Company Highlight and Recipe for Success: Skin District Inc.

Since Vancouver-based Skin District medical spa launched in January of 2020, it has experienced major success – despite launching at the beginning of a global pandemic. 

Nearly two years later, the spa has gone on to garner five-star ratings, thousands of social media followers and comes highly recommended (customers remark on the spa’s technical expertise, knowledgeable staff who have a knack for making clients comfortable, and its beautiful lounge).

Today the spa offers a range of cosmetic services from semi-permanent make-up to medical-grade and dermatological procedures, including Botox and filler. Services are provided by certified industry professionals (medical estheticians and technicians) as well as a board-certified plastic surgeon and surgical director as well as a naturopathic doctor. In addition to these services, the spa also sells beauty products on their website, the Skin District Boutique.

Here we sit down with owners (and sisters!), Cheryl and Cassandra, the visionaries behind Skin District. While both have a love of beauty, Cheryl spends her days performing beauty treatments as one of the spa’s PMU/laser technicians while Cassandra manages more of the business side of the spa, including its social media accounts.

Skin District team, and a quote from the founder:

Yocale: What do you believe has contributed to the overwhelming success of your spa?

Cassandra and Cheryl of Skin District: “We believe it is our persistence and drive to make this medi spa work. We also couldn’t have done it without our wonderful staff who have put in so much time and effort to offer the best client experience.”

 

Yocale: Since launching Skin District, what lessons have you learned that you could share with other business owners who are in the process of launching their own business (whether within the beauty industry or not)?

Cassandra and Cheryl: “Having patience would be the number one lesson we learned. We also found that you can’t have everything in the beginning. As much as we wanted to have a full array of services at the start of us opening our doors, we had to gradually add to our menu list.”

 

Yocale: As a business that definitely has its pulse on the digital side of its business (for instance, you have a beautiful website with e-commerce products and a substantial social media following), why was online booking a necessity for you?

Cassandra and Cheryl: “We’ve never used pen and paper to schedule appointments. Online booking has allowed us to automate the scheduling process while also catering to clients who don’t want to call.”

 

Yocale: Why did you make the switch to Yocale (a software for medical spa) and what benefits have you seen since using it?

Cassandra and Cheryl: “We switched to Yocale because of its functionality, including the fact that it allows us to send before-and-after pictures within its Client Relationship Management (CRM), which our last platform did not.

Since using an online booking platform, we have been able to save front-desk time in terms of scheduling and appointment reminders. We also believe that online booking has been critical to keeping our schedule full.

An additional benefit unique to Yocale has been that we have been able to eliminate our other subscriptions, which has saved us several hundreds of dollars each month.”

 

Yocale: What has been your favorite Yocale feature?

Cassandra and Cheryl: “The best feature of Yocale is the form-builder; I really like the Kiosk mode, which allows clients to complete forms on one of our devices while still only giving them access to that particular form. It is so easy for clients to use it prior to their appointment.

We also love how the CRM allows before-and-after pictures that get saved to the client’s profile; we did not have this feature before, and this has been a huge benefit.”

 

Yocale: As a spa that’s been very successful so far, what general tips do you have for others who want to expand their clientele and grow their business?

Cassandra and Cheryl: “Follow up is KEY; even a simple text after a facial to see how your client’s skin is doing makes a huge difference.”

 

Yocale: What tips and tricks would you offer for beauty-based (or other) businesses in particular?

Cassandra and Cheryl: “It’s so important for any business to be organized and to avoid procrastination. For beauty-businesses in particular, it’s important to always set the proper expectations for your clients. If you give your clients the proper expectation in terms of what their results are going to be or how they are going to heal, you’ll have less problems. Also, always offer free advice for better skincare and beauty tips.”

 

Yocale: To conclude, if you could do anything differently this time, what might that be?

Cassandra and Cheryl: “We would have started using Yocale from the very beginning since they are a well-rounded application that functions as a CRM, scheduling and POS system. This would have saved us hundreds of dollars over the last two years!”


Feel free to ask your questions in the comment section, and we’ll make sure to have Cheryl and Cassandra reply back. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to check out Skin District!

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