Spa Business Management

Imagine if you installed a phone in your place of business and invited people to get in touch with you that way. Your phone number is easily found on the internet and anyone could call. And then… you pick up the phone about one in every 20 times it rings. Crazy, right?

This is what a new survey found on Facebook business pages – 95% of posts to business Facebook Pages go completely unanswered. Wow.

Some industries are better than others (telecommunications companies tended to be at the top and they're still just 25%!). Overall, it's pretty bleak. Luckily, it is not hard to fix.

There are clearly easy ways to build your customer relationships, and social media is one of the easiest. But you DO have to pay attention. Set up a notification so that you receive a text or an email when someone posts to your Wall. If the sheer volume would overwhelm your SMS plan, you might have other issues in managing your business. A couple per day or week isn't going to put much dent in your phone usage or even your free time.

Even when someone just posts a "thank you!", or a "I love this spa!" — give them feedback.  Acknowledge and thank them for reaching out.  For actual questions or concerns, handle those as needed.  Address posts as soon as possible — by the end of the business day is best.  Keep a good track record and your clients will be singing your praises — even more than they already do.

Posted in Creating Customers, Social Media, Spa Business Management • Comment »

Seth and Dena were the dynamic duo on Tuesday, taking a rapt audience through the often complicated world of merchant accounts and credit card processing. Basis points, default rates, rewards cards, oh my! We hope to have simplified much of the jargon and allowed you to take a fresh look at your monthly statement, and decide what to do next to benefit your business.

The nutshell? Most businesses (including yours) could be paying less, but it often takes a ton of hard work and negotiations.

If you could not join in for the fascinating presentation, just view and download our webinar files and catch up on your own schedule – and then take action to help your bottom line.

Watch the Video: What Credit Card Processors Don't Want You To Know

Download and follow along with our presentation [PDF]

Posted in Merchant Accounts, Spa Business Management, SpaBoom Webinars • 3 Comments »

We are so excited that many of you could join us as Janell went over 3 common mistakes that spas and salons make with their email marketing campaigns. These mistakes could damage reputations and squash potential relationships! We discussed the mistakes and how to increase your email list to achieve success.

If you missed all the fun, just view and download our webinar files and catch up on your own schedule – but do it soon and capture some hot summer interest.

Watch the Video: Email Marketing Success or Failure

Download and follow along with our presentation [PDF]

Posted in Spa Business Management, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom Webinars • Comment »

SpaBoom spas are doing awesome work when it comes to environmental awareness and adapting greener practices in their day to day operations.

Spa Gregorie's, located in Southern Cal (Orange County), with three locations, is one of those spas. They've just been recognized by OC Metro Magazine for their 'daily dedication to green practices.'

No stranger to national recognition for outstanding business performance, Spa Gregorie's, founded by Angela Cortright, is particularly proud of their inclusion in the 25 businesses OC Metro Magazine named as their 2011 Green Team.

Angela Cortright's thoughts on being part of OC Metro Magazine's Green Team, as shared in the June edition of DaySpa Magazine:

As part of their environmentally conscious practices, Spa Gregorie's has used recycled paper and soy ink, and has also donated towels to nonprofit organizations.

Congratulations Spa Gregorie's! Nice work!

Posted in General, Media Coverage, Spa Business Management • 1 Comment »

We've added a series of Events, beginning with Graduation and spanning through Summer; plus five email marketing campaigns, so please take a peek and tailor them to your exact preferences. If you use Events and don't make changes, the Events will automatically appear on your website for the range of dates listed.

As a reminder, the email campaigns are now segmented by spa and salon type to include: Day Spa, Salon and Spa, Massage Therapist, Medical Spa and Aesthetician. It means the emails are now tailored for your business with more exacting language, allowing you to utilize default emails that are specific to your target client type. In addition, we have created both relational and transactional emails for you to send to your client list.

Please go and review – and test – the new event campaigns, making sure they look great and have your own look and feel. You can still tailor the message to fit your specific needs. If you have a special promotion that you would like to add, now is the time to do it!

Events and Email Campaigns:

• Graduates Prefer Spa (transactional email) 5/15/11
• Celebrate Graduation with an Instant Spa Gift Event: 5/15/11 – 5/30/11
• Wedding Stress Demands a Spa Intervention (relational email) 5/31/11
• Wedding Stress Demands a Spa Intervention Event: 5/31/11 – 6/11/11
• Give Dad Spa Instantly (transactional email) 6/12/11
• Give Dad Spa Instantly Event: 6/12/11 – 6/19/11
• Give the Couple an Instant Gift of Spa (transactional email) 6/20/11
• Wedding Bliss Starts with Spa Event: 6/20/11 – 7/10/11
• Enhance Your Healthy Summer Glow with Spa (Relational email) 7/11/11
• Maintain Your Healthy Summer Glow Event: 7/11/11 – 8/01/11

Posted in Spa Business Management, Spa Gift Certificates, Spa Marketing, Spa Technology • Comment »

Thank you if you joined us today as we gave you the winning Mother's Day strategy to maximize revenue and swoop-in to capture the flurry of last minute online Instant Gift Certificate sales. We hope it was a fabulous webinar full of useful information for your business strategy. If you could NOT make it, don't despair – we have love to go around, in the form of video and slideshow.

