Evidence-Based Solutions for Salon Growth

This paper purposes to provide proof, which back up two recommendations that can assist Embrace beauty Salon to improve their services within a long-term period and a short-term period. The supporting evidences have been extracted from articles, books, websites, and journals, with back up information from an interview with Louise, and a survey conducted on customers.

Recommendation 1: Long-term

Loyalty scheme to collect customers’ information, ask for email (based on the interview and survey) (money off)

From the interview, it is quite evident that Embrace beauty Salon is not customer-focused, rather, it focuses much on the profitability of the business. However, it is paramount that the salon should prioritize the needs of the customers and this is only possible by introducing a loyalty scheme that collects customer information via email (Ramanathan et al., 2017). The salon management needs to understand the profile of their customers, and engage them in a constructive conversation, in which case, they can be able to collect their feedback, regarding the products and services that they offer (Martin, 2015; cited in Gottlieb, 2017). Louise noted that this is of utmost importance, owing to the fact that if customers are required to pay £35 as service fee for massage, then they deserve a good service, which is not the case as in Embrace beauty Salon. However, Embrace Beauty does not engage in any loyalty scheme, as the salon does not email its customers, and as such, they do not get their customers’ details. Moreover, the beauty salon does not offer money off to its customers, even when they have purchased expensive products. On the other hand, regarding the survey conducted to salon consumers, 22% of the customers stated that they prefer best-priced services (discount) as a value that influences their choice of a beauty provider, whilst 32% of them indicated a friendly service provider, which is concerned with emailing customers to get their profile information. In line with this, 56.52% (highest) of participants indicated that money-off is the best loyalty scheme that salon businesses should use on its customers. Additionally, 36% (highest) of the participants also noted that they prefer receiving promotions, news, as well as updates regarding the salon via E-mail newsletters.

The proofs supporting this recommendation are as follows:

Paying attention to issues that matter most to customers is a significant loyalty scheme that aids in retaining them, purposefully, for the growth of the business (So et al., 2015). Notably, loyalty scheme programmes do not create loyal customers; rather, they are effective as they create value to potential customers. In this regard, the best way of ensuring this effectiveness is by segmenting the customers of Embrace beauty Salon by gathering, as well as analyzing their profile data via email (Martin, 2015). As such, Embrace beauty Salon needs to gather information relating to their customers regarding their buying patterns, their likes, or dislikes regarding their products and services, and their demographic data. This can assist the beauty salon to solve their business problem, thus, meeting the needs of the customers (Stathopoulou & Balabanis, 2016).

Moreover, Embrace beauty Salon management should be aware that they should use sophisticated methods of pricing, which make their customers to earn discounts, and not simply giving them away, as it can tamper with the profitability of the business (Blut et al., 2014). This loyalty scheme is used in rewarding customers, thus directing their behavior towards specific directions, for example, switching to other products that have higher profitability, and increasing their purchase volume (Cachon & Feldman, 2015). Using discount as a loyalty scheme builds a significant protection barrier, which consequently makes it difficult for Embrace’s business competitors such as Beeston, to lure loyal customers away. Whilst discounts drive customers towards joining a programme, the soft benefits accompanied by it significantly assist in building a strong relationship (Cooper, 2016). In this regard, Embrace beauty Salon management should understand that in order to develop a successful client retention strategy, it has to identify the right mixture of both hard and soft advantages of this loyalty scheme (Hill & Alexander, 2017).

Recommendation 2: Websites and booking process enhancements (based on the interview and survey)

Based on the interview with Louise, noted that Embrace beauty Salon has no communication strategy whatsoever, as neither does it communicate in the newspaper nor even in the local newspaper. The business’ website is not informative and does not stand out as that of USP. Moreover, Louise also stated that the website does not also contain the brand values, yet it is important, for the purpose of communication with customers. On the other hand, the booking process of the business is not good, as it does not provide an opportunity for the customers to book online for either their products or services. In addition, the business allows phone bookings, yet the owner of the business does not respond to voicemail from customers.

Regarding the survey conducted, it is evident that many people are in social media platforms, in which case, Facebook and Instagram have many users (31.85% each), and Snapchat has the highest number of users (50%). Moreover, customers also prefer to visit websites, which have significant content that increase their interest or trust towards a beauty salon, and from the survey, it was noted that customer reviews are most preferred (42.24%), followed by Real images (26.72%) and so forth. On the other hand, 75.36% of customers indicated that easy booking influences their decision while making a salon appointment, and as such, 42.42% of them would prefer to book the appointment using telephone, 29.29% of them through websites, 23.23% of them through in-person, and finally, 5.05% of them through application.

The proofs supporting this recommendation are as follows:

Embrace beauty Salon should purpose to enhance its websites, as product and service marketing is an ever-changing strategy that needs to be looked into with deep concern (Cooper, 2016). Proper analysis of a business website is paramount; in order to bring forth more innovations, bring in more customers, which consequently lead to the achievement of better profit (Stelzner, 2014). Significantly, various marketing strategies have become obsolete, which then requires Embrace beauty Salon to incorporate certain innovative ways that aid in the marketing strategy, which changes with time. To achieve success, Embrace beauty Salon should be obligated to enhance its websites, in order to run with the changing times and to incorporate new, as well as innovative techniques (Lockhartmeyer, 2018).

On the other hand, when making a telephone call to a beauty salon, customers do like being put on hold, and as such, they prefer immediate gratification, either by website, in-person or through application (Raab et al., 2016). Embrace beauty Salon should be obligated to approach an efficient online booking process, in order to enhance their customer service, by providing their customers the choice, as well as convenience to book with them at any time, using any device, and also, when they find it convenient. This makes their appointment scheduling to be easier (Yocale, 2016).

References

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Cooper, R. (2016). Enviable success bioelements salon of the year. Professional Beauty, (Mar/Apr 2016), 60.

Gottlieb, M. (2017). Beauty on the home front. Professional Beauty, (Mar/Apr 2017), 132.

Hill, N., & Alexander, J. (2017). The handbook of customer satisfaction and loyalty measurement. Routledge.

Martin, K. (2015). Keeping ahead in the beauty salon business. Professional Beauty, (May/Jun 2015), 54.

Raab, C., Berezan, O., Krishen, A. S., & Tanford, S. (2016). What’s in a word? Building program loyalty through social media communication. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 57(2), 138-149.

Ramanathan, U., Subramanian, N., Yu, W., & Vijaygopal, R. (2017). Impact of customer loyalty and service operations on customer behaviour and firm performance: empirical evidence from UK retail sector. Production Planning & Control, 28(6-8), 478-488

So, J. T., Danaher, T., & Gupta, S. (2015). What do customers get and give in return for loyalty program membership?. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 23(3), 196-206.

Stathopoulou, A., & Balabanis, G. (2016). The effects of loyalty programs on customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty toward high-and low-end fashion retailers. Journal of Business Research, 69(12), 5801-5808.

Stelzner, M. (2014). 2014 social media marketing industry report. Social Media Examiner, 1-52.