Salon client loyalty: what brings clients back, and when a loyalty programme pays off

The short answer: the next appointment agreed before the client leaves, a reminder before it and a client file that gets read at every visit bring more people back than any reward. A loyalty programme is worth having on top of that when an ordinary regular can reach its first reward, when that reward is a discount on a visit rather than a credit balance, and when you know what it costs you as a share of revenue.

The guide follows that order. Sections one and two cover the groundwork: why clients come back and what the client file contributes. Section three compares the stamp card with points, section four shows how to price a reward and which mistakes are expensive, and section five describes how the loyalty card in Salon Wizard handles all of this.

The most common reasons for changing salon are a house move, a change of staff – and one visit where something turned out differently from what was discussed and nobody talked about it. Loyalty therefore does not start with a reward, but with whether expectation and result regularly meet.

The decisive part is unspectacular: recognition. Anybody who has to explain on their fourth visit that the ends are splitting and the fringe must on no account go shorter feels like a new client every time. The same person greeted with a remark about keeping the roots a shade cooler again, the way you did last time, is sitting at their own hairdresser's.

Three habits turn that into return visits. The first is the next appointment, agreed at the chair: ‘Your roots will be due around the 12th – shall I put you in?’ said while the client is still sitting there works better than any later reminder. The second is the reminder: a confirmation when the appointment is booked and a short message a day or two before it, so that a booked visit does not get forgotten. The third is the question before the bill – not whether everything was fine, but whether the length is how they pictured it. The first question invites politeness, the second an answer, and whatever gets reworked then costs ten minutes and keeps a relationship that would otherwise end quietly.

Everything a loyalty programme can do comes after these three. A reward laid over a relationship that does not yet exist is a discount with extra admin.

A note is worth something for loyalty if somebody reads it at the next appointment and can use it straight away. That takes two things: short enough to take in within two minutes, and unambiguous enough that a stand-in can work with it. ‘Likes it natural’ helps nobody; ‘coverage at the temples only, lengths stay’ helps everybody.

Four kinds of entry pay off immediately: the technical result with formula, technique and processing time; preferences about how the visit runs, from the drink to a note that this client would rather not chat; the history, meaning what did not work last time; and the rough interval at which this person comes. The interval is forgotten most often, and it is the one that shows you who is drifting away.

Somebody who used to come every eight weeks and has not been in for four months leaves no hole in the calendar – somebody else took the slot. It only becomes visible if you look for it: a list of clients whose last visit is clearly further back than their own usual interval. Many of them simply had no occasion to book. A short, personal message with two concrete appointment suggestions brings back more of them than a discount. It should not sound like a circular, go out to everybody at once, or arrive a third time after two went unanswered. Check that you may use the contact channel for this kind of message, and respect refusals and opt-outs: holding a booking address alone is not permission for every marketing message.

With personal details there is a line that slips easily in everyday work. The dog's name is unproblematic. A note about an illness, a treatment or a pregnancy is not – not even when it is meant technically. Keep such details out of the open notes field, record them only where the treatment requires it, and if in doubt have someone qualified clarify what your business has to comply with.

Almost every salon loyalty programme follows one of two models. The stamp card counts visits: ten stamps, then a free cut. Points count what a visit is worth: one point per euro, for example, and a reward with a points price. Both are loyalty programmes; they differ in what they treat as loyal.

The paper card has advantages of its own: it costs almost nothing, everybody knows how it works, and it can start tomorrow – our free punch card template prints one today. Its weaknesses show in everyday work. It stays at home on the day of the appointment, it can be stamped twice, and you cannot see who is two visits away from a reward. A digital card fixes exactly these three points, because the count follows the appointments rather than a piece of card in the client's pocket.

Whichever model you choose, decide first what it should change. A card that only counts visits rewards people who would have come anyway: the tenth visit of somebody who comes every six weeks costs you a service and does not change their behaviour. Three triggers are worth more in practice: the follow-up appointment agreed while still in the salon, because it stabilises the rhythm; the recommendation that turns into an actual first visit, because it brings new clients with nothing wasted; and the care product that continues the work at home. A programme that adds something for these – extra points, or a reward only they unlock – rewards behaviour rather than attendance.

