With so many salons and spas offering similar services, for many businesses, the quality of your treatments isn’t going to be what makes you stand out. It’s the quality of your customer service. Research conducted by Gartner found that customers are 82% more likely to remain loyal to a brand or company after they’ve received value from a customer service interaction, showing that it’s vital to give your guests that five-star service.
In this blog, we’ll explain how you can level up your customer service offering, retain more clients, and make a premium client experience the norm in your business, with insights from experts and tips on how you can leverage your salon or spa software to achieve this.
People Want Things to Be Personal
The professional hair and beauty industry is one where everything should center around your clients. The people that come to your salon or spa aren’t just visiting you to look better, but to feel better. Help your clients feel special by offering a personal and tailored experience that feels personal. This can be achieved by;
- Noting details, big and small, on their Phorest Client Card. This card should hold everything you need to know about your client to ensure you offer a highly personalised salon or spa experience every time they visit. From their drink order of choice to the names of family and friends, and any major life occasions that they share with you, each clients’ digital client card should give you information that you use to make their visit to the salon or spa one that’s perfect for them.
- Offering personalised services. Not all treatments suit all skin, hair, and body types. Make your clients feel special by carrying out detailed consultations before treatments or services and taking the time to map out a plan unique to them. Doing this will establish you as a professional in your field while also making sure your client feels valued and cared for more thoroughly.
- Create client personas. How well do you know your clients? If you asked, who would they say their heroes are? Who are their core friend group? What brands do they love? To get the answers to these questions, you must create some client personas with your team. Client personas are a great way to understand your key client groups on a deeper level, allowing you to understand better how to communicate with them and offer them an experience that they will love and tell all their peers about. (Hello, referrals!)
Staff Training is Essential for Great Customer Service
Your team touches every point of the customer experience journey, which is why it’s so important that they are trained properly and feel comfortable providing outstanding service. Invest in comprehensive training programmes for your team that give practical advice and solutions on all things customer service.
Similarly, working together to create a code of conduct that lays out exactly how clients should be treated when they visit your salon or spa is a great way of diversifying your customer service ethos and getting your team involved with best practices. Having a code of conduct also helps alleviate difficult conversations that may need to happen when a team member is slacking in this area.
Tip: Always create your code of conduct together with your team. This ensures everyone feels seen and appreciated, making your code of conduct more likely to be implemented practically.
Already have a successful training programme and rigid code of conduct? Go the extra mile by role-playing “staff vs client” or “secret shopping” scenarios in your salon or spa. This helps your team see things from their clients’ point of view, and can also help them identify and rectify any gaps in the customer experience journey.
Strive to Go The Extra Mile
Great customer service exceeds the client’s expectations. This can be achieved by “going the extra mile” and providing a service far beyond the expectations of an ordinary salon, spa, or clinic visit. Interestingly, this ethos guides the management of the luxurious hotel chain The Ritz-Carlton, who is known for its world-class customer service. Amazingly, staff members of this chain are encouraged to “wow” clients creatively and are allocated a daily budget of $2000 to do so! And it pays off, too. In studies conducted by peoplemetrics.com, it was found that a whopping 79% of Ritz-Carlton guests are “engaged” customers.
While most salons and spas don’t have the budget to spend huge amounts of money on individual guests, the principles remain the same. Why not budget a small kitty specifically for customer experiences, where money is allocated and used to really wow clients?
Examples could include:
- Paying to extend a clients’ parking ticket when it runs out due to their appointment taking longer than expected
- Investing in some umbrellas that clients can use when it’s raining, so they don’t ruin their fresh new hairstyle
- Buying a small bouquet of flowers for a client who has experienced a major life event
- Purchasing some art supplies or toys for children whose parents bring them to the salon.
- Asking clients what music they’d like to listen to (or whether they’d rather a silent service) during their salon or spa treatment.
When providing outstanding service like this, it’s the thought, not the cost, that counts.
Following Up After Their Visit
Encouraging your clients back to your business, over and over again, is one way to ensure reliable revenue and healthy client retention. To achieve this, it’s important to realize that exceptional customer service doesn’t stop when your clients leave the salon or spa. Here at Phorest, we understand the importance of returning clients, which is why we offer a range of features to keep these clients engaged with your business, including:
- Follow-up SMS and email messages asking clients to rate and review their experience of their visit, helping them feel their opinion is valued and helping you boost your online reviews.
- Free automated SMS and email messages for clients due to rebook, helping you reach out at the perfect time to secure a new booking
- Appointment rebooking prompts, integrated into your Phorest system and available on the purchase screen to stop your team from forgetting to ask clients to rebook, and to help them do so with confidence
- Client Reconnect, the industry-leading lapsed client identifier, which helps you reach out to clients who haven’t visited in their usual timeframe and invite them back in with a friendly email or SMS.
Tip: Reward regular clients with a salon or spa loyalty programme like Treatcard, giving them more “bang for their buck” and more reason to come in and spend their hard-earned money with you!
Make It Easy To Be a Client of Your Salon or Spa
Convenience is often overlooked in the client experience journey, but is a crucial factor if you want to provide top-tier customer service. In research done by Phorest, for 47% of customers, convenience was listed as the number one reason they stayed with their salon of choice!
We live in a world where people want things to be fast, comfortable, and simple, meaning they will choose a competitor business over yours if you cannot provide this. Make your salon easier for clients to visit by:
- Implementing an online booking system that’s easy to use and offers flexible scheduling and rescheduling options
- Offering video consultations for clients who can’t visit the salon for pre-treatment questionnaires or post-treatment follow-ups. This is a helpful tool specifically for clinics or spas with busy clients who want to save time while still generating revenue.
- Providing a range of retail products that clients can buy in the salon/spa or through your online store. Phorest’s expert recommendations feature also allows you to text a client some recommendations after their treatment for greater convenience.
- Reaching out via SMS or email with marketing material or reminders that allow clients to quickly and easily book an appointment and keep your business front of mind.
How Will You Implement Premium Customer Service in Your Spa or Salon Business?
In the competitive world of beauty and wellness, mastering premium customer service is a game-changer. The strategies we’ve explored above; forging personal connections, maintaining consistency, adding extra touches, and ensuring seamless convenience, are not just luxuries but necessities. By implementing these in your salon, clinic, or spa, you can start to transform casual clients into loyal advocates and elevate your business.
Not a Phorest client yet? See these features in action by booking your free demo today!
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