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!

How to Ensure that your Tanning Salon is Secure as we Enter Spring/Summer

We can’t believe it’s the start of another spring again (although we’re verrrry glad about it!) But this is the time of year that salons see a massive increase in their footfall, especially those in the tanning industry as everyone wants their holiday base-tan!

You will all be aware that The Sunbed Regulation Act 2010 came into practice in April 2011, forbidding anyone under the age of 18 from using a tanning bed, or being within a booth that a tanning bed is situated.

In relation to this, the Sunbed Association also highlighted some recommendations that they suggest tanning salons to advise their clients of before they tan.

As we enter the Spring/Summer period, a very peak sales time for tanning salons, our Salon Software has extra tanning rules built in to help salon owners to abide by the current regulations act during the busy season.

In this post we explain how our rules work, and also the consequences that your business could face should you happen to break the law, even if it is unknowingly.

Salon Tracker Tanning Rules

Our system has 5 rules implemented, in which for each of these rules Salon owners can select the level of security that they want from the system for each rule.

The options are Disabled/Warn/Stop, meaning that you can either disable the rule, ensure that the customer is warned about a particular rule, or force that the system stops a customer from tanning altogether if their client details don’t meet the rule criteria. We however recommend that you don’t disable any of the rules, as at the end of the day there is no harm in warning clients with safety advice!

Below are each of Salon Tracker's 5 built-in rules and what they mean:

Age Limit

The Sunbed Regulations Act 2010 states that no one, by law, should use a sunbed or be within a booth containing a sunbed unless they are 18 years or over. Therefore you can ‘Stop’ on this rule, which means that the system would forbid anyone to tan with a date of birth that makes them under 18 years of age.

24 Hour

The Sunbed Association recommends that no one tans more than once in any 24 hour period. You may want to ‘Warn’ on this rule, so that you can tell a client if they have had more than one booking in the last 24 hours.

No Skin Type

There are many different ways that salons identify skin types, for example they may differentiate by putting ‘sensitive, fair, medium, dark’ or may put ‘1, 2, 3, 4’ with 1 being the most susceptible to UV. Salon Tracker has a skin type setting that can be saved on all clients individual record cards, in which you could again ‘Warn’ for this rule to let a client know that they haven’t specified their skin-type.

48 Hour Depending on Skin Type 

As mentioned above, if a client has sensitive or fair skin, it is recommended that they only tan once in any 48 hour period, as they are more vulnerable to burning from the over-exposure to UV rays. Again, you may want to set a ‘Warn’ with this rule, so that you can advise clients with fairer skin types if they have had a booking in the last 48 hours.

Bookings per Year

The Sunbed Association recommends no more than 52 sessions per year, which amounts to 4 sessions per month, 1 session per week. Similar to the rules above, this again you might want to set to ‘Warn’ just to keep clients updated of how many times they have tanned per annum.

Other Features we offer to keep your Salon Secure are:

Fingerprint Reader

Our system is compatible with a Fingerprint Reader, in which it has built-in technology so that once a fingerprint is saved against a client card, only that client themselves can then activate their own details. This means that no one can tan fraudulently in anyone else’s name, saving you from the risk of underage clients using fake identification to tan.

Signature Pad

All tanning disclaimers can be signed for via our electronic signature pad and stored within the system on the client’s digital record card. The benefit of this is that should you ever need proof of a signature of acceptance for a client, the disclaimer cannot be miss-placed or lost as it will be saved on the system.

T-Max Integration

Our system is compatible with T-Max, meaning that all minutes are tracked accurately and have to be processed through Salon Tracker itself rather than through the sunbed. This means that no one can manually activate the sunbed using purely the T-max without disabling the integration cables first, and if they do this you can then track how many minutes have been through the sunbed using Salon Tracker’s reporting tool, and if these don’t match up to the minutes on the T-Max timer itself you can then identify malicious activity.

