How To Create A Profitable Salon Membership Programs? | Examples

With so many businesses online and in-person already offering memberships, creating a salon membership program is a great way to build customer loyalty and ensure stable revenue.

What You Will Learn

In this article, we’ll go over different types of salon membership schemes, as well as some hair salon membership program ideas and explain the benefits for salons and their clients.

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  1. What Are The Types Of Client Membership Programs?
  2. How Can Salon Memberships Benefit Your Business?
  3. How To Create A Profitable Salon Membership Program?
  4. Hair Salon Membership Ideas
  5. Nail Salon Membership Ideas
  6. Spa Membership Ideas
  7. Massage Membership Ideas
  8. Barber Shop Membership Ideas
  9. Conclusion

What Are The Types Of Client Membership Programs?

 

There are three main types of salon membership plan. Let’s take a look at each one and see how salon owners can use these membership services.

Packaged Services

Similar to bundling items together, this type of membership charges members a discounted membership fee for a service package- this might include a mix of different salon services, like two haircuts, three blowouts and a coloring, for example.

This is a good deal and a great way to reward loyal clients and encourage them to try new things, while guaranteeing they’ll come back for additional services.

Salon Loyalty Program

This involves having clients pay for monthly memberships or an annual fee and then offering them special “membership discounts” on either all salon services or a selection from your menu. You can also include additional perks like discounted products or a free gift during their birthday month.

Paying for access to these discounts upfront increases the salon’s cash flow and also incentivizes each customer to purchase more during each visit.

Unlimited Membership

This is unique among salon membership packages because it involves charging a monthly or yearly fee and then giving them access to an unlimited amount of services (this might be a single item, like “Unlimited Haircuts” or a combination, such as “Unlimited Shampoos and Blowouts.”

Your team can use this model to build strong relationships with new customers as they visit more often and also take the opportunity to upsell add-ons.

How can salon memberships benefit your business?
How Can Salon Memberships Benefit Your Business?

How Can Salon Memberships Benefit Your Business?

 

Offering a salon monthly membership or an annual membership program can help boost your salon’s business in a variety of ways. Here are a few of them:

Regular Revenue

Whether clients join an annual loyalty members program or purchase a monthly package, this means that they’ll be making recurring payments to your salon without much time or effort needed on your part.

Better Client Retention

These programs are a good investment because they help encourage repeat business and reward your most loyal clients, ensuring that they’ll want to come back. You can also incentivize them to refer friends and family for additional perks.

More Bookings

Clients receiving membership bonuses will be more likely to book appointments with you, since they’ll receive discounts and special offers.

In addition, you can use your salon’s membership program to encourage customers to book services during off-peak times or on slower days for additional discounts.

More Upselling

Salon memberships create a perfect opportunity for you to educate your clients on additional services and retail products and their benefits. This allows you to increase the average client spent at your salon through upselling and cross-selling products and add-on services.

Lower Marketing Costs

The members of your salon are more willing to try out new services and products. It’s much easier to reach them with new offers and promotions, that later they will recommend to their friends and family.

How to create A profitable salon membership program
How To Create A Profitable Salon Membership Program?

How To Create A Profitable Salon Membership Program?

 

Salon membership benefits alone aren’t enough to make your new program a success- you’ll also need to set everything up in a way that works for your staff and clients. Here are a few tips:

Keep Everything Simple

Make everything start and automatically renew each month so that customers don’t need to remember a date and manually renew their subscription. Also, try to avoid rolling unused services over into a new month or it can start to get complicated.

Any salon membership card terms and conditions should be easy to understand- avoid technical jargon on any salon membership form or marketing materials that you use.

Pro tip: Salon membership software can be a big help when it comes to managing client’s bookings, benefits and keeping track of their subscriptions and payments.

Make it Worth the Cost

Make sure that your membership offerings are worth the price you’re asking clients to pay. You can do this without eating into your own bottom line by getting creative with the perks, like offering VIP salon event access, 10% retail product discounts or other services.

Do not miss our post on Salon Pricing Guide.

Market It

Salons with loyalty programs don’t just spread them by word of mouth- you’ll need your staff to tell customers about them. You can also ask members to refer non-members (such as friends, colleagues and family) for an additional discount or a free service.

