bLoyal’s Guide To Creating a Salon Loyalty Program

Salon owners, whether beauty salons, hair salons, and the like, understand the pivotal role of retention and loyalty in achieving success. Even a modest improvement in retention rates, such as 5 percent, can yield substantial profit boosts ranging from 25 percent to 95 percent! This underscores the significance of integrating a salon loyalty program into your marketing strategy.

This guide delves into the benefits, types, and examples of how salon loyalty programs work, along with practical insights on creating one tailored to your business with the help of the correct salon management software.

salon loyalty program

Benefits of a Salon Loyalty Program

Successful salon loyalty lies in cultivating repeat business: consistent visits vs sporadic visits. Salon loyalty programs have the power to boost word-of-mouth marketing and drive sales. Implementing a well-thought-out strategy for customer loyalty programs can effectively contribute to your business’s growth, reaping various benefits.

Retain Customers

Loyal customers are most valuable, and a loyalty program serves as a tangible demonstration of appreciation towards them. Creating an environment where clients feel valued and encouraged to revisit is a proven formula for achieving top-tier client retention.

Encourage Referrals

Effectively designed customer loyalty programs incentivize existing customers to refer their friends or family to your salon. Even without explicit referral rewards, clients may naturally refer others simply because they recognize the value of your loyalty program, which they believe others would also benefit from.

Increase Frequency of Visit (FOV)

Loyalty rewards not only aid in retaining existing clients, but also boost their booking frequency or Frequency of Visit (FOV). Implementing a threshold for visits to unlock rewards is a potent strategy for effectively enhancing this metric.

Decrease Marketing Costs

Loyalty programs alleviate the need for heavy investment in other costly marketing strategies by fostering customer retention and driving referrals and visits. With these programs in place, you can achieve significant results without exerting excessive pressure on your marketing budget or other efforts.

Salon Membership Ideas by Goal

Various programs cater to diverse businesses and clientele, and selecting the most suitable one for your salon and customer base can significantly impact client retention. Explore the following once you have defined your goals.

Punch Cards

Ideal for: Boosting visit frequency. This type of customer loyalty program stands out as one of the simplest to implement. Clients receive stamped or punched cards after each appointment or purchase. Upon completing the card, they earn a reward. This program excels in its simplicity and effectiveness in encouraging a higher Frequency of Visit (FOV). This is the perfect choice if you prefer a straightforward system without unnecessary complexity.

Points-Based

Ideal for: Focusing on particular products or services. Under this framework, customers accumulate points for designated actions or purchases, such as purchasing or scheduling a service. Upon reaching a set threshold of loyalty points, customers can exchange them for rewards or discounts. This initiative is particularly effective for honing in on aspects of your business where sales growth is desired, such as a particular product or service.

Tiered Points-Based

Ideal for: Enhancing client loyalty. Consider augmenting your points-based system by incorporating tiers—for instance, silver, gold, and platinum. Clients ascend to higher tiers as they accumulate points, unlocking superior rewards.

Referrals

Ideal for: Attracting fresh clientele. This initiative focuses on bolstering new business by incentivizing existing clients for referrals. For instance, you may extend a discount on their subsequent service to current clients who refer family or friends for specific services, such as cuts or colors.

VIP Membership

Ideal for: Enhancing service offerings. A VIP membership entails clients paying a subscription fee to join your loyalty program, granting them access to exclusive salon membership packages, perks, or discounts. While it may seem counterintuitive for a rewards program to require payment, a McKinsey survey revealed that members of paid programs are 60 percent more inclined to increase their spending on the business post-subscription, compared to a mere 30 percent increase seen with free loyalty programs.

Value-Based

Ideal for: Enhancing brand recognition. This innovative loyalty program concept harmonizes your business’s principles with your clients. A portion of the proceeds is contributed to a charitable cause for every purchase. You can opt for a single primary partner charity or enable clients to select a new charity monthly or quarterly. This approach instills a sense of philanthropy in clients when patronizing your business and fosters deeper customer loyalty.

