The profit power of SMS...

Marketing can be costly, time consuming and difficult to get right. There are a variety of approaches salon owners can adopt to market their business, such as social media, print or online but SMS is one of the emerging trends in today’s market. Here at Salon Tracker, we are seeing many salon owners increasing their sales by using SMS text messaging to customers using our leading salon management solution. You might question why and the answer is that, it is the only form of marketing that reaches your customers instantly and directly. Of course it is of high importance to keep enticing new customers, however new research has proven that it costs six times more to acquire new customers than it does to keep existing ones. Food for thought…

Here are our list of top reasons why you should invest in Salon Tracker and start your SMS marketing ASAP...

1.   Get personal. Text message marketing is a highly personable tool and can help salons increase their profits by encouraging customer loyalty and repeat visits and through preventing no shows. 

2.   Targeted marketing. Look at your customer database, how many people have a birthday in the next two weeks? Birthday messages with vouchers are a great way to increase customer loyalty because the message is targeted directly at the customer (see point 1). This in turn, encourages a booking. 

3.   Reducing No Shows. For most salons no shows can be very weakening, the hour is now wasted and you have lost money. Reminder texts can reduce this problem as clients will be reminded of their booking prompting them to ring if they are unable to make the appointment. Ask all clients to try give 24 hours’ notice so you can try and fill the missed booking.

4.  Filling Cancellations. In addition, the use of text messages can allow you to fill in no-show gaps. You can send a text message to clients offering 50% discount between the hours of 2-3pm for example.  This offer is sure to get your free slot filled and ensure you spend your time productively. You might not make what you would have but anything is something when it is short notice!

5.   Making it simple. Having a salon software system can increase the benefits and ease of using text marketing. Salon software systems allow you to select which clients you want to target in your campaigns, for example you may want to target clients who haven’t visited the salon in the last 6 months with a 20% discount. Birthday messages can be automatically set so you don’t have to spend time checking your client list every day to see who has a birthday. A salon software system will also give reports enabling you to track results to show which campaigns deliver effective response.

6.   Improve client database. Texting can result in word of mouth. If in a group of friends, one receives a texts, she might not be interested but knowledge of certain promotions could almost double the awareness of your salon consequently helping expand your client base.

Salon Tracker is available in three formats – Standard, Professional and Enterprise. Optional integration with online booking, Facebook and a dynamic SMS messaging service, Salon Tracker allows users to manage and prioritise appointments. You have the ability to capture customer information and build an interactive database so that you are giving your clients a first class experience with a first class product. 

Call us today on 0113 350 8230 for your FREE trial! 

The beauty of Monday's!

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Spring inspired make-up look!

Don't let miserable weather bring you down.....start practising your spring inspired make-up look lessoned by beauty blogger Carli Bybel! 

Growing from strength to strength!

Jackie Brown, HandsOn » Worchester

“Salon Tracker has transformed the management of our salon. It’s great to see your days/weeks appointments on screen; you can see where you have gaps and where potential crossovers may occur. It makes you work more efficiently. 

The weekly/monthly reports have been great for pushing to beat previous week’s sales figures. It’s so easy to use and you know exactly how you stand. My accountant is going to love this report system for next year’s accounting, it’s so much easier. It’s great for monitoring stock levels too. 

The SMS is brilliant for confirmation of appointments; men tend to be a bit forgetful and really appreciate a text to remind them. It encourages clients to phone and re-book if they can’t make the time as there is now no excuse! Clients love the texts and comment that they are very professional. The ease with which you can send a selected group of clients a personalised letter/SMS is great. It’s a shame I didn’t have this system 6 months ago when I moved premises and did all my letters individually, it took forever!”

Spring Marketing Ideas!

There are many benefits of seasonal marketing, such as increased awareness, improvement in profit and a sense of urgency. A seasonal promotion is brilliant as it highlights the fact that the treatment or price is only temporary and will not be available for another year which heightens your clients enthusiasm to buy now. Your treatment list is the main attribute of your business, it provides you with the opportunity to sell yourself and be creative and different. This is the place where you can increase profit and usually, spend per client. So if you have decided to partake in seasonal marketing then put a spring into your step and be creative with your treatment list in the run up to summer with these fruity tips!

- Make sure you have a plan for all year round- you need to know the exact dates when promotions will start and end. It is also important to note the collision of promo ideas with each public holiday in the annual calendar. Consider ongoing discounts and treatments and include them in your campaign rather than just for fun, it gives more reason to publicise your promotions.

