The secret to success for any spa is developing and maintaining a strong client base. According to a report by Stitch Labs, repeat clients spend 120% more each year than new clients, so it’s clearly in your benefit to keep your existing clients happy. A memorable and engaging client experience is one of the most important aspects of client retention, but on top of the atmosphere you create in your spa, it’s essential to cater your spa menu to your clients’ needs.
Your spa menu is your primary sales and marketing tool – the services you provide play a key role in defining your brand. It’s important to cover the basics and to take advantage of promoting services that are already popular with your clients. It’s also essential, however, that you renew and revitalize your spa menu once or twice a year to keep things fresh.
Here are 7 simple tips to help you design the perfect spa menu as well as some tips to help attract new clients while satisfying the loyal client base you’ve already developed.
1. Gather feedback from your repeat clients.
No spa can succeed without a strong base of repeat clients. Any business owner knows that it is much more expensive to capture a new client than to retain an existing one, so design your spa menu in a way that satisfies your existing client base but appeals to new clients as well. In fact, your existing client base may be your most valuable asset when it comes to updating your spa menu.
Gather feedback from your clients without being too pushy. Provide comment cards at the front desk or create a dedicated section of your website to collect feedback. You might even consider sending out a customer survey to your loyal clients with an incentive to respond – a discount on future services or an entry into a drawing for a free spa package.
2. Create and maintain a certain level of consistency.
Regardless of what services you include in your spa menu, it’s important to maintain a certain level of consistency. Stick to simple timings for your treatments (like 30, 60, or 90 minutes) and be sure to cover important details like the elements or key ingredients involved in the service. If you like to include optional upgrades with your services, keep those consistent as well. Rather than listing the upgrades available with each service, consider creating a separate category for upgrades.
In addition to being consistent about how you describe your services, it’s important to maintain consistency within the services themselves. Make sure your spa is properly trained to follow the same procedures for each service – each client should enjoy the same attention to detail no matter what service they purchase. It’s also wise to maintain consistency with the products you choose to feature in your services. If possible, stick to a single brand – this will help with marketing consistency as well.
3. Don’t fall for fads and don’t bite too hard on trends.
To run a successful spa, you need to understand your client base and provide the services they desire. That being said, you don’t want your business to go stagnant, so it’s important to update your spa menu at least once a year. You don’t necessarily need to do a complete overhaul but think about adding seasonal treatments or update your menu according to the latest trends.
Though it’s important to stay up to date on the latest trends, you want to avoid biting too hard on something that may or may not last. Redesigning your spa menu based on a current trend could lead to short-term revenue gains, but when that trend changes you may find yourself falling behind the times. It may be best to stick with the classics for your daily spa menu but consider creating a set of “signature” services you can adjust throughout the year according to the season or changing trends.
4. Be upfront and specific about your services.
Nothing is worse than walking into a business and having no idea what to order. Most spa menus are pretty similar in terms of their offerings – you should expect to see standards like facials, scrubs, and body wraps. There’s no harm in wanting to set yourself apart from the competition, but make sure your creativity doesn’t get in the way of creating a spa menu your customers can actually navigate.
Be upfront about pricing and specific about your services. Many clients will view your spa menu online prior to booking an appointment. Not only do they want to know what’s included in each service, but they want to know how much it will cost. List the price directly below the description so there’s no confusion.
Don’t beat around the bush when it comes to service descriptions either. Be sure to use familiar terms like “mask” and “scrub” when listing the components of each service so your clients know exactly what they’re getting. It also doesn’t hurt to go into a little detail about what benefits each service provides and what skin concerns it is designed to address.
5. Put some thought into the design.
Just as important as the services on your spa menu is the design of the menu itself. Whether you’re posting the menu online or printing it out for display in your salon (honestly, you should be doing both), it needs to look attractive without being too busy. Your spa menu should be a reflection of your brand and it should embody the ambience and the client experience you’re trying to create.
Start with a theme – something that suits your brand. If your spa doesn’t have a specific theme already, pick out a few adjectives you think describe your ideal spa experience. For example, if you want to create a simple and relaxing experience for your customers from start to finish, you might go with something minimal. If your spa is all about over-the-top luxury, go with something a little more elegant and glamorous. Everything from the color palette and paper weight to the font size and typeface should be a reflection of your brand (the image you’re trying to convey).
If you’re going to include images in your spa menu, don’t skimp. Spend the extra money on high-resolution stock photos or hire a photographer to provide you with original high-quality images. The last thing you want is to spend a small fortune printing beautiful spa menus just to find the images are grainy.
6. Create categories for your treatments (but not too many).
In addition to thinking carefully about the actual design of your spa menu, you want to put some thought into how you’ll organize the services listed. Start by creating a list of the spa services you want to include then start dividing them into categories. Your categories should help clients find the services they want quickly, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a little creativity.
It makes the most sense to categorize your spa menu by service type. All of your massage services should be listed together, separate from your skincare services. Within each service group, however, you can exercise a little freedom when it comes to categories.
For example, you might choose to categorize your facial services according to the primary benefit they provide. Create separate categories for anti-aging treatments and acne treatments or group your services by the length of treatment. You know best what your clients are looking for, so design your spa menu according to your target audience.
7. Clearly communicate the features and benefits.
When designing your spa menu, it’s important to think about it from a marketing perspective. The purpose of creating a spa menu is to sell your services, so be specific about what features the service involves and what benefits it provides. Explain to potential clients why they should invest in the service.
When communicating features and benefits, you have to walk the line between being accurate without making promises you can’t keep. It’s important to speak about your services in general terms when it comes to the benefits, they provide without making any specific claims. After all, every client is unique, and their skin will respond in its own way to any service they receive. It’s an esthetician’s job to sell the client on a service but you must also temper the client’s expectations to ensure they understand what’s realistic in terms of results.
When designed thoughtfully, a spa menu will help your clients decide which service is the perfect fit – it may even encourage clients to splurge on an upgrade. Remember, your spa menu is a reflection of your brand, so take the time to think about it down to the very last detail.