How to get more client reviews for your salon

Pop quiz, beauty pro…

What works just as well as a paid advertisement is…

Yet, there is no charge…

And produced by others while generating bookings for you and a positive reputation?

Are you sure?

REVIEWS FROM CUSTOMERS!

The phrase “marketing gold” refers to positive feedback from satisfied customers.

When you have a Facebook page filled with glowing reviews, a Google My Business account with a 4.9-star rating and 100 or more positive client comments, and an Instagram account filled with a ton of engagement and bookings, you can confidently say that you’ve hit the jackpot in terms of online marketing.

Why would that be?

As a result of the fact that 92% of buyers read internet reviews before making a purchase…

…and 72 percent of customers won’t purchase until they’ve seen a positive evaluation of it first.

It is not even necessary for you to pay for them, yet they stand out as a free advertisement for your company that people read and consider.

The topic of today’s video and blog post is how to improve the reputation of your salon or spa by using testimonials from satisfied customers.

In addition, we will discuss how you can profit from the reviews and testimonials you already have.

It does not matter what aspect of the beauty industry you work in—hairstylist, esthetician, med spa physician, or spray tanner—this information must be acted upon.

Let’s go out and catch some tasty feedback, shall we?

Client Reviews: why your salon needs them

How often has a friend suggested you try a new recipe, lipstick, workout class, or restaurant, and you took them up on their suggestion? Everyone here has gone out of their way to experiment with something novel after being encouraged by a reliable source. That type of marketing is known as referral marketing in the business world and is very effective!

Customers are more likely to recommend a business to their friends and family after having a positive experience with that company’s product or service, such as your salon. And what do you think? The same thing happens to them whenever they have a negative experience. Customers are significantly more likely to post a negative review than a positive one. That’s a real downer, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, some people will be spiteful and leave a negative review, even if their account of the interaction might not be completely accurate. This does take place. It’s a necessary step in the process of running a company. However, you shouldn’t ignore it; you should always address it head-on. But before we get into the specifics of how to collect and respond to client testimonials, we would like to spend a few moments discussing the significance of testimonials to your salon’s bottom line.

There is a risk to the reputation of your salon. Customer endorsements are important in developing a positive reputation for your salon. They add credibility to your brand and give the impression that your salon is more professional, trustworthy, and dependable.

It is beneficial to both your SEO and your ability to be found. Because we live in a digital world, word of customers’ experiences is no longer just spread through word of mouth or at book clubs. They may now be found online, meaning that Google and other search engines look for information on them there. When someone is looking for a new hair salon, it will be much simpler for them to find your establishment if you have more reviews. Once they have located your salon online, having a majority of good reviews makes it easier for them to become salon clients.

How to Obtain More Positive Salon Reviews

We are aware that feedback from customers is important. The question is how we can motivate satisfied customers to provide positive feedback. First and foremost, you should strive to provide a memorable experience for every one of your customers while they are in your salon. A review is not worth anything if it is not genuine. But let’s say you’ve already achieved your goal of providing excellent service to your customers, and all you need now is some assistance in accumulating additional feedback. Here are some options for you to experiment with.

• Request feedback from customers and encourage them to submit a review. Indeed, there are times when all you need to do is put in the request! If you know, they were pleased with the service they received, you should politely ask them to post about it on your salon’s social pages or leave a review on Google.

• Make it simple for customers to submit their feedback. After their appointment, you should follow up with a follow-up email and ask them to leave a review. Include a link to your social media pages and your Google business page. Even if they want to write a physical review, you can provide them with comment/review cards and a box when they check out if you want to accommodate that.

• Provide them with an incentive to post a review on your website. You could create a system that allows for feedback from customers. If a salon customer writes a favorable review, they will be placed into a drawing to win a complimentary salon service or product.

• Start a referral program. Although this is somewhat different, it still accomplishes the same thing. Develop a program that rewards customers who refer their friends to your business. They can earn points if they bring in a new customer for the salon, and when they have accumulated enough points, they are rewarded with a complimentary service or product from the establishment.

