For this week’s episode of The Salon Marketing Q&A, we dive into exactly how to market your salon app.
The Salon Marketing Q&A: How To Market Your Salon App Transcript
Hey, guys. Welcome to the latest episode of the Salon Marketing Q&A. My name is Chris Brennan. Every single week we will be here to answer any salon marketing questions you might have. Let’s begin, shall we?
Before we get into this specific topic I thought I might give you guys an update on the idea I had for you guys last time where I was actually going to put together 10 months of salon marketing tool kits that Zoe made for the blog. They’re already finished and they’re available on the blog. If you go to Phorest dot com slash Blog there will be this little panel, like this little form that shoots out the side, that’s where you can actually access it and then once you sign up you can immediately access 10 months of tool kits.
These tool kits include emails, email subject lines, SMS templates, social media graphics, check lists, and so much more. It’s really cool. It’s an amazing offer that we could only do because we’ve been building these tool kits for about a year now. I definitely recommend that you check that out. Once you download it, once you access it you’re going to get an immediate email so you can actually access the tool kits whenever you’d like. Definitely check that out.
Okay. Also, if you are watching this and you just have to get pulled away … I know you guys are so busy. Don’t worry. You can check out the rest of this post on Facebook. This would become a post itself on Facebook afterward. I actually take all of these videos and I put them on YouTube under a playlist. You can actually check out our YouTube page as well if you want to check out any of our previous Salon Marketing Q&A episodes.
Okay. Let’s begin today’s episode. This one is a question from Mary from Belfast. She asks, “My salon has an app but I don’t think people actually know about it. Any suggestions or ideas?” Okay. Fantastic, Mary. Thank you for asking the question. I really believe this is going to come down to salon app marketing generally, which is a very important topic, especially if you are new to your salon app.
I think there’s a misconception that a lot of people think that once you get the app that it will promote itself. That’s not exactly how it works. The app itself is a tool. It’s actually up to you guys to make sure you get the best out of it. That’s going to come down to letting your clients and your audience know that the app exists and also why they should have it. What is the benefits of actually having this app?
The app is really a great tool for you guys, though. What you’re doing is you’re not fighting for attention in the email box anymore. You wouldn’t be trying to drive them to your website. What you’ll have is your own unique space on their phone. They can access you whenever they want and it’s just at the touch of a button. Like one icon is you. It’s really a close place that you want to be for your clients is to literally have a spot on their phone. That’s what the app can provide.
Inside the app you can do a variety of different features. They can book online straight from the app. You can have a meet the team section. You can highlight your menu as well. There’s a lot of really cool things you can do with the app itself.
Let’s say you already have the app and you’re looking to get more people to actually use it, which is very important. I was just talking to Ian on the Grow Team and he was telling me that there’s a few stats that he could pull to show the power of salon apps. I didn’t really take too many of them because it’s not really what this episode is about. He was showing me from our client list, like he can actually break down how many people use the app to book online to actually book an appointment.
Some of these clients, 80% and over 87%, 80%, 85% there’s a large chunk of our audience that are using the salon app. We’re talking huge numbers are getting their bookings directly through this app. When you market it right, when you market it correctly, it can make a big difference. Let’s see if we can give you guys some ideas today, shall we?
Okay, first off, this is the obvious one but it’s important. At your reception desk, this is where you can hit every single person and provide them with information that this app exists. You just kind of put it into the last point of contact with each client, which would be when they’re paying. You can get them to book online right away. We’d want you to rebook if you can, get them to rebook at that reception desk.
Also, let them know about the app. You can even write a little script so that your front of house can deliver the same similar-esque message every single time to your clients and really push the benefits of the app. You can do that right then and there from your reception desk.
You could also if you wanted to create a graphic or a little placard that you leave on your counter just so that you don’t actually have to say it. It’s kind of being said already on your reception desk. What you’re doing is one by one letting people know and making them aware of the fact that this app exists and also what the benefits are.
The benefit you can have is you can access this app 24/7 and you can make a booking 24/7 in the most clean, cost effective, and economic way possible. Say it’s midnight and you meant to book an appointment but you forgot because you know what? People are busy. Hey, you have the app. With one touch of a button you’re already into the process.
You don’t need to go to a browser. You don’t need to look for an email address or you don’t need to wait for the morning to actually book that appointment. You can book it right then and there and rest assured that night that one more task is taken care of. Cool. That would be at the reception desk. Just a very clean way to one by one get people aware of it, you know?
Another one would be social media. Another obvious one but what we’re talking about is people who have never actually promote their apps at all. These strategies don’t need to be unique and outrageous in order for them to succeed. I’d recommend you put together a boosted post or a little campaign that’s highlighting why people should use your app. You can go a step further and maybe you can even have a competition. In order to get into the competition the person has to download the app.
