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The wellness market is estimated at $1.5 trillion and counting. This rise is due to customers prioritizing their health and wellness over the past two to three years.
And medical spas stand as one of the most availed services in recent times, thanks to their multitude of treatment options.
But a greater customer base caused a substantial increase in competition with medical spa businesses fighting to keep their customers engaged. And one way to rise above the rest is through text message marketing.
This article shows seven best practices for increasing medical spa sales using text messages.
But first, why SMS marketing for spas?
SMS marketing is a direct marketing technique where brands send promotions, updates, invites, news, etc., via direct messages.
Here’s a look into why SMS marketing can give your medical spa business plan a competitive edge:
- Direct and easy communication — Text messages arrive directly at your audience, unlike social media or marketing emails marketing or emails that could end up in spam due to SPF permerror and other issues. It’s hard for clients to miss text messages from a brand they trust and recognize. Therefore, communicating with SMS is more convenient than most forms of marketing.
- High open and click-through rates — SMS marketing has one of the highest open rates at 98% and a CTR of 19%. This clearly shows customers prefer receiving and responding to SMS text messages.
- It’s cost-effective, quick, and scalable — Text messages are cheaper than most marketing techniques. And unlike lengthy emails, text messages are precise and easier to frame. With SMS marketing, you can broadcast messages to any number of customers with a click.
- Adding engaging multimedia — SMS marketing need not be limited to text messages alone. You can leverage it to send engaging multimedia like GIFs, short videos, images, and voice notes that instantly grab consumers’ attention.
7 best practices to use text message marketing to get more sales for your spa
Here are some best practices to follow while implementing your next text message marketing campaign:
1. Get permission
The last thing you need is to spam your customers with unsolicited messages. As much as staying compliant with regulations is important, it’s best to respect your consumers’ boundaries to start or sustain your customer relations on a positive note. Therefore, getting appropriate permissions is the first step to text message marketing.
Read more: Med spa laws by US states
Get opt-in permission through a consent form, in-person post an appointment, or a phone call. Also, ensure every text message concludes with an opt-out link (for US and Canada users) or allow them to reply ‘STOP’ to unsubscribe from your future communications at once.
2. Personalize your messages
Sending irrelevant messages can lead to an increase in unsubscriptions and loss of business. Personalizing messages and including customized offers are key to engaging customers.
You could start segmenting your customers based on their past treatment histories, preferences, inquiries, etc. For instance, note when customers provide you with their contact details and for what reason. Had they booked a spa? Did they come in for a massage? Did they enquire about a specific service?
Whatever the reason, always ensure you personalize your messages for greater context and intent. Addressing the users by their first names, sending tailored service recommendations, and updating them about related upcoming treatments are popular ways to personalize text messages.
3. Make your offer compelling and actionable
No matter the offer, make sure it adds value to your customer’s experience without wasting their time. Provide useful and, at the same time, compelling information that stirs the recipients to take action.
Since a text message is meant to be precise (160 characters or less), ensure you make the most of it by compelling your offer with an actionable call to action (CTA) and limiting to promoting a single offer per message.
CTAs should not leave the recipients hanging. They must instill urgency, add more context, and let the recipient know the next steps. Below are some effective SMS marketing CTAs to use for your medspa:
- ‘Click <here> to book a hair spa for 60% off. Limited slots only.’
- ‘Subscribe <here> for more such offers and free premium membership.’
- ‘Watch our treatments live <here>’.
- ‘Book x massage by midnight for a free x upgrade <here>’.
4. Automate reminders once the appointment is booked
Business is in the follow-ups. No-shows are pretty common in the wellness space. Most customers may forget their booking if not for your appointment reminders. And it can be daunting to send each reminder text message manually.
The best way to reduce manual work while fixing no-shows is to set up automated text reminders. Once an appointment is booked, an automated system can trigger text reminders along with steps for customers to be prepared for their appointments, directions to the spa, and other personalized notes.
5. Remember to add a business phone number
Non-tech-savvy recipients may often find responding to your text messages challenging and prefer talking to an actual person.
So make it more convenient for customers to reach you for bookings by adding a business phone number. It’s also useful if you plan to offer remote, on-call consultations to users across the globe.
A recipient can place a call and talk to your receptionist or customer support agent by simply clicking on the toll-free number.
6. Ensure two-way communication
Most businesses treat SMS as a broadcasting medium to mass communicate information, such as industry news or generic offers. Such messaging eliminates the chance of recipients replying to you to learn more about the offer in question.
And the truth is text messages have so much more potential than being treated as mere broadcast platforms. Instead, build a two-way communication that simulates customers engaging in a to-and-fro interaction with you.
Building a dialogue with your current and potential customers lets you build relationships for the long term. Also, remember to respond to them promptly so you don’t lose a prospect.
Appointment confirmations, surveys, service renewal reminders, and event invitations are some examples of two-way communication messages for medical spa businesses.
7. Thank you and feedback texts
Customers find text feedback submissions easier than attending to phone calls and feel extra valued and heard when asked for their opinions.
Post an appointment’s completion, irrespective of the service, ensure you proactively send out a ‘thank you’ message followed by a link for their feedback.
Customer feedback surveys highlight your customers’ perspectives and if your services fulfill their needs. Instead of them typing out lengthy reviews, you could make the process more convenient by requesting a satisfaction score from one to ten.
Finally, send out an automated friendly reminder or two if they’re yet to submit a response.
Wrapping up
The humble and conventional SMS has immense potential when used right. That means not swamping your consumers with unclear, generic promotions or overwhelming them with repeated salesy messages.
But remember that not all businesses can get it right in one shot. Text message marketing needs a few rounds of trial and error before you start noticing skyrocketed sales.
While we discussed the text messaging practices for your medical spa, the best ones yet are to start slow, seek customer feedback on their preferred communication frequency and continuously monitor and optimize your campaign’s performance. Lastly, choosing the right tools for managing your medical spa activities can help streamline your processes and enhance your overall marketing strategy.
Filip Halek
Filip Halek is a content writer based in Bratislava, Slovakia. He’s dedicated to creating compelling messaging for the next generation of business communication tools. He works for CloudTalk, helping to create compelling messaging in support of the next generation of cloud communication. In his free time, he enjoys jogging with his dog and pretending he knows how to cook.
Filip Halek
Filip Halek is a content writer based in Bratislava, Slovakia. He’s dedicated to creating compelling messaging for the next generation of business communication tools. He works for CloudTalk, helping to create compelling messaging in support of the next generation of cloud communication. In his free time, he enjoys jogging with his dog and pretending he knows how to cook.
