Increasing repeat visits

Overview: Increasing visits from existing/ previous clients

Most massage therapists are looking for more work. One of the easiest places to look for additional hours of work is with the people who already know and like what you do—your existing clients and those who have used your services recently.

Goals

You are looking for 2 things where those clients can improve your practice:
A) More frequent visits
B) More referrals

Toolkit—the 5 F’s

• Feedback: Understand who loves what you do and what you can improve
• Framing: Make sure they understand what it is you do so they can refer friends
• Followup: Communicate consistently so that they reflect on what you did for them and its easy for them to respond
• Findability: Your information needs to be where its easy for them to find when they’re looking for your services. Today, this includes being Googleable
• Frictionless: Remove any possible obstacle between your client thinking about you and them finding themselves on your table

Example Resources:
• Email Newsletter
• Website profile (Googleable)
• Feedback (also Public reviews)
• Business cards
• Online booking

Feedback

Engage clients in regular feedback about your visits and give them the tools to tell you honestly what they think. Therapists can ask how things were after a visit, ask client to fill out an evaluation form on-site, or follow up after the visit.

In order to utilize feedback, it needs to have sufficient responses, be honest, and track performance over regular intervals (to show where changes create improvement). Generally you want feedback to track to one or two simple questions and have some place for comments or suggestions.

You can use responses to understand who already really likes what you do (and is likely to come back) and what could be improved to see repeat visits from clients with one or two concerns.

Framing

What do you do that is special or noteworthy? How do you tell people about it? People in general will remember 3-5 words about what it is that you do, so help them understand what you focus on. Is it luxurious pampering, chronic pain relief, relaxation, flexibility, or performance?

How do you reinforce the message? Is it on your business card, on brochures you hand out, in your email signature, or on your website headline?

Frame your message for people or they will frame it for you in ways you don’t expect. Any credentials or awards can also really make a difference in creating a positive message.

Followup

The longer it takes for a client to return, the less likely they will become a consistent customer, unless you have a seasonal or event-driven practice. Do you welcome them into your practice and keep in touch? How do you continue to develop and deepen an early relationship?

Email has created new opportunities to stay in touch with clients, although spam filters and other obstacles can undermine your efforts if you’re not technically savvy. Next day phone calls, email newsletters, and articles on topics of interest are all effective means of building a relationship during the periods between massage.

Findability

Today, the first place people look for information is on either their computer or on the internet. Are you giving them information in a way that makes it easy for them to contact you?

Can current clients reach you via a website? Does your name typed into google lead to your practice on the first page? Is your information available to them when they try to remember that great massage they had last year?

Frictionless

The internet has made people expect easy transactions that happen instantaneously. Where might someone give up when trying to contact you for a massage they want to schedule now?
• Busy signal
• Answering machine
• Changed number
• Impolite to call (late hour)
• Phone tag

Do you have a location where people can reach you 24/7, know when you’re available, and schedule an appointment, and receive a confirmation? Will they also receive a reminder, contact information, and directions? Understanding where you can lose a client and how to keep them coming towards you will make all your efforts all that more productive for yourself and your clients.