How to Create a Salon Loyalty Program

Now that you’re familiar with the various types of programs suitable for your salon, follow these steps to develop your customized salon loyalty program.

Poll Loyal Clients

Discovering the factors that foster loyalty among your existing clients is crucial for increasing conversions. Engage your loyal clientele by soliciting their input on potential enhancements to your program and identifying existing practices that contribute to their sense of value. Channel this valuable feedback into your program design to cultivate stronger client retention rates.

Define Your Objectives

Now, it’s time to define the objectives you aim to accomplish with your salon loyalty program. You’re already familiar with your client’s preferences and the various programs. To select the most suitable program, align your clients’ desires with your intended outcomes. Consider setting goals such as increasing customer engagement, enhancing client retention, expanding the frequency of visits (FOV), increasing referrals, boosting product sales, strengthening brand recognition, or promoting specific services. Different objectives may be better suited to particular programs. For example, if you aim to increase FOV, you must attach rewards to a specific number of visits. A punch card or points-based system would be the most effective choice in this scenario.

Crunch the Numbers

After selecting a program type and envisioning its implementation in your salon, it’s crucial to do the math. Ensuring your program generates a return on investment (ROI) is key—meaning it should generate profits. Verify that your discounts or rewards align with your budget, and forecast the potential earnings the program could yield. Calculate the initial expenses required to launch the program, including promotional costs, to gauge how much investment is needed upfront.

Begin With a Modest Approach

It’s perfectly fine to start on a small scale. Starting with something manageable allows for flexibility, and you can always broaden the program later. Moreover, gathering insights into the program’s performance over time will help you determine the most effective way to expand it.

Promote Your Program

After establishing the program, it’s crucial to promote it effectively! Spread the word through marketing campaigns and word of mouth. Consider the following promotional ideas:

  • Announce the program on social platforms.
  • Distribute physical materials such as flyers or QR code printouts.
  • Compose an email to your client contacts, integrating email marketing strategies.
  • Create a dedicated web page for the program on your salon’s website.
  • Display posters in your salon to attract attention.

Clients won’t sign up for your program unless they’re aware of it. Make it a point to inform clients during their appointments or when booking.

Assess Customer Data Performance

Regularly monitoring your program’s performance is critical to ensuring its effectiveness. Evaluate whether you’re progressing toward your objectives by examining key metrics such as:

  • Number of referrals.
  • Total client count over time.
  • Average frequency of visits.
  • Average visit spend.
  • Product sales.

By tracking these metrics, you can gain insights into the program’s success and identify areas for improvement.

Examples of Loyalty Programs for Salons

Looking for more spa loyalty program ideas? Here are a few examples to serve as models for your own program.

#1. Birthday Gifts

Spread the love on their special day. Offering additional rewards to clients on their birthdays is a simple yet effective means of demonstrating your appreciation. These rewards could include bonus points, complimentary sample products, or discounts on specific services—such as a 30 percent discount on a fresh cut or a complimentary blowout—a fantastic gesture to celebrate!

#2. Social Media Engagement Points

Consider integrating a points-based system where you can easily reward customers with points for social engagement. Encourage actions such as posting before-and-after pictures and tagging your salon, sharing your posts on their story, tagging friends in the comments section, checking in on Facebook during appointments, and using your salon’s hashtag. This approach benefits both parties: Clients earn points for simple social interactions, while your salon gains a marketing boost.

#3. Membership Tiers

Implementing tiered systems can effectively instill a sense of exclusivity among clients, provided that the levels and rewards are both achievable and worthwhile. Consider the following tier structure as an example:

  • Silver Level: Clients must spend $100/year to qualify (or earn X points).
    • Rewards: Birthday gift + exclusive discounts
  • Gold Level: Clients must spend $500/year to qualify (or earn X points).
    • Rewards: Silver rewards + deluxe samples with each appointment
  • Platinum Level: Clients must spend $1,000/year to qualify (or earn X points).
    • Rewards: Silver and Gold rewards + priority booking + 5 percent discount on every purchase

Feel free to incorporate additional levels, tailor rewards to align with your salon’s offerings, and adjust spending requirements to meet your program’s return on investment objectives.

