"John, how important is collecting email addresses from clients? And how can we best utilize them beyond the basic appointment confirmations?"
If you are not a big fan of email marketing, you should be. It is one of the primary drivers of traffic to your website and the business itself across any social media campaign. 44 percent of email recipients made at least one purchase last year based on a promotional email.
It is a direct way to communicate with your customers. Not only does email marketing have a fairly high conversion rate, but as you build up your list, you can recommend valuable products to your client base.
Just look at e-commerce giants like Amazon. They built an empire by sending you offers on a regular basis. If your salon or spa software has effective email marketing built into it, you're already one step ahead.
Email marketing is useful to confirm appointments but it's much more than that. It's things like reminding clients who haven't been in for six weeks to return for a service, or telling the ones who have loyalty points to return and redeem those points.
Many companies focus on building their client base just on Facebook or Instagram, which is fine, but you don't own those properties—they do. A real company's asset is its audience and ability to communicate with them in the long run.
A great way to capture a potential client’s attention is to offer them something for something of value. When a client visits your business for the first time, ask for their email address and promise to send them a promotion in the near future. Follow up with that promise and they will value and remember you.
John Harms
Millennium Systems International, Founder and CEO
About: John Harms, Founder & CEO of Millennium Systems International, creator of Millennium Software, has been designing industry leading salon scheduling software and educating the beauty & wellness industry since 1987. Today Millennium is utilized in thousands of businesses in over 38 countries and operating with approximately 150+ employees worldwide. Millennium currently runs its corporate headquarters out of New Jersey and its international office is based in the U.K.