Sound Advice for Surviving Economic Hiccups?
October 2nd, 2008 • Posted by Stephany Toman • Permalink
Some of you have been out there for long enough to have weathered an economic storm or two. While there is certainly no end to coping advice circulating these days, we thought going to the source — those of you who have seen and done this before, and whose spas have lived to fight another day — was the best way find answers.
So, are you planning to adjust your holiday campaigns or offerings in any way? Are you considering offering packages with slightly different/lower price points? Or are you adding value, in terms of a giveaway product or perhaps a lengthened treatment time for the same price?
We've talked to some owners who are going as far as rewarding their longtime clients with temporary price rollbacks to ensure those loyal clients continue enjoying services on a regular basis.
What are you doing, what have you thought about, in terms of how best to ride this financial event out while continuing to provide great services that relax, pamper and support wellness for your stressed out and tensed up client base?
We want to hear, and thank you again for sharing your expertise!
Posted in Spa Marketing, Spa Business Management, General • Share • Trackback
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Currently we only have one price for a one hour massage. We do not differentiate between massage for relaxation and massage with more advanced work consisting of trigger point, myofascial release, etc. We are going to be implementing a two-tier pricing system. We will keep our current pricing ($50 for a one hour massage) for relaxation. More advanced modalities will be priced at $65 for a one hour massage. This will allow clients to continue to receive massage therapy on a regular basis and opt up to the advanced modalities as needed. We will reward our current regular clients by offering them the advanced modalities session for the $50 fee.
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I am thinking about offering an incentive to buy gift certifcates.
It's a win-win-win!
October 4th, 2008 at 10:12 am
I am thinking about doing similar marketing I did back in '99 and it worked well. For every gift certificate sold over $200, the purchaser received a coupon to come in during June or August of the following year with a friend — book our half day spa package, I will include lunch for both of them and extend both of their massages to 1 1/2 massages instead of an hour. I handed out a bunch of these coupons to my gift certificate purchasers and I was surprised that a good percentage of them took me up on it! Sometimes the gift purchaser is even more excited to get an incentive to come back for themselves! By extending the services I did not reduce the price… just had to pay a little more in wages, but not much. Plus it makes us busier for June and August! But, to get this deal they need to buy a GC this Christmas season for over $200. Guess I better talk to my printer on Monday. Let's make this the best season ever for gift certificates! We are the stress busters = day spas!
October 5th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I have learned to steel my nerves and just focus on quality of what I have to offer. The thing I've experienced is, when I gave discounts, I attracted a crowd of people who wanted to pay less money for a massage. I want clients who are like me: willing to pay (within reason) whatever cost to get exactly what they want and deserve. They may come in less often when money gets tight, but we are both satisfied, and they continue to refer their friends and family and buy gift certificates.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
We started noticing a decrease in business in early summer when the gas prices started going up and up. We normally charge $40 for a half hour massage and $60 for a full hour. After talking with my massage therapists, we all decided that for the summer, at least, we would offer to our clients, both current as well as new, $25 half hour massages. We would also work an extra 10-15 minutes on these folks as well. We dubbed it the "Recession Special" … and used the tag line "Relax for less this summer." It was a very successful marketing campaign, as we not only had current clients take advantage of it, but we added a lot of first time clients to our clientele as well. We also sold a LOT of gift certificates during this time. It was a win/win situation for all of us!
October 6th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
I actually raised my prices late this summer, and business is booming. I've found since the price increase that I'm attracting more clients who are in my target demographic and weeding out the "bargain hunters." In my market segment, eyelash extensions, you get what you pay for.
October 7th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I recently just started working for myself so I'm also trying to build clientele at this time. For a while I was offering 50% off for first time clients, but this eventually started hurting me, or it felt like it at least. My prices are set to where I am trying to bring in true pamperers who love a fabulous facial experience and will hopefully be repeats. I make sure they have the most relaxing time of their life to guarantee they come back again. I give them $20 spabuck coupons they can use towards anything on their next visits to For the Love of Skin Day Spa may it be another facial or a deal on product.
October 15th, 2008 at 5:39 am
I agree with Mary Beth. Discounting may seem like a great short term solution to spur traffic but it'll end up hurting in the long run. Discounting will mainly attract the price sensitive consumers (bargain shoppers) who are not willing to pay full price for a service. Once the discounting is gone so will these customers and you'll find yourself back in square one…more discounts to follow. This is not to say that we don't discount at all. We offer series pricing which has a built in discount but we're only willing to do that because it locks the customer in for at least 6 visits and gives us an opportunity to build a long term relationship.
Instead of worrying about our price points we're focusing on providing an outstanding service and making the customers visit a memorable one. We're also pushing our Rewards Program and more closely aligned our staff compensation with the metrics that matter most during these hard times…retention rates and retail sales. Lastly, we're hosting a private spa party for our top spending customers in order to reward them for their loyalty and keep them excited about being a customer.
October 16th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
These are some great responses! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and your creative approaches to marketing your businesses!