While running a spa can be a very lucrative business opportunity in the industry worth more than $100 billion in market size, this doesn’t mean your spa business will automatically be successful without the right strategy and execution.
One of the key challenges in running a spa business is attracting new customers into your spa, which can be easier said than done. Here, we’ll talk about 7 spa promotion ideas to attract new customers and boost your revenue.
Let us begin with the first one.
Table of Contents
1. Build Valuable Partnerships
As a brick-and-mortar business, your spa should be targeting the local communities in order to grow your customer base.
You can partner with other local businesses in your area that are related (and in some cases, even those that aren’t directly related) to the spa industry; gyms, yoga classes, restaurants that sell health foods, and so on.
You can, for example, exchange promotional materials, as well as offering discount coupons for each others’ services. Aim to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships, and make sure both businesses benefit from these relationships.
2. Leverage Local SEO/Google Maps Optimization
The world has changed, and nowadays people primarily learn about local businesses from either social media recommendations (i.e. reviews from those they follow or influencers) and via Google.
You should make sure your spa can be found by people who search for “Spa near me” or “Spa in (your town name)”, and nowadays Google pulls results from Google Maps for these types of keywords.
So, you should optimize your Google Maps presence, and you should implement local SEO for your spa. However, Google Maps optimization only involves four basic steps:
- Claiming or creating your Google My Business listing, make sure to verify your listing
- Optimizing your listing by providing accurate and optimized information
- Building local citations on online directories for spas in your location
- Encouraging your existing customers to leave positive reviews on your Google Maps listing and also on third-party review sites
3. Offer Special Offers for First Visit
People love special offers whether it’s discount coupons, freebies, or other valuable offers. A great way to attract new customers is to do a first visit special offer campaign, for example, 20% discount for the next visit, or if your customer can refer your business to their friends.
The secret of this type of promotion is your offer, and it’s important to find the right balance to attract your customers: if it’s too valuable, you’ll risk losing profits and you’ll risk getting clients who are only interested in the offer and not your business. If it’s not perceived as valuable, then you might not attract anyone.
4. Host Contests and Giveaways
Another effective way to generate more bookings for your spa is to host a contest or a giveaway. Nowadays, you can easily host giveaways via social media, which is also a good way to boost your social media engagements and grow your followers.
Again, the secret here is to choose the right prize. Make sure the prize aligns well with your brand and the objective of the giveaway (i.e. getting more customers). You can, for example, offer 1-year discounts as the prize to ensure the winner keeps coming and can help promote your spa to their peers.
5. Make The Booking Process As Easy as Possible
You’ve put in all the hard work to attract new clients, and the last thing you’d want is for them to back out just because it’s difficult to book your service.
This is where having a spa scheduling and booking software like Bookeo can significantly help in streamlining your booking process, making it as easy and convenient as possible for your potential clients to access your business.
With Bookeo you’ll gain access to various features to improve your spa’s service excellence, including but not limited to:
- Send automatic notifications and reminders to your clients to reduce missed appointments
- Manage your online appointment calendar from your PC and mobile devices
- Notify staff with automatic email and text notifications for new, rescheduled, or canceled appointments
- Track all reservation steps
- Customize your appointment calendar with color coding and customize your business hours.
6. Leverage Customer Testimonials and Reviews
More than 97% of customers nowadays read reviews for local businesses, probably including you. So, it’s important to encourage your customers to leave a review on your Google Maps listing (which will help your ranking), your social media, website, directories, and other relevant platforms.
You can also feature customer testimonials on your website or social media (i.e. when a famous celebrity visits your spa), which can be very effective social proofs.
To encourage customers to leave reviews, sometimes all it takes is just to ask them at the right time. However, according to Royal Metis Consultancy you can also offer incentives like discount coupons for customers who reviewed you on social media or website.
7. Offer Customer Service Excellence
Your spa business is, in essence, a service business, and providing excellent service remains the key to staying ahead of your competitors and attracting more customers.
When your clients are satisfied with your service, they are also more likely to refer your business to their peers and friends, which is the most effective way in growing your customer base.
You can improve your customer service by leveraging technologies, for example with a booking platform like Bookeo that can send appointment reminders via email and text to reduce missed appointments and prepare your staff for each appointment.