materials, start with the end in mind. Decide how you want your customer
By purpose, I mean decide very specific, what is the physical action you want your customers to take as a result of coming into contact with your marketing. Do you want your customer to pick up the phone, send an email, come in to the Spa or experience a product demo? What specific thing do you want your customer to do immediately after they have been exposed to your marketing message? You have to be 100% clear about it, if you aren’t clear, your customer won’t be. All marketing must have a purpose and that purpose is to grab customer’s attention and cause them to do something. – to respond. Some response mechanisms are better than others. In the world of marketing, some call’s to action work better than others. The quicker, simpler, cheaper and easier it is for your customer to take action, the better the response rate. Some of the best response mechanisms are;
1. Sms your Name to and we will contact you…
2. Phone “this number” now and we will…
3. Come visit our Spa for your…
Please note that in many instances, the medium will determine the best response mechanism. What response mechanism do you want for your treatment menu? What response mechanism do you want for your website? What response mechanism do you want for your signage? Don’t be vague; what is the exact outcome you want. Close your eyes and visualise a consumer who has just read, heard or viewed your message. The prospect is smiling and interested. What must she do next? Be clear about it. If you can convince one person to take action, then you can convince thousands. For example: The purpose of (insert your business name here) ……………………………..Spa’s marketing is to motivate members of our target market to
Once you know exactly what action you want your customer to take, the next thing you have to do is to build that “call to action” into every, yes, I said every piece of marketing material you create. This includes your business cards, your sign, treatment menu, website, your company story – in short everything! Do this and you will find spa success inevitable.
Get proactive and reach out to your customer first.
For information on how to conduct quick, hassle free after sales sms’s, Facebook or Twitter marketing contact Vaughan on 0827863223 or e-mail: Vaughan@salonstudio.co.za