Should your salon ever receive an unannounced visit from Trading Standards and fail to be seen complying with the current Regulations Act, you could find yourself subject to a 20,000 fine. We can minimise that risk with our Salon Software, don’t let that be you!

If you want to try out our salon software before you make any decisions, then you can have a FREE 2 week trial of Salon Tracker, which is no-obligation, to see how it works for your business.

For your demo and trial visit http://bit.ly/RGeGVd

We look forward to hearing from you!

Salon Tracker x

Easter & Spring Email Marketing Advice

Today we will have a closer look into email marketing techniques and share some promo examples you can use this spring to get more customers through the door. 

Whilst Christmas is obviously one of the best time of year to market to customers, Easter and spring is not far behind. In fact, a well thought out Easter campaign can have a positive effect to your business and increase your revenue. Email marketing is a fantastic way to tell your clients about any products, offers or special discounts you are running. Why not even offer an additional discount if they sign up to your newsletter. This way you get more  people to market to and simultaneous increase interest in your products. 

Marketing yourself can improve your business and revenue by a long way. The great thing is that there are plenty of opportunities to promote offers and discounts, from Social Media to poster, SMS messages and emails. UK holidays, such as Easter are the perfect opportunity to jump on the marketing band wagon as many businesses are offering special incentives, because more people are off from work and will enjoy their free time shopping or thinking about special purchases. If you have an attractive offer advertised, you motivate them even more to visit and book with you. What a great opportunity to participate in! 

If you want to stay on top of customer’s minds then email marketing is a great way to promote your products and services, but how do you even get started? 

First, you’ll need an email marketing service such as MailChimp. Many offer a free version up to a certain number of emails per month. These services offer plenty of different templates that allow you to create different designs to match your business. However, don’t overload your customers with too many emails and make sure you ask them if they’re happy to receive special offers via email. Here are some tips you might want to consider when you send email campaigns:

- It’s great if you know your clients preferences and you can send them tailored messages. This way, only relevant emails will reach them. I know however that this can be time consuming and you might send just a generic email to all your clients.

- Record what you learn from customers in a database. This way you can adjust your marketing. For example, if there is a popular time people open your email then send campaigns around that time. This might require some initial trial and error testing but after a few attempts, you should have some valuable info what clients prefer. 

- Many email marketing services such as MailChimp let you create different templates to match your brand; take advantage of that.

- Include a click-through link to your website, so clients can book or find out more information

- Use a grabbing subject line that is to the point

If you use Salon Tracker or other Salon Software, then you can probably sort your customers by applying different filters such as ‘Upcoming Birthdays, VIP customers’ etc. This is a great way to target very specific customers rather than all of them. Simply apply the filter and export the email addresses so you can use them in MailChimp or another provider. Emails doesn’t have to be long and always work better with images. Make sure you use a neutral font and a visible text colour. Here are three ideas of short but to the point promo emails:

Option 1

Hi <<name>>

As spring has arrived, we want to offer all new and existing customers a special discount:

Save 25% off your next visit

(include a promo code that can be redeemed in store)

Make sure you include relevant images and have a call to action, such as Book now, or call now to motivate customers to make a booking).

Option 2

Hi Everyone

Happy Easter!

Join us for our Easter Egg Hunt this year to win some special gifts and discounts.

(Include an event link to your Facebook Page)

Don’t miss out!

Your Salon Team

Option 3:

Easter Greetings
from <<insert Salon Name>>

Dear <<insert customer name>>

Have a Happy Easter and our very best wishes for the remainder of the year.
This year we want to treat you and a friend to a special gift. Why not enjoy a luxurious pamper treatment of your choice. All our treatments for 2 people will be half price when you book over the Easter week.

Book now!

Your Salon Team 

There are plenty of email templates out there you can use for free. Even if you just have an Easter inspired image such as the one below, you can add your message to the image and send it to your customers. It’s quick and to the point and your customers don’t have to read through paragraphs of text to know what the email is about. 