You can even do this competition offline as well. What you’re doing is you’re promoting the fact that in order to get whatever the prize could be, it could be sample products, it could be a treatment, it could be treat card points, these kinds of things, but what you can do is incentivize people to actually get the app. That could be really fun too.
One way you do that is with social media and to get as many people as you want you can boost your post and you can even target the people who like your page because if they like your page they’re aware of you and that might be the best people to start with whenever you are looking to market your salon app.
Another way you can do it is actually through SMS and email. You can do that within the Phorest system. We have a suite in marketing. You can put together an app marketing campaign on your email. You can email everybody the news. Like, “Hey, look. This just in. We now have a salon app for your benefit.”
The same thing you can do for SMS as well, which has a 99% open rate. The thing is they’re guaranteed to see this message. They’re guaranteed to see that you have a salon app. The main thing you have to do, though, is show the benefits of why they should actually download that app. That’s really two great ways to contact them.
Another fun one and this is a bit out there. Out there as in more so that nobody has really thought of it before. That would actually be using your answering machine. I actually got this from a salon owner who is sort of doing it. I thought it was a brilliant idea. When you call them if they’re not available it goes to an answering machine. On this answering machine you have the usual, “Please leave your name and number and we will get back to you.” Then they said, “Alternatively you can actually download our salon app and book straight away at your convenience.”
I thought that was such a good plan because it’s an action you only take once and you know people are going to call you. At least this way you’re also promoting an alternative way to book so that they don’t have to wait for your call in order to actually get this transaction. I thought that was a really unique thing to do and it will take you pretty much five minutes to actually accomplish and then it’s done and dusted and away you go.
You can also try to add a link to the app to download in your email signatures. That’s really fun. Maybe you do that if other people on your team have an email address as well. You might add that to the bottom too. This is the automatic message at the very bottom of an email that usually has your name or your logo.
This time you can actually promote your app. Again, here’s something that you only do once that will constantly be a source of marketing and discovery for your audience with your salon app. You deliver whatever message you intended to in your email to somebody and at the bottom it is your name and then, “Don’t forget to check out our brand new salon app” or however you’d like to word it. That’s a really fun, really easy way to actually get the facts out there that you actually have a salon app.
Then finally I think this one is probably the most effective and speaking with Ian, who was our resident app expert on the Grow team, he says this one is probably the reason why these salons get so many bookings through the salon app. It’s quite obvious but it just takes collaboration, which is make it word of mouth.
Word of mouth is probably going to be the best way to get people to download your salon app and also get them to use it. That’s a really great strategy and I think that’s probably the most important so I wanted to leave it to last. What we mean about word of mouth is actually get your staff to discuss it. Like make that part of the close. If somebody is in the chair or in the room and is finishing up … We’re not even talking about getting to the reception, front of house, yet.
What we’re talking about is just make it conversational and ask the person, “Oh, did you download our salon app?” They’ll probably say, “No, I haven’t. I didn’t even know you had one.” Then let the staff or let your teammates actually promote and highlight why they should have the salon app. When you make it conversational it’s not a sales pitch. You actually add why they should have it. You’re including benefits for that actual customer. You know what? They might even appreciate finding out.
A lot of times I believe that so many business owners are afraid to actually market these kind of things because they see it from their benefit. They go, “I don’t really want to hassle my clients and get them to download a salon app.” That’s just how you position your messaging. Instead, if you just positioned it to what the actual client gets a benefit from you’re going to see a really different reaction and you’re going to see a lot better results.
I would definitely think that not only in these channels but also want to look at your messaging and make sure that you’re giving them an actual concrete reason for downloading the salon app. That will actually help in getting them to use it as well.
That’s the ideas. That’s the marketing your salon app 101. I think there’s a lot there that you can actually play with and a lot there to actually get done. After that it’s all about just repeating the process and turning
Let’s make sure that most importantly you get your team to highlight the benefits and reasons for getting the salon app to your clients. Make it conversational and get them going for it. You can add it to your email signature and your team’s email signature so that it’s always going out. You can add it to your answering machine. One quick message at the very end to highlight what they can do while they wait for your phone call. Start boosting it on social media.
Then at the final bit, that final point of contact with a client, just have your front of house ask them have they heard about the salon app? If your team has done a good job they might turn around and say, “Oh, actually, yeah. Monica was telling me. It sounds great.” You reinforce the fact that a lot of people are talking about it. It’s a really positive thing. You know what? Maybe your clients should check it out.
Okay. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Salon Marketing Q&A. If you have any questions that you would like answered on this show please let me know in the comments below or you can email us at Let’s Grow at Phorest dot com. I’ll be here next week for another answer to your salon marketing questions. My name is Chris Brennan. Let’s grow.