You won't hear the Q & A at the end, but feel free to call us and one of our folks can handle your questions from the nuts and bolts to "I am not a client yet but want to be". We love those calls! (It is 800-940-0458, if you've forgotten.)

Watch the Video: Increase Your Mother's Day Sales in 2011

Download and follow along with our presentation [PDF]

Posted in Spa Business Management, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom New Features, SpaBoom Webinars • 1 Comment »

Thanks to all of you who attended my presentation last week at IECSC New York on the CARD Act and state gift laws.

If you couldn't make it, below is a link to the presentation I prepared, but was unable to use due to audio video problems at the Javits Center (they were not prepared for a Mac!). We also posted a guide to the CARD Act for small businesses. If you have any questions please feel free to call 800-940-0458 to clarify how we handle legal terms on gift certificates.

Gift Card Law Presentation IECSC New York 03/06/11 CARD Act [PDF]

Posted in Spa Business Management, Spa Gift Certificates • Comment »

If you attended our webinar today on salon marketing, thank you!  Salons need smart marketing solutions and best practices for fashioning an exclusive mix of services, building a loyal client base, growing product sales and staying on top of the latest online marketing trends.

If you couldn't make it, we have some great news – you can relive the magic by viewing our slideshow or watching the video of the webinar that we recorded live.  You won't hear the Q & A at the end, but feel free to call us and one of our amazing folks like Janell or Seth will A any Q you can come up with.

Watch the Video: Supercharged Salon Marketing

Download and follow along with our presentation [PDF]

Posted in Creating Customers, Spa Business Management, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom Webinars • Comment »

We'll be at the upcoming IECSC New York at the Javits Convention Center, so come by, catch up with our team and let us show you our newest features! We will be at booth number 462.

Our very own Seth Gardenswartz will be speaking at IECSC, New York so make sure you take this opportunity to learn more about the New Gift Law and how it affects your spa.

How the New Gift Law Affects Your Spa
Sunday, March 6th, 10:45am-12:00pm
SETH GARDENSWARTZ • VP of Business Development & Corporate Counsel – SpaBoom

The new Credit CARD Act took effect on August 22, 2010, changing the rules (radically, in some states) for gift card and certificate sales in the United States. Despite what you may have heard, it has a profound effect on small businesses who sell gift cards or gift certificates. Mr. Gardenswartz will show spas how to navigate the new law and what they can do to protect their business.

We hope to see you there!

For info on the show, visit the IECSC site.

Posted in General, Spa Business Management • 3 Comments »

For almost a decade IECSC New York has been the venue that spa professionals have come to rely on for knowledgeable insight on how to grow their businesses. A leading education program offers a stellar roster of speakers and timely topics that can help you enhance your career.

IECSC New York Offers Attendees:

• FREE Show Floor Admission with 200+ exhibitors
• FREE Manufacturer Education with 45+ classes
• Spa Business Conference – with 6 educational tracks
• ASTECC Education
• Cidesco USA Education

To register for your free admission, visit IECSC or call 800.498.6984.

Save up to $75 on your conference admission if you register by February 11!

Posted in General, Spa Business Management • Comment »

Thanks to all who attended our Addicted to Love webinar on Wednesday the 19th by the vivacious Janell Loving and Seth "let's talk about sexy yield management" Gardenswartz. Valentine's Day is fast approaching and you have time to make this one memorable for both your clients and your bottom line.

Love makes people spend over $17 billion each year for Valentines Day. Watch Seth and Janell share techniques to help your spa get its share. We will give you a comprehensive plan to satisfy the unrequited revenue needs of your spa and help people achieve relationship bliss.

Watch the Video: Addicted to Love

Download and follow along with our presentation [PDF]

Posted in Creating Customers, Spa Business Management, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom Webinars • 2 Comments »

Thanks to all who attended our 3 Number Challenge webinar on Wednesday the 5th by the ever-engaging Janell Loving and charming Seth Gardenswartz. Get 2011 started off right with strategies to achieve your best sales growth to date.

Watch them both reveal the secrets to building a valuable list, increasing your fans and followers all while driving traffic to your website and spa. We will give you actionable tools to get the conversation started and increase revenue using the strategies behind these important numbers.

