Your occupancy is one of your most important KPIs. Here’s how to use software to increase spa occupancy and boost revenue.
Occupancy is one of your most important KPIs. Your spa occupancy tells you how close you are to operating at full capacity and can include measurements from your total treatment beds, treatment rooms, and amenities (more on this from Trent Munday here). Obviously, your occupancy is directly correlated to your revenue and ensuring that you’re operating at optimal occupancy is essential. Software can help.
Here are six ways to use software to increase spa occupancy.
1. Get savvy with yield management
Yield management is one of the most effective systems used in hospitality to maximize occupancy and revenue and it will help you increase spa occupancy. Yield management is a dynamic pricing strategy used with limited resources like seats on an airplane or hotel rooms – or spa treatments and amenities. The system is based on understanding, anticipating, and influencing consumer behavior which is itself influenced by factors like seasons, time of day, holidays, etc. When demand is high, prices go up, when demand is low, prices go down. A good software system can maximize peak period utilization and drive traffic during slower periods.
2. Focus on repeat customers
It’s more expensive to attract a new customer than it is to retain an existing one. It’s said that increasing customer retention just five percent can increase a company’s profitability by an average of 75%, and that 80% of future profits come from 20% of current customers. Once a guest has visited your business, take the time to nurture that relationship. Log customer information and preferences, analyze customer purchase trends, collect feedback, and share it all with your team so they can create one-of-a-kind personalized experiences and bring them back into your space. A software’s guest experience & CRM functionalities, like Central Guest Profiling, makes it all simple and intuitive.
3. Identify your customers
Another application for guest experience & CRM functionalities like Central Guest Profiling. Knowing who is coming to your spa will help you focus your marketing on these people, speak directly to them, and offer what they want. Your market is not everyone, it is a specific group of people. Look at the guest information collected by your spa management software system, like demographics and purchase history, and ask yourself: who are my customers? How do they want to be communicated with and through which channels? What do they want and how can I give it to them? Then focus your marketing efforts accordingly.
4. Use gift cards
Gift cards are among your greatest tools for attracting new clients. One survey found that 40% of respondents said that receiving a gift card prompted them to visit a store they would not otherwise have visited for the first time (“they wouldn’t even have visited if they hadn’t received the card”). Once they make that initial visit you have the chance to turn them into returning customers. Remember: getting people in the door the first time is more difficult and more expensive than bringing them back. More than half of respondents also said receiving a gift card prompted them to visit a store more frequently. Gift cards marketed to your existing customer base can also encourage referrals. Software solutions like Book4Time allow you to create and sell your own gift cards to increase brand recognition and market penetration and manage your gift card program across all locations with a central system.
5. Create friends & family packages and promotions
Why stop at couples massages? Encourage your guests to bring someone with them by promoting a mother daughter offering, family time, group package, or something different. This can be particularly enticing in areas where physical distancing is still in effect, because people can have areas of the spa all to themselves. Software functionalities allow you to encourage return visits with loyalty points, client referral discounts, and promotions. Build your own incentive program and customize it to your brand.
6. Consider a membership program
Memberships are the norm in fitness, and now more spas and wellness businesses are seeing the value of membership programs. Wellness memberships can include access to amenities, like pools and saunas, but can also go towards services like facials, body treatments, and massage. Instead of charging per service, a set rate per month or year buys a certain number of services and/or access to amenities. Memberships are a great way to encourage repeat visits and nurture relationships, and can also create a steady revenue stream in slower times. A centralized membership program helps increase guest retention through member discounts, exclusive services, or monthly credits that can be redeemed at your facility.
Book4Time’s cloud-based system can help manage your yield management, guest experience and CRM, packages, promotions, loyalty and membership programs, and more to increase spa occupancy. Learn more at Book4Time.com or schedule a demo.