Starting in the late 40s and going into the 60s, the "Hollywood blacklist" consisted of directors, screenwriters, actors and musicians who couldn't get work because of their real or suspected political affiliations. Being placed on the blacklist was a death knell for a career.

These days, we're fighting a different kind of blacklist — those managed by companies like AOL, Yahoo!, Comcast, EarthLink and others. Once your company gets on the blacklist, it is almost as hard as a 1950s actor to get off. And, the results are similar: if you're blacklisted as a spammer, your email will not flow. With so much of our lives conducted online now, being blacklisted on the Internet is a serious blow to your business.

It's hard to blame these large Internet companies for being aggressive with spam. With spam accounting for 70.1% of all email in the U.S. in April 2008, consumers get very angry with their Internet company when they receive too much spam. Desperation is one word to describe the actions of these Internet companies — they are responsible for handling billions of emails every day, and every day it becomes harder to combat the spam.

How does your company become blacklisted? It's easier than you might think, if you send email:

• To someone you don't have a relationship with;
• When you haven't obtained permission from the recipient;
• When the person you're sending email to forgets they gave you permission, and reports your email as spam; or
• When the person you're sending email to shares their email account with someone else (i.e. a spouse), and that other person reports your email as spam.

This problem has gotten so bad that the anti-spam measures large Internet companies are starting gobble up legitimate email. For example, AT&T implemented new spam filters that deleted legitimate email, with no warning or notice to their customers.

So, email is losing its effectiveness as a marketing tool because it's easy to get blacklisted. Even if you're not blacklisted, most Internet companies are using aggressive spam filtering techniques which may be filtering much of your email — without telling you or otherwise giving you any clue what's happening on the Internet between you and your clients.

SpaBoom is trying to do its part by helping you stay off the blacklists. When a consumer purchases an IGC from you, they can "opt-in" to your email marketing. This "opt-in" is unchecked, and requires the consumer to check this box to actually opt-in. If you are using SpaBoom's newsletter feature and you import email addresses into the database (or you add new clients manually), SpaBoom will send a confirmation email to all imported email addresses, asking the recipient to verify they wanted to be added to your mailing list.

Yes, these new measures are aggressive and may reduce the overall size of your email lists contained within SpaBoom. They will, however, help ensure your business stays off the blacklists and that your email is more effective overall.

Posted in SpaBoom New Features, Spa Marketing, General • Share • 3 Comments »

SpaBoomers have been collecting reviews via Instant Gift Certificates since last October, now counting over 30,000 consumer reviews!

Today, they're a great way to get feedback on your spa. Every time you get a new review, it shows up on the Today page when you log in, and you can see your reviews in Reports, Reviews at any time. But, there's more to come!

Let's start by looking at why online reviews on sites like CitySearch and Yelp are so important. Just look at how Internet users use reviews (survey data from comScore):

• More than 75% cite online reviews as influential in their purchase decisions.
• 24% used online reviews before making a purchase decision for a service in the last three months.
• Purchasers are willing to spend at least 20% more for services that are top rated.
• 30% to 40% of review-informed purchasers will not purchase from a business with a 1 star rating.

But why make potential clients that have found you go searching for reviews? With such a big impact on your spa, we're working to help you harness reviews:

• We've recently changed Instant Gift Certificate reviews so that purchasers familiar with your spa can also review their overall experience with your business.
• In the near future, you'll be able to share your reviews on your website, if you desire.
• You'll also be able to garner reviews directly on your website (not just people purchasing Instant Gift Certificates).
• Unlike the reviews that appear in CitySearch, Yelp, etc., you'll have a greater degree of control and more fair approach to reviews of your spa.

How would you like to use reviews to help your spa?

Posted in SpaBoom New Features • Share • 6 Comments »

We've heard loud and clear that you want the ability to completely turn off Email Marketing. It's now available in Setup, Basics. By unclicking "Use Email Marketing," no marketing emails will ever go to your clients.

If you use a dedicated email marketing service or simply don't want to do email marketing, then this is all you need to do turn off SpaBoom's Email Marketing.

If you use the free bonus Email Marketing, then you can also decide, just as before, whether to accept the default campaigns that we create for gift giving occasions.

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In this age of nearly out of control spam (you have noticed how large your junk mail folder is in Yahoo or Hotmail, right?), taking steps to make sure that your own marketing practices are friendly and sustainable is a necessary part of online life.