3 Number Challenge 2011: Watch the Video

Download and follow along with our presentation [PDF]

Posted in Spa Business Management, Spa Marketing, Spa Technology, Spa Website Design, SpaBoom Webinars • 1 Comment »

There is no doubt that client’s spa experiences can make or break a spa. Consistently surpassing a client’s expectations is a challenge but it will easily differentiate your business from the competition.

Managing the spa experience is a critical component of success for spas and salons, it is also a necessary strategy for those seeking to improve and evolve. There are distinct factors that create an overall spa experience but they aren’t as elusive as you might think. It is worth taking a look, by mining down to the details that define your spa experience and then looping back up to the big picture, you will see what can be controlled and managed consistently.

This past week I attended the Florida IECSC Spa Show and spoke with one of our first SpaBoom clients. We were discussing the Gift Card Law webinar that SpaBoom recently hosted for our clients. She was resolute in her position that the new law had little effect on her spa. She honors any gift certificate from the spa; there is no expiration for gift certificates. She actually loves getting old gift certificates and makes a point of ensuring that the recipient has a wonderful spa experience. She clearly runs her spa with a wise customer centric focus, a strategy that has made her successful and unique in the marketplace.

Think about a client’s entire engagement with your spa, each step and interaction that creates an intersecting flow from beginning to end. While most spa experiences have tailored components, there are specific touch points including communications, interactions, impressions and even barriers that will be common for most of your clients. In addition take time to consider your spa’s overall environment and its impact on your customers.

A first step is looking at your business and identifying the common touch points of the spa experience. Once you do that, it is a matter of creating processes that improve those touch points like customer service, retail, purchases, website, social media and assimilating them into the overall management of your spa.

We would love to hear from you. Please comment and give us your insight in understanding the spa client experience. How have you used that knowledge and wisdom to fundamentally improve your spa or salon over time?

Posted in General, Spa Business Management • 3 Comments »

We'll be at the upcoming IECSC event at the Broward Country Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, so come by, catch up with our team and let us show you our newest features!

Show hours:

• Saturday, November 6th: 10:00 am — 6:00 pm
• Sunday, November 7th: 10:00 am — 6:00 pm

We hope to see you there! And yes, there will be chocolate. Blissful, yummy chocolate!

For info on the show, visit the IECSC site.

Posted in General, Spa Business Management, Spa Website Design • Comment »

MaxAesthetics, a boutique med spa located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has launched its new website. The spa’s focus is to enhance each clients’ natural beauty and help restore their youthfulness and well-being. It is the perfect place to relax, recharge and experience the highest quality and most advanced skincare therapies. MaxAesthetics offers their clients advanced skincare, massage therapy, body treatments, permanent makeup, laser hair removal and waxing.

Core to their success is a commitment to the individual care of each client and an emphasis on staff education and certification. Their professional staff is knowledgeable and friendly, the spa is inviting to all who are ready to relax and enjoy specialized treatments that nurture the mind and body.

The owners approached building their new website with the same results oriented focus they bring to their spa business each day. Now, their website streamlines online traffic and broadcasts the spa's brand message locally, nationally and virally. Selling Instant Gift Certificates increases revenue, builds repeat clientele, and the online booking feature offers convenience and more bookings for the spa.

From a single log-in the spa can quickly schedule and send email promotions , automate their Twitter and Facebook posts, activate BoomTime Deals, generate transactions with branded Instant Gift Certificates, keep website content and graphics fresh, update online menus and activate special events. They can also measure the impact of their online advertising using SpaBoom reports.

MaxAesthetics is known for their effective skin treatments, results that keep their clients coming back. The staff's deep knowledge of skincare and professionalism combined with a serene atmosphere make this boutique med spa a retreat for client's looking for customized skin treatments that make a difference.

Posted in General, Spa Business Management, Spa Website Design, SpaBoom Dynamic Websites • Comment »

IECSC Florida is bringing the magic back to Fort Lauderdale! Join us this fall as the spa industry's most elite members convene for IECSC Florida.

IECSC Florida includes:

• 200+ Exhibitors.
• 40+ FREE Manufacturer Classes.
• 35+ FREE Spa Business Conference Classes with tracks in Spa Management, Makeup, Medical Spa Business, Wellness and Sole Practitioner/Small Business Education.

Special Discount Offer:

Save $10 on Daily Show Floor Admission!
Register using Source Code AMSPA10 and get $35 Daily Admission (regular price is $45).
Offer Expires on October 25, 2010, and can not be combined with any other offer.

To Register visit IECSC or call 800.498.6984.

