Himanshu Patel
This is how the salon looks like before the Corona outbreak.
It’s embarrassing! Isn’t it?
What do you think- all the salon businesses are panicking due to zero-to-low business? Or preparing themselves for the market crisis that unfolds after the corona season gets over? If you are having a similar type of thoughts in your mind, then beware, it’s a sign- you are not ready for the uncertain future.
Just rewind your tapes to the last economic recession- what the salons did all through the time? They keep on marketing with available resources to stay in front of the customers. The consistent marketing strategy has helped the salons to gain major traction of customers when the salons reopened.
Now, the cat is out of the bag. Just leverage the same.
Corona crisis means people are staying at home to maintain social distancing and using digital devices to the fullest to kill their time. That’s where you get the opportunity to catch maximum eyeballs and put your business before the large user base.
What’s more? There are a lot of tactics that can help you make the most out of the time and let the business survive and thrive.
Let’s dive in!
Build an online Salon Product Store
In the event, your salon sells retail products such as massage oil, shampoo, conditioner, or other things, in addition to salon services, then it’s a good opportunity to open an online mobile app window to send your good vibes to customer’s home. It creates another revenue channel for your business when the customers can’t meet you in-person. Tenevorten salon is a great instance of it where the online sales get doubled in a month post-COVID 19with the help of the Ecommerce mobile app store.
Connect and communicate with customers on-demand salon mobile app
In this digital world, everything is connected. If you are not communicating with your customers then your competitors that are constantly keeping an eye on them will make them theirs. The consistent talk by the competitors never let the customers return to your salon once it’s reopened. What you should do?
The crisis management lessons say you can stop the customer by talking to them, reassuring them soon you will meet them in the salon, and reminding the customers the things they liked the most at the salon.
Read more : The Ultimate Guide to Start a Salon Spa Business in Canada
The online channels provide a broad spectrum of options to engage, educate, and entertain the customers so that they always think about your business when they need any salon-related services once the corona crisis is over.
The message content and context need to change because a lot has changed after the pandemic. The forward-thinking helps in nurturing the relationship while maintaining social distance.
Brush up skills, workspace, and more
Zero communication with employees risks your business losing the staff as they may get tempted by the competitor with the best offer. Discuss your business plan along with pandemic figures so that they stay positive for the future.
You can help staff improve the skills with online training. You can involve the staff in strengthening the relationships with customers by providing self-care beauty tips or retail product tips via social power.
Based on interviews with different customers, you get to know the things to improve in the services and workspace. As the salon premises closed for customers, you get the opportunity to spruce up the reception area, enhance the washroom, revamp the POP, and other actionable ideas.
Take the hygiene up by several notches
Maintaining the workspace clean and hygienic is a necessary protocol for every salon business. But the hygiene needs to step up post corona outbreak. You need to employ all the sanitation practices and shout a loud the same to your customers.
Showcase you are using sanitizer tools, offering hand sanitizer to the customers, using disposable cups, accepting electronic payment, and disinfecting the salon equipment after every customer visit. The hygiene measures to keep the salon clean and safe for the services assure the customers about the safety at the salon.
Trim the list of services you offer
Undoubtedly, the businesses are taking the utmost care of sanitation to keep the salon clean and safe to visit for the customers. With online booking, the customers’ appointments are scheduled with some gaps so that everything is nicely sterilized and sanitized.
Also, for maintaining the social distancing, limited salon services are offered that involve minimum touch and the operations run smoothly. Start offering the full range of services is senseless because it put your business at risk of getting customers infected as maintaining distance and cleaning the workstations is not feasible in a short tenure.
Eliminate cancellation fee and Charges
The cancellation fee is the standard of the beauty industry whenever an appointment is canceled. Of course, it makes sense because the available slot may have occupied by another customer.
In pandemic times, you never know when the customer gets quarantined or found corona-infected, the zero cancellation fees give them a sigh of relief. Even, encourage them to make bookings as there will be no penalty upon cancellation.
Set up a virtual salon Services
It sounds bewildering to enable salon services virtually, but it’s an intelligent tactic to keep the customers engaged, turn the customers into loyal, and start another stream of revenue.
During the temporary shutdown, you can virtually guide the customers with different tips that help the customers in self-care. For instance, guiding the customers for the products to use during clean-up or how to bang a trim. The video consultations help in self-care and keep the customers interacting with you when they need beauty salon services.
Once, the salon gets reopened, the customers flock back to the salon, and if the video consulting services succeed in effectively helping the customers, then customers never give second thought even for paying it.
Up your marketing game
As stated before, don’t underestimate the competition. That’s where marketing tools act as a powerful weapon to leapfrog the competitors and ensure that your business can presume to pre-pandemic levels.
You can start with Facebook business page creation, where continuously updated content helps in grabbing the user’s attention. Facebook advertisement program helps in attracting targeted audiences.
The online reviews can make your business social proof, which customers trust the most. Foster customers to share the reviews on Google, social channels, and Yelp-like platforms.
After corona, more people are online than before. So, it makes perfect sense to create or update the Google My Business page, improve SEO ranking, or do email marketing.
Also, you can add a personalized touch to the services by sending the customized cards to the customers on their birthdays, anniversaries, or the first time they visited the salon.
Summing it up
Thanks to technology- you are not alone! You can stay connected with your customers and staff, provide virtual training and consultations, and give a makeover to the salon business (Based on the pandemic situation in your area).
Wearing the smart tech lens, there is no sign- your business future is lurking in the dark. With no guessing game, you can optimize the services in sync with customers’ preferences, update them, and make them flocking back to the salon, once it’s reopened.
It’s a great deal. Isn’t it? Don’t hang fire. Leverage the tactics to ensure your salon business growth and prosperity in the future. All the best!
