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With Canada finally opening up after more than 15 months of COVID restrictions, the quickest and easiest way to fill up your appointment slots is to reach out to your existing client base…
… not with emails or social media posts that no one sees, but with text messages, which most people read within 90 seconds.
And the best news is that Canadian owners of spas, beauty and aesthetics services are perfectly positioned to capitalize on the many benefits of text message marketing.
There are 8 reasons why this is so. Let’s get into them now…
Reason #1: You offer high-value, high-margin services.
The first and most important requirement of any type of marketing is that your products or services can support the cost of doing so. Aesthetics and beauty services have a high perceived value and require special training and equipment… all of which support a higher price and margins.
Conclusion?
It makes sense to advertise to your clients.
Reason #2: People use your services regularly.
Many service providers – think furnace or AC repair, dentists, etc – only see their clients once a year. You, on the other hand, offer services that people can enjoy (or may require) regularly, meaning there is an opportunity to see a single client many times throughout the year.
In other words, unlike a dentist or furnace repair specialist, there’s good reason to reach out to your audience regularly and encourage repeat visits.
Reason #3 You have your clients’ cell phone numbers.
Compiling client contact data is important for any business, but especially so for those that operate with a more “personal touch.” For this reason, we’re almost positive you have your clients’ cell phones on file, which is important for a very obvious reason – you can’t send text messages without them.
Reason #4: Canadian law allows you to message your audience.
You might think that you require the express, signed consent of your clients to send them text messages, but that is not correct.
Canadian law allows you to contact your audience on the basis of an “existing business relationship.”
This is what is known as “implied consent.” It applies to any client with whom you have had a business transaction anytime within the last two years.
Even though you are legally entitled to reach out to your audience, sending text messages “out of the blue” can cause some push back with your clients and damage your brand if not done properly. We will work with you to ensure your first message is respectful and courteous and addresses the common concerns of Canadians who receive text message promotions.
Reason #5: Your clients will do more business with you if you ask them.
A focus on customer retention – and by that I mean focusing on getting your existing clients to do more business with you – can pay huge dividends and make a dramatic difference in your business. A consulting firm called “Bain & Co” found that a mere 5% increase in customer retention can equate to a 25-95% increase in annual revenue.
Yep, you read that right… marketing to your current client base is an incredibly efficient and cost-effective way to boost your bottom line.
Reason #6: Everyone Uses Text Messaging
That’s right. Not only is texting a simple, unintimidating form of technology that works even on phones long considered obsolete without the need for Internet data, it’s also used widely by everyone, across all age demographics.
Yes, even older demographics.
Sure, Grandma might prefer to talk on the phone with her kids and grandkids, but she’s learned that no one answers their phones anymore and if she wants to reach them, she has to text them.
So yes, older folks text too.
Reason #7: Text Messages are read immediately.
According to statistics, most text messages are read within 3 minutes (emails, on the other hand, may not be read for hours, sometimes even days).
You might think this has to do with the average person’s proximity to their phones, but that’s only part of it.
Today, over 85% of Canadians have smartphones, which means they have the same immediate access to emails on their phones as they do to text messages, and yet emails can often languish unread for ages, while text messages are read immediately.
So what is so different about text messages that make them so appealing to the recipient?
One thing: who they come from.
99% of the time, text messages originate from someone within the recipient’s immediate social circle, someone close to them: a colleague, partner, spouse, parent, child, etc.
Emails, on the other hand, come from anyone (this is why you’re never in a hurry to check them).
In a nutshell, this is what makes text marketing so effective – when you send a text message, your message arrives on a trusted communication channel reserved for the most important people in your recipient’s personal network.
Reason #8: Efficient and Affordable
Traditional advertising is known as “spray and pray” advertising.
You blast your promotional message to as many people as possible in the hope that enough of them show up in your business and generate sufficient revenue to cover the costs of the campaign.
The big problem with traditional advertising is that you’re mostly paying to reach people who aren’t interested in your offerings. With SMS / text messaging, this is never the case; you’re only ever paying to reach the people with whom you have a relationship, people who are qualified as interested in your offers.
As result there’s no waste, you get vastly better response rates (as much as 10X compared to traditional campaigns, studies show) and a much more attractive return on investment (ROI).
What’s Next?
If you own or manage a beauty or aesthetics business in Canada, we’d be happy to chat with you about the opportunities offered by marketing with SMS or MMS (image and text), or whether it makes sense for your business to investigate the opportunity further.
Feel free to request a demo of our services or send us an email with any questions. You can also call us at 877 403 2402.
All our services are subscription-based and run month to month, without a contract (you can cancel at anytime). As a result, there is absolutely ZERO incentive for us to to sell you on our service if your business is not properly positioned for text message marketing.
So if you have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re not going to hit you up with some heavy duty sales pitch. That’s just how we roll. 🙂
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