Posted in General, Spa Business Management • Comment »

If you've been resisting online credit card processing, Amazon Payments has a huge benefit: no setup fee and no monthly fees, along with competitive rates. When you process credit cards manually, you're paying a "card not present" rate, which equates to an average of 3.1%-3.6% plus per transaction fees. Amazon Payments, in comparison, is 2.95% plus $.30 per transaction. And no time spent manually processing.

Coming up on the holidays, this is the perfect time to automate your credit card processing. We're happy to walk you though getting setup with Amazon Payments, just drop us a line.

Posted in Spa Business Management, SpaBoom New Features • 24 Comments »

There is beauty, fashion and rejuvenation happening in Sarasota right now. L. Boutique has launched their new website including L. Spa, a refreshingly bright and glamorous take on spa that truly celebrates luxury and relaxation.

Over the past six years L. Boutique has grown to include L. Kids and L. Spa, it has become a contemporary and cutting edge retail and spa destination for Sarasota, Florida. The new website’s fully integrated online marketing capability generates revenue instantly for the spa. The website allows them to easily manage their online content and graphics, email marketing campaigns, online menus, SEO, social media, branded Instant Gift Certificates, and special events, all from a single login.

L. Spa is striking and the new website perfectly reflects the clean and sophisticated design of the spa’s physical space. L. Spa inspires and sets the perfect tone for the ultimate spa experience, with an extensive menu of services including massage therapies, body treatments, advanced skincare, makeup, waxing and a brilliantly decadent nail lounge.

The website takes their growing retail and spa business to a new level and extends their relationship with customers online. Existing clients can be fully informed about news and events at L. Boutique and L. Spa by following them on Facebook and Twitter. Because they are now integrated online, it has streamlined their entire marketing process, which means they can continue to put focus and attention on their clients and running the spa.

Posted in General, Spa Business Management, Spa Marketing, Spa Website Design • Comment »

Spa Constantine is a multi-location luxury day spa in Downers Grove and Downtown Oak Park Illinois, both suburbs of Chicago. The spas are known for their dedication to service, specifically their goal to achieve “total client satisfaction.” They have a deep knowledge of skin care, the treatment of sensitive skin, and offer luxurious and natural branded products. Spa Constantine has created a relaxing spa; the rich colors and textures emphasize a beautiful European atmosphere.

Spa Constantine are full-service spas that need a full service website. They take full advantage of SpaBoom’s integrated online marketing suite to generate more revenue instantly. The spa website is rich and inviting; the easy to read navigation bar offers a clear view of all the spa experience options available to clients and the spa menu provides specifics on all spa treatments. “Spa Constantine created a website with their clients in mind and the valuable content enriches their online experience. Penny is an amazing entrepreneur and she is always excited to use new SpaBoom marketing features,” says Seth Gardenswartz, SpaBoom’s VP Business Development.

Spa Constantine is using their website blog, creating fresh content that engages existing and potential spa clients and they also add each blog post to Facebookand Twitter. They are actively using social media to build a community of followers, obtain client referrals and fill in last minute appointment availability. All this consistent, hard work pays off for the spa in terms of spreading brand awareness, Google search rank and maximizing their exposure to new clients.

SpaBoom’s integrated marketing suite allows Spa Constantine to manage their website’s content and graphics, email marketing, social media, SEO, online menus, branded Instant Gift Certificates, and special events, all with a single login. SpaBoom streamlines Spa Constantine’s marketing process, so they can put more focus and attention on their clients and running the spas.

We are thrilled to partner with Spa Constantine and can’t wait to see what they have coming up for their spa clients this holiday season.

Posted in General, Spa Business Management, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom Dynamic Websites • 1 Comment »

Recently we received an email in response to the blog post If you must, tips for selling on Groupon, from Lynn Schulman of Elixir Organic Spa:

Using an intelligent discounting strategy Lynn was able to develop an advantageous group deal for her spa. Here are the three key discount strategies that turned the deal around for her spa.

Know your goal and reasons for participating

The desire to attract new clients and increase revenue was her main goals through the group deal "…I was prepared to walk away from the negotiations of the deal if they couldn't work with my pre-determined requirements…."

Margins set the standard

She based her deal on what she would require to achieve her desired profit margin after covering all of her expenses. This provided "…the advantage of a correctly aimed price point at potential new clients rather than only deal seekers…."

Upsell and Rebooking

The deal she created was never in direct competition with her existing service menu, so the therapists and staff were able to easily up-sell at the product level and rebook for services on the existing menu based on the experience received during the discounted service appointment.

If you are considering rolling a group deal — consider this: BoomTime Deals (available w/your SpaBoom Online Marketing Suite) offer you control, preferential new client targets, and the best part of the deal — you pay under 5% commission.

Posted in Creating Customers, General, Group Deals, Spa Business Management, Spa Gift Certificates, Spa Marketing, SpaBoom New Features • Comment »