- Get adventurous- Egg-cellent exfoliating facial, spring stone massage, full fruity massage, luscious lashes for spring! Don’t be afraid to have some fun, get creative and give your treatments quirkier names around different times of the year. Don’t just consider main holidays, be unique and give people reason to talk about your salon!

- Make sure you use your SMS marketing tool- Salon Tracker Management Software provides an advanced marketing suite enabling you to communicate with your customers whenever you desire to do so. Let them know what you are doing, distribute offers and highlight why you are doing certain offers. Be informative, fun and creative. The warmer you are towards them the warmer they will be towards you.

- Listen to your customers- Creating a seasonal marketing plan is a great idea but sometimes difficult because you may find treatments not being popular with the majority of people but 20-50 may love it! Always record your campaigns and prices and if customers request something let them have it as it was if it isn’t going out of your way. This is your business and the truth is you will make more money catering to what people want. This keeps clients loyal as they can see you are going out of your way for them!

- Put a spring into your step! Many people focus on their body, rejuvenation and detoxing around this time of year in preparation for summer! Focus your treatment on the lighter factors rather than winter treatments. Strip back to neutral and highlight all the nourishing sun kissed treatments to bring out the natural beauty and the good it will do for your body. 

- Nail colour of the week promotions- Flick through a couple of magazines and see what all the latest nail colours are. Maybe try 20% off when people get pastel lemon or pastel pink coloured shellac on their nails. Anything spring coloured and push promote it!

- Holiday packages- Some may say March is a bit early but a lot of people start holidaying from this time onward so why not try an all-inclusive package that your customer might need at a set price. Come into the salon for 5 hours and get everything done ready for holiday. They will feel like it’s a great deal as it is all combined into one. Cater for your customer!

Salon management system launched by Leeds entrepreneur...

Phil Cave, the beauty entrepreneur behind Salon Tracker, has launched a new salon management solution called Salon Tracker to help salon owners, spas, nail bars and other beauty professionals to manage their businesses more efficiently and grow sales.

Mr Cave andhis team at Salon Tracker have created a range of software solutions aimed at the beauty sector to help salon owners improve how they engage with their customers and manage their cash flow and profits.

Mr Cave, an expert software developer who has worked in the beauty sector for a number of years, has worked with a wide range of salon owners to create a new salon management system which is fully integrated with social media allowing salons to take bookings through their Facebook page.

Mr Cave said: “We have taken a lot of time to listen to salon owners to understand how we can enable them to run their businesses more efficiently and most importantly, get the most out the marketing features such as mobile text messaging we have created to help them communicate with their customers.

“Since we have launched Salon Tracker the feedback has been very encouraging with many users telling us that they have already seen improvements in their bottom line, cash flow management and better client retention.”

Salon Tracker is available in three formats – Standard, Professional and Enterprise – and allows users to manage every facet of their beauty business.

Using a PC, tablet or mobile phone users can access their business online 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year to ensure it is run efficiently and profitably.

Fully integrated with Facebook and with a dynamic SMS messaging service, Salon Tracker allows users to manage and prioritise appointments; capture customer information and build an interactive database – which can even tell users how clients like their coffee  and market special offers to customers direct from the system with mobile text messages.

The system also delivers fast and efficient Point of Sale with simple business sales reports; cash flow and profit and loss accounts management; staff commission and stock management; and remote access from anywhere in the world – even when the salon owner is on holiday.

Flavio Refrigeri, who runs Clinica Fiore in London’s Covent Garden, said: “Salon Tracker has benefitted the salon greatly and the system is very easy to use.  Salon Tracker’s reporting feature has helped improve the performance of our clinic by 80 per cent making the software well worth the initial investment. The software has also helped with security in the salon and the free customer support I have received since purchasing the software has been excellent.”

Louise Tillotson who owns Dreams Wellbeing Salon in Bradford, said: “Salon Tracker has made day-to-day salon tasks a lot simpler and we are a lot more productive because of it.  It is simple and effective and customers love the fact that everything is stored on the system and they don't need to bring in appointment cards or receipts. 

“We regularly use the SMS marketing to inform customers of our offers.  This has resulted in customers revisiting us when offers are running or when we have product ranges on special offer.  We also wish high spenders a happy birthday and offer them something free if they visit us that week. “