The best way to stay in touch with your customers and prospects is to send them targeted messages letting them know what you're up to and what new benefits you can offer to them. However, sending those messages to recipients who really want to get them is the key to your success.

How do you make sure that your email list is full of great customers and leads? Simple — you ask them.

Here at SpaBoom we've made it easy for you to import your client list into your account so that email marketing is a snap. To keep your life simple, we did not — until recently — send confirmation emails to those imported contacts, but in reality they might not have known they would receive marketing emails from you. Spending your time on the smaller group of contacts who are truly interested will grow your spa's business wisely, creating your best customers both now and in the future.

Being great 'Net citizens means doing occasional spring cleaning on mailing lists, and that's what we are doing on Wednesday. We will send an opt-in email on your behalf to your imported clients, giving them a chance to voluntarily be included on all the best you have to offer.

Just to be clear, SpaBoom's free email newsletter feature is:

• A service to help you send announcement of promotions, events and special occasions to your client list.
• Not used for SpaBoom to market to your clients. SpaBoom never markets to your clients.
• Available to each client that SpaBoom can verify has "opted-in" to receive your mailings.
• Secure, in that SpaBoom always protects your customer data, even when a particular customer hasn't opted-in to receive your email newsletters.

Have a great rest of the week, and here's to finding — and keeping — valued clients!

Posted in Creating Customers, SpaBoom New Features, Spa Marketing, Spa Business Management • Share • 26 Comments »

I recently fielded a question that made me realize we often assume other people get what we mean whenever we coin a phrase or use a term in speech.

The term in question in this case? 'Dynamic.'

This person wanted to know what the heck we mean when we talk about our Dynamic websites, and what, if anything, that means to them as potential client. Great question!

'Dynamic,' in expanded Merriam-Webster terms, means 'marked by usually continuous and productive activity or change.' This is why we've chosen to use the term to describe our websites!

We design our websites for ease–ease of use (you the spa can make changes to the content and graphics at your whim, and we encourage that whim to strike often!), and ease of navigation. Your clients can visit your website, know quickly and easily where to go and what they can do there, and yes they can also conduct business with you–easily, via Instant Gift Certificates!

Oh, and we've avoided Flash. (If you haven't already read Seth's posting on why, please do.)

And there's no music. (Another article on why, here.)

Cautionary language aside, and the foundation laid, let's take a look at how you can go Dynamic (and benefit from happy search engines and curious clients who appreciate change and new news on your site whenever they visit).

We offer two ways to create a website, either our Self Service or Full Service model. One is, as you'd imagine, all about you rolling up your sleeves, choosing a design and making it yours through color choice, content, graphics, etc. The other, Full Service, means you hand us a virtual shoebox of 'you' in terms of content, graphics, etc., and you guide us as we do the heavy lifting.

In either case, you're extending your brand well and visibly online, and upping your chances of being 'seen' out there on that information highway that is so full of choices for shoppers.

Examples of Self Service:

• Midtown Massage Therapy
• Inspiria Salon and Day Spa
• Avanti Spa
• A. S. Physiques
• My Hair Suite

Examples of Full Service:

• Kiersten and Company
• Sankofa Massage & Bodywork
• All About Massage
• Cleopatra's Day Spa
• Anaheim Hills Wellness Center and Medical Spa

As you can see, the possibilities are vast, and the results are entirely about you, your style, and projecting your spa's image online!

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I love trying to tie together seemingly unrelated concepts in my blog posts. Sometimes succeeding, oftentimes failing.

Last week, I went on a week-long vacation to Akumal, Mexico, because I needed to sit on a beach, put my feet in some sand and feel ocean breezes in my hair. In my vast amounts of "down time" on that beach, it got me thinking… of immigration reform and customer retention.

The issue of immigration reform is complex and heated. FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) has a great piece that addresses the confusion in the media and tension between immigration reform and "free trade". In the ocean of issues that is immigration reform, there is a debate over English. Do we require immigrants to speak English or are we more accommodating? President Bush has made it clear: he wants immigrants to speak English. In the recent past, I've listened to at least one radio talk host and at least one relative drone on and on, about how they are so inconvenienced because they need to "push 1″ to hear prompts in English when calling their credit card company or a governmental office.

This language issue is no easy debate. Should we post multiple languages on our governmental forms, street signs and public announcements? Do we provide subsidized education for English? What is the threshold in percent of population, before adapting everything for a new language? What's the most economical versus morally responsible approach? These aren't easy questions to answer.

