How Gift Vouchers Increase Customer Spend and Improve Client Retention

Marketing is extremely important to the succession of every business. For those of you that regularly follow our feed, we have wrote a lot of blogs in the past offering our advice and pointers to help you with your marketing strategies. There are many different ways in which to advertise your brand and promote your goods & services, and one that we haven’t highlighted in some time is gift vouchers.

It seems like such a simple topic to discuss, and you would think that a lot of people already have a gift voucher system implemented within their business, but you would be surprised how many don’t and you could be missing out on a simple opportunity. Obviously, there is a small outgoing for the design and manufacture of your gift vouchers, however once you weigh this up against other marketing tactics, you’ll find that the cost isn’t that expensive in comparison. The plus point with gift vouchers is, you are usually getting a direct return on that marketing cost as those customers will visit the salon as a result of receiving a voucher. Especially if this is a new customer, it is a great way to acquire new clients for your salon database.

So what are our main reasons for why we think you should introduce a gift voucher scheme?

Boosts Brand Awareness & Increases Up-selling

Your gift vouchers are a direct representation of your brand, a visual marketing product, and therefore they need to clearly include your company motto and logo to generate brand awareness. Especially for new customers, they need to be able to clearly identify your company in order to be able to recognise it in the future.

Gift vouchers are predominantly purchased as gifts for other people by your customers. However, you have to promote your gift vouchers in order for your clients to be aware that you actually offer them. The displaying of those is something that you have to think about, as you’ll find a lot of the time customers are more inclined to make impulse purchases of gift vouchers if they are displayed somewhere directly in their eye-line.

Cash desks are a brilliant way to up-sell your gift vouchers, as you catch the client post-treatment, in which hopefully this was a positive visit with you and therefore this could be your opportunity to sell! Create a script for your staff members to prompt the offering of a gift voucher to all customers. Ask the customer if they have a birthday coming up, or an event that they need a gift for? We know sometimes, sales scripts can be a bit deterring for staff, and therefore to improve the action of this, why not run a mini incentive between your therapists. Maybe offer a prize for the highest amount of gift vouchers sold per month?

Boost Your Profits

Gift vouchers often entice people in to the salon to purchase something, especially if they are a regular customer and usually spend a lot of money with you. With a gift voucher, for long-standing customers it’s almost as if they are getting their usual treatment for free. And so this time they might purchase that little extra retail product with their own money that they maybe wouldn’t normally do, this evidently increasing your sales. If the client holding the gift voucher is a new customer, this is great too as in most cases, the chances are the customer will purchase more with you than the actual value of the voucher itself.

Increase the amount of New Customers

A main aim of any business is to generate and acquire new customers, to improve company succession year on year. Your marketing strategy plays a large part in that, and we believe gift vouchers really add to client retention.

As we have just mentioned, the majority of people whom receive your gift cards may be unfamiliar with your business, and this could be their reason to try out your salon services. It is therefore important to ensure that your products and services are clearly visible for this potential new client to see. Make sure that your product lists are up to date on all of your social networks. If you already have a website, ensure that there are client testimonials on there, to promote your good work in the past. Make sure you highlight the links to your website and social media pages on the voucher itself. This prompts the client to go and visit those pages, in which another plus point is if you offer online booking, they may just arrange their appointment there and then.

Customised Promotions

What sort of gift voucher do you want to offer? Typical vouchers go up in denominations of £10, so for example £10, £20 to £50. However, what about offering specific vouchers dependent on the time of year, or to tie-in with an event? Say you do a charity event, and for all sales you make you donate a particular amount of that profit to charity. Why not create percentage-off coupons as an incentive for clients to make those larger purchases at those events?

Another simple idea would be to create a money off coupon for your quieter times of the year. For example, once the Bank Holidays are over, maybe offer a free £5, or £10 gift voucher for customers to redeem against all services that are over £50. Or when it comes to the quieter period after Christmas, run something similar where you could offer a small money-off coupon to all clients who book an appointment before the end of Jan?

Money-off vouchers tend to actually make the client buy more with you, as if they usually spend say £50/£60 at the salon, but you’re offering them £10 off, they may then just add on a small retail product for that price as potentially they are getting that free. If that is the case, it means that they will actually end up spending the same amount of money with you that they normally would, or potentially a little bit more.


