"An ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness."
–Elbert Hubbard
October 6th, 2008 • Posted by Spa Kat • Permalink
A single loyal customer has tremendous value to your business over the long term. They are responsible for spending thousands of dollars at your spa over time, for bringing in new customers and being a spokesperson for your spa.
There are a plethora of corporate loyalty programs out there but most are impersonal and indistinguishable from one another. It is big business’s way of saying we care and very few do it well.
Create new opportunities for your spa. Sit down and identify your top 20 customers.
Ask yourself:
- When did they last come into the spa for treatments or product?
- When did we last communicate with each one?
- Do we know the services they prefer?
- Do they use a particular line of products at the spa?
- What can I do for this customer to make them feel special?
- How can I customize spa services to meet their particular needs?
- How can I reward them for their loyalty?
It is that old fashioned, Andy Griffith style customer service that recognizes each customer as they walk into your spa and makes them feel exceptional and vital to your business. Being clever will only get you so far; being worthy of a customer’s loyalty is priceless.
Posted in Creating Customers, Spa Marketing, General • Share • Trackback
October 6th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
We've just initiated a loyalty program for our clients and the response has been very favorable. Our location is off the beaten track so I've spent a fortune in advertising, most to no avail and always rewarding new clients for coming in rather than thanking the ones that have spent thousands over the years.
We've also created a referral coupon for clients to cut out and pass along to friends with their name on it so they earn double points and the friend starts their point program. So far, although early on, it's been received very favorably.
October 6th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I've been focusing this year on marketing to my current clients. I offer each new client a discount on their next service. I also offer each of my existing clients a free service on their birthdays. And, I started offering a free service to loyal clients for each referral. Not only does this keep my current clients happy, it has greatly increased my referrals. This is a strategy that I definitely plan to continue.
October 7th, 2008 at 8:02 am
SpaBooker actually just added a full loyalty module to the system with our last feature release. It allows you to create tiered membership levels and have your members earn points at different rates (if you want to get really fancy). And as usual, it's all included for no additional charge.
Give us a call at (866) 721-5580 to learn a little more.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I would consider SpaBooker's loyalty module a very simple system. I haven't found any reporting of point balances, nor a way to give points away like Nancy and Christy are doing to encourage referrals.
With online marketing, reviews are also something to be rewarded as well… I am not saying to pay some one to write fake reviews. Generally only your most loyal (or most dissatisfied) clients would spend the time to write one. What I am suggesting is to encourage your clients to review your business and reward any review that they took the time to write for loyalty points (or restitution points if your service let them down in some way).
October 14th, 2008 at 9:20 am
A point system would be great. Anything that would help me to automate my rewards and not try keep it all in my head….
As an aside, I've found that a great incentive to get clients to write reviews on citysearch, etc. is to offer a discount to anyone who takes the time to write a review. It is the extra push that certain happy clients need to take action.
October 15th, 2008 at 5:23 am
Hi Christy, We've also been toying around with the idea of rewarding customers for reviewing us on Citysearch. How do you track which customers reviewed you? Do you have them e-mail with the review or bring in a printed copy before you offer them a discount?