Gathering the reviews, you were unaware you have

(which can often be found in the most unexpected places!)

Working from a position of lack is something that no one enjoys doing. You have the feeling of being unmotivated, of being behind the crowd, and of being left in the dust.

Hence, you first need to locate the reviews you already have, which can often be found where you would least expect them to be.

Check your old emails, texts, Facebook page, Instagram comments, Instagram Stories, and the page you created on Google for your business.

You’ll notice people commenting positively everywhere if you’re doing a good job.

Consider “reviews” in a broader context to get the ball rolling on this productive endeavor.

They are not usually professionally posted reviews in the Reviews area of your sites about how happy your client is with their hair or nails or spray tan or wax. These reviews can be about how delighted your client is with their experience.

These might come in the form of a brief email praising how well you listened, a letter commenting on how pleasant the aroma was in your salon, or an Instagram remark expressing how relaxed the client felt while receiving treatment.

These testimonies are not required to discuss how the customer’s skin texture improved or how they now have the world’s best lashes.

Acknowledge praises and good words for what they are: marketing elements embedded in another person’s words.

This is the reason why:

People investigating your business are interested in learning more about your personality, atmosphere, experience, and listening ability.

Therefore, communications from already-existing customers regarding such matters carry more weight than you’ve probably given them credit for in the past.

Think about the number of times you’ve researched beauty businesses online before choosing by reading reviews to find out how other customers were treated at the establishment.

Everyone else is participating in the activity…

and they’re doing it for the benefit of your company!

Make it a habit to keep track of every positive feedback that you receive on your company, even if it’s just a simple compliment.

When one of your clients tells you about success or something positive related to their time in the program, you should file it away for potential use in the future.

You can also take screenshots of emails, comments on Instagram, comments on webinars, and so on.

The only consideration you need to make when gathering confidential customer feedback is to ensure you have permission first.

It’s time to generate some more reviews now that you’ve accumulated all of the ones you’ve already gotten under your belt.

How to Get Your Clients to Review Your Salon

Even if your customers are completely enamored with your salon, they probably won’t take the time to write you a review right away. Someone will do it occasionally, but that’s the exception rather than the rule in most cases.

Therefore, you need to get into the habit of encouraging customers to share their ideas and experiences in your salon.

You can accomplish this goal in a variety of different ways.

The following is a list of suggestions to help encourage your customers to leave reviews:

• After a client’s first appointment, send them an automated email telling them you enjoyed meeting them and look forward to seeing them again. To assist you in expanding your business, solicit their feedback. Include a link to your Google, Facebook, or Yelp page where customers can leave feedback about your business.
• After an especially successful appointment with one of your customers, make sure to manually follow up with them and ask for feedback in the form of a review. This one would work well if they left raving about their treatment, whether for their lashes, hair, nails, or something else.
• Send a direct message to one of your customers who follows you on Instagram and ask them if they would be willing to share a photo of their brows, hair, makeup, or anything else on their Instagram Story and tag you in it. You should share it on your Stories and save it in the Highlights section of your Stories.
• Ask the client whether you may record a 30-second video testimonial of them at the end of the appointment when you take some time to take images of the client’s “after” shots. You may ask them, “What do you love most about your new lashes?” and obtain their feedback that way. Instead, “Tell me about your appointment with your lash artist today.”
• You could also invite your customers in person to leave you a review on one of your pages. This can be done in place of the previous advice or in addition. When potential customers Google my name, the reviews pop up right away, so we make it a point to point them in the direction of my Google My Business page.
• Hold a contest once a month for your customers to participate in. Send them an email and let them know that anyone who reviews your business on Google this month will be entered into a drawing for a gift card worth fifty dollars (or some sort of fun product giveaway). Choose one lucky winner every month. This offer should be conducted for a few months before you decide whether or not to run it again; promotion weariness is a real phenomenon.

