Timely Bootcamp: Build your marketing muscle
The competitive landscape has changed for many businesses, and now is the perfect time to be thinking about your marketing strategy. Timely will have you armed and ready for action when your doors reopen with a suite of powerful marketing tools to help you stay two steps ahead of your competition and build and retain your clients.
Over the next 4 weeks we’re running our very own Timely Bootcamp to help get your business fit and ready to hit the ground running! This blog is the first in a series of 4, and each week we’ll be releasing a blog and hosting a Facebook LIVE class focusing on a different topic covering all the essential information you need to get ready to reopen. Follow us on Facebook to learn more.
Contents
- Ask for reviews
- Brand your online booking
- Keep your clients coming back
- Stay connected with clients using SMS campaigns
- Go the extra mile with follow up messages
- The client retention strategy that top salon coaches recommend
- Surprise and delight your clients with automated birthday messages
- Reward your loyal clients
Grow your Brand
Ask for reviews
Reviews are super important, and positive reviews and ratings can do wonders for your brand reputation and revenue, and it’s a great time to ask your clients to give you a review on Google or Facebook.
It can be time consuming to ask all your clients to give you an oscar-winning review, so get Timely to do it for you! While your business is temporarily closed and people have a bit more time on their hands, we recommend you ask your clients in bulk for a review using an SMS campaign (you can even select certain clients like your VIPs). Or, you can set up automated review messages as a follow up to clients after an appointment. Either way, make it super easy for your client and include a link to where they can post a review in the message.
Tips:
- It’s a good time to make sure your Google listing is up to date so when potential clients come across your business, all your information is correct.
- Be sure to pause your automated messages after you’ve set them up or made any changes, so clients don’t get these while you’re closed.
Help guides:
SMS campaigns
Automated messages
Set it up in Timely:
Send an SMS campaign
Set up automated messages
Brand your online booking
It’s important to make sure your online booking is set up and the book now button is visible. Can people easily see it? Does it stand out on your website and social pages? Your online booking screens should match your brand so your business comes across as professional, which you can easily do by customising your online booking.
If you don’t have online booking setup, you need to do that now! 51% of bookings are made outside of salon opening hours, and many clients looking for a new salon will only book if they can do it online. Timely has online booking options that can be customised for everyone’s needs – it’s a no brainer!
Help Guides:
Getting started with online booking help-guide
Customise your online booking colours help-guide
Create booking buttons help-guide
Set it up in Timely:
Turn on and customise online booking
Set up booking buttons, links, and widgets
Keep your clients coming back
Get social with your clients
Keep clients updated on key business information like how they can best support you during this time, share retail product recommendations (and sell them online if your region allows this), how to videos or tutorials, or let your clients know you’re thinking of them, using social media pages like Facebook and Instagram.
Social is a great platform to help you stay connected with your clients, so make sure you follow your clients on your social channels too.
Watch this space: Timely is releasing a video call service soon, which you can use to offer paid services or even just book in a catch up with your favourite clients!
Stay connected with clients using SMS campaigns
Our bulk SMS rates are the cheapest in the market, so you can send a high value message to all of your clients or just a few targeted ones, without breaking the bank. You could let clients know when your business will reopen, and how they can book ahead to make sure they can get in once you’re back up and running (make sure you include an online booking link), or send a message to your VIP clients to let them know you’re thinking of them and can’t wait to see them when you reopen.
Why not boost your client retention and send a message to all of your clients without future appointments, or clients you haven’t heard from in a few months? Our SMS marketing campaigns have lots of filters, so it’s easy to target the exact group of clients you want to receive the campaign. You could filter and find customers who had a specific treatment, at a specific location, with a specific staff member, within a specific date range. You never know who you might find!
Tip: Customise your SMS campaigns so every interaction with your clients reinforces your brand and reflects well on your business.
Read more about using SMS marketing campaigns in this blog.
Help Guide: SMS campaigns help-guide
Set it up in Timely: Send an SMS campaign
Go the extra mile with follow up messages
Provide a seamless customer experience, build your client relationships and lift your brand image by using follow up messages to thank new clients for visiting and send important aftercare instructions to your clients. Follow up messages show your clients you’re willing to go that extra mile.
Tips:
- If you have lots of information to fit into your aftercare message, add your detailed aftercare instructions to your website and link to that page from your follow up message.
- Be sure to pause your automated messages after you’ve set them up or made any changes, so clients don’t get these while you’re closed.
Help Guide: Automated messages help-guide
Set it up in Timely: Set up automated messages
The client retention strategy that top salon coaches recommend
Clients will sometimes forget to rebook a new appointment, try a new salon or spa they’ve had recommended to them, or they might’ve seen a special deal online that they’re keen to try. Don’t worry, you can do your best to stop this happening, and still get them back if it does! There’s a simple strategy that top salon coaches recommend using automated Rebooking reminders. See the example below:
If the average number of weeks between bookings is 5 weeks for most of your clients, you would set up automated Rebooking messages as follows. Make sure to include an online booking link in every message.
4 weeks since last appointment – These are worth setting up to remind clients who may have forgotten to rebook after their last appointment, or didn’t rebook for another reason.
8 weeks since last appointment – If your client hasn’t rebooked after the 4-week reminder, they might have tried another salon. Put yourself front of mind with another rebooking reminder to try to win them back at this point. You could include an offer or a discount to sweeten the deal.
12 weeks since last appointment – If they still haven’t rebooked, it’s likely that they’ve switched salons or have been out of town or unable to visit for a specific reason. At this point, it’s worth trying one final offer to entice them back, so make it a goodie!
Tip: Be sure to pause your automated messages after you’ve set them up or made any changes, so clients don’t get these while you’re closed.
Help Guide: Automated messages help-guide
Set it up in Timely: Set up rebooking messages
Surprise and delight your clients with automated birthday messages
With Timely’s SMS campaigns, you can delight your clients in their birthday month by sending a birthday message along with (or without) a special offer. This is the perfect reason to contact your clients and strengthen that relationship, and it’s going to increase your bookings and re-engage with clients. Win-win!
Help Guide: Birthday messages help-guide
Set it up in Timely: Send an SMS campaign
Reward your Loyal Clients
Timely Rewards is an easy-to-use loyalty program, designed to keep your clients coming back and increase client retention. It’s a point-based system that turns clients’ spending into a rewards voucher that can be used for products and/or services in your salon – it’s up to you! Now is a great time to set up Rewards and tell your clients about it.
Help Guide: Setting up Rewards help-guide
Set it up in Timely: Set up Rewards
