Every business knows that engaging with clients is essential to building good relationships and ensuring future business, but what many in the salon industry often forget is that engagement with customers needs to continue outside of the salon. Of course, being sociable and maintaining a good rapport with your customers when they are receiving their treatments is important and will encourage them to return and recommend you to their friends, but why stop there? Business software services such as text marketing can provide you with the opportunity to communicate with them away from the shop floor, enabling you to increase profitability and promote brand loyalty. Take a look at our top tips to ensure you’re taking full advantage of text marketing…
Be transparent
Honesty is always the best policy, especially when it comes to marketing. You should always provide correct information, without exaggerating or misleading your customers; don’t attempt to lure them back to the salon under false pretences. Receiving marketing texts from a business can quickly become a nuisance if they are not of any interest to the customer, so make sure you keep them short, snappy and to the point. If you’re offering treatments from £40, for example, don’t let most top the charge at double that figure.
Keep it short
Texts aren’t meant to be long, they are designed to be brief and quick to read. Therefore, if your promotional text carries on for several pages, it is unlikely to be read. It is better to stick to the point, and get your message across in as few words as possible. Think of words that will catch your target audience’s eye and include them near to the top of your text as this is likely to appear on their home screens when the message arrives.
Make it exciting
Your text should encourage your customers to call and book an appointment straight away, not mull it over for a while and eventually talk themselves out of it. Make use of punctuation and let them know that appointments are running out fast or have an expiry date. If you’re offering a deal, be sure to tell them that it won’t last for very long!
Consider your timing
You should send your texts at a time when it is unlikely to disturb your customers, i.e. not in the middle of the night or during working hours where they may be likely to miss it. Schedule your texts to be sent in the morning when they are on their way to work, at lunchtime or after six, when they are likely to be home or making their way home. You need to catch people at a time that will be convenient for them to read the text, as well as then call and book an appointment. Of course, should you be advertising last-minute availability, the sooner you can send your texts, the better.
Ensure your website is mobile-friendly
With almost every phone on the market enabling users to connect to the internet wherever they are, it is often useful to attach a link to your website in your text. If you do this, you must ensure that your website it mobile-friendly, and that all the relative information will be able to be viewed properly when accessing it via mobile, otherwise it will just be a waste of characters!
Test send
Always send a test to yourself before sending out to your mailing list. You’ll need to check that the text appears in the correct format, that there are no mistakes, and that all links work. You want to appear efficient and professional in your text, not illiterate and sloppy!
Photo Credit/Source: Wikimedia/Nikita93rus