Extra option:

For more information Email marketing, you can ask one of our friendly team members who will be happy to assist with any questions. 

On our software, you can even filter through your client list in the marketing section, if you want to send promo emails to only certain groups of people. Call now for more help with your salon marketing or if you would like to trial the software: 0113 350 8230 or email info@salontracker.co.uk

Salon Tracker x

Salon Tracker Feature of the Month: SMS Marketing

Marketing methods are extremely important for businesses with a B2C model, especially in the salon industry as it is so media-influenced by current celebs and bloggers, content needs to be constantly refreshed and up to date with present existences.

There are many different methods of marketing direct to the consumer, however for salon industries, dependent on size and budget, these channels may differ from business to business in terms of affordability.

SMS marketing however is one of those types of marketing that costs exactly the same per message to each client, obviously dependent on how large a salon’s database is, that is when you then see the cost increase. Like any business though, the larger your client base and annual revenue, this usually results in the higher your marketing budget. So for March, we’ve chosen SMS marketing as our feature of the month and here’s why we think its’s so useful to salon businesses.

The simplest reason why SMS marketing is such a beneficial marketing opportunity is that nowadays consumers always have their phones to hand, meaning that your message is instantly communicated to them. You’re probably thinking now, well, an email is easily delivered and that’s free? The same with an app notification, or a Facebook post? And yes, we would agree with you, and all of these types of marketing are equally just as good, but the reason we focus solely on SMS marketing is that this first of all can be used by salon businesses of all sizes. For example some local salons may not have a company social media page setup yet, or their network following of those may not be very strong. Similarly with an email campaign, it’s often that for retailers and salon businesses many consumers’ sign up to newsletters with their so called ‘spam’ accounts, in other words ‘un-important email accounts.’ This increases the chance of a message being missed due to being hidden in a rarely checked email inbox alongside many other B2C marketing emails. With a text, the message is instantly delivered to the clients’ phone and they are likely to open it immediately on receiving it.

Great methods to utilise SMS marketing is to plan ahead when you are going to be running an event or around national holidays such as Spring Bank Holidays or Xmas. Work out what promotions and new products you’ll be offering around those times, weigh up your client database and work out how many messages you would need around that time to directly market to all your clients with SMS. What is great about the SMS marketing feature on Salon Tracker is that you just purchase the messages ad-hoc when you want to run a campaign, meaning that there are no marketing funds wasted as you can run it on a pay-as-you-go service. An example of a promo message that you might run for Easter or May Bank holiday for example could be:

Hi <<Forename>>

Be Beautiful this Bank Hol! We're offering a free [ENTER VALUE] voucher with every booking made this week, redeemable against all of our bank holiday services!

<<CompanyName>> <<CompanyTel>> T&Cs Apply

For an even better return on investment and to help you to increase your client database we have also included many marketing filters, which help you to direct your SMS marketing messages even further. One of our filters is to advertise to customers that haven’t visited you in a while, in which the system will track customer spend and highlight clients that haven’t been in for an appointment for some time. An example of how one of those pre-filtered messages would look is:

Hi <<Forename>>

You are missed! All appointments booked before [ENTER DATE] will receive [ENTER DISCOUNT] discount. 

<<CompanyName>> <<CompanyTel>> T&Cs Apply

You can then manage the return on how sales have reacted to your campaigns by using the Salon Tracker reporting tool, which you can also view annual sales charts to identify which times SMS marketing campaigns may also be essential to help boost footfall. Similarly, we have just introduced a Sales by Hour report, which identifies peak and quiet times of the day. Another great tool for determining when to run a promotional campaign and also when to schedule the SMS message to notify clients of the offer.

For more information on our SMS marketing tools or any of our software features, head over to www.salontracker.co.uk or call our office on 0113 350 8230 to book your software demo.

And don’t forget, you can also trial Salon Tracker FREE of charge for 2 weeks, and we give you 50 FREE texts to try out the marketing feature for yourself!

Salon Tracker x