But, my travels to Akumal taught me something: the Mexicans are very accommodating. Many of their people speak English fluently, and those that don't are very patient with my hilarious attempts at speaking Spanish (Mi español es muy malo). Most of their restaurants have English versions of the menu (even off the beaten path). Many street signs (and even the airport) post English subtitles. They know their water creates problems for tourists, and therefore bottled water is available everywhere. Most merchants will readily accept dollars (although it's good to have a handy stock of Pesos), and will help you understand the conversion of pesos-to-dollars.

My experience in this part of Mexico is: the Mexicans treat tourists (especially Americans) with respect and flexibility. Why? To make us comfortable and feel at ease. Why? So we go back to the States and tell everyone how great of an experience we had. Why? So we'll return, and possibly convince others to make the trip (we also tend to tip better when treated with respect… ) This is how they, as a society, maximize customer retention. In business, this is lesson "numero uno:" Maximize customer retention by making your clients happy.

We rented a car and stayed at a condo. Right on the beach, second floor. During one of the nights, a rather sever storm passed through, shaking the whole structure and causing rather violent surf (such that it can be, because the beach is protected by reefs further out on the bay). It got me thinking, for just a moment: What if there was truly an emergency? Would there be an announcement? Would the announcement be in English? Would we know where to go to safety? Would we know what to do, when we got there? Where's the hospital, if my wife gets sick?

It makes me wonder what immigrants (and tourists) go through, when they come to America. Do they fear for the lives of their children in an emergency? Do they know where to go for help, in an emergency? Do they know where our hospitals are, and how to get treatment? Are they fearful and anxious just being here?

In business, this is lesson "numero dos:" Remove any stresses and fears to doing business with you. Once a client agrees to do business with you, anything left unanswered or awkward creates anxiety with the client. Anxious or uncomfortable clients won't come back. In the spa business, the average retention is 30% and a good retention is 50%. If you're less than either of those numbers, could this perhaps be a factor?

As for America, call me old-fashion, but I believe it's the land of opportunity and freedom. Whether citizens, immigrants or tourists, everyone must be treated with respect. Forcing people to learn English in a 6 month course (for those who can afford to take the time off of work), just to get by in this country, doesn't help those who encounter emergencies today. Tourists and visitors aren't here long enough to take a course in English.

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You know how fast and easy it is for your clients to purchase one of your Instant Gift Certificates. But have you noticed how easy it is to buy multiple gift certificates?

It's the power of the "Buy another" button — just change what's different for your new GC, like the amount or service and "To", and you've bought another GC!

It's perfect for last minute en masse gift buying and corporate rewards programs. In fact, this past holiday season, 11% of SpaBoomers' clients purchased more than one Instant Gift Certificate.

Posted in General, Spa Gift Certificates • Share • Comment »

No, I'm not going to tell you how exactly you should handle your client calls, but perhaps start a conversation about your experiences and your philosophy regarding talking with your clients on the phone.

Your practices: Whatever you're doing, does it work for you? Do your clients compliment you on your phone handling?

OUR practices: What are we at SpaBoom doing right? What we can improve upon to make things absolutely fabulous for you?

One of the changes we made when switching to a newer phone system was to eliminate the mandatory auto-attendant step. Previously, when ya'll called us, you had to listen to our voice prompt and press 1 for support or 2 for sales, and then you'd get someone to answer the line. I really thought that was too much to wait for, so we went to the Land's End model — 1 or 2 rings at most, and then a PERSON answers, no auto-attendant hurdle to clear. If we're busy, then yes, you'll get a prompt to either hold or leave a voicemail, but overall the responsiveness is much, much faster and I'm happy about it. Let me know your thoughts on our current system - it helps me and it helps all of you!

Before I open up the floor, take a quick read of this wonderful article by Seth Godin, wherein he states,

Excellent insight, and something to think about as we start the next week afresh, ready to head into the heavy Mother's Day booking season.

Posted in The Company, Spa Business Management, General • Share • 5 Comments »

As the CEO of SpaFinder, it has always been my dream to build a booking system that would help spas increase their business. After much research and effort, we developed SpaBooker. I really think that it is the most innovative software product on the market for the spa and beauty industry!

