How to Attract & Retain Clients in Your Salon
A Cosmetologist's Retention Tip Guide
Getting clients to come to your salon, shop, or spa for the first time can be a battle.
That initial visit–all that work that goes from someone seeing your brand and booking with your brand–can be tough, expensive, and exhaustive. It’s for this reason that we don’t recommend only focusing on attracting new clients but retaining your clients, too.
Did you know it’s far more expensive to attract a new client than retain a current one? It’s true. Acquiring a new customer can cost up to 5x more than retaining a current one. Further, the success rate of selling to a customer you already have is about 60-70%, whereas selling to a new customer runs about a 5-20% rate of success.
This is why customer retention should be such a primary focus for your salon, spa, or shop.
What we’re not saying is to give up on attracting new clients. That’s the key to your continued success.
What we are saying is don’t put all your marketing dollars and efforts into the basket of just new clients–you have current clients that you’ve already pulled, and keeping them on board and coming back for more is the most cost-effective way to boost your profits.
We’ve probably already got you on board with the whole retain current clients and find ways to attract them to come back for more and more. But how exactly do you find ways to attract them to come back for more?
That’s where this blog has you covered! Keep reading to learn tips, tricks, and insights for attracting and retaining your current client base so they’re always coming back for more.
Top Tips for Attracting Clients Back to the Salon: How to Retain Your Clients
Keep Them Engaged Until They’re Back in the Chair
We’re never going to advise you to bug your clients–that’s bad brand philosophy, in our opinion. We do think you need to keep points of contact pretty continuous until they give you evidence they’re not interested.
That means you should make sure they’re staying engaged when they’re not in your salon.
What does this look like? Semi-regular emails, text reminders, surveys, discount codes, client check-ins, etc. –staying in touch and engaged is the key to getting clients back in the shop.
Think about it this way–being top of mind is super important to get a client back in your chair. How do you stay top of mind? Engage, engage, engage.
Rewards Programs for the Win
People love discounts, rewards, and prizes. Why? Because they’re incentives–and sometimes, customers need incentives to book.
Don’t take this personally–a client can absolutely love your services and you, but booking can sometimes be a hassle.
They’re more inclined to book regularly with you–and in advance–if they know they’re getting a little something extra out of the deal. Not sure how to set up a rewards or referral program?
We’ve got some advice on that in our loyalty program blog you should def check out.
Make Scheduling Easy & Seamless
Here’s the rough reality about working in a human-based business–they need the path of least resistance. We’re not insulting your clients; this is just a fact about humans–we’re more inclined to do something when it’s easy for us.
That means if the booking process is tricky, non-functioning, or too hard, we’re more than likely going to avoid it. Take the trouble out of the equation for your clients and make booking easy as can be.
With seamless software in place, regular reminders, and the option to book appointments in advance (ideally before they even leave the salon for their current appointment), you’ll make sure they’re set up to come back for more.
Evaluate Your Customer Experience Journey
If you’ve done this before, you probably feel like you might have your customer experience journey all figured out.
Unfortunately (and fortunately, too), this is a process that’s never-ending.
We get it–this constant reevaluation and evolution can be a little annoying, but if you’re constantly evaluating the best way to serve your customers, you’re creating more opportunities for them to enjoy their experience.
Enhancing their experience from start to finish is a key technique to ensure they’re coming back for more.
Want a pro tip in this regard? Talk to your clients about their experience. What do they like? What do they dislike? What could be done better? Then–and here’s the real kicker–listen to them.
Got some of your own retainer tips? Tell us all about ‘em!
Remember, above all; we’re a community here. That means we’re down to share your advice and insight with the rest of the EBS cosmetology community.
It’s not just about what we think–it’s about what you (as beauty pro experts!) think, too. So, drop a comment, send us a reply, and share the good insight with the rest of the Elite Beauty Society fam.
Want to make sure you’re always in the know when it comes to your beauty career? We’ve got killer advice to take you further–and we’re dropping it on the reg.
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