Choosing catchy salon membership names, like Beauty VIP Club for example, is a great way to appeal to people. Don’t forget to provide a membership card for salon VIPs, too.

Make Salon Membership Management Easy

The best way to effectively manage, create and accept salon memberships via your salon software:

  • Let your clients choose the start date
  • Set credits expiry dates, grace periods or turn them into giftable credit after the expiry date
  • Offer different plans and easily upgrade or downgrade members
  • Allow members to freeze their memberships
  • Allow trail periods, and then automatically convert into regular mmeberships
  • Measure the results - status updates and track membership details: utilisation, activations, suspension, cancellation.

Do not miss our post How to Set KPIs for Salons.

Hair Salon Membership Ideas

 

Not sure where to start? A salon’s memberships and loyalty programs can take many forms, and a lot depends on the needs of the clientele as well as the services each salon offers.

Here are some ideas to help inspire you. You might try:

A Salon Membership Card: A simple loyalty card that offers members a 10% discount on retail products, plus a free haircut or color session after a certain number of appointments.

Multiple Member Packages: Appeal to hair color lovers with one package that bundles multiple coloring jobs and unlimited root touch-ups for a year, and another package for natural hair clients that offers unlimited haircuts.

Family Packages: Cut the whole family’s hair at a discount with this salon VIP membership.

Hair salon membership
Hair Salon Membership

Nail Salon Membership Ideas

 

Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about nail salons- they’re another awesome place use membership programs to build loyalty and increase business. We suggest:

A “Bring a Friend” Membership: Get creative and provide members with a price discount on their appointment whenever they bring another client in at the same time.

A Monthly Pampering Package: Charge a flat rate for a monthly manicure and pedicure, along with a 15% discount on any add-ons the customer wants to pay for while they’re there.

Unlimited Touch-Ups: Your nail salon or spa business can offer these clients free touch-ups on their manicures during off-peak times, ensuring they always look their best.

We also recommend you to check out our post Top Salon VIP Program Ideas.

Nail salon membership
Nail Salon Membership

Spa Membership Ideas

 

Whether it’s a med spa membership program or a luxurious massage spa, memberships are the perfect way to keep clients coming back for more treatments. Some strategies you can try are:

Multiple Treatments: A monthly spa membership that includes multiple treatments at a discount during a single visit. One example is letting clients choose a facial, massage and an anti-ageing treatment from the menu for a single price.

A Course Subscription: Let each member book multiple courses of the same treatment at a discount- maybe five sessions, and the sixth one is free. It encourages them to spend on multiple visits.

VIP Status: Throw in a glass of bubbly or a gourmet coffee on arrival, plus access to numerous small luxuries like a free facial on their birthday.

Spa membership
Spa Membership

Massage Membership Ideas

 

Massage businesses have a lot of options to work with when it comes to choosing a membership program. Some popular ones are:

Monthly or Weekly Massages: People can save on each appointment by choosing a program that includes a number or massages each month- great for regulars!

Complimentary Upgrades: Each member can choose a free upgrade to their massage service, whenever they book.

VIP Status: Offer these clients priority booking, early access to limited services and exciting product discounts.

Massage membership
Massage Membership

Barber Shop Membership Ideas

 

Barbershop membership packages can take many forms, especially if your business provides both beard and hair care. Some ideas for a successful member’s program include:

A Beard Club: Offer memberships where each customer who joins gets a free beard trim with each visit, plus product samples and style tips sent to their email.

A Haircut Subscription: Ideal for anyone with short and high-maintenance styles- using this membership, barbershop regulars can get unlimited trims and tough-tps for an annual fee.

The VIP Treatment: Unlimited haircuts, shaves or both- you can provide different packages each with their own cost and let the client decide.

Barber membership
Barber Membership

Conclusion

 

Whether you decide on unlimited memberships or a discount program for specific services, don’t be afraid to get creative and appeal to what your clients need.

Implementing a salon membership program is a fun way to boost your regular bookings while rewarding customers for their business and creating another stable source of income. Every salon is different and that’s part of the fun- why not try some of these ideas out today?

Citations

The Membership Economy
https://fitnessbusinesspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10

Leadership, membership and organization
https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/471/1

Membership roles in field research
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=JBglZNsbExkC&oi

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