Here are few reasons why:

• SpaBooker is an end-to-end spa and salon management system complete with online booking and integrated point-of-sale functionality.
• It is the only spa and salon management software that brings NEW customers to your business from the millions of users that search SpaFinder.com.
• There are no setup costs, no training costs, and no support fees!
• SpaBooker is completely web based, so you can access it from any location at any time.
• In addition to the SpaFinder.com website, SpaBooker will be marketed through online travel agencies and other Internet websites where consumers are searching for spa and salon companies to book – which results in maximizing your incoming bookings.
• In addition to free implementation, training and support – you also get a dedicated account manager who will ensure that the migration from your existing system is both seamless and painless.

SpaBooker is so much more than a booking system, and it is exciting for me to watch spas use the system and instantly see their business increase. The spas that are already using SpaBooker love it. One SpaBooker client recently said to me, “I would have to be brain dead not to use this program”.

So take a few minutes for a live demo of SpaBooker, and I promise you won't be disappointed! Check out our website at www.spa-booker.com.

Posted in SpaBooker, Spa Business Management, General • Share • 8 Comments »

Malcom Gladwell wrote about e-commerce nearly 10 years ago, and the insights he offers are still startlingly fresh. He speaks of the interconnectedness of business and how innovation drives creativity drives need and back around again… just shuffle the three words in any order and the linkage still works. One business will invent a product solely because they have to have it, and that product transforms an industry, almost as a side effect.

Take for example, commercial jets. They are run with sophisticated navigation systems, but not so long ago you could have been stranded at the airport due to the slightest hiccup of bad weather. Federal Express, who doesn't have an interest in making passenger travel more streamlined, needed their planes up and running around the clock with nearly no weather pattern able to stop them. In his article, Gladwell wrote,

And because of that need to be more efficient, your trips to visit family over the holidays are made less time-consuming and more delay-proof. The trickle effect is both logical and yet so amazing.

So what's the hook? What is our "anti fog technology"? You might be the ones to tell us, frankly. We've built a way to offer instant gratification to your clients, and when you needed a website to offer to them, we built that capability, too. Perhaps our contribution is yet to come — a new way to market through SEO strategies, or innovative ways to redeem GCs on the spot… the future is limitless.

Have a great week, everyone!

Posted in Spa Marketing, General • Share • Comment »

Your spa deserves a distinctive, well-designed image. Extending that image across your printed materials, advertising and web presence will help create a brand that your clients will recognize and associate with the experiences they have in your spa.

Sometimes creating your logo, the very basis for your branding, gets pushed to the back burner in favor of other business-related activities. If you don't have a good logo, there's no time like the present to get one created.

Periodically updating your brand/logo/image is also a good idea. If you've been in business for more than a few years, you've undoubtedly painted and updated the interior of your spa. Why not take a look at your logo and be sure it's as spiffy as your spa?

We provide custom graphics services to help with creating or updating an image. Drop us a line at info@spaboom.com, or give us a call at 800.940.0458 if you're interested in exploring the concept.

Examples of logos (from scratch, and updated):

Posted in General • Share • 3 Comments »

Events are a great way to automatically update your website's content, and Email Campaigns help you keep in close touch with your clients. We've updated both, and recommend that you tailor your own to best fit your spa's image and language. The choice is yours, of course. If you let them fly as is, they'll include your spa's branding and links to your Instant Gift Certificates.

Promotions we've set up so far:

Events
Mother's Day Made Easy, runs 4/11-5/12/08
Administrative Professionals Deserve Relaxation!, runs 4/16-4/24/08
Perfect Graduation Gift, runs 5/13-5/31/08
Give Dad Relaxation this Year!, runs 6/1-6/16/08
Gracious Thanksgiving Gift, runs 11/10-11/27/08
A Gift for Holiday Present, runs 11/28-12/26/08
A New Year, New Beginnings!, runs 12/27/08-1/2/09

Email Newsletters
Mother's Day Gift Solution, launches 5/7/08
Perfect Grad Gift, launches 5/19/08
A Great Gift for Dad, launches 6/11/08

Check these out, and if they're not exactly what you'd like to use, tailor them to your preferences! We'll be adding to the mix, of course, but we'll let you know when we do that.

• If you'd like to change your email campaign, go to Setup, Email Marketing and click on "Mother's Day Gift Solution". Use "Send Test Email" to see exactly what it looks like. Adjust the colors and/or content to your liking, and see the changes on the bottom of your screen.
• Go to Setup, Instant POP and print out a mini-poster to promote Instant GCs in your retail location.

