You hear a lot about client retention in the industry and ways to keep those new clients and convert them into life-long clients. Retention starts with making your marketing ‘sticky’ and making sure they don’t turn their attention elsewhere.
Every marketing activity must have enough appeal to hold potential clients attention otherwise it’s a failed exercise! If your prospect glances at your postcard, email, Facebook page, etc. and moves on, it didn’t appeal to them enough to get them engaged. That doesn’t mean the offer or your business didn’t appeal to them, just your message.
This is true especially for your website. Why is stickiness so important when it comes to your website? Because your website is often where clients are doing their final research before deciding to book an appointment. And statistics show that you have less than 5 seconds to convince them to read further, so you better make sure your websites as sticky as honey!
Design Your Website to Appeal to Your Audience
Your website has one purpose – to convince each prospective client that you are the best choice when considering their hair and beauty needs. To do this most effectively, you need to appeal to them and identify with your target audience. How do you do that if you service all types of clients?! Chances are, that even if you have a very diverse client base you still have a target audience of your BEST client types. You need to figure out who it is that your salon is targeting and then create a design with imagery and verbiage that appeals to this target audience.
Don’t worry, in our industry that quite often is still a broad category so you needn’t worry about alienating people. For example, you could decide that your target audience is professional women from 40-55 years of age, living no more than 35 blocks from your salon, who is married, has children and an active social and professional life which leaves less time for her personal care. That sums up a LOT of potential clients.
Keep Each Page Clean and Concise
A clean design is essential for every website. Whatever they are seeking, you can offer it to them, but make sure you don’t throw everything and the kitchen sink on the homepage. That will confuse and overwhelm your visitors. Keep a simple message on the homepage, with links to interior pages that will guide them through the experience with ease.
Don’t Just Read, Engage!
A good website will provide all of the necessary information that a prospective client wants. A GREAT website will get the prospective client engaged with the content and offer interactive elements on the site that bring the experience beyond simply researching their next salon or spa. Some great ideas to think about adding:
- Links to your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.
- Sign-up for your email newsletter
- Videos from your last photo shoot, event or community activity.
- Polls, question forums or ‘Ask Your Stylist’ areas.
Whatever you decide to incorporate, if anything, remember that these simple ideas should enhance, not distract from your message.
Functional and Simple
The least sexy of our tips on creating a sticky website, but perhaps the most important, is having a website that works. Consumers have less and less patience when it comes to surfing the web to find something to spend their money on. So, you need to ensure that your website loads fast and doesn’t have any glitches. More and more, you’ll also need to consider whether your website loads on an iPad, mobile phone or other devices besides the standard web browser. These considerations can add up to a lot of potential clients moving on from your site when it doesn’t perform.
Having a sticky site will help you to get more from your website marketing efforts by keeping more people on your site longer. Make a few changes, monitor your efforts and get more clients!
Author Bio: Valorie Reavis
Social Marketer, foodie, closet geekA marketing professional who has focused primarily on the hair and beauty business for of the past decade, Valorie now runs linkup marketing, a digital marketing agency for the hair and beauty professional. Valorie works to engage clients in the marketing process and help them successfully engage with their clients and community. Energetic and passionate about the industry, Valorie focuses on blending traditional and digital media in order to bring salons closer to their clients.
