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Slow Times Are Opportunities to Recruit New Clients
One NYC salon uses social media and salon apps to pull in people for a last-minute styling or deep-conditioning service.
January 11, 2022
3 min to read
Broome Street Society owners Andrea Hans (left) and Josie Sanchez
That 2020 year was rough for Broome Street Society, and 2021 was still not seeing appointments return to pre-pandemic levels.
“It was strange when we reopened and had empty Saturdays,” recalls Andrea Hans, who owns the New York City salon along with Josie Sanchez. To fill slots, the salon started promoting a free blowout with purchase of any full-sized product. They ran the promotion across social medial—Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Google, and Facebook.
“Instead instead of having no one on their book, our stylists were getting a retail commission on the product they sold and a tip and commission on upselling to a deep-conditioning service or gloss even though they didn’t get a commission on the blowdry,” Hans reports. “People were willing to buy more products when the blowdry was free. It was getting bodies in chairs so we could do our jobs. Even now, staff will request to offer this if they’re having a slow day.”
Unpredictable Traffic
People are starting to return to Manhattan, and the salon is getting busier. But one aspect remains: the slow times are less predictable than before the pandemic.
“We’re not always sure when the slow times will be,” Hans explains. “They tend to be in the middle of the day, middle of the week. But we used to be able to rely on Mondays and early Wednesdays as our slowest times.”
With so many clients working at home, the salon no longer experiences high demand for, say, a 6 p.m. cut-and-color. Instead, the guest can clear her schedule for an afternoon appointment or just work while in the salon. Wider spacing and lower capacity means even a conference call isn’t off the table.
To turn this unpredictability into an asset, the salon again has turned to ClassPass, offering a 50% discount to first-time visitors and 25% to returning clients. Promotions can be turned on and off, so the offer appears only during slower times. And services are limited to styling and deep-conditioning except for new team members, who also offer haircuts.
Retention, Rebooking, Retail
“We didn’t want to undercut our regular cut and color services,” Hans explains. “The best part of this is that we’re seeing brand new people. We find that if we get them in the building, we can retain them.”
And the services they book begin to build. While blowouts are the most popular service booked through ClassPass, Hans says the new clients then rebook for cuts and color. Another benefit is the additional retail getting rung up. Davines recently named Broome Street Society as their New York City Flagship Salon.
“We sell the entire Davines line, and in New York City people are interested in the sustainability of the line," Hans notes. "So it’s an easy sell once people are in the door.” Because they’re getting a free blowout or discount on a service, the guests are open to purchasing more than one product.
Aligns with Culture
New guests who take the salon up on its offer are linked to online booking. This aligns with what the salon already is doing; Hans estimates that 75% of all booking is done online.
At Broome Street, ClassPass is integrated with MindBody, which then makes it easy to direct the discount to a stylist listed as offering that service at that time.
Although ClassPass takes a fee for each guest booked, it’s well worth it. “All the people who didn’t know we existed until we tried ClassPass,” Hans says, “are the reason we stay on it.”
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