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Last year, I wrote an article entitled, "So, you think I'm stupid?" which addressed some of the practices of other businesses that assume their customers are stupid.

I just had an experience with Blockbuster Video yesterday that still has me steaming. Even though they credited my account completely, the damage is already done. I will no longer go to Blockbuster. I think it's a story worth retelling, so we as business owners don't forget how important it is to treat our customers with respect … and to not assume our customers are stupid.

The background: I rented four movies two weekends ago. Two were "standard 5 evening rentals," and two were "3 evening rentals," or so I thought. I returned the "3 evening rentals" on the second day, because "3 evening rentals" aren't "3 day" rentals (I'll get to that in a minute) and I returned the "standard 5 evening rentals" a day late - my fault. A week later, I received a postcard in the mail from Blockbuster claiming I owe them nearly $10 for one of the movies, which they claimed was a "3 evening rental," not a "5 day rental." (By the way, the movie in question was Dan in Real Life - it's a fun movie, worth watching).

I walked into that Blockbuster store yesterday, and walked to where "Dan in Real Life" was located. The DVD cover didn't contain the standard blue on yellow print indicating a "3 evening rental," and the actual DVD you rent (enclosed within the white DVD case) didn't contain the standard blue on yellow print "3 evening rental" notice either. However, another movie nearby did have the blue on yellow "3 evening rental" notice on both the DVD cover and DVD case.

I took both movies, "Dan in Real Life" as well as the second movie to the front counter, and talked with the manager. There were two problems with the postcard claiming I owed nearly $10: That it claimed "Dan in Real Life" was a "3 evening rental" when it clearly did not contain the customary blue on yellow notice to that effect, and the implication on the postcard was that I never returned the movie (which, of course, I know I did).

The manager, as politely as she could, explained they periodically run out of the blue on yellow "3 evening rental" notices, and therefore didn't have such a notice for "Dan in Real Life," despite the fact that they have such a notice on other DVD's. She politely asked if I received a receipt, implying that — obviously — this would be on the receipt and I'm stupid for not keeping a $12 receipt around my house for the 5 or so days I'd have the movies.

The manager was also able to look up the actual movie in question, and found that it was rented to someone else, therefore I must have returned it, they just made a mistake in scanning it when I originally returned it. Unfortunately for me, because they don't have a record of when it was returned, I was obliged to to pay the fee up and to when it was rented again.

[awkward pause]

I morphed into a 6 foot, 210 pound, pissed-off attorney. I really, really hate to throw my weight around or state that I'm an attorney. I avoid it like the plague, except when I get into incidents like this. So, with my head hanging down in shame, I admit now that I turned into a frothing-at-the-mouth nightmare lawyer everyone hates to have in their store. In my defense, it lasted only a minute. The manager backed down, and "graciously" offered to credit my account entirely, even though I was willing to pay what I legitimately owed: A late fee for one night, for two "5 evening rentals."

The problem is, the manager's tone and language (i.e. "I'll let this go this one time, hopefully it won't happen again") misses the point that we were both wrong. They mislabeled their product. They didn't scan in the DVD's properly, when I returned them. To then imply they are 100% in the right, and they are doing me a favor by crediting my account completely misses the point and frankly made me even angrier.

I think my experience at Blockbuster is educational on a number of fronts, from a business owner perspective:

• When we make a mistake as a business owner, we need to suck it up, admit the mistake (even if the customer is also to blame) and make the situation whole;
• If there's an obvious flaw or mistake in a business process, we should never require the customer to pay for it;
• The words that come out of our mouths, when resolving a conflict or problem, are pivotal - we need to choose our words very carefully; and
• Blockbuster's "3 evening rental" is a scam, pure and simple. It's designed to confuse customers so they return the videos they rent a day late. The lesson is: Customers may make a mistake once, but learn quickly from their mistakes - never, ever cheat them with fancy language or cheap curtains that fail to fully hide the facade that lies within.

Posted in Spa Business Management, General • Share • 5 Comments »

If you haven't already claimed your spa on Google Local, here's a great reason to go do it now: Google has recently changed so that anyone can make changes to local businesses. Address, phone number, website — even if you're still in business. Watch this short video to see how easy it is:

This makes it even more important that Google knows it's your business, because that appears to be the only protection against someone just randomly changing information about your spa. With the added benefit that you can make sure all the right information is there. Do the same thing as the video for your spa, and click on "Claim your business."

