THOUGHT PROCESS
Email marketing is a high-producer when it comes to leads, new clients and return on investment, yet it’s a marketing channel that’s missing in many beauty industry marketing strategies.
ACTION STEPS
Find out what makes email marketing a must-have tactic for Salon Suite owners and how you can put this tool to work to grow your Salon Suite.
1. Reach
The sheer volume of users, is one reason to use email marketing to promote your Salon Suite. There are nearly 249 million email users in the United States right now, and that number is projected to grow to nearly 255 million by 2020 (Statista.com).
Email is a practical tool and nearly everyone uses it to keep in touch with family, friends, colleagues, to conduct business, and – yes – to interact with the brands they like. A 2017 report also found that younger consumers, Millennials, are even more likely to take action on relevant email content than older generations. Meaning, this tool is going to get more effective in the foreseeable future, not less.
2. Preference
Email is the consumer’s preferred way to get information from brands. The 2017 Consumer Email Habits Report notes that more than half of those surveyed check their emails more than 10 times daily, and email is by far their preferred way to receive updates from brands (CampaignMonitor.com):
- 66% – Email
- 26% – Direct Mail
- 25% – Mobile apps
- 23% – Social Media
- 15% – Push Notifications
- 14% – Mobile Wallet
When it comes to small business brands, the consumer’s preference is even more stated. Six out of ten prefer that small businesses communicate with the by email than any other marketing channel:
- 61% – Email
- 18% – Direct Mail
- 6% – Mobile App
- 5% – Social Media
- 5% – Text Message / SMS
- 4% – Phone Call
- 1% – Chatbots
Even if you’re having success engaging with clients and prospects on social media, you should know that investing time in email marketing could yield bigger dividends (see Return on Investment below). Forrester found that people are 2x as likely to sign up for your email list as they are to actually interact with your Salon Suite’s brand on Facebook.
3. Content
In the same 2017 report, three out of four consumers said they agreed that brands are sending relevant, accurate emails. Consumers said that among the top reasons they will open brand emails are special offers and discounts (72%) and personalized subject lines (62%).
4. Return on Investment (ROI)
The median return on investment for email marketing is 122% – that is 4x higher than any other digital marketing channel. But let’s put this into dollars and cents. For every $1 spent on email marketing, brands report an average of $38 return on investment (Direct Marketing Association 2015 report).
5. Timing is Everything
You should periodically test different days of the week to see which is most effective with your audience. However, a cumulative report of 10 different studies agreed that Tuesday was the best day of the week to send email, hands down. Wednesday came in second place in several of the studies.
The report also found that 10 AM was the best time of day to send emails. Surprisingly, in second place on the list is from 8 PM to midnight. Third place was 2 PM and in fourth place is early morning – 6 AM.
6. Frequency
Your clients want to hear from you. In fact, the more entertaining and engaging you make your email newsletters, the more clients will look forward to hearing from you. When it comes to brand emails, more than 6 out of 10 consumers say they enjoy receiving promotional brand emails weekly and 38 percent would like to receive emails even more than once a week!
Choose a frequency that enables you to communicate with clients around the pulse of your Salon Suite. If you send email updates twice each month you will be communicating with clients no more than once or twice between appointments. This gives you the opportunity to remind them about upcoming or expiring promotions, introduce new products or services, promote upcoming events, remind them about rewards and reward opportunities, and so on.
Emailing your clients can also play a helpful role in rebooking. Hopefully you’re rebooking each client at their appointment, or even months in advance. However, for those clients who didn’t rebook, receiving an email newsletter can prompt them to contact you to book their next appointment.
7. The Elephant in the Room…
Many Salon Suite owners hold back from doing email marketing because they are afraid their clients don’t want to hear from them or that they might inadvertently email their clients too frequently. Others hold back because one or two people complained. What’s important to understand are the overwhelming numbers of people who will welcome your email communications. If one or two people unsubscribe, that’s ok. Remember that email gives you a low-cost way to communicate important, valuable and relevant information to all of your clients – don’t let everyone miss out because one or two people object!
The report also found that 10 AM was the best time of day to send emails. Surprisingly, in second place on the list is from 8 PM to midnight. Third place was 2 PM and in fourth place is early morning – 6 AM.
6. Frequency
Your clients want to hear from you. In fact, the more entertaining and engaging you make your email newsletters, the more clients will look forward to hearing from you. When it comes to brand emails, more than 6 out of 10 consumers say they enjoy receiving promotional brand emails weekly and 38 percent would like to receive emails even more than once a week!
Choose a frequency that enables you to communicate with clients around the pulse of your Salon Suite. If you send email updates twice each month you will be communicating with clients no more than once or twice between appointments. This gives you the opportunity to remind them about upcoming or expiring promotions, introduce new products or services, promote upcoming events, remind them about rewards and reward opportunities, and so on.
Emailing your clients can also play a helpful role in rebooking. Hopefully you’re rebooking each client at their appointment, or even months in advance. However, for those clients who didn’t rebook, receiving an email newsletter can prompt them to contact you to book their next appointment.
7. The Elephant in the Room…
Many Salon Suite owners hold back from doing email marketing because they are afraid their clients don’t want to hear from them or that they might inadvertently email their clients too frequently. Others hold back because one or two people complained. What’s important to understand are the overwhelming numbers of people who will welcome your email communications. If one or two people unsubscribe, that’s ok. Remember that email gives you a low-cost way to communicate important, valuable and relevant information to all of your clients – don’t let everyone miss out because one or two people object!