Client retention in a hair salon can be a huge asset, especially in times when new client referrals are harder to get. Customer retention is actually more lucrative than finding new clients. Research data shows that it can cost up to five times more to acquire a new client than it costs to retain an existing customer! In fact, upselling to your current clients is often more profitable than what you’d earn from a first-time client. The average lifetime value of a salon customer over ten years is over $3,000, and that’s not including upsells, product sales, and new client referrals. It’s never been more important to create goals for existing client retention and establish a plan to achieve them. Here are four proven salon client retention strategies to build strong client relationships and maintain customer loyalty.
Provide the Best Customer Experience 
The cornerstone of salon client retention is providing superior service, because happy customers are repeat customers. Exceptional services start by paying attention to the little things. Keep detailed client notes in your salon management software, noting each customer’s likes and dislikes, and stick to their preferences during each service. Another trick to salon client retention is adding a unique service or creating a salon experience (such as a theme or décor) that’s different from what competitors offer. Another element to superior customer experiences is making sure your services are consistent. This means being prepared, starting services on time, and following client preferences, without any surprises. Remember, salon client retention begins and ends with listening to your customers. Set up automated post-service emails to ask for feedback on how you can continuously improve the customer experience.
Build a Personal Connection 
Another way to increase salon client retention is to build a personal relationship with customers. A fun, easy way to develop this personal connection is regular communication with clients through social media. You don’t have to post on every social media platform every day but post with enough regularity to maintain your salon’s presence on social feeds. Build engagement with clients answering their questions, posting photos of your work, sharing stories, posting customer polls, or hosting a contest, raffle, or giveaway. Then, build on your personal connection in your email and text marketing efforts, offering deals, sharing news, and inviting customers to events.
Make Rebooking Easy 
To encourage repeat visits, make sure it’s easy for customers to schedule their next appointment. Make rebooking easy by paying attention to three crucial customer touch points: before their next appointment, during their appointment, and following up after their appointment.
Before the Next Appointment 
During busy seasons, prebooking is important to ensuring that you’re able to schedule as many clients as possible. But it’s just as important to encourage prebooking in slower seasons, too. Use email and text marketing to encourage prebooking, and you’ll make sure that you stay busy throughout the whole year.
During An Appointment 
Prioritize client retention with all salon staff. One way to do this is to set salon customer retention goals, and then create staff incentives to achieve them. Try different types of rewards, like a paid day off, discounted booth rent, a bonus on their next paycheck, or gift cards. Incentivizing customer retention helps ensure that salon staff encourage customers to rebook their next appointment during their salon visit.
After An Appointment
Make rebooking their next appointment easy by offering 24/7 online booking that customers can use on any device. Set up automated follow-up client satisfaction emails offering easy rebooking, along with a way to send feedback about their experience at their latest salon visit. Then, make sure to send out automated email and text reminders to clients when it’s time for their next appointment.
Create Rewards for Rebooking 
To increase salon client retention, it’s important to reward both your staff and your clients when they rebook. This way, you, your staff, and your customers are all working toward the same goal. There are many ways you can reward customers for rebooking early and often. Implementing a customer loyalty program encourages rebooking by awarding points for each visit or new client referral. You can also create other incentives for repeat visits, like discounts, free products, or package and membership deals. Use social media, email, and text marketing to communicate customer rewards, and watch your rebookings increase!
Conclusion
Once you start prioritizing salon client retention, keep an eye on your rebooking rate to measure the success of your efforts. Increasing customer retention takes time and effort, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t see immediate results or get it right the first time. With patience and determination, you can switch up your methods until you achieve your retention goals.
