5 Ways To Increase Client Retention

I recently asked on my Insta stories what is your number 1 struggle in your waxing business RN and retaining clients was the one that came out top. 

There are only 2 reasons a client will ever leave you:

1) You don’t respect their time- e.g you run late for their appointment or run over.

OR

2) You no longer make them feel special.

Whether you want to be a six-figure therapist who’s home for dinner every night or a badass beauty boss who runs the best shop around, improving your retention rate is key. Because not only are you risking overwhelm, burnout and loss of income, it costs up to 7x more to acquire a new customer than to retain an old one. 

Increasing customer retention by 5% increases profits by 25-95%. Retention is also one of the biggest factors of business health so it’s super important that we get it right. 

Let’s talk about ways that we can do just that.

1) Guest Experience

From the very first interaction with you to walking out the door and everything in between- take care of your clients better than anyone else does. 

At EVERY single appointment, not just the first.

Things to think about- How easy is it to book in with you? Do you have online booking or do they need to wait hours to hear back from you just to set up an appointment,  Do you have all the information they need before their first visit with you available to see on your website 24/7 or are you texting information back and forth wasting hours of both of your time?

Do you have mini consultations at the start of every client’s visit? Or did you only do this on their first visit?

How about your treatment timings… If you are always running late for your clients or take too long, your clients will start to feel like you are disrespecting their time.

It’s really worth taking the time to figure out exactly how long it takes you to do every single service you offer so you can always book out the exact amount of time you need, even if it means having a stopwatch on your phone whilst you work this out. 

This way, you are much more likely to always run on time for all of your clients.

Snacks and a brew alone just don’t cut it anymore. Think about what exceptional amenities you can offer. Salon cleanliness is more important now than ever since the pandemic. How can YOU stand out from the rest?

If you aren’t sure where you are going wrong or how to improve, I strongly suggest sending out a survey to all lost clients. This will help uncover blindspots.

2) Referral & Rewards Programme

Another great incentive to get clients to keep wanting to come back is not only to give them an amazing wax with minimum pain and minimum time but to introduce a great reward and referral programme too.

If you’re not getting referrals, you’re not referral worthy. You need to give them something to talk about. And position well, a good rewards system can make the difference of your clients buying from you rather than somewhere else.

Both are a great way to reward your most loyal clients. I only suggest rewarding for things that aren’t normal/basic though, not things they would normally do anyway e.g multiple services, sharing a post on social media.

3) Sell Retail

You read that right! There’s a strong fear, I would even say myth, that pushing retail is only beneficial for us. We don’t want to be seen as pushy salesmen. We don’t want to look like £’s is all that’s on our mind. I totally understand that. But if we aren’t selling retail to our clients we are actually doing them a disservice. Why? Because your client would much rather have the ability to care for their skin at home than to constantly experience ingrown hairs and unhealthy-looking skin and by providing them with the tools and products that you know will benefit them, you are going to earn their trust. Trust leads to loyalty. Let these products celebrate the longevity of your craft instead of being a source of fear.

If you need help in this area, my free Retail Guide can help you! Click here to get instant access.

4) Nurture

Nurture in-between visits- A clients first appointment with you is when you really have to earn their trust. It’s a little bit like an interview. (think guest experience and consultations). But just because they are physically in your salon, it doesn’t mean they are going to come back for future visits. A fantastic guest experience shouldn’t just stop at the first visit either, you need to impress your client at each and every visit as well as in-between appointments. 

Think value-add emails, a monthly blog, video tutorials, tagging your clients on social media whenever you see a style of nails. hair/ make up you just know they’d love. 

If a client will stay for more than 3 visits, they have been nurtured well enough.  loyalty is defined around the 6th- 8th visit. If they continue to come to you after that, you are nurturing right 🙂

Our business becomes more stable when we have loyal clients and are then much more likely to start recommending friends, purchasing our most luxurious products and services, will always be happy to pay your prices and be happy you are charging your worth.

5) Education

The money you pay to educate yourself should pay for itself and then some.  Good education applied to your business should always come back to reward you. The elite 5% of our industry always spends at least £350 a year on advanced education out of pocket and beyond what is provided. Make a commitment to yourself that this year you’ll do the same.

Identify your weakest areas and get educated on the things that you need to improve on. This could be anything from your actual treatment techniques to marketing, retail or anything else biz related. Review these things annually and keep a training budget aside so you can always keep your skills most up to date and stay ahead.

I could go on and on, but let’s stick to these 5 today.  Retention is the single fastest way to increase your income and get you out of the constant client searching hustle.  Make your clients feel special, do a great job, know your service timing and stick to it.