Top tips for a successful digital presence

All to often, salons set up websites and assume clients will visit it. But that won’t happen if you do nothing to attract their attention. The more you communicate through social media and other digital platforms, the more your clients will feel connected to the salon. 

As Catherine Trebble, owner of beauty salons, spas and a medical cosmetic practice for 25 years, says, “It is not a matter of promoting your spa or salon via one channel, it is all of the ways you can promote yourself.”

 But before you start that, it’s important to make sure your digital shop window entices clients to your brand. Here are a few handy tips to make you a more digital-savvy salon owner: 

Appointment reminders

Send out emails to existing clients who have not had a treatment in six months or so, however be smart about the content. Newsletters and email reminders are normally sales driven. Connor Keppel, marketing manager at salon software provider Phorest, suggests that in order to avoid your client deleting the email immediately, start the newsletter with something that will capture their interest: “Top ten tips during the cold winter” or “Three products to try this spring”, for example.

 Giving useful advice places your salon as an expert in the minds of your clients. They start to see your business as the authority on those products, and when they receive an email with a discount link to your online booking system, it could turn occasional visitor into a regular. 

Website

Mobile technology is booming, so a good website needs to be responsive and mobile optimised. Clients will only last a few seconds pinching and zooming on their smartphones before they give up on a non-responsive website.

Images need to be small to make the page load quicker. If the website is too slow, people will give up and move on.

When creating a website, keep in mind that less is more. A phone number and the online booking button should be visible immediately and clearly. Provide information on services, price, and contact details but only include additional information, such as any awards won, if it positively promotes your work. 

Apps

Clients who view a salon’s digital platform on their smartphones, are more likely to book an appointment if they can do so on an app rather than through the web browser. According to Gary Tuohy, who works on the apps and online booking features at Phorest, phone users spend only 18% of their time browsing websites, whilst they spend 82% of their time on apps.

If you have an app, it should be advertised everywhere. Mention it on the salon’s answering machine, advertise it at the end of your emails, promote it in your salon’s window, and print it on your business cards.