Nowadays, it is one of the most common things when looking for a new salon to check them out online first. It gives you, as a potential new client a better idea of the business and if it is the right fit for you. Therefore, hearing from previous experiences and what others think of the salon, is crucial for people these days, before making a decision. There are many review platforms out there: Facebook offers a review section for Pages, Yelp is overall popular for local businesses, but if you are looking for salon-specific review sites, SalonSpy in the UK is the way to go. But, remember if you do, it’s important to keep them up to date, make sure you have correct opening hours, contact details and pricing on there, to avoid disappointment, especially if you are using SalonSpy.
From a 1-star traumatic experience to 5-star raving customers, you will probably encounter both of them. Though customer reviews range in thoroughness and comprehensibility, they do hold a powerful effect on the behaviour of your audience and performance of your salon. Having an online culture, people being constantly online, it is no surprise that the number of online consumers who read and trust online reviews is increasing (Forbes, 2015). It is therefore important to keep an overall positive profile online, in order to grow and maintain your business.
Bright Local carried out a local consumer review survey and found out that 92% of consumers now read online reviews, and 40% out of those form an opinion on the 1-2 reviews they read. A further 68% say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more. (Source: http://bit.ly/29hKyhf)
As you can see from the statistics, online reviews are highly important in today’s culture.
Therefore, you need to invest time to protect and manage your online brand. Meaning, when you get a review you need to engage with your reviewers. If you skip on the reviews, or simply are not getting any you might be missing out on a great marketing opportunity. So why do we think online reviews are important? Simple, because word of mouth, if it’s online or in person, is still one of the best ways of advertising. It is honest, reliable and simple. We have compiled a few tips on how you can tackle online reviews.
Understand your client and encourage reviews
This is a good way to find out what clients think and it gives you an opportunity to improve and respond to your clients. However, convincing your clients to write you a review, isn’t always easy. Keep in mind that when you are reaching out that these are your paying customers and they are opinionated with either positive or negative feelings about your business. Listen to the feedback from your clients. Think about what they say might be true. There is always room for improvement, and if you adapt changes due to what clients say they feel like you listen to them and take their opinions serious, they feel valued as your clients.
Provide the best possible customer service
If you provide first class service, people won’t have any reason for critique. Happy customers are more likely to agree on leaving you a good review, raving about your services. If you ask loyal clients, they’ll probably be happy to do so. After all, there is a reason they are loyal to your salon and services.
Dealing with negative reviews
However, no matter how hard you are trying to achieve excellence, sometimes you just have one of those days where everything goes wrong and you are facing a negative response. You will always face the odd client who is dissatisfied with the service. But what is the best way to deal with negative reviews? Don’t try to hide your negative reviews. Respond to them as soon as you see them, which shows others you are listening and acting in a professional and civilised manner. It won’t get any better if you wait too long, or simply ignore the negative response. Take on any advice for improvements from the review, no matter how harsh it might be. A blend of good and bad reviews shows that you aren’t trying to hide anything.
Think about rewards
This doesn’t mean that you offer incentives in order to get reviews. It smacks of bribery if you do so. This will be more for someone that has left you a review, just as a little thank you. It might be someone has left a ‘positive-over-the-moon’ review, you might want to offer them a discount when they're booking their next appointment. It makes clients feel appreciated and simultaneously they might return to the salon sooner rather than later. Ask those clients as well if you can use it for promotional purposes. It might go well in salon testimonials or on your social media accounts and just creates a little extra advertising for your salon.
Make sure all of your Staff is on board
Consider addressing the topic of reviews in regular staff meeting. Make sure, everyone is on the same boat and understands the importance of that matter. Make sure everyone understands the ways of encouraging customers to leave a review but not to bribe them for them. However, you can run staff incentives and gifts for your employees, encouraging them to get client reviews.
Salon Tracker Software offers a SMS and Email feature, where the salon can send out an automatic text after a client’s appointment, asking them for a review with a direct link to your preferred review platform. You can enable the system to send this out to every single client or the ones you prefer.
