The most wonderful time of the year can also be one of the most stressful, even during “normal years” as clients plan for holiday family and social events, shopping for gifts, and possible travel. This year can hardly be called normal, yet the stress may be even greater as clients try to figure out what they can plan that is safe for family members. To travel or not for a family reunion probably looms large on everyone’s minds, yet not getting together can cause an equal amount of stress and anxiety. Let’s face it, a Zoom Holiday just doesn’t match up to a big family dinner followed by a gift exchange.
It’s no wonder that clients, first time and long-standing, seek some relief from all this 2020 stress, and putting themselves in your “good hands” quite possibly tops the list. Here’s where Swedish massage to relieve muscle tension may be just the ticket to promote relaxation. If you want to take relaxation to the next step, include aromatherapy. The combination of aromatherapy and massage can make for an even more calming, energizing, and uplifting treatment to promote beneficial changes in mind and body.
And relaxation may not be the only relief clients seek during the cold when muscles and tissue tighten. Here’s where deep tissue massage comes into work on more problem areas where muscles and tissues have contracted.
Ensure clients come back for more
It can be very satisfying to contribute to a client’s mental and physical well being through touch therapies in what will undoubtedly be remembered – and written about – as the year that defied all of our previously held notions and traditions. Yet, holiday massage treatments should not be considered a way to conclude a stressful year, but rather as a transition to a more positive one with health and wellness a major focus. To that end, you’ll want to ensure clients continue their massage treatments right after the holidays.
Here are ways to promote services so your calendar continues to be full into 2021 and beyond.
Create a membership program
A membership program can help you ensure re-bookings from current clients and gain new clients by providing a steady cash flow from membership fees. Start by reviewing clients' service history to determine what you’ll want to include in your membership programs. Your program may include massage for relaxation or to relieve pain. Then consider the types of benefits to associate with the services. Some clients may value a special discount, while others may want an additional treatment – a facial or foot massage – with a regularly scheduled Swedish or deep tissue massage. Based on reviewing client booking/purchasing patterns, you may want to create different memberships and price them accordingly. However, it may be sufficient to have one membership and only one fee.
Establish a loyalty program
A good customer loyalty program is based on giving your clients what they want and not promoting more products and services. Before you even begin your program, talk to your best customers to understand what they value about your service. Once you have this information, you can better fashion a loyalty program built around the services your clients' request and what products they purchase. Also, aim to put in place a loyalty program that is of value to your clients and easy to attain. Programs that make it difficult to achieve rewards will only generate a negative response among your clients.
- Accumulating points to apply for future services or product purchases
- Discounts on select treatments
- For example, after a certain number of massages or body treatments, clients are entitled to a facial massage or Pedi treatment.
Make booking appointments easy
With so many ways, consumers use online bookings these days, could it be time for your spa or massage practice to extend the same convenience? Today there is a wide range of offerings for online booking software, many of which are cloud-based – that is, you don’t need to acquire any software to run on your computers. You access the booking software from a browser and pay a subscription fee, which varies between providers. Some of the offerings start as a free trial, so you can decide if you are satisfied with the service before you buy.
Many online booking offerings do more than just make it convenient for clients to book a treatment. In addition to enabling clients to book more than one appointment, access client history, and provide reminders, so you know what services clients requested in the past.
We’re all hoping for a new and improved New Year, and that includes client health and wellness. Be sure to be part of it with some value-added promotional programs and an easy way to get on your calendar.