A reward costs you a share of the revenue it takes to earn it. That share is the effective discount: the value of the reward divided by the revenue a client brings while collecting its points. It is the number to set against your margin, and it is easy to work out – or let the free loyalty card cost calculator do it with your own prices:

• At one point per euro, a hair treatment worth €19 for 300 points costs 19 ÷ 300 = 6.3%.
• At the same rate, €25 off for 600 points costs 25 ÷ 600 = 4.2%.
• A stamp card with a free cut after ten paid cuts gives away one cut in ten: 10% – as much as a permanent 10% discount for everybody who fills the card.
• Counting per visit, multiply by your average visit: a €19 treatment after eight visits at an average of €45 costs 19 ÷ (8 × 45) = 5.3%.

Your margin here means what is left of a visit after materials and wages, not its price. And value a free service at what it really takes: materials, staff minutes and a slot you could otherwise have sold. A free colour on a Saturday costs more than the price list suggests; an add-on such as a treatment, or a care product, often costs less. Which rewards suit which trade depends on what your clients book most often.

Four mistakes make a programme expensive or pointless:

• Stored credit. Keep every reward a discount on a visit that you take off at the till when the client pays. A balance in euros that the client spends later is a voucher, and vouchers come with their own rules for the till and for tax. Points are not paid out and cannot be transferred; say so in the terms.
• A first reward out of reach. Count in visits: a client who comes every six weeks makes eight or nine visits a year. A first reward after twenty visits is more than two years away, and nobody stays motivated for that long.
• Changing the rules quietly. Points already collected stay valid when you change the rewards or end the programme. Announce changes before they apply.
• Terms nobody can find. Write down what earns points, which rewards there are, when points expire and what happens if you change or end the programme, and put the terms where clients see them before they start collecting. What the law adds depends on where your salon is. In the UK, rule 8.17 of the CAP Code asks for all significant conditions and the promoter's name and address. In Ireland, section 5 of the ASA Code asks for clear, complete terms and the promoter's name and business address. In the United States, the FTC's guide on “free” offers (16 CFR 251.1) asks for every condition to be stated together with the offer. In Canada, Ontario does not let points expire through the passage of time alone, and Québec lets them lapse only after at least a year without activity and a notice sent beforehand; Québec also asks for the terms in French first. In Australia and New Zealand, a reward has to be given as it was offered (Australian Consumer Law s. 32, Fair Trading Act 1986 s. 17).

Salon Wizard has a built-in loyalty card from the Solo Plus plan; Team includes it as well, Solo does not. In hair salons and barbershops, in nail and beauty studios, and for lash and brow, waxing and massage businesses it is in the menu from the start.

Setting it up. You choose how clients collect: points for every euro of the appointment's price, or a fixed number per visit, counted once per client and day – the stamp card in digital form. You set up to three rewards, each with its points price: a free service, an amount off, a percentage off or a gift. Points can expire 6, 12 or 24 months after the last appointment that earned some, or never. When you start, you can credit the appointments of the past 6 or 12 months, so regulars do not begin at zero. While you set it up, the page shows the effective discount of each reward, and Salon Wizard writes the terms your clients see from your settings.

In everyday work. Points are credited automatically in the night after an appointment; if the appointment is cancelled or marked as a no-show, they are taken back. When a client can redeem a reward, the calendar shows a gift at their appointment. You ask whether they want to use it, click ‘Redeem’ in the appointment and confirm in the dialog that follows; the points are then deducted. The discount itself you take off at your own till when the client pays – Salon Wizard has no till and keeps no credit balance.

For your clients. They need neither an app nor a plastic card. They see their card in your customer area and through the link in their appointment emails; on an iPhone they can put it on the home screen.

What it does not do on its own. The card counts visits and spend, not behaviour: the follow-up appointment and the recommendation from section three are not rewarded automatically. For those you credit points by hand with a short reason, which then appears in the client's history. What each plan includes is on the features page, and the prices are on the pricing page.