Personalized experiences are key to hospitality success. Here’s how you can use spa software to amaze customers with personalization.
It’s often said that personalization is the key to customer experience. At least, it is at Book4Time. We say it a lot around here.
Here are some personalization statistics taken from StartUpBonsai that back up our claims.
- 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that provides a tailored experience.
- 66% of consumers expect brands to understand their individual needs.
- 70% of consumers say that how well a company understands their individual needs impacts their loyalty.
- 71% of customers are frustrated by impersonal shopping experiences.
- 90% of U.S. consumers in the US find the idea of personalization appealing.
- 72% of customers will only engage with personalized messaging.
- 63% of consumers won’t buy from brands that have poor personalization.
- 45% of consumers think the ‘coolest’ personalized engagement tactic is sending an apology email after a poor customer experience.
- 84% of customers say they’re more likely to buy from brands that treat them like a person rather than a number.
- 79% of companies that exceed revenue goals have a documented personalization strategy.
- Personalization reduces customer acquisition costs by as much as 50%.
This doesn’t just apply to retail. It also applies to hospitality, spa and wellness. Probably more so. When a person visits a spa and goes through answering questions about their health and wellbeing, and then the somewhat intimate experience of a massage or body treatment, not being remembered the next time could easily be perceived as off putting and even insulting.
People want to feel valued and that they are important. They want to feel seen. And one of the best ways to make someone feel seen is to remember them.
How to do personalization right with spa software
How do you do personalization right? We’re glad you asked. Because it’s easy to do it wrong. For example, bombarding a customer with ads for something they just bought is the worst kind of “personalization” gone wrong (we’re looking at you, Facebook). More bad examples include getting personal details wrong, sending too many emails, and making assumptions based on a single purchase.
Don’t do these things. They’re not fooling anyone.
Use your spa software’s reporting dashboard, your CRM system, and your software’s notetaking function to log the information you need to do the following and create the ultimate personalized experiences.
Get to know your customer demographics
Take notes
Create and maintain customer profiles
Use the information you have to do delightful things
Track product purchase activity
Be genuine, creative, and unique
Here’s how:
Get to know your customer demographics
On a larger scale, before getting into individual personalization experiences, you should be using the data from your reporting dashboard to segment your customers into groups. Understanding these segments, as Book4Time’s Sales Director, Nadia Rehman, wrote in this blog, is key to building relationships. Creating customer segments, like local guests, hotel guests, members, and corporate guests, allows you to tailor your marketing and promotions to these groups rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach that is going to be hit and miss – sometimes more often a miss than a hit.
For instance, you’ll have more luck promoting last minute deals and lunchtime offers to local guests than to hotel guests who might be visiting from 1,000 miles away. The latter group would likely be more interested in room and spa bundles, or three-day retreats.
Take notes
Take note of what you have been told by your customers and don’t ask the same question twice. Once someone has provided you with their contact information, they should not have to provide it again, no matter how many times they visit you, except to confirm that it has not changed. Tracking basic customer information and leveraging this data allows you to personalize every guest experience. Similarly, if someone has a health issue or allergy, and they come back to your spa after an initial treatment, they should not have to tell you twice.
Create and maintain customer profiles
Customer profiles should contain details like first and last name, email, phone number, and address. But that’s not all. Use your software’s note taking function to log details about their favorite tea and type of music, what size slipper they wear, and their favorite scent. Do they have a favorite snack or product at your spa? Log that. You can use it. Keep these profiles updated and make sure your staff members are logging useful information gleaned from conversations, like anniversaries or other important dates, and likes and dislikes.
Use the information you have to do delightful things
Use the information you gather to create the personalized experiences we’re talking about, such as an offer or special treatment experience for a special occasion, like their birthday, which you should also be noting in their profile. Or you can surprise them at the end of a visit, or upon arrival, with a gift. Only you know your guests well enough to know what will impress them and make them happy. Never let an opportunity to amaze someone with your thoughtfulness slip away. This is what makes the difference between Five-Star spas and everyone else.
Track product purchase activity
Keep tabs on your customers’ favorite brands, so you can make tailored recommendations or send a gift in the mail for the aforementioned birthday. You can also call a guest up to let them know that you just got a new line in from their favorite brand, invite loyal and top-spending customers to come to the spa for an event to introduce a new product or service, or create a private shopping experience for a guest or a group of guests.
Be genuine, creative, and unique
Don’t get so lost in viewing personalizing experiences as a revenue driver that you forget that it’s actually a way to build strong relationships. Be selective with your communications, rather than bombarding guests with purchase offers and just sticking their name in the message and figuring that’s personalized enough. Truly listen to your customers and use the data you have at your disposal.
Create unique experiences that set you apart from the competition. In her blog on CRM, referenced above, Nadia Rehman points to the example of the Carlyle Hotel in New York City, where they stitch your initials on the pillows on your bed. This is an effective and simple touch that nobody is ever going to forget.
Make your guests feel special by remembering them and showing that you care in a genuine and unique way.
