Since some time, COVID-19 has halted everyone’s life!! Several businesses are facing revenue losses. More than half of the companies have allowed their employees to work from home to maintain sustainability. Those businesses that are dependent on foot traffic are at a big loss.
Because of the lockdown, the companies are facing an intensive drop in customer volume. Obviously, no one wants to put their life on stake to get the services!!
Hence, we can say that the coronavirus crisis has negatively impacted the overall world. But, of course, you do not want any potential customers to let go like this.
You must have sleepless months and years of nights to build customers and establish a bond of trust with them.
In the process of fulfilling their needs and giving them the best service, you are now a part of their lives—their highs and lows. You have gained them by pleasing them with the best of the best services. For a potential and stable customer base, ruthless work hours are spent to give them the perfect look. Although, this is what the customers also desire when they are paying you,.
What we meant is that even if COVID-19 has closed your salon, you have to work on finding solutions that do not let your hard work get wasted. At this time, you have to move back to your basics and get connected to the customer base.
Considering this—before this outbreak, it was certain that you had acknowledged the new customers for the first time, right? The approaches you have followed to make them your permanent customers are now valuable. Indeed, your salon business has social media accounts with most of your customers. Get in touch with them and tell them you are not closed; you are here with different means for them.
Nevertheless, digitization has given you enough ways to follow for your salon business. But, there is no definite way. All this differentiates with the customers, their location, age group, and interests, and indeed, with your resources as well.
COVID-19 has impacted us, whether it is about our financial, mental, or physical state. Anyway, the main focus is to stay connected with your salon customers. But, how?
To give you this answer, we are here with the ideas that you can follow to stay in regular touch with all and nurture the salon business while working at home.
Tips to Stay Connected with Salon Customers
Find out how you can give customer support without affecting the customer’s efforts. Already, the customers are fed up with all they are facing during this lockdown time. So, assure them that you encourage them with splendid ways to maintain their interest. Find out the ways to stay connected with your salon customers and gain their trust by looking at the below ways.
#1. Notify customers regarding your efforts in this COVID-19
First and foremost, you need to tell your customers that you are open. To do that, you need to send SMS and emails to all the customers, telling them that you are here now to entertain them with the services. And if you have foot traffic, then assure them that you are following the best and most secure ways for their safety.
Tell them the hygiene, disinfection, and cleaning protocols you are following and permit the employees to stay in quarantine who are not feeling well. And assuring them to come only when all the symptoms are gone. Even if you are changing the working hours and closing the salon for in-depth cleaning, then let them know all this.
#2. Live sessions with every social profile
Connect with your customers by being online whenever it is necessary on the social media channels that your website is integrated with. It could be either Instagram, Facebook, or any of the social media handles.
Here, our recommendation is to interact with all of your customers and allow them to participate. Arrange the Questions & Answers session where the customers can ask the queries and resolve them at the same time. It will be better if you can get along with the salon experts to join the live session to make it all more engaging. Provide product recommendations and online consultations.
#3. Update personalized notes and social media regularly
It is mandatory to create blogs and posts and record videos on a regular basis. Whatever you are creating, make it visible. Fundamentally, this piece of information must be transparent on your business website, but, it has to be there on social media as well. Follow all the ways to assure that the customers do not forget you, and stay connected with your salon customers.
Also, you can use the best salon software to show your ideas and posts with an extendable approach. In the market, it is considered the perfect salon marketing solution. If your city is either in the orange or green zone, then you can also start shipping the retail products.
Additionally, you can post a “thank you” message to the customer for trusting your brand. This way of acting presents a personalized experience to the customers, and they will prefer to consider your salon brand in the future as well.
#4. Improve visibility on social media
Yes, customers are more active on social media nowadays, than usual. It is because they want their information to be updated and relevant to COVID-19. So, if you are publishing every recent piece of information related to the virus, particularly, or are posting some positive and interesting content on social media to make the audience calm, then we suggest you improve the publishing frequency to assure that you are making them informed about the recent feeds.
