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SELECTED ISSUE
Spa Business
2022 issue 2

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Leisure Management - True picture

Software

True picture


Your software can enable the gathering of customer insights to guide your product development and grow profits, as Karen Maxwell reports

Your research can target specific customer groups photo: shutterstock/puhhha

Capturing feedback immediately after a spa experience helps operators adapt or improve services to encourage repeat visits and word-of-mouth marketing.

We ask software suppliers how their spa operator clients monitor customer satisfaction levels, what triggers the different stages of the feedback process and how software can be tailored to fit business needs.

Matt Lerner
Mindbody

Mindbody offers a valuable ‘feedback and reviews’ module that can be easily accessed through the software’s marketing suite. This feedback uses Net Promoter Score (NPS) methodology and the generated report gives an NPS score, which can be filtered by date, score range (promoters, passives, or detractors), with or without comments, services provided, staff member, or whether the review is published.

The NPS and comments from customers allow spa operators to identify areas of improvement to continuously enhance the customer experience. After a customer visits a location, they receive a text and/or email asking them to provide feedback within 24 hours of their visit. The software is highly customisable, so each business can decide how frequently to send out the survey, choose text and/or email and configure the colors of their widget.

Customers can also be asked to post on social media and the system will allow them to opt-in to auto publishing to their website.

Feedback uses NPS methodology and can be filtered by date, score range, staff member and whether the review is published
Sal Capizzi
Book4Time
photo: Book4Time

Many of our clients use our software to collect helpful insights to help enhance departmental experiences, treatment menus and services.

The system will automatically know when a guest is ready to be sent a thank you note and survey, as this is triggered automatically after a workflow event, such as a guest or group checking out.

Although some clients aren’t comfortable expressing personal feedback, these surveys can be completed by clients in their own time and can prompt the sharing of deeper insight that may have not been expressed in person. Our ‘schedule task’ feature also allows a repeat of a survey to be sent out within an allotted time frame.

This feedback can be linked to deliver an overall customer satisfaction NPS – with those giving a score of nine or 10 being ‘promoters’ and seven or eight being ‘passive.

With passive clients, a slight facility or experience adjustment can convert them into a promoter. For example, using feedback from our surveys, one of our clients was alerted that their women’s facility was frequently out of complementary products, which resulted in additional products being put out for use during peak times.

Surveys can be completed by clients in their own time – offering deeper insights that may have not been expressed in person
Matthew Prosser
Agilysys
photo: Agilysys

Using our software, a thank you message can be triggered to go out to customers immediately after their spa treatment or wellness activity, to help gather valuable feedback on their experience.

This message can also be adapted to encourage helpful responses on specific aspects of the experience, while a link to a more robust customer feedback survey can also be included in a branded email.

As emails can be customised, spa operators are able to solicit feedback that addresses key challenges at the spa, new treatments and procedures, or any other area where responses can help enhance future experiences and ultimately benefit the business.

These emails can also be manually sent as part of an automated campaign to gather feedback from previous visits to further build a picture of specific customer needs related to the amenities available.

A link to a more robust customer feedback survey can also be included in a branded email
Campaigns can build a picture of specific customer needs / photo: Agilysys
Ricky Daniels
Trybe
photo: Trybe

With Trybe, spa operators can change the template wording of their customer feedback email by tailoring multiple questions, scores out of five or free text answers. They can also use specialist survey software by copying the URL into Trybe’s feedback template setting and this can be included in every automated feedback email that leaves the system.

More importantly, spa operators can also programme the prompt to go out automatically at a time they feel is most beneficial after the customer’s experience. Whether it’s set to the day after or a few days later.

Customer feedback is invaluable to spa operators, which is why our software is compatible with many in-depth survey solutions, which allow operators to gather more comprehensive feedback.

The reporting function is also an indirect way of gaining customer feedback, as operators are able to track the customer journey. For example, the Wave Garden Spa in Snowdonia, UK, used customer feedback to identify why one of its treatments wasn’t selling well, so it audited the treatment and adapted it to suit demand, increasing bookings as a result.

Operators can programme a prompt to go out automatically at the time they feel is most beneficial
Sudheer Koneru
Zenoti
photo: Zenoti

With our software, spas and wellness facilities can invite customers to leave a star rating and their comments, related to their overall experience, via an automated SMS message, an email, or a Customer Mobile App prompt.

If feedback is negative, the relevant staff member is automatically alerted so they can promptly remedy the situation. If feedback is positive, the guest has options to share their experience online (Google, Yelp, etc.)

Zenoti maps customer feedback to specific providers, services, and feedback tags, so businesses can easily monitor problem areas. Dashboards track customer feedback and personas, creating insights that spa staff can use to take informed actions. Individual centres within the brand can also learn from one another’s feedback.

For example, Gene Juarez Salons & Spas monitored feedback to meet customers’ expectations when they reopened after lockdown.

They reported that knowing what clients thought was important and it was great to share positive feedback with the team as they worked with the new changes.

If feedback is negative, the relevant staff member is automatically alerted so they can promptly remedy the situation
Charity Hudnall
Vagaro
photo: Vagaro

Vagaro software allows customers to leave written reviews detailing their experience, as well as a system where customers rate their experience from one to five stars. An overall star rating with the cumulative sum of all customer reviews can be accessed via operators’ Vagaro portal.

Only verified reviews are allowed on Vagaro. This means customers are only able to leave a rating and a written review for a business after they’ve paid for a service. Once the checkout process is complete, the customer receives a prompt in the app to give feedback.

Businesses can also use our form-builder, paired with built-in email marketing to automatically send out post-visit surveys. Completed survey details are saved to clients’ profiles for later reference.

Vagaro can also be tailored to different scenarios based on the type of offering and these come with our verified review functionality.

When spa professionals respond to verified reviews – whether good or bad – potential customers scouting for a spa experience see those responses and determine what their own experience could be like, informing buying decisions.

When clients complete the survey, their feedback will be saved to their customer profile for later reference
Reviews are accessed via the Vagaro portal / photo: Vagaro

Originally published in Spa Business 2022 issue 2

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