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Harms Software has blazed a trail of technology for over two decades in the spa and salon industry. Founded in 1987 to provide the beauty industry with advanced, powerful technology business solutions and tools, the company is built on the commitment of being a valuable and trustworthy partner to all clientele. Millennium (their flagship product) is installed in thousands of salons/spas in over 14 countries!

Now the software of choice for salons/spas around the world has become Strategies', as well.

"As a speaker at the Harms User Group Conference for the past five years, as well as an avid supporter of Millennium, I would sit in awe as John Harms previewed his new features and capabilities," explains Ducoff. "So much so that I began to crave having all those capabilities at Strategies. From scheduling coaching calls and seminars to processing sales, coaching packages and business training products, I wanted to have all that vital data in one company database. Now, I am proud to announce that Strategies is a full-fledged Millennium user. Our national network of Certified Strategies Coaches now has access to their coaching and training schedules, not to mention a convenient system to record coaching client notes, progress, assignments and next steps. And as long as there is internet access, CSCs and Strategies corporate office can access Millennium from anywhere in the world."

So, Happy Birthday Harms, and congratulations Strategies! More information on Strategies and Harms.

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It's official, we've launched our Instant Gift Certificates into restaurants! We are EntréeBoom, and you can take a look at our website to see what we're all about.

If you have friends in the 'biz that could use our Instant Gift Certificates, please send them our way. We want to make buying a great gift in the restaurant space as easy as it is for SpaBoomers' clients to purchase great spa treatments online!

Just have anyone who's interested use the promotion code BOOMERDISC to get their Instant Gift Certificates page setup for just $49 until April 15th!

Happy Spring and Cheers, SpaBoomers!

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It recently occurred to me: SpaBoom is more than just selling Instant Gift Certificates (IGC's) on the Internet. Our platform is very robust, and provides a very complex (but easy to use) system our clients can log into to access a variety of tools, reports and features.

Unfortunately, if you have a business to run, you're probably not reading our documentation or spending much time getting a feel for the robust SpaBoom platform. Over the next few months, I'm going to briefly introduce some of the more powerful–and less documented–secrets of SpaBoom.

Print Retail Gift Certificates for Free

SpaBoom is a gift certificate management tool. Typically, when a sale is made over the Internet for an IGC, SpaBoom records all the details of that sale and makes it available to you when you log into your SpaBoom account. It was part of our design to enable you to do a number of things with an IGC, such as track redemptions, add value, void it, reprint it, resend it, etc. (see image on right).

When we first built SpaBoom, we recognized some organizations may want to use our system for selling retail-based gift certificates. So, we built this into the platform. With as few as 3 steps, you can use SpaBoom to produce lovely retail-based gift certificates:

1. Select "Add GC" on the left when you're under the GCs Tab.
2. Find the client purchasing the GC, and if they aren't already in SpaBoom, create a new client record by selecting "Add Client".
3. Fill out the "Add GC" form. Here's the trick: Make sure you select "Retail GC" as the Type. Retail GC tells us you want to use SpaBoom to generate a new, retail-based gift certificate for you. The other options in Type are available, if you want to use SpaBoom to keep track of your non-SpaBoom gift certificate sales, such as your pre-printed gift certificates (we do this for free, also).

Filling out the "Add GC" form within SpaBoom, is equivalent to buying an IGC on your website, except that we don't charge for any sales that occur this way. SpaBoom is smart enough to know when a customer is buying an IGC from your website or Spa Emergency, versus you ordering a retail-based gift certificate from within SpaBoom.

You will be given the same options to print or email the IGC, and if email, where to send it. You can also select a service-based IGC, instead of dollar-based, if that is something the customer desires.

Combine this functionality with a nice color printer and high-quality paper, and you have a professional, custom capability to print gift certificates right in your store. Next holiday season, consider turning your computer into a kiosk, and allow customers to purchase and print IGC's right in your store!

There are a number of reasons you might be interested in using this feature:

• An inexpensive way to provide professional, custom gift certificates at retail.
• A great way to provide custom, bulk gift certificates for corporate sales or promotional purposes.
• A great option, when you (or the customer) doesn't want a dollar amount on the gift certificate (service-based gift certificates just show the service, not the amount).

