How to Attract, Excite and Retain Customers For Your Salon
The art of attracting salon customers is a skill we must master to survive in business today.
New customers can help replace visits that naturally fall away and build appointments for new or progressing team members. The number you need depends on what you want the business to do and how existing customers are returning.
Without customers, you don’t have a business!
Look at the whole experience you are offering, including what happens before the first appointment and after the customer leaves.
Let’s first look at what you know when a customer has not booked again. There may be more than one explanation.
You will not keep every new customer, and that does not mean each visit went wrong. Someone may be visiting the area, looking for a one-off service or not yet due to return.
Look at your own return visits over a suitable period. Then ask what you know about the experience and whether the service was a good fit. A rebooking made at checkout and a completed return appointment tell you different things.
That gives you more to work with than treating an old industry percentage as the result your salon should expect.
There are three parts worth looking at together: how people first hear about the salon, what they expect from the appointment and what happens after they leave.
Think about a business where you have received a lovely experience yourself. What did they make clear before you arrived, and what made you want to return?
Successful salons realise that attracting the right type of customer and over-delivering on service by using the digital marketing tools we have at our fingertips is the key to connecting and nurturing new customers to become raving fans of their products and services.
So focusing on the valuable rebooking process is key. Obviously, there will be customers who don’t return because they are passing through town or are on holiday, and you will get people who only come once because that’s about as often as they come!!
Here lies the main point I want to talk about… you need to get really good at attracting the type of customers who are a good fit right from the get-go.
If new customers are not returning when you would reasonably expect them to, customer fit is one thing to explore. The consultation, result, service experience and communication may also need a look.
I have seen salons where its direction completely shifts from the vision the owner wanted because of an unconscious choice to open the doors to all, not focus on the work they wanted to and attract a clientele that controlled the vibe. The salon owners find themselves stressed, out of alignment, their passion has dwindled and they feel trapped.
And it’s understandable when you have rent and wages to pay plus stylists books to fill. It’s easy to go for the deals and discounts plus use cheap marketing tricks to attract anyone to your salon with just the day’s revenue in mind.
Before repeating a promotion, check who it brought in, what they booked and whether they returned. The first day’s revenue does not tell you the whole result.
Attract the right customers with your brand
So what can you do to work on your new customer retention rates and start to gain confidence in spending your marketing dollars? Unapologetically define who you want to serve and get to work!
Unsexy? Maybe… essential? ABSOLUTELY!!
Take some time to get this dialled in because it is a task that must be done so you can set this whole customer attraction, excite and retain experience into motion. Plus it gives you the framework for your brand… that’s who you are, what you care about and who you want to serve.
If you just want to serve everybody, you will not be doing anyone, most of all yourself, any favours. Getting clear on how you want to be viewed as a brand is very important in attracting your desired tribe.
MAKE IT CLEAR WHO YOUR SERVICES ARE DESIGNED TO HELP
This is where I begin in the Customer Experience Framework: deciding who the service is for and what experience you want to provide.
Once you are clear on who you want to serve and have spent some time really getting to know them, then it’s time to unpack more in Phase 1 of the Customer Experience Framework. Find out how you can make these ideal customers aware of you, start building a relationship and attracting them to your salon.
Focusing on the customer’s experience only once they are in your salon is a common mistake I see salon owners make. The reality is that there should be a structure around who, how, when and what you do to attract as many great quality customers into your salon as possible… that requires looking at the customer experience before they step foot into your salon.
Digital marketing plays a hugely important role in developing your Customer Experience Framework. That includes your social platforms, website and email, and they all give you so many opportunities to build relationships and show new potential customers who you are.
BLOW THEM AWAY WITH YOUR SALON EXPERIENCE
If the customer’s experience changes unexpectedly from visit to visit, look at the structures and training that support it.
Consistency deserves attention. Customers need to understand what they can expect from your salon and see that reflected in the service.
Look, I understand that it can be challenging. We are all artists and love our individuality, unique style and way of doing things.
A shared standard does not mean every stylist has to sound or work identically. Customers can receive individual advice while still getting the consultation, price explanation and care your salon promises.
It’s easy to get hung up on providing a space for your stylists to do what they want and being flexible, but your salon needs a consistent customer experience if you want to be a destination salon or if you want to ensure that you survive if a stylist leaves.
What is being a destination salon all about…?
Well, it’s all very good to just rely on passing trade, but in reality, you need to work smarter and not harder to attract customers that come to your salon because they align with your brand.
A consistent salon experience can help clients build trust in the wider team, as well as their own stylist. Some may still choose to follow that stylist elsewhere.
CONSISTENCY HELPS CUSTOMERS KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT
To create consistency, you need to have structure for your in-salon experience so the standard of care is consistent, while the conversation and service still fit the individual customer.
This comes down to your salon having an aligned culture and values system that is developed through Empowered Leadership.
Are you getting your team on board with how you want the salon to run and do you all share a common set of standards that you want to operate under?
How is your salon training around procedures and the standards that you want to reliably perform at?
FOLLOW UP FROM THE HEART
How does follow-up work in your salon?
- How do you reach out to customers that have been before but not returned?
- How do you communicate with your regular customers on an ongoing basis?
- What message do you send to people about your brand after their first, second or third visits, or the purchase of a product?
- Are you getting positive 5-star reviews to add to your social and website pages?
Retaining, engaging and building relationships with customers is up to us to get right. We need to be the pursuer in the relationship… and not in a sleazy way… they want to know we care!
There are so many ways you can do this with all the amazing tools that digital marketing has to offer.
Choose follow-up that is useful for the customer and appropriate to what they have agreed to receive. Review actual return visits and the relationship over time, alongside what the work contributes to the business.
Tracking return visits can show you where to look more closely. Ask for the customer’s experience where appropriate; the figures alone cannot tell you why they did or did not return.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE FIRST APPOINTMENT?
The work you put into attracting a suitable customer still matters. Looking at what happens afterwards helps you understand whether that first appointment is becoming the relationship you hoped for.
Looking at your individual stylist’s retention, upsell and retail statistics will help you identify what is going on in your salon. In my salon teaching, nurture means giving attention to what happens after the visit and choosing follow-up that is relevant to that customer.
We communicate with them in a way that encourages the relationship to develop beyond the salon. This puts us top of mind and means we are relevant to their needs.
Follow-up does take time to prepare and maintain. Start with one useful purpose, such as checking how a customer is managing advice from their appointment, and choose an appropriate way to make contact.
New-customer marketing and follow-up do different jobs. If you are spending time bringing people in but do not know what happens after their first visit, give that part of the journey some attention before deciding where more marketing effort will help.
Choose one part you can keep doing well. Review the response and actual return visits over an appropriate period, rather than judging the relationship by a single message.
Doing the ‘hard work’ may not be sexy, but it is what gives you a better chance at a successful business.
