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The customer journey in aesthetics today is nothing like the one in the past.
Customer expectations are incredibly, incredibly high.
These days, consumers expect A+ experiences at every touchpoint. They expect high quality customer service, convenient booking systems, and personalized communications tailored to their specific preferences and buying habits.
And yes, they have zero tolerance for anything less.
To give consumers what they want, med spas have to dig a little bit deeper to understand user behaviors and optimize the customer journey at their clinic.
And that’s exactly why we created this blog: to be a comprehensive, step-by-step guide for perfecting the customer experience at your aesthetic clinic.
If you want to know more, jump right in!
How does understanding the customer journey enhance client retention in aesthetic clinics?
The customer journey is a series of steps that start long before the customer even becomes a customer, or comes across your brand for the first time.
Before being a customer, a person is a buyer. The buyer’s journey follows the customer’s experience from first hearing about your brand up until making a purchase, whereas the customer journey goes further and deals with how customers interact with your brand and share it with others.
The 7 stages of the customer journey
To fully understand the customer journey, you need to know this customer journey map of each stage from start to finish. Here are the seven stages, and all of them are equally important.
1. Awareness 🧠
Awareness is where the customer journey begins.
In aesthetics, it’s usually when a person thinks they have a problem they’d like to be fixed, like ageing skin under their eyes or deep ’11s’ between their eyes.
It’s in this phase that person might start doing some research, such as online searches for options like ‘best med spa for Botox in New York’, or similar.
The results that will pop up will typically include a number of med spas or other practices that offer this type of service, as well as blog posts, videos and articles and any other content that Google considers relevant on the topic.
Other than this kind of awareness, customers might also hear about clinics through friends, social media, magazines, TV, or other marketing channels.
2. Consideration 🤔
In the consideration stage, your potential customers are actively looking at options, and they may begin to consider your brand as a solution to their problem.
Let’s imagine you’re a customer who is considering a treatment like dermal fillers or anti-wrinkle treatments. During this phase, they’ll head to the website of the med spa, check out pricing information, read reviews, check out the qualifications of the practitioners, and so on. They’ll be doing the same with your competitors.
They may also head to your social media accounts to get more of a feel for your brand and determine whether your offerings meet their needs.
At this point, aesthetic clinics should focus on emphasizing to customers why their services are the best solution – price, exclusivity, overall experience, etc?
3. Decision ⚖️
At the decision stage, customers have now made their decision to choose your clinic and book with you. It involves the actual purchase of the service.
By this time, the buyer will have carefully reviewed all the important information that may have influenced their decision to book with you – your pricing, services, whether your location is convenient for them, and whether they’re getting good value for money, and they’ve decided they’re happy to go ahead.
4. Purchase 💳
So, the customer purchased a treatment with you and paid for it. During this stage, there’s also room for you to ensure a smooth and positive purchasing experience.
Taking payments (or a deposit) should be just as smooth as every other step in the client journey. Make sure you avoid any buyer’s remorse by:
- Offering user-friendly payment options, including a contactless payment option, so that it’s a straightforward and seamless process
- Sending a confirmation email after they’ve purchased a treatment as a confirmation that everything has gone through correctly
- Providing a transparent pricing policy – if it’s a higher cost treatment, you may want to include a breakdown of all the fees for clarity and trust
5. Onboarding 🚀
Onboarding plays a pivotal role in the customer journey process because it ensures clients feel comfortable, informed, and confident in the treatment they’re about to receive. The first step should take place directly after booking.
Send a confirmation email saying that their treatment has been booked, plus any pre-care, personalized to their service, so they’re ready for their treatment. Nearer the time, send a reminder ahead of their appointment so they don’t forget.
These communications create a professional impression and communicate that patient care and getting optimal results for clients is your priority.
On the day, make sure you (or your front of house team) greet your customers, smile, and make eye contact to establish warmth and trust. You can also offer them a cup of coffee, tea, or water to make them feel welcome.
6. Experience 🌟
Now it’s time for the treatment itself. This is when you actually need to live up to the customer expectations and deliver on what you’ve promised.
This stage is crucial because the moment they walk into your clinic, you have to pay attention to details like:
- Clarifying what the customer wants and their expectations. This may have been discussed at the consultation already, but it’s generally good practice to clarify once more what they want as the outcome of that treatment
- Making sure they feel like they’re in safe hands, that they don’t have to worry, and that a team of professionals is going to take care of them
- Ensuring they are as comfortable as possible through the treatment and that they have pain relief such as numbing cream (where applicable)
7. Loyalty and advocacy 🏅
So, a client has visited you once. How can you get them to return?