Excellent promotional opportunity (requires just a bit more work): Use this facility to print out a large number of special gift certificates you give away for promotional purposes. For example, cook up a special promotion with the local radio station or Lexus / BMW dealer, put in the To: line "Lucky Spa Goer" and the From: line "KOBZ Radio" or whatever appropriate. $25 or so each. Here's the great part about SpaBoom: You can change the expiration date of these promotional gift certificates to something short, like 2 or 3 months. Most states, even California, will permit expiration dates when the gift certificates are given away for charitable or promotional purposes (i.e. you haven't been paid for them). The only trick is, you will need to create a new Type in SpaBoom, and give this Type of IGC a different expiration date. You do this under the Setup Tab, using the "GC Types" task. Help is available.

Posted in Spa Marketing, General, Spa Gift Certificates • Share • 6 Comments »

So, my daughter is turning 16 tomorrow — an event that hasn't come soon enough for her (yes, she gets her driver's license within a week!) but a moment that has simply snuck up on me, arriving seemingly without warning and in a most unsettling manner. I know, I've had 16 years to get used to the idea, but I'm just getting over my son going away to college all the way across the country …I'm pretty sure I'm still not over that! (By the way, he's a happy, thriving, sophomore now, so apparently I'm just slow to adjust to big life changes…)

Yes, I'm reminiscing, looking at darling baby photos of my little girl and am remembering so many awesome moments along her life's path to this point. Yes, I'll probably tear up when I frost her chocolate layer cake this evening and write her Happy Birthday Melina! greeting in butter cream. What I do know, though, is that my girl is growing up to be one heckuva young woman, and the future looks incredibly bright for her. Memories are bittersweet at times, I'll give you that. A clear view forward, though, makes it all make sense, and every trial and tribulation figure into the bigger life journey.

As journeys go, the evolution of the spa industry qualifies in epic terms. The current services and treatments available reflect influences from all over the world, some intensely elemental and some highly scientific elements, sometimes a little of both. Techniques and protocols will inevitably continue along a path of change, with an eye to improving the recipient experience while maximizing the treatment benefits.

In your experience, what has changed the most in the last decade or so? What new methods have you adopted and why? Has there been a breakthrough in either treatments and/or products that has allowed you to go to the next level as a practitioner? Are you absolutely wild about incorporating the newest and greatest, or do you prefer the tried and true traditional?

Please share. Now I've got a cake to bake.

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SpaFinder, through this acquisition, has officially added the vast U.S. salon industry to its spa gift program, while further expanding its reach into traditional spa retail channels.

"Spa & Salon Wish will provide a new dimension to our business with a huge upside for spas, salons and consumers." said SpaFinder, Inc. Chairman & CEO Pete Ellis. "It opens the door to us to bring thousands and thousand of salons into our gifting network while providing us with an opportunity to reach a much broader audience eager to enjoy spa and salon experiences."

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It appears Michigan is joining the growing list of states that are placing restrictions on gift certificates in the name of consumer protection, without fully appreciating the ramifications to small business. (See Gift Cards and Gift Certificates Statutes and Recent Legislation for more information about various state laws).

It appears both houses in the State of Michigan have approved bills that would amend Michigan law to (1) limit expiration dates to five years or more, and (2) require the funds to escheat to the state. See the Senate version of the bills, Bill 387 (S-2) and Bill 388 (S-2), covering Michigan's Consumer Protection Act and Uniform Unclaimed Property Act, respectively.

I cannot find evidence that these bills have been signed into law or vetoed, so I suspect they are sitting on the Governor's desk. They are scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2008.

What I find truly astounding, is the fiscal analysis of these two bills. They read, in their entirety:

In short, "no fiscal impact." This being said from a state that had the nation's highest unemployment rate for much of 2007. They didn't even try to soften the language, by saying "should not have any fiscal impact." Sheesh.

Michigan needs jobs. It's residents are leaving in droves, with "the likely consequence of a moribund economy that has pushed thousands more people into poverty." It's great that Michigan cares about protecting its consumers, but when they pass laws like this, with absolutely no rigor in studying the financial impact of their legislation, one cannot help but reach the obvious conclusion that Michigan is going to continue experiencing a significant, long-term decline in its economic base and status.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: It's easy to pick on the biggest companies in the US, such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Walmart, etc, when constructing gift certificate law. However, being able to sell, expire, recognize and keep the revenue from gift certificate sales are absolutely critical to many groups of small businesses. Their survival depends on it. It's small business that pays an inordinate amount of local taxes. It's small business that employs a large percentage of the population. It's small business that struggles to survive and keep the lights on, especially in the economically depressed State of Michigan.

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