Why are customer retention strategies important? It’s simple: Being in the wellness and beauty businesses can be quite challenging. You need to take care of your demanding customers and ensure that your service is always up to the mark with the highest standards of quality and hygiene. 

Your customers are constantly on the lookout for the best beauty products and services before they actually book a service. They know that they’ve got a lot of options in the market to pick from and so, they don’t mind trying out different services from time to time. This means that on some days, you’ve got a hundred customers lining up to get a haircut or pedicure at your beauty salon but on some days, the numbers are sadly low.

The struggle is to keep your customers coming back to you and establishing a good online reputation for your business can surprisingly do the magic trick here.

Here are 7 ways why a good online reputation is a strong customer retention strategy for your business. 

1. 24/7 visibility through a greater social presence

A good online presence makes it easier for customers to reach out to you. Nowadays most customers are tech-savvy and prefer to look up the services online before booking them. If customers don’t find your business online, they might end up choosing your competitors instead.

So make sure that you have a great business website, and profiles on social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, etc., and get your beauty salon business listed with your correct contact details on popular free listing sites such as Google Business Profile.

Being visible on all these social media sites conveys a positive message to your potential as well as current customers. It makes it easier for them to get in touch with you as your contact details are easily available online. They can easily connect with you through a simple message or call to ask their queries or book a service at your salon. This will provide a good customer experience, build a good relationship with your customers and go a long way in customer retention.

2.  A response in time wins a customer

With an active presence on popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc, you can attend to your customer queries better and in a more timely fashion.  For example, if a prospective customer tries to contact you on your Facebook page with a business query, your prompt response can quickly convert a possible lead into a direct sale.

Even if it may not be possible for you to instantly respond to your customer, try to check your social profiles at the end of your day so that you do not miss out on any valuable conversation that could be lucrative for your business.

3. Engaging content or posts on social media

The way you use your social media profiles speaks a lot about your business. As a beauty salon business, you might not be willing to spend a lot of time and money on social media. Sometimes, even small efforts could turn out to be a rewarding experience for you. If you can’t post some fresh content every day, try to do it at least thrice a week.

Here are some content tips that will help you with customer retention:

  • Spread the word about your latest offers or packages,
  • Post pictures of some happy customers from your salon,
  • Share tips on hair and beauty,
  • Start an interactive post by asking a question.
  • What’s your regular hair care regime?
  • Which is your favorite MAC lipstick?

With a blend of informative posts, service promotions, short videos, and fun questions, you can engage your social media audience and be on their mind easily. Make sure you use a ‘call-to-action’ for your posts by sharing links to the booking page on your website.

Throw in some surprise contests on special occasions or festive times and reward your winners to make it more fun for everyone. Using enjoyable social media posts is a subtle way to promote your business and keep your customers coming back to you! As far as customer retention strategies go, great content can be extremely effective.

4. Testimonial videos to build trust

Millennials love watching videos as they’ve turned out to be one of the most engaging forms of online content. According to a recent report, 43% of people want to see more video content.

Videos are lively and entertaining, which is why most businesses are creating videos to market their services. As a Beauty Salon business, you can create a ‘Testimonial Video’ to highlight your services. 

Try creating short videos between 1:30 mins to 2 mins, where you can feature your regular clients talking about their great experience with your salon’s services. This will have a strong influence on the people, who watch these videos online and might draw them to book a service at your salon. Remember to share these videos on your business website, Facebook page, and Twitter page.

5. Surveys to find out what’s on your customer’s mind

You can deliver a good customer experience only when you know what your customers want. Understanding your customers is the most important aspect of building a pleasant and long-term relationship with them. You need to learn about what kind of services your customers might be interested in. Some might be interested in facials, pedicures, and haircuts. Some might just like to come to your beauty salon because that’s the nearest to their house or workplace.

Rather than wasting your time on guesswork, try to use an online survey to find out what’s on your customers’ minds. You can include different kinds of questions in a survey and gain insights from the responses you receive from your customers. Try including questions about, what they like best in your salon, what would they like to see you improve upon, and other such questions. Make the responses more meaningful for your business by including important and relevant answering options for your questions.

Multiple-choice questions are quite popular when it comes to such surveys. So, whenever customers have availed a service at your salon, send them an online survey to their registered email addresses and request a thoughtful response. Such surveys also help in screening and understanding customer sentiment toward your salon. This will help you in improving your customer experience and keep your customers coming back to you.

6. Get more online reviews

Customer opinions travel fast. Recent online reviews about your business can change the future of your business as customers take them very seriously. When your prospective customers read positive reviews about your salon business, they’ll start trusting your business. So, try to get as many online reviews for your business as you can by asking every customer to share their experience online. Be sure to monitor these reviews closely so you can thank happy customers and reach out to unhappy customers to solve their problems.

Birdeye is a robust online reputation and customer experience solution. The platform can help you track all your online reviews, get more reviews and help you build a good online reputation. It’s a customer retention strategy that works. 

Read about Birdeye’s social listening, social engagement, and social publishing features

7. Know what your competitors are up to

If you want to succeed in creating a profitable business and keep your customers coming to you, you can’t be living inside a cave. You need to be ten steps ahead of your competitors by being fully aware of how their business is doing. Try to keep track of all their latest services, offers, and packages, their pricing, and what people are talking about them online. Insights about your competitors and their activities will help you evaluate your salon’s reputation and performance.

You can also pick up certain actionable insights about how to be more innovative in your work. This can go a long way in making customers believe that you’re different than your competitors and you take special care in making your customers happy with your services. This will make sure that your customers become loyal to your salon and even recommend their friends to book a service with you.

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