#4. Innovative Member Offerings

The greater the value you offer through your rewards system, the stronger your position becomes. Extra points can give you a competitive advantage. Consider these distinctive reward ideas: Home visits, premium samples, and discounted additional services (i.e., $10 brow wax with haircut). Introducing distinctive services as part of your salon membership (especially if it’s paid) is an excellent strategy for elevating your program to new heights.

#5. Referral Gift Cards

A solid loyalty program acknowledges clients for their referrals—a superior loyalty program benefits both the referring client and the new one. An effective method to achieve this is by providing a gift card to the client who refers you and one to the referred individual. This approach incentivizes both sides and facilitates growth.

#6. Points Without Purchase Obligation

One surefire method to deter clients from joining your program is to give the impression of being solely focused on money. Providing points for actions that don’t require purchases helps sidestep this perception. Several suggestions for non-monetary actions to reward include signing up for the program, utilizing online booking, pre-booking the next appointment, referring individuals to the salon, participating in special events, and engaging on social media. These point options enable your clients to show support without feeling compelled to part with their money.

#7. Off-Peak Season Rewards

Consider implementing “Off-Peak Season Rewards” in times of slower business to stimulate revenue. By providing additional incentives or discounts during these periods, such as offering a 15 percent discount on services for appointments booked in January, you can encourage more bookings and prompt those hesitant to schedule an appointment to take action.

#8. Product Sales

To boost product sales, consider tailoring your loyalty program to incentivize purchases in this category. Here are several strategies to promote product movement within your program:

  • Provide automatic discounts for paid members.
  • Reward additional points for product purchases.
  • Distribute deluxe samples.

These approaches can introduce clients to new products or stimulate repeat purchases. Regardless, implementing this strategy will bring them closer to completing a purchase.

#9. Redeem Points

Your clients have been accruing points, but what are the options for redeeming them? Here are some suggestions on how to convert points into rewards:

  • Discounts on services: Assign a dollar value to points that can be utilized towards services or products.
  • Points as a donation amount to charity: Allow clients to donate their points to a selected charity.
  • Free product with a specific point threshold: Offer a free product once clients accumulate a certain number of points.

Determining the redemption options for points underscores the importance of initial client feedback. Ensure that the rewards align with the preferences of your distinct client base and are perceived as valuable.

#10. Service Subscriptions

If you’re considering implementing a paid salon membership, here are some strategies you can consider:

  • Offer a monthly subscription for one haircut at $X.
  • Provide a family package with three haircuts for $X per month.
  • Create a subscription plan offering two blowouts or styling services for $X per month.

Select services already in high demand at your salon and will likely frequently be used by your clients. This ensures that the subscription provides significant value to your customers. Remember, you’re not giving services away for free; instead, you’re offering a wholesale discount to those who regularly use your salon’s services.

#11. Higher-Priced Service Trials

Offering trials of higher-priced services can be a lucrative addition to your salon membership program. You’re effectively upselling by introducing clients who already appreciate your salon to premium services they may not have experienced. Providing trial offers or discounts on these top-tier services to members allows them to explore new options without significant commitment, potentially leading to recurring purchases. Implementing effective massage rewards programs or salon loyalty programs can drive bookings and foster retention. Consider integrating these ideas into your program to stimulate business growth.

Loyalty Matters to bLoyal

In conclusion, bLoyal is a secure, cloud-based loyalty system designed to help businesses, like salons, create and manage rewards and points programs. It provides tools and features to engage customers, drive repeat purchases, and increase customer retention. With bLoyal, businesses can design customizable programs tailored to their specific needs. The platform offers solutions for points-based rewards and VIP memberships to foster long-term, maximized relationships and revenue opportunities.

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