SMS Marketing for the Beauty Industry

The beauty industry is worth 17 billion pounds in the UK and this is only set to increase. With the rise of Instagram and Facebook, everyone wants to look good, in case they get caught out for that surprise selfie. There’s nothing like getting your nails or hair done to completely relax you and get you ready for that big night out! Make sure you’re not missing out on these massive profits by using SMS marketing to build a bigger customer base, deal with appointments and offer special deals, among other uses.

In the 21st century, it’s easy to lose track of all the technology needed to make you the biggest profit and improve your reputation. With our simple SMS services, you can drag your business into the modern age with relative ease. Using a service like this will impress customers, as they will assume that if you have the latest technology, you will also have highly trained staff and a modern business model. Remember, customers want the easiest methods possible, and SMS marketing can provide this.

If you work in the beauty industry, you know that your livelihood can depend on tight profit margins and if customers frequently miss appointments, this can harm your bottom line and put you into the red. You’ll also know how frustrating it is to have a customer miss an appointment which then sits empty as you are unable to fill it at the last minute. This can all change by using SMS services.

You can use business SMS to remind customers of appointments. It’s probably best if you do this 48 hours before an appointment in case the customer make other plans, then on the morning itself. This can increase attendance at appointments massively, saving you wasting time and money on no shows. With SMS messaging, you can fill missed appointments at the last minute by texting customers who may have requested one but you were unable to accomodate them as you were fully booked. A gesture like this can show customers just how keen you are on their custom, and may save someone from going on a night out with unwaxed eyebrows or terrible hair!

SMS marketing can also be used to send out news, offers or special deals, and our software will let you tailor your deals to particular customers. You can also send loyal customers special ‘flash’ discounts to show you appreciate their business and to keep them coming back. Anything can be sent using SMS messaging, including offers, promotions and percentage discounts which require the customer to show a special code they have received in store.

Customer feedback is an intrinsic part of any successful beauty business, or indeed any other business. How can you improve your customer service if you don’t know what customers actually think? By sending a simple text within 24 hours of the appointment, so the experience is still fresh in the customer’s mind, you can ask simple yes or no questions such as ‘would you recommend to a friend?’, or ask customers to mark your service on a numerical scale. To entice customers to do this, you could offer 20% off future treatments, for example, if you get a response. This will enable you to identify problems with the service you offer or particular staff members so you can improve before you lose any customers.

You can also hold competitions using SMS marketing. Message your customers about that amazing free treatment you’re willing to offer in return for a message back. This has the benefit of getting customers to interact with your messaging service and make them more likely to use it in the future, when they realise just how easy it is. A great prize will also sweeten the deal, and if you can get numbers of non-customers who may be interested in your service, even better, as this will help to bring new business in.

You can use our SMS marketing platform to make clients aware of big events, such as open nights to demonstrate what treatments you offer. You can take this further by marketing some events or promotions to certain loyal customers. With our system, you can select who you want to market to, letting your regular customers know that their loyalty is appreciated and will be rewarded.

Sometimes, SMS marketing can come across as impersonal and give the impression you have just sent out a blanket message to all customers, without considering their requirements or personalities. To solve this issue, add the customer’s name on to texts to make them look more personal. But personalisation also means narrowing down your customer base so you are not sending inappropriate offers to the wrong people. For example, it is unlikely that your broad male client base will be interested in nail extension, although of course some may be, so you can segregate your customers based on general demographics or even use our API to integrate with your booking system and identify which offer is best based on the treatments they usually have.

If you think this sounds too complicated for you to set up, think again. There are many ways you can use SMS marketing, from appointment reminders to fully integrating it into your existing systems you already use to manage your business via our API.

We’re always happy to provide a free, no obligation consultation on how you could be using SMS in your business. Contact us now via phone, email or live chat to speak to one of our friendly advisers.

You can also get some great tips and advice from our “Salon SMS Guide“. It’s free, easy to read and is packed with ideas from real life users of the Fastsms service.