From first-time visitors to loyal clients: the art of client retention in beauty industry
Did you know that retaining a client is 5 times more cost-effective than acquiring a new one, especially in the beauty industry? Repeat clients do more than just sustain and grow your business; they also recommend your services to others.
Loyal clients are not just revenue generators; they’re your brand ambassadors.
According to Harvard Business School, repeat clients spend 120% more annually compared to new ones. But the critical question remains: How do you turn a first-time visitor into a long-term client?
In this blog, we’ll dive deep into the art of building client loyalty. We’ll explore everything from understanding client loyalty and the importance of loyalty programs to effective ways of measuring their success. We’ll also reveal practical tactics, including how beauty salon software can be a game-changer in nurturing these loyalty programs.
So let’s move forward on this journey of retaining clients and watching your business flourish!
Also Read : Loyalty Program for Salons: Enhance Your Salon Marketing!
What is client loyalty?
Client loyalty describes an ongoing relationship between your business and your clients, characterized by their frequent and consistent choice to book services or purchase products from you over your competitors. Customer loyalty is built through positive experiences, quality services, and the development of trust and emotional connection with your clients. This loyalty not only generates repeat sales but also empowers your clients to actively contribute to the growth and reputation of your business.
Why is client loyalty important?
The importance of client loyalty impacts every aspect of running your beauty business. Without happy and satisfied customers who regularly book your beauty services or buy your products, sustaining your business becomes a challenge. You can focus on acquiring new clients, but it costs more,andt with loyal customers, you can easily gain their trust.
- Trust & recommendations: Nearly 83% of customers said that they would recommend a brand to others that they trusted.
- Cost-effectiveness: According to 82% of companies, customer retention is significantly cheaper than acquisition.
- Brand reputation: Loyal customers often become representatives of your brand, enhancing its reputation and advocacy through their positive experiences.
- Increased spending: Repeat customers trust your brand and will spend more than new ones.
- Engagement & feedback: Loyal customers are generally more engaged and provide valuable feedback.
How do you build client loyalty?
There are a lot of ways to build customer loyalty, such as by developing reward points, loyalty programs, tailored services, campaigns, and improving services and experiences. Here we have provided the 7 most important client retention strategies that will help you increase your loyal customer base.
- Invest on loyalty programs
- Develop a reward program
- Offer tailored services
- Seek out customer feedback
- Communicate your values
- Focus on customer satisfaction
- Run multiple campaigns
1. Invest on loyalty programs
Before stepping deep into the loyalty program, first you have to understand what a loyalty program is. A loyalty program is an approach to offering rewards to clients who make frequent purchases or first-time visitors to retain them and build loyalty. With the advancement of technology, creating and managing loyalty programs is easier than you think. Programs like selling prepaids, packages, memberships, gift vouchers, and offering discount coupons can keep your clients coming back.
How can you convert your first-time visitors into returning customers with a discount coupon?
Here is an illustration:
Initial analysis
If you’re beauty business has 114 new clients every month, nearly 75% of clients do not return for a second visit, i.e., 85 clients, and only 29 clients become repeat customers.
Second visit retention
For the 25% returning (29 clients), at a service rate of $2,000 each, you generate $58,000 in retention revenue, but you lose $170,000 due to those 85 non-return clients.
Increase retention rate to 40%
- Setting a New Goal
- To achieve this, consider implementing a 25% discount coupon for their second visit.
- Financial Impact
- Without a discount, only 25% of clients (29 clients) will return. If they spend $2,000 each, you’ll generate a revenue of $58,000.
- With a 25% discount, if 40% of your clients (45 clients) were you, you would generate $67,500 (at $1,500 each).
Strategic Conclusion
By introducing the first-time discount model, your projected outcome is additional revenue of $9,500, plus the significant benefit of gaining 16 more loyal clients.
2. Develop a reward program
Reward clients for each invoice and let them use those points for upcoming bookings and purchases. Clients can accumulate reward points during checkout and redeem them for freebies, cashback, perks,etc. They don’t just earn reward points from purchases; they can also earn loyalty points from sharing on social media, leaving reviews, having birthday and more.
3. Offer tailored services
Allow clients to customize products or services based on their specific needs and preferences, leading to higher satisfaction rates. Also, offer bundles of services, packages, prepaid options, memberships, and customized gift vouchers to understand client behavior better and increase client loyalty. Additionally, provide discounts to high-value customers to encourage their continued patronage.
4. Seek out client feedback
Gaining regular feedback from clients is crucial for understanding their needs, preferences, and pain points. By actively seeking and responding to client feedback, you can effectively discern customer opinions and values, as well as identify what is working well and what isn’t. Moreover, with beauty salon software, automating the process of collecting feedback becomes simpler. This technology can facilitate the management of client responses, enabling you to update positive reviews on Google and intelligently address negative reviews by sending follow-up questions.
5. Communicate your values
Communicating your values effectively as a business offers numerous benefits, including the building of a strong and positive brand identity. Sharing your brand story and values through websites, social media, and marketing materials makes it easier to attract clients who align with those values, leading to greater engagement and dedication. Creating blog posts, videos, social media content, and images that align with your values can further reinforce this effect.
6. Focus on customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is key to building a brand. Train your staff to provide exceptional client service, quick response times, and personalized services. Use insights and customer behavior to understand and personalize customer experiences, such as by recommending products and services based on their needs and past purchases. Follow up with customers post-purchase to ensure their satisfaction and address any issues immediately to gain their trust and loyalty.
7. Run multiple campaigns
Utilize advanced marketing strategies like digital marketing, content marketing, email campaigns, social media ads, and traditional marketing to enhance brand awareness. Use client metrics to create targeted ads that reach different audience segments. Also, it’s beneficial to launch campaigns during holidays, seasons, festivals, and current events. Most importantly, monitor how your marketing campaigns are performing to identify what works best and refine your approaches.
Wrapping Up
In conclusion, the journey of building client loyalty is continuous and dynamic. By investing in loyalty programs, developing a reward system, offering tailored services, actively seeking client feedback, effectively communicating your values, focusing on customer satisfaction and running diverse marketing campaigns, you can significantly enhance client loyalty. These strategies not only attract first-time visitors but also impress loyal clients with the desire to keep coming back. So, embrace these practices and watch as your business not only retains clients but also flourishes through their advocacy and continued patronage.
Visit the MioSalon website today and schedule a free demo to experience how their software can revolutionize your business.