#5. Polls and surveys
Get a list of those customers who want to hear from you or need some sort of advice. After knowing about the same, conduct regular surveys, quizzes, and polls online to get a general idea. Nowadays, Instagram stories are more on-demand, and almost all check that. So, you can start with that.
Besides, you can also mention the precautionary measures your business and you are following to help the community in this tough time. Some of those can include acknowledging healthcare workers by donating masks and gloves, raising funds for those in need, deep cleaning the salon, and many more.
#6. Reserve the sanitizing products
Like we mentioned above, if you have foot traffic, then you must follow the hygiene guidelines provided by the World Health Organization (WHO). Assure those who are visiting you to maintain the same. It is a must to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Hang a note outside the salon regarding following the guidelines before entering. That is, washing or sanitizing the hands, putting on the masks and gloves. Also, if your salon has restrooms for customers, then write some extra signing points to show the right directions to wash the hands. In addition, put some CDC rules in the restroom. If not, then, you might like to present the hand sanitizer in the storefront for staff and customers to use.
#7. Contribute online deals
When your business already has a pinch of eCommerce, ask customers if they can purchase their favorite items on the business website. You can also provide a discount or coupon to promote online shopping, even if you stay at home. This is also the best way to stay connected with your salon customers.
Or, if you have a service-based business, like a salon, then you should consider providing online sales such as daily deals, coupon codes, and gift certificates. Allow the customers to purchase the certificate so that they can delight themselves and use it when the self-quarantine time period is finished and the outbreak will slow down. It allows you to direct the sales of your salon business and engage the customers with some exciting and fun approaches.
#8. Acknowledge serving customer through digital channels
You must have provided email and phone support to your potential customers. Now, leverage that service to boost your customer service abilities and assure that all of your customers can approach you easily, despite the location you are in.
Social media is the best place to commence the valuable interaction. This is because social media channels, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or some instant messaging platforms, are best for instant chat.
In addition, you can also provide video conferencing via FaceTime or Skype to make it more convenient for the customer without being there in person.
#9. Email marketing and SMS campaigns
While securing the new customer with your Salon, you must have asked for some important credentials, such as name, contact number, emails, etc. These details are essential to getting in touch with them whenever required. Here, you can try the salon management software. This type of software incorporates SMS campaigns and email marketing because SMS communication with customers is best.
Use these elements to the best of your ability to tell them about the offers or discounts you are currently providing. But, segment the customers according to their psychographic and demographic attributes before providing some information.
Get connected with the potential customers to ask them if they need some sort of help and show them, you are here for them. Even a simple “Hello” message assures your customers that you care for them.
#10. Encouragement is a must
This lockdown period has increased the anxiety and stress levels of everyone. We do not have any idea when the situation will be back on point. Hence, it is vital to encourage customers and be proactive to assure effective communication. Showing them some rays of hope to decrease the battle is worth it.
- Allow your salon customers to schedule their appointments for their future appointments and accept home delivery of retail products if the city is in the orange or green zone.
- Enable them to give their notable feedback on the Salon Marketing App on the Play Store. Even better, ask them to rate you on social media platforms according to the services they have experienced.
- Recommend them to purchase gift cards. The reason behind this is that when the crisis is over, the prices of every service at the salon will rise.
The choice is yours!!
The way the business was handled before COVID-19 is not the same; the picture is totally different now. It has made every businessperson think again about how to cope with the situation. Undoubtedly, it has totally changed the landscape. Now, the businesses are back on the ground and require support. I hope these tips will help you stay connected with your salon customers.
It is known to everyone that customers are the base of every business. Maintaining it is tough and complicated on even normal days. So, how can it be handled in this deadly crisis?
The situation can get out of hand if your salon business does not immediately start implementing the above-mentioned methods. With all those tricks on point, you can be in touch with the customers and assure a good satisfaction rate.
So, our advice is to sustain the trust and bond you have already established with them.
And, do not lose hope, time will soon be okay!!
We hope our write-up is beneficial for you. If you have more suggestions, then let us know in the comment section below. Queries are always welcome.
Thanks for reading! Stay home, stay safe!