Why Are Reviews So Important To Your Salon?

How much more likely are you to try something because your friends recommended you it, or because you’ve read some good reviews about it online? Well, I know I am! Knowing that people have had a good experience somewhere always gives people the confidence that they will have the same good experience too. For the most part, getting reviews from your customers will only boost your salons overall profile, however there can be the occasional one that will do the opposite, but don’t let this worry you, there are plenty of ways around these. But let’s start off with why reviews are so important to boosting your salons footfall…

In the last 5 or so years, the way we search for salons has massively changed. The first thing most people do is Google a salon and have a look at their social media, Facebook and Instagram being the main two. In fact, around 75% of people will go online to find a business before deciding whether to visit it or not. Facebook in my opinion is definitely the best place to market your salon to both your customers and any potential customers that are interested in your services. It not only gives you a platform to post any updates, pictures and offers, but also is a place for your customers to leave reviews (hopefully positive ones) on their salon experience. There are also the classic review pages like Yelp, Yellow Pages and Google. Although the perfect scenario would be that you have tens or even hundreds of 5-star reviews, this will more than likely not be the case. If anyone does leave a negative review regarding your salon, it’s essential that you reply to this to resolve any issues asap and make it known to any potential customers that it has been resolved.

The main reasoning behind making sure that you are encouraging your customers to leave reviews, is to show any potential customers that you have a positive reputation. Making them more likely to be inclined to visit your salon. According to a survey, 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, this statistic alone should already be enough to convince you that reviews are one of the best business tools. So, if you don’t already, you need to start encouraging your customers to leave reviews, especially on your Facebook page. It’s best not to ask every client who visits your salon to leave a review, you want to hand pick ones that you think are going to leave a positive review. These being your most loyal and friendly customers. When you do get a nice review, reply with a thank you message so that not only your customer feels appreciated, but also so that any potential customers can see that you have a good bond and connection with your current customers. You could also repost some of the great ones on your social media platforms, to spread the word even more. Every so often, you should think about thanking your customers who have left a review by giving them some sort of reward, discount or a free retail product, again just to show that you do appreciate them.

Make sure that you always listen to your clients feedback, both positive and negative. Even if it is something that you don’t agree with, check that there isn’t anything that you could be doing better. Or if it’s positive feedback, make sure that you continue to work in that way so that you can please all of your customers.

One feature that we do have on Salon Tracker is the ability to send out a direct text

message to specific customers asking them to leave a review at your preferred review platform, this being your Facebook, Yelp, Yellow Pages etc. You can also set a delay, to make sure that you’re not being too over the top and sending the message as soon as

they’ve left the salon. It’s better to wait a day or so before sending out the text message, so the customer has more chance to reflect. You can also set a warn period, this prevents you from over sending review requests. I mean, if someone was asking me to review something every time I visited the salon, it would put me off going. So, this will help to prevent you from doing that.

Hopefully this will have helped you to not only understand the importance of reviews, but to also get a better understanding of how you can get more reviews online. The more you have, both good and bad, will help to increase your footfall and give an overall better representation of your salon. We do offer a free 2-week trial, where you do get 50 free SMS credits, so you can give our review feature a go. Call us on 0113 350 8230 or email info@salontracker.co.uk if you are interested, and we can get you booked in for your free demo and trial.

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