If you would like any further information on how we can help you with your gift vouchers, request your FREE demo & trial at http://bit.ly/RGeGVd or call our office on 0113 350 8230. We can design the vouchers in house for you and implement those in to your salon software programme.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Salon Tracker x

Salon Tracker Feature of the Month: Online Booking

This month we're talking about why it is important to offer online booking and how Salon Tracker can help you get the best out of your software with our online features. Did you know that there are countless reasons that offering online booking is not just important - but rather a must when it comes moving forward with customers? 

"Research has shown that 70% of Facebook users interacting with Facebook daily and the average Smartphone user picking up their phone about 1,500 times a week". That is this crazy but I have to say I am definitely guilty of this. 

Moving with the time also means being up to date with what the internet has to offer. 

There are many advantages for your salon why online booking is profitable. It is a much quicker and more convenient way to just grab your mouse or your smartphone and book online. For Salons, it is important to stay on top and adapt to changes in technology. More and more people using their phones and the internet to do everyday tasks, such as banking and even their grocery shopping. No wonder it is expected from other businesses to offer the same service. Furthermore, you can offer customers the ability to book an appointment even when the salon is closed. Meaning, you could lose serious business if you don’t offer online booking but everyone around you does. New customer might be booking with the competition, because the process is easier and more convenient for them. 

To make sure you are moving with the crowd, here at Salon Tracker we offer different ways how you can offer online booking to your customers.


Facebook:

Signing up to Facebook and creating a business page is not just easy but also free. You should definitely take advantage of this as a salon Facebook page not only gives you the opportunity to connect with customers, it is also an easy way to promote your services, offers and updates. Make sure you let your customers know about your page in order for them to follow or like you. 

Moreover, Facebook is a great way to offer online booking as it is an easy implementation and you don’t need a website for your customers to book from. Salon Tracker’s Online Booking works through installing a widget to your Facebook page. Clients will get a unique login as they are already logged into Facebook accounts. Salon Tracker’s database will recognise their accounts, meaning the client can then access their personal salon account online and make bookings.


Website: 

Salon websites are still one of the best solutions in order to offer online booking. Websites are usually the first place new customers encounter your salon, as they have typed your name or keywords into a search engine such a Google or Bing. Your website can be accessed on a PC, tablet or smartphone, meaning customers are given a flexible option to book their appointments through various devices. Remember to make sure your website is mobile friendly and adapts to different screen sizes. 

Online booking through your website or the app is also a quick way to register new customer details. This saves time at the salon when they come in and don’t to collect their details. Same as Facebook booking, Salon Tracker will add an online booking widget to your website that synchronises with your calendar. You don’t have to worry about double bookings and appointment confirmation as the system does it all for you.


Mobile App:

A mobile app is a great addition to your salon’s website or even if you currently don’t have a salon website. The great thing about the app is that customers can make a bookings, check upcoming appointments or their salon account wherever they are, anytime they want. The app is available on any smartphone or tablet and synchronises instantly with your Salon Tracker system. Customers that book through the app will only be given available time slots and the booking will appear in the calendar without you needing to confirm anything with the customer.

No matter what option the customer chooses, your system will automatically notify you about any new bookings, as well as if the customer chose Facebook, your website or the app to book from.

There are plenty of options your customers can use our online booking features and this will certainly help to make the customer journey seamless. All online booking options are available on our Enterprise subscription. If you have any questions about any of the features or would like to Trial the software yourself then click here http://www.salontracker.co.uk/FreeTrial.aspx and our team will arrange this for you.

Salon Tracker x

Last Minute Up-selling and Easter Promo Ideas

Easter is arriving later for us this year, but this is a brilliant benefit to all you salon owners as you are in the height of spring and we all know that this is a great time of year for business. The mild weather begins, there are all the May bank hols approaching and many clients have got their late-spring holidays booked, so they’re looking to you for their pre-holiday pampers!

You may have read our post a couple of weeks ago where we looked at spring marketing advice. This week we’re going to discuss last minute promotions for your Easter campaigns, including retail up-selling!