Here’s the deal with collecting feedback in the form of reviews:

Because you are putting yourself out there, there is a possibility that you will be rejected.

The following part is for those of you who are sensitive to rejection (but who among us isn’t?! ), so if that’s you, keep reading!

You won’t always get a positive response when you ask someone for feedback.

Occasionally they will say yes, but ultimately they will not act.

There are situations when they will simply disregard your request.

Don’t be disheartened!

You must keep doing whatever you want to become a healthy habit.

Continue to solicit feedback from customers. You will still have ten fresh reviews at the end of the month, even if you only ask 50 customers, and only 20% of them follow through with their promise to evaluate your business.

You can receive 120 fresh brand testimonials in a single year.

If you did that, just think about the rank bump given to your Google business profile.

Hence, do not give up. You can expect positive feedback as a result of your efforts.

OK, so you’ve compiled reviews from the past and obtained many new ones…

What should you do with all these positive, glowing comments now?

How to Use Reviews to Increase Your Credibility, Bookings, and More

Take a look at how far you’ve come!

You’ve built up a method for soliciting feedback…

You’ve made it a habit to ask for reviews (and you’re no longer discouraged when you don’t get them!)

You even have a folder on your phone, computer, or Google Drive/Dropbox for screenshotting and archiving all client evaluations and testimonials in any format!

The next stage is to use these reviews to increase reservations and spread the word about your salon or spa!

Here are five ways you might benefit from these reviews:

• Maintain a “client love” page on your website that is updated once a month with new client testimonials. Make it noticeable on your website – for example, with a large button on your homepage and menu screens – so that people are more likely to check it out. They’ll be astounded by all the wonderful things others say about you. Remember to include a ‘Book Now link on the reviews page!
• Add review screenshots on your booking page.
• When you receive reviews, testimonials, or testimonial videos, share screenshots of them on your Instagram Stories. Finally, make a Stories Highlight called “Customer love” and save all the testimonials/reviews.
• Distribute reviews in the emails you send to your list regularly. “Speaking of clients, here are some recent wonderful remarks from my amazing client Jess,” for example. Thank you very much, Jess!” Attach an image of the feedback. Are you sending emails to your list?
• When running Facebook and Instagram advertising, use your favorite written reviews in your ad captions. Make a video mashup of all your lovely clientele and their video testimonials to make your reviews work for you!

How to Handle Negative Reviews

It’s impossible to avoid. You will receive some negative feedback. That’s OK. When you receive a negative review, the first question you should ask is, “Is this what truly happened, and how can we learn from it, so it doesn’t happen again?” Negative reviews provide an excellent opportunity to uncover methods to improve your salon’s operations.

After determining what went wrong, it’s always a good idea to answer a negative review. So, we strongly advise you never to respond to a negative review in a poor mood. It is never a good idea to respond in rage. Spend some time crafting a courteous answer that addresses the client’s concerns. And if you (or one of your stylists) make a mistake, make it right. Give a freebie service or a free product on their next visit. If you truly provided a poor experience, make it right. A good authentic review can go a long way, while a bad honest review can be disastrous.

Even if the client leaves an overblown, hateful review, you should still respond. Maintain your cool. Maintain your politeness. Yet, you must always react. Why? Other people read reviews, and if they notice that your salon constantly handles their clients’ issues, it might help improve your company’s reputation. On that topic, you should also respond to positive evaluations. Tell your customers how much you appreciate them!

Final Thoughts

Whatever you want to call them – reviews, client testimonials, compliments – they all have the potential to persuade your ideal clients toward your business… However, only if you SHARE them!

Regarding reviews, keep one thing in mind: don’t leave anything to chance.

Instead of waiting for people to leave you reviews, ask for them!

Don’t wait for someone to find your positive evaluations; show them off!

Positive feedback is like free advertising for your salon or spa. You wouldn’t want to squander that kind of earning potential, would you?

So get out there and acquire some amazing ratings so you can start bringing in more of your new favorite clients with them.