Increase Your Salon Client Retention

While growing your salon’s client base is a vital part of your business, it’s important to avoid neglecting your current clients. Instead of focusing a large chunk of money towards acquiring new clients, you can increase profits by focusing on your current client base. Studies have shown that increasing retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by 25%.

What is Client Retention?

Before diving straight into the strategies to increase your salon client retention, you should get a better grasp of what it is. Client retention rate is the percentage of clients that stay with you over a given timeframe. To run a successful beauty business, you will need new clients coming in while also maintaining the ones you already have.

To better understand how to keep your clients, you should understand the reasons why they wouldn’t continue to book with you. Some reasons may be:

• Lack of customer service or incentives
• Unsanitary environment
• Long wait times
• Not understanding the client’s needs

Think of how you would want to be treated as a client by putting yourself into their shoes.

How to Measure Salon Client Retention

Rate of Rebooking by New and Returning Clients

How many of your new and returning clients are rebooking with you? This can be calculated by taking the number of clients who had an appointment within a specific time frame, divided by clients with future appointments booked.

For example, let’s say you had 10 new clients come into your salon in June. Two of them rebooked with you for a future appointment, which means that the retention rate for new clients is 20%.

The only downside is that clients may not always rebook with you before they leave the initial appointment. We encourage you to measure these metrics on an on-going basis. This can be done by recording client files and appointment history. The best way to keep track is to use a client management software to avoid dealing with stacks of paperwork.

Occupancy Within Your Salon

How many clients do you have in your salon at a given time? You should keep track of the number of appointments you have each day. This will give you a better idea of how busy and profitable you are.

Instead of scrambling for old paperwork, stay organized with a client management and scheduling software. You will be able to easily pull up old schedules and determine if the occupancy has been growing. This is important data that will help analyze the growth of your business.

Number of Referrals and Consultations

Happy and loyal clients have a higher chance of referring their friends and family. Looking at the referral rate can determine how satisfied your current clients are with your services. It will also give you an idea of how likely your clients will come back for future appointments.

Satisfied clients are more likely to post positive reviews online. These online reviews are another way to get new clients to visit your salon. You can encourage clients to leave positive reviews on your Google My Business listing, Yelp, and Facebook. This can be done after each appointment and by email marketing.

Keeping track of the number of referrals will allow you to get a better understanding of your clients and their specific needs. We encourage you to measure these metrics on an on-going basis and creating reports each quarter. They will help you plan your business and apply changes.

The Benefits of Client Retention

There are many benefits to having a high client retention rate for your salon business. While profit is one of them, there are additional long-term benefits that can be highly appreciated.

Fill Your Schedule

Having an empty salon is probably not a good idea. You won’t be making money on an empty seat and it also doesn’t look good for potential clients. They may question why more clients aren’t booking with your salon.

Many successful salon businesses are booked up months in advance. While some of those appointments are new clients, many of them are current ones that have rebooked. Many services such as hair removal or lash extensions require maintenance every few weeks. Be sure to book your clients in for their next appointment before they leave the initial appointment.

Increased Customer Loyalty and Referral

Clients are coming back to you for a reason. Returning clients mean that they are staying loyal to your salon. Instead of going elsewhere, they are coming back for your service and expertise.

Many of these loyal customers will become natural brand ambassadors for your salon. Thanks to the power of social media, it allows clients the opportunity to voice their opinions. A happy client will probably give your salon a shout-out on social media or leave a positive review online.

Cut Costs on Customer Acquisition

Implementing marketing strategies and paid advertisements can add up in cost. With a high client retention rate, you can cut costs on customer acquisition. Your appointment book will be more filled and your loyal clients will do organic marketing for you. Word of mouth and social media will work in your favor. This means less money spent on marketing to obtain new clients.

Forecast Accuracy

If you have more clients returning for your services, you will be able to forecast reports with more accuracy. You will know how much money you’re making ahead of time or how much inventory to hold. If your client retention rate is low, it will be more difficult to analyze these numbers ahead of time.

Collecting data and measuring behaviour patterns of your returning clients will become easier. You will get a better understanding of what is or isn’t working for your salon.

Strategies to Increase Your Salon Client Retention

Organize and Optimize Client Information

Out with the days of old planners and paperwork. Using a client management and scheduling software will ensure that all the data is organized. You will have full access to client notes, appointment history, and previous schedules. All the information will help you better understand your clients.

By keeping previous client notes on hand, you will know what is expected at each follow-up appointment. This ensures you don’t miss the little details that matter most. It will enhance the customer service experience and speed up the process, resulting in your clients feeling more valued. This reduces wait times and allows you to be more mindful of your scheduling. It ensures that everything will run smoothly so you can focus more time on your clients.

Having a history of visits will also allow you to determine who your retaining customers are. If you’re scheduling clients without keeping track of their information, you’re losing important data that will help grow your business.

Incentive Programs and Promotions to Entice Clients

Offering loyalty programs and on-going promotions are a great way to keep clients coming back to your salon. There are several programs and promotions that you can apply, such as:

• Introductory promotions
• Monthly plans for recurring services, such as lash extensions and fills
• Referral program
• Loyalty program
• Monthly promotions

Give clients a reason to enter your salon and come back for future appointments. Make it enticing for them to refer their friends. This can be done with loyalty programs and memberships. It was shown that 71% of consumers who are members of loyalty programs say the membership is a meaningful part of their relationships with the brand. It’s time to make these programs count.

Depending on the time of the year, it’s good to offer various promotions. You can offer a package deal for Mother’s Day or gifting program during the holidays. Show the clients that you care and respect them by giving more.

Improving The Salon Experience

First impressions are everything. It is important to ensure that the clients receive a positive salon experience every time they step foot into your salon. Your salon should be a hygienic and comfortable environment for your clients. The last thing you want is for your clients to feel uncomfortable or out of place.

From the beginning to the end, the salon experience should embed a positive memory for your clients. 80% of consumers say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers a personalized experience. You will not find two clients that are the same. If they are paying for your service, you should personalize the experience to suit their individual needs.

Ask for feedback at every single appointment. Hearing it first-hand from your clients is the most important way to gather data. Find out if there’s anything you should improve on. It will help to make the salon experience even better for them the next time. If they had a positive experience, ask them to share it on social media.

Book Follow-up Appointments

Before your client leaves the salon, book the follow-up appointment. It will be easier to book the appointment while they’re still in the salon with you.

You can book the appointment weeks or months in advance within your client management and scheduling software. Use one that will send notifications and reminders to prevent no-shows or late cancellations.

If you weren’t able to rebook the client before leaving the salon, follow-up with them in a few weeks. Send a friendly message to remind them that they are due for another appointment.

Digital Marketing

Stay active on your social media channels because it will be a key way to communicate with your current and potential clients. You will be able to share promotions and connect with them on a personal level. If they have any questions, they have that source of communication with you.

Email marketing is another tool that your business should be using. Try to gather and store your client’s emails at the time of booking. It’s a very effective form of communication that will allow you to follow-up and stay in contact with your clients. Sending emails whenever you have a new promotion is a great way to attract your clients and entice them to return for another visit. Who doesn’t love a deal?

With a better understanding of client retention, you will know how to better structure your salon business. Enforcing these strategies will allow you to fill up your schedule, build a loyal client base, and cut costs on customer acquisition.

What tactics are you using to retain your clients?