Around 60% of US consumers have said that once they’re loyal to a brand, they’ll be loyal for life. To show clients your appreciation for their loyalty to your med spa, create a loyalty program to offer rewards and discounts for rebooking with you.
Once you have loyal advocates (satisfied customers), you have a ready-made marketing strategy, supercharged by the power of word-of-mouth.
Happy clients are more likely to spread the word about their positive experiences on their social media, bringing in new business.
What strategies can aesthetic clinics use to enhance the customer journey at each touchpoint?
Increase the local visibility of your clinic
Your clinic’s prosperity will be limited if you don’t make it visible in your local area. For this to happen, you must have a Google Business Profile. This free tool allows you to make your aesthetic business appear on Google search:
Use it to:
- List key information like your practice’s opening times and your practice address (so clients can easily find where you’re located)
- Showcase your latest reviews to build trust
- List your products and services
Experiment with traditional advertising through channels like radio, newspapers, and local magazines. Print adverts can still capture potential customers’ attention.
You can also implement a direct mail strategy in your local area. Or, perhaps, you can even organize an event with canapes at your practice to showcase your treatments – the perfect mix of business and pleasure.
Showcase positive reviews and testimonials
One aspect that customers consider when making a decision is reviews and testimonials from others who have had the treatments they’re interested in.
In fact, 89% of global consumers say that checking online reviews is part of their buying journey. This indirectly tells you how important client feedback is.
When reviews are positive, you should definitely showcase them on your website and social media because it builds trust, credibility, and leads to bookings.
In addition, it’s also important to highlight your own credentials as a practitioner on your website. If you’re a doctor, make sure that it is shown on your website – people want to book with clinics that have reputable and qualified practitioners, especially when there are plenty of them that aren’t.
Offer free consultations
Free consultations are the way to perfect a customer’s journey in aesthetics.
They’re ideal for cultivating a trusting patient-practitioner relationship before a client goes ahead with treatment. This relationship should be based on setting realistic goals and making sure you’re both aligned on expectations.
To perfect the free consultations you offer at your clinic, ensure you discuss all the information in an approachable and easy-to-understand way.
Don’t rush these consultations, because people have come to you to better understand the services you provide and to ask questions.
Streamline the booking process
Imagine a customer who wants to go ahead and book a service at your aesthetic clinic, but you don’t offer an easy booking experience.
That’s a red flag, right there! 🚩
It’s important that you have a user-friendly online scheduling option so they can book whenever it suits them (24/7), browse available time slots, and select their preferred appointment times. Not have to phone you during their working day!
Advanced software tools offer all the above, and can send automated reminders to customers to streamline workflows and improve customer satisfaction.
Provide personalized communication
Modern consumers don’t like the one-size-fits-all approach. They want a personalized experience that looks and feels custom-made to them.
For starters, all service-based communications need to be based on the specific booking, so all confirmations, reminders, pre-care and post-care instructions, and any follow up communications, should be specific rather than generic.
Similarly, when it comes to marketing, communications should be laser-targeted around the preferences of the client and previous buying habits.
For example, if a client has booked a Botox treatment before, send them recall reminders or special offers and discounts related to this service.
All of this combined, enhances their customer journey at your clinic, making them feel valued and understood.
Train staff to provide high-quality service
Take the time to adequately train your aesthetic clinic’s staff.
Your staff are the face of your brand and the first touchpoint clients have with your clinic when they come in, so their role in the customer journey is crucial.
Besides being professional and skilled, ensure your staff are well-trained in time management skills, answering questions, and making clients feel at ease.
Clients don’t want to be confused with incorrect information about their treatment or rushed to complete forms, so your team’s role is vital.
Implement loyalty programs
Loyalty programs are super important because they drive repeat business. Customers are big fans of them, too. In fact, 85% of customers are more likely to continue shopping with brands due to loyalty programs.
Let’s say you have a customer who comes in semi-regularly to have a Botox treatment, but you’d like to increase the frequency of their visits. You can make them loyal and regular to your clinic through your loyalty program.
Offer that person special discounts and promotions for rebooking, such as a free skincare product sample or money off a treatment after five bookings.
Capitalize on the customer journey with Pabau
Only a few medical aesthetic clinics will meet client expectations at every stage of the customer journey – so make sure you’re one of them!
To do that, you need to be tuned into each stage of the client experience and their expectations throughout, from their initial awareness and consideration, to booking the treatment itself, to all of the post-treatment communication and follow-ups.
It sounds like a lot, but maybe we can help?
Pabau’s all-in-one practice management software has baked-in features to help enhance your customer journey, such as user-friendly online appointment scheduling, robust client records, an email tool for personalized communication, automated follow-ups, a loyalty program, and much more.
Improve your customer journey now – book a demo with Pabau to learn how!
