Secrets of salon success: building and maintaining a great reputation

22 May 2014

Written by Alice Smithson

Have you ever visited a shop or given business to a company based solely on a recommendation? Word of mouth marketing remains one of the most powerful tools for any business, especially businesses that rely on the skill and talent of their employees _ such as salons. Word of mouth marketing is almost entirely driven by the reputation of the business. Furthermore, these recommendations often tend to enhance reputation. This process might imply that once you’ve built up a positive reputation it’s a breeze to maintain, but in reality, this is far from the case. To build and maintain your salon’s good reputation, there are numerous strategies that even the smallest salon can employ. Through a combination of salon management software, marketing, and team management, your salon can soon begin to gain ground in a busy market.

The foundations

There’s little point in spending a great deal of time and money on marketing if your salon isn’t up to scratch. When you’ve managed to tempt customers into your salon, you must ensure that they have a positive experience. This is particularly essential during the first visit, as the clients will be scrutinising every aspect of your salon, and, of course, the results of the treatments that they receive. This extends to every aspect of the salon visit, from the sights, smells and conversations going on around them, to the state of the washrooms, your clients will notice everything. So arranging a secret shopper to give you honest feedback, on a regular basis, is essential.

Salon marketing

It’s time to spread the word about your salon. There are many platforms from which to carry out marketing: print advertising, email marketing, text marketing, social media and online reviews to name a few. Depending on the demographics of your clientele, you’ll want to focus your efforts on specific marketing channels. If you use salon management software, send out marketing texts or emails to clients in your database who haven’t visited your salon in the past six months or more. Tempt them back with the promise of a revitalised, new look salon, or a carefully targeted discount.

Online reputation

Supplement your marketing efforts with an increased push to improve your online presence. Update and refresh your social media pages, begin to post on them more regularly, and respond to any negative reviews you may have received on third party sites. Don’t delete them, or ignore them. Instead, post a polite, reasoned response, notifying the author of the steps you’ve taken to resolve the problem. This will enhance your online reputation and show that you’re willing to respond to criticism in a professional manner. In addition, invite your customers to review your salon using SalonSpy. SalonSpy is a review platform specifically for beauty salons, and it can be linked to i-Salon software so clients will automatically receive invitations to review your salon upon completion of their appointment.

Maintaining a good reputation

No salon can afford to become complacent. Respond to complaints quickly and seriously, no matter how minor the client’s problem is. Continue to train your stylists and motivate them to excel using targets set using salon management software. Improve communication with your clients by sending out appointment reminders, in addition to carefully targeted marketing emails to build up a solid relationship with them. Set up loyalty schemes using salon software to reward customers for their loyalty. There’s no secret formula to maintaining reputation, but provided that the service your salon provides is high quality, and you’re continually striving to improve, you’re well on the way to salon success. If you’d like some assistance in building up your salon’s reputation, salon management and appointment booking software may well be of use. Contact us to learn more.