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SEARCHMood Media's new 'Social Mix' feature engages salon clients by allowing them to pick the songs that will play during their salon service. Two salons weigh in.
With Mood Media Mix’s new Social Mix feature, clients can use their phones to vote for the music that will play during their salon service—a modern take on the jukebox.
Strategic music branding? Before you roll your eyes and turn the page, think about how a specific song playing in the background can motivate your team to jam or put a smile on the face of your crankiest client. The music you play is an important part of your brand and it sets the foundation for the client experience.
"In a market where we see services becoming more and more commoditized, the importance of the overall experience that these services are a part of becomes more clear. Services can be bundled, bargained for, or interchanged, but experiences cannot,” says Danny Turner, global senior vice president of programming and products for Mood Media. “One of the cornerstones of creating the ideal experience, especially in a salon environment, is the sensorial impact of music. Music evokes emotion. The right and strategic use of music can create and support the salon’s environment.”
Choosing what music to play in the salon though can result in a managerial migraine, according to Chad Pereira, co-owner of Aura Salon in St. Augustine, Florida. “We used to have satellite radio in the salon that could play one channel at a time,” he explains. “Different stylists have different music preferences and sometimes they would squabble over changing the station or challenge each other’s authority over changing the station.”
Pereira found a solution to his music-related team tension when he signed on with Mood Media. For about $700, the company sent out a team to install speakers in the salon and a receiver that looks a bit like a DVR. While Pereira pays a monthly subscription price, he says it is lower than what he was paying for the satellite radio, so he’s saving money.
“Mood Media allows us to choose several different stations (or music genres) and mix them to create our own sound,” he says. “I can control the percentage that we want from each station from my computer. It’s ended the fighting over music.”
Because the system blends a number of different stations, it doesn’t tend to play the same song over and over again like satellite radio stations can. “If something comes on that is inappropriate for the salon, like a hip-hop song with profanity, I can check it off, and that song will never play again,” Pereira says.
Linda Springs, Blake Springs and Becky Davidson, of Belladona Salon & Spa in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Spa Manager Blake Springs, who also uses Mood Media in the Belladonna Salon and Spa in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, discovered an added benefit as the holiday season approached. “We start playing holiday music in October to create the spirit that encourages retail sales, but our team quickly gets tired of hearing it,” he points out. “But with this system, I designed our playlist to have just 20 percent holiday music in October, then I gradually dialed the percentage up as the holidays got closer.”
Belladonna also is experimenting with Mood Media’s new ‘Social Mix’ feature, which encages clients to interact with the salon’s music in a unexpected way. While Springs still selects the stations to create the unique music blend for the salon, now clients and employees can use their mobile devices to access the live playlist through the salon’s Social Mix webpage. Then, they can select the songs they want to hear next, with the most popular songs rising to the top of the playlist.
“It makes our environment uniquely ours, based on our guests’ own preferences,” Springs says. “Clients are engaged—they love it.”
Springs is happy to point out the system’s extra benefit. “When a client hears a song they like and ask the stylist what is playing, it’s easy to find out,” he says.
To learn more about Mood Mix Pro and its interactive features like Social Mix, please visit http://us.moodmedia.com/mood-mix-pro
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