Emails are still one of the most effective ways to keep in touch with your clients. Follow this four-step plan to stay connected.
- Capture Data Clients are the backbone of the salon business. That’s why it’s crucial to capture their data—full name, social media, cell phone number, mail and email addresses—to stay in touch. “When we first started, we were collecting email information from our clients, but we didn’t know the power of the email,” explains Falicia Fracassi-Garries, owner of Fracassi Lash Bar in Upstate, New York. “Clients make appointments via our booking software, and my receptionist is trained to double-check each email when they come in, plus we always request the data from walk-ins.” Additionally, you can add newsletter sign-up buttons on your Facebook business page, or create and pin Title cards on Twitter.
- Set A Schedule After you’ve captured the data, connect with your audience consistently. Determine a deployment schedule—once a week or twice a month—that you can manage. Fracassi Garries, who grew her list from 200 to 50,000 in four years, sends out promotions every four to six weeks and amps it up during slower months to help boost business.
- Be Strategic Segment your email list by service and customize the offers for each. Segmenting ensures they get the content most relevant to their needs. Also, leverage your content for acquisition funnels. “If you write an article about the right at-home shampoo, you can ‘gate’ that content so potential customers receive it after providing an email,” explains Kate Buck, Jr., a founder of Social Media Pro in Plano, Texas. Once they sign up for your newsletter, automate general communication like “Thank you” for signing up, “We miss you” or even “Happy birthday.” Use email programs like MailChimp (Mailchimp.com), Constant Contact (Constantcontact.com) or Campaign Monitor (campaignmonitor.com) to segment, create, deliver and track each campaign message.
- Make It Stand Out There are four things to be mindful of when creating a winning email: content, design, subject and the preview pane. Your content matrix—whether it’s an offer for loyalty, specials or news—should include a combination of text and art, rather than a singular image. Make sure the snippet—the important part of the message—is at the top of the email because images don’t register in the preview pane. According to MarketingSherpa, about 53 percent of B2C subscribers first see your emails in a preview pane.
Email Campaign Checklist:
- Keep subject line short. The rule of thumb is the subject line should be no more than 22 characters.
- Make sure there is a text version of the email. If you’re using an image, insert text (called alt-text) that describes the image to ensure they don't see a blank space in the email.
- Test your email. Send your original email to half your list and a snippet-friendly version to the other half. Take note of which subscribers opened, clicked and shared. Then adjust the next one.
Many thanks to our program sponsors Matrix, Redken, Pureology, L'Oréal Professionnel, Baxter, Decleor, Essie, Mizani and SalonCentric for making this Digital Supplement possible.