A great planning technique for the Easter period, especially when it is later in the year, is to take advantage of upcoming events that are happening around the same time. One that’s always a winner is wedding season! Lots of people arrange their weddings from mid-April through to October, and so what a great way to tie-in your Easter discounts for those whose weddings are soon approaching? You’ll be tying 2 event discounts under one, saving you money in the long run – winning!

And it’s like we always say, if you are going to discount then national holidays are a great time to do so, as everyone will be holding some kind of promotion or event. This way you’re not differentiating yourselves from competitors as the ‘salon that discounts’ as everyone will be! Try to tactically discount though, for example promote your least popular or really expensive treatments, to improve their desirability a little.

Spring is always a good time for clients to freshen up, maybe they perhaps go for a new lighter style and experiment with the latest trends. Create something as simple as an E-Newsletter or an SMS marketing campaign that you can use to advertise your latest Spring-services to clients. Maybe add a link to your Instagram page or website to showcase your client testimonials, or your service gallery to entice clients even further.

And furthermore, SMS marketing is extremely important and useful in itself aside from just reaching clients with newsletters. SMS is an instant and direct way to communicate with clients throughout the Easter and Spring period, whether this be for event notifications, info on a new product, to advertise a new discounted service or even simply just to wish your clients a ‘Happy Easter’. A little message often goes a long way and therefore planning SMS marketing in to your Easter campaigns is definitely something that we would recommend.

We’ve always said that we believe that the key to excellent retail sales is how the products themselves are presented. Think about it, if you go in to a clothing store, you see an outfit displayed on a mannequin that you may never have looked twice at before - but you then go out of your way and find that particular top, or pair of trousers for a second look. Similarly if you go in to a Supermarket, you see a messy isle of confectionery, with no prices displayed and only a few lone products remaining on the shelves. This scenario would be off-putting, and therefore this is why the visual presentation of your products is key to the success of add-on sales. Ideas that we have include:

· Gift Table – Highlight your products on a table display, maybe with gift decorations, some fancy Easter accessories and ensure that these are in the direct eye-line of your customers when they are entering and leaving the salon.

· Festive Décor – I recently visited a hotel and they had lots of really simple Easter trees with little self-decorated eggs as baubles scattered around the communal guest areas. For me, this was a really lovely touch as it made the place feel really welcoming and homely, so much so we stayed for a couple of drinks in the guest lounge before eating out in the City. From that personal experience, I would definitely recommend some festive detail, it’s definitely true that atmosphere improves consumer spending habits, as I have fallen straight in to the category recently!

· Promote your Best Sellers! Run a report and see which of your retail products are really selling well, make sure that these are primarily displayed above all other products, as the likelihood is that the buying patterns of your customers are likely to be similar and this way you will hopefully sell more of that particular range.

· Give promo discounts to those who are willing to leave a bit of feedback! For example, you could create some mini feedback cards, offering clients the chance to give you feedback in 1 sentence. That way it is a quick-fire easy process, and then in return you could offer the client a little Easter treat, such as a retail product mini or even just some complimentary sweets. What’s in it for you? – If the client likes the samples, they are likely to come back and purchase the product in its actual size, and you have also bagged yourself some free mini-testimonials in the process. Great for if you ever need some snappy quotes from existing clients for any promo-materials!


So if you needed a bit of last-minute inspiration, we hope these little pointers help you to really push those sales this weekend and through in to Spring/Summer. It really is true, the more you invest in marketing in your business, the higher the return of that investment will be. And some marketing techniques may work better for some business than others, so use this Spring to A/B test a couple and if you find some strategies work better than others, you know to implement these in to your seasonal plan for next year!


Happy Easter! 

Salon Tracker x

Spring Style LOOKBOOK

Good Morning and happy Wednesday everyone!
This week we thought we would do something different and create you a Spring Look Book. As spring has finally arrived in the UK, we can also get rid of our furry winter coats, hats and mittens. If you are lucky enough to live in warmer areas as most of us, then now is the time to freshen up your wardrobe and prepare for Spring and Summer. Always remember that a bit of colour lightens up any outfit and will make it appear more interesting. To help you find some inspiration we have created a look book of styles that we like - and hope you do too.
Let us know what you think!