One of the many plates to spin when running a salon or a spa is getting clients through the door. Of existing and new clients, many salon owners choose to concentrate their efforts in the latter when it actually costs 10 times more to do so than to focus on retention. If that your case, if you haven’t been dedicating any time to reminding lapsed clients about your business, you could see unprecedented results. The best part is, all you need to get started are a few SMS message templates. Allow me to explain.
Marketing To Lapsed Clients With SMS
Designing a casual, friendly and relatable SMS message helps get customers’ attention, inherently reminding them of your brand. In fact, did you know that SMS has a whopping 99% open rate? And through Phorest Salon Software, 70% of all SMS sent are opened within the first four minutes of being received. For these two reasons alone, one can see why SMS marketing is indeed an effective tool to get information out to lapsed clients.
Anti-Spam Laws, Consent & SMS Marketing
It’s a common misconception that SMS marketing is illegal. This is false, and any provider that tells you SMS marketing is illegal is wrong. However, there are regulations you must follow to send permission-based SMS marketing.
- CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 16, 2003)
- Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (on July 1, 2014, Canada’s Anti-Spam Law went into effect)
If you operate a salon in the United States or Canada, you might have heard of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 before, or Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL). Both laws define “commercial messages as those that primarily advertise or promote a commercial product or service.” They require you to do two main things if you want to send marketing text messages to clients:
- Give adequate notice of what exactly you’re going to be sending & how frequently you plan on doing so
- Ask for an opt-in and offer a possibility to opt-out
SMS Message Templates
- We miss you. Receive a complimentary blow dry if you come in before the end of the week. Uppercuts <bookinglink> <optout>
- We haven’t seen you in a while. Get 100 TreatCard points on the house by booking your appointment today! Beauty Rooms <bookinglink> <optout>
Did you know that with Phorest Salon Software you can set-up that an automated birthday SMS message goes out to clients? What better way can you connect with long-lost clients than by reaching out on their special day and offering them a little treat on the house?
- Wishing you a happy birthday from the team @CitySalon. As a special B-Day treat, your next appointment is half-off. This month only! <bookinglink> <optout>
- Happy birthday! To celebrate your special day, pop by The Beauty Shop this week and get your exclusive B-Day Pressie! <bookinglink> <optout>
If a customer hasn’t come back in a while, then perhaps it might be best to offer them a valuable incentive.
- We’d love to see you again! Book your appointment @Uppercuts today & get a goodie bag of amazing products! <bookinglink> <optout>
Or maybe, don’t even treat them as long-lost clients. A straightforward value text can intrigue them enough to have them come back. BOGO Deals (Buy One – Get One deals) and 3 for 2 promos are some of the most engaging types of offers you can send.
- Free Shampoo when you purchase one of equal or greater value. Show text to redeem. EXP 31/06/18.<bookinglink> <optout>
There’s nothing wrong with having a little fun with your SMS marketing. You could give an outside-the-box approach to securing those tardy clients a try…
- Solve our riddle & win a treatment of x value @Uppercuts: What is grown, yet can be bought? Painted or left bare? Answer <bookinglink> <optout>
A nail is the answer to that, by the way! And for this type of SMS message, don’t forget to pop a mobile number in so you can get responses. Before sending, bear in mind that people may use that number going forward for appointments.
If you need help setting it up or organising a first retention campaign through Phorest Salon Software, feel free to contact our SMS Advisors at <grow@phorest.com>. For more on SMS marketing, download the Salon Owner’s SMS Marketing Gameplan eBook!
Phorest Salon Software’s Client ReConnect Feature!
If you are using Phorest Salon Software, then you can avail of our world first client retention feature, Client ReConnect.
ReConnect helps you track your regular (3 visits or more for any service in that service category) clients, and notify you when it looks like they have missed their regular appointment. Phorest Salon Software performs a continuous, deep analysis of all your clients, and tracks their bookings patterns. It also takes into account when clients have deviations to their typical slots and makes allowances for it. After you send them the initial email or SMS, ReConnect will automatically send them a follow-up email 2 weeks later. This feature takes the hard work out of tracking clients and learning their booking patterns, and lets you get on with what you do best – making your clients feel special.
Watch here:
Click here to learn more about Client ReConnect.
Let’s get those lapsed clients back in! Got feedback? Let us know either in the comments below or on Instagram!
Thanks for reading! #Togetherwegrow
This post was originally published in May 2015 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
