Secrets of Spa and Salon Email Marketing Success Revealed!

A quick glance at the titles of my most recent blog posts will quickly show you that I have the topic of salon client attraction on the brain right now.  I keep coming back to the fact that without actually attracting new clients to the salon or spa, all of the other marketing you have in place is for nothing. 

Salon shelf talkers and point of sale merchandising is lost if no one is there to see it.  Special offers sit on the shelf collecting dust without people coming in the door.  New skills gained in salon education courses go untested with no one in the chair who needs them.  And more than one salon owner has experienced the disappointment of holding an event or open house attended by more distributor sales consultants than prospective new clients.

So if it’s all right with everyone, I am going to stay on this tack of salon client attraction a while longer.  Specifically, today, about why- and how – you should be using email marketing to grow your salon or spa.  

Salon email marketing is one of those topics that inevitably evokes mixed opinion.

I know that some people worry about being perceived as a spammer and others worry that they’ll annoy their customers if they send emails too often.  These concerns often keep business owners from launching and continuing on with email communications to begin with.

I’ve heard a lot of the objections, but the fact remains that email communications can be one of, if not the most effective marketing tool your business can utilize. And if you think about it, it’s actually one of the least annoying sales tools around:

• Email marketing is permission based.  In other words, unless you’re violating the law, your customers will never receive an email from your business that they didn’t grant you permission to send.
• If your customers have voluntarily self-elected to receive email communications from your business, they expect to receive them.
• If the emails your customers asked to receive, and your business subsequently sent, are, in fact ill-timed, your customer has all the power. They can read your email when it’s convenient for them. They can set them aside until their next appointment. They can simply delete them. And they can simply click to be removed from your emailing list.

Success in salon email marketing is measured by two things. One, in getting your emails opened, and two, in getting your readers to take the next action you want them to take. 

Getting your emails opened takes practice and creativity.  Your subject line has to get the job done, whether it does so by being enigmatic and intriguing, or does so because it is truly topically relevant to your customer.   There are more tips on writing email subject lines and other online and offline marketing copy in the 2013 Salon and Spa Marketing Calendar: The Art of Attraction.

A good rule of thumb for subject lines is to keep them short and memorable. And don’t be afraid to be provocative.   Say something that could be considered racy or controversial – even if your email actually isn’t because that’s the type of subject line that will pique the curiosity of email recipients.

Another way to get people to open your emails is to use them to deliver “secret” or insider information. In fact, according to hubspot.com, when it comes to email marketing, “secrets” is the most clicked lead nurturing subject line word.

And ultimately that brings us to the real “secret” of salon email marketing success: 

What will get your readers to open your emails and take the actions you want them to take are not the subject lines, but the content you deliver.  Use your emails to provide actual value, insider information, tips and tricks that your audience can appreciate and they will open up your emails, time and time again.   

When it comes to email marketing, go ahead and give away a few secrets.  All you are really doing is increasing the perceived value, expertise and authority that your customers believe you have as a beauty professional, and which they ascribe to your salon or spa as a result.

But in order for them to see the value you’re providing and get educated about your salon and your professional salon products and services, you have to get the email opened to begin with!

Related articles

• Email Subject Lines That Work: The Secret Sauce (amsterdamprinting.com)
• The 14 Real Benefits of Email Marketing (savvystylist.net)