Cash transactions cost 4.7 cents per euro of turnover for beauticians compared to 2.3 cents for a standard card transaction – less than half the amount

The value of an average card transaction (€28.25) is almost double the average cash transaction (€25.91) for beauticians, highlighting the fact that card transactions often lead to higher sales for merchants

Increasing the volume of card payments to 80% of accepted payments can play a crucial part in lowering admin costs, saving a business as much as €7,500 annually.

Approx 40% hair & beauty businesses listed that retaining existing clients was the biggest challenge

Getting New Clients:

Interestingly you can see discounting, social media and general awareness were the biggest issues when getting new clients:

  1. Coming up with marketing ideas outside of discounting
  2. Advertising and Facebook not working in terms of bringing new clients through the door
  3. Potential Clients knowing the salon actually exists.

Discounting is always a temptation. The reality is though not every client wants the cheapest style or treatment and once you start discounting, it’s hard to get back to a more profitable point and get them back to buy at the regular price.

Facebook is also a great tool to drive ‘word-of-mouse’. The temptation is to just tell people how great your salon is and run special offers and competitions. But that’s where the real value is on Facebook.

Retaining Clients, Three main issues arose when talking about client retention.

 

  • Justifying prices to clients in comparison to cheaper competition.
  • Justifying prices to clients who use home services.
  • Staff not re-booking clients.

 

Again discounting is causing problems. Lowering prices however is not the way to retain clients. Giving them a wow experience that gets them back more often is the fastest way to grow.

 Woohoo Pay’s loyalty App runs within the card terminal. We recommend giving clients points for every euro spent. When they reach a certain amount of points they get a product or service for free. Here’s the difference though, they only ever get a product or service they’ve never had before. Now your clients feel loved and rewarded and your retention rates improve.

What is it about these problems that are so challenging?

  1. Managing and motivating staff:

Unsurprisingly, staff is the biggest issue. When asked specifically about the challenges, the following were the main pain-points:

  1. Keeping them happy within the job and keeping them motivated
  2. Getting them comfortable with selling
  3. Avoiding confrontation when dealing with issues
  4. Consistency of work from day-to-day
  5. Dealing with absenteeism as a result of holidays, sickness, pregnancy etc.