5 Ways For Spas & Estheticians To Increase Appointments Online
5 Ways For Spas To Increase Appointments Online
Marketing your business in 2018 can be a daunting task. With so many avenues to pursue, you might not even know where to begin. To make things easier, I have comprised a list of 5 Ways For Spas & Estheticians To Increase Appointments Online.
Being an IT guy myself, I find it hard to keep up with next weeks latest technology. a Spa or Esthetician shouldn’t have to worry about the latest trend in digital marketing, you should be focused on your work and your clients.
I have carefully created a list of five strategies to focus on, so you only spend your time on strategies that will give you results. Here are my 5 Ways For Spas & Estheticians To Increase Appointments Online without all of the techy mumbo-jumbo.
1. List Your Business Everywhere 📑
There are countless resources to list your business online for FREE.
I’m talking about
- Yelp
- Trip Advisor
- Youtube
- Google Plus
- Bing local
- Yahoo local
- And many more
The more places your business is listed, the more relevant you will become in your area.
When Google decides whom to put at the top of its search results, it looks for nurtured social media accounts, business listings, and reviews. The businesses with the most well-rounded online presence appear at the top of search results.
By using these listing services you are building a strong rapport 💪 with Google, and with that comes new clients as you start popping up more in search results. Integrate all of these online platforms with your website and you are golden! Of course, it helps when you are active on the platforms, but simply listing yourself every free place you can is FREE marketing!
2. Get a Mobile-Friendly 📱 Website
A 2016 study found that 60 percent of internet use was on mobile devices. This means that more than half of all people searching for Esthetician or Spa services in your area are using a smartphone or mobile device, while only 40 percent are putting their laptops or desktop to work.
What does this mean for you?
You must have a mobile-friendly website to ensure a great user experience.
A mobile-friendly website automatically adapts to fit the device your customers are viewing your website on. Have you ever tried to view a website on a phone, and found that the text was so small you couldn’t read it, Let alone click on it?!
That website was not mobile-friendly and was probably very frustrating.
A bad mobile browsing experience will send potential customers to your competitors 40 percent of the time.
In addition, Google has even started to penalize non-mobile friendly websites.
This means, if your website lacks mobile friendliness you will appear less often in Google searches!
So as mobile devices continue to take over the internet, make sure your business adapts to this evolutionary use. These are YOUR POTENTIAL CLIENTS and you do not want to lose them to competitors. Make sure users can find you easily and book an appointment, no matter what device they are searching on.
3. Implement SEO Best Practices 🔎
You might be wondering why so and so’s spa is ranking Number One on Google among similar businesses in your local area.
It’s because Google is annoying… Well yeah but, it actually comes down to SEO or search engine optimization.
Google has a particular formula for ranking businesses on Google Search.
It comes down to your website: how it’s defined; the content, links, social media, etc.
…And many more things an Esthetician or Spa owner shouldn’t have to worry about.
SEO is a science all on its own but it doesn’t mean you should avoid it like the plague because it’s complicated. You should consider hiring a professional to optimize your website for search engines.
You might say, “But I already have a website, how do I know if my SEO is good?”
You can easily test your website’s SEO with an analyst tool such as SEO Site Checkup.
But don’t worry about all the technical mumbo-jumbo. Just focus on your score. It will be easy to tell if there is room for improvement.
Although it might entail a small cost up front, SEO is an investment that in the long run will get you more customers organically, through general Google searches (ex. “Brazilian waxing near me”) without paying extra for advertising.
4. Use Online Booking 🗓
Let’s face it: technology is making people lazy. We want what we want and we want it now! People are often hesitant to make phone calls in this digital era. The quicker and easier it is to book an appointment the better chance you have of getting them scheduled online.
No one wants to fill out long forms to book an appointment. Just require name, email, appointment date and time, “Book now”. Short, sweet and to the point.
Setting up appointments online is a seamless, time-saving way to automate business operations. You don’t have to answer the phone. You just get a notification and bam! Done.
Here’s what I recommend, use SquareUp. It integrates with Square Business.
Your appointments, scheduling, and payments can all go through this all-in-one solution.
5. Advertise With Facebook Ads
I left this one for last because it is important to have the previous strategies in place before even thinking of online ads. At this point, you should have a social media presence, an engaging website, online booking, and a verifiable positive reputation. So all we need to do is spread the word!
The key with Facebook advertising is testing. You need to find what works.
Beware, however. People using Facebook are often mentally checked out, and just looking for something to spark their interest.
Keep that in mind when creating ads.
The best thing about Facebook Ads is that you can target a very specific audience based on demographics, interests, behaviors, location and many other criteria.
But the question is… who is your typical customer?
For example:
Women ages 28-52
Within 15 miles of Charlotte, NC
Someone who likes skin treatments or spa’s? How would I know? 🤔
Guess What!?
Facebook has a buyer profile for Spa Enthusiasts?! BAM!
So, we have an idea of who our customer is – but next, we need to provide them with an appealing offer. One that makes you stand out from the competition. It’s generally a bad practice to devalue your services through an offer on Groupon, or a significantly discounted coupon promotion. Clients need to respect the value of your services, and an add-on wouldn’t be a bad idea…
For instance, offer free eyebrow waxing when they purchase a facial, and limit it to new clients only.
By retaining the value of your services, and offering an incentive like this, you will discover satisfied customers who hopefully will return for many more treatments in the future.
Final Thoughts 🤔:
If you put all five of these suggestions in place, I guarantee you will see an increase in business. The best thing you can do is try these and see what works for you. After all, business is about trial and error.
Although some of these strategies are free and some are upfront or ongoing investments the best thing you can do is experiment with all of them. Once you find a strategy that works online, it can be easily automated, and then you can sit back relax and focus on what really matters: YOUR BUSINESS 🙂.
Final Thoughts 🤔:
If you put all five of these suggestions in place, I guarantee you will see an increase in business. The best thing you can do is try these and see what works for you. After all, business is about trial and error.
Although some of these strategies are free and some are upfront or ongoing investments the best thing you can do is experiment with all of them. Once you find a strategy that works online, it can be easily automated, and then you can sit back relax and focus on what really matters: YOUR BUSINESS 🙂.