Overall, studies have proven that people do read online reviews and it has major influence on their decision making. This is especially important for the Hair and Beauty industry since reviews are often personal and reflect the business accurately. Many people these days trust online opinions before booking an appointment at a new salon. The more reviews you have and the more honest they are, the more products you are going to sell. Just make sure the negative ones don’t overwhelm the positive ones. Therefore, it is important to take online reviews serious and to keep your salon profile up to date. Not only are they important to a vast variety of people, they’re also responsible for your business growth.
Bright Local carried out a local consumer review survey and found out that 92% of consumers now read online reviews, and 40% out of those form an opinion on the 1-2 reviews they read. A further 68% say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more. (Source: http://bit.ly/29hKyhf)
As you can see from the statistics, online reviews are highly important in today’s culture.
Therefore, you need to invest time to protect and manage your online brand. Meaning, when you get a review you need to engage with your reviewers. If you skip on the reviews, or simply are not getting any you might be missing out on a great marketing opportunity. So why do we think online reviews are important? Simple, because word of mouth, if it’s online or in person, is still one of the best ways of advertising. It is honest, reliable and simple. We have compiled a few tips on how you can tackle online reviews.
Understand your client and encourage reviews
This is a good way to find out what clients think and it gives you an opportunity to improve and respond to your clients. However, convincing your clients to write you a review, isn’t always easy. Keep in mind that when you are reaching out that these are your paying customers and they are opinionated with either positive or negative feelings about your business. Listen to the feedback from your clients. Think about what they say might be true. There is always room for improvement, and if you adapt changes due to what clients say they feel like you listen to them and take their opinions serious, they feel valued as your clients.
Provide the best possible customer service
If you provide first class service, people won’t have any reason for critique. Happy customers are more likely to agree on leaving you a good review, raving about your services. If you ask loyal clients, they’ll probably be happy to do so. After all, there is a reason they are loyal to your salon and services.
Dealing with negative reviews
However, no matter how hard you are trying to achieve excellence, sometimes you just have one of those days where everything goes wrong and you are facing a negative response. You will always face the odd client who is dissatisfied with the service. But what is the best way to deal with negative reviews? Don’t try to hide your negative reviews. Respond to them as soon as you see them, which shows others you are listening and acting in a professional and civilised manner. It won’t get any better if you wait too long, or simply ignore the negative response. Take on any advice for improvements from the review, no matter how harsh it might be. A blend of good and bad reviews shows that you aren’t trying to hide anything.
Think about rewards
This doesn’t mean that you offer incentives in order to get reviews. It smacks of bribery if you do so. This will be more for someone that has left you a review, just as a little thank you. It might be someone has left a ‘positive-over-the-moon’ review, you might want to offer them a discount when they're booking their next appointment. It makes clients feel appreciated and simultaneously they might return to the salon sooner rather than later. Ask those clients as well if you can use it for promotional purposes. It might go well in salon testimonials or on your social media accounts and just creates a little extra advertising for your salon.
Make sure all of your Staff is on board
Consider addressing the topic of reviews in regular staff meeting. Make sure, everyone is on the same boat and understands the importance of that matter. Make sure everyone understands the ways of encouraging customers to leave a review but not to bribe them for them. However, you can run staff incentives and gifts for your employees, encouraging them to get client reviews.
Salon Tracker Software offers a SMS and Email feature, where the salon can send out an automatic text after a client’s appointment, asking them for a review with a direct link to your preferred review platform. You can enable the system to send this out to every single client or the ones you prefer.
Overall, studies have proven that people do read online reviews and it has major influence on their decision making. This is especially important for the Hair and Beauty industry since reviews are often personal and reflect the business accurately. Many people these days trust online opinions before booking an appointment at a new salon. The more reviews you have and the more honest they are, the more products you are going to sell. Just make sure the negative ones don’t overwhelm the positive ones. Therefore, it is important to take online reviews serious and to keep your salon profile up to date. Not only are they important to a vast variety of people, they’re also responsible for your business growth.
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