SpaBooker Blog

We've Moved...and Upgraded!

noreply@blogger.com (Emily Coit) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:35:00 +0000

Come check out our new GOtalk blog! Because SpaBooker is now a product of GramercyOne, we have moved our blog, but don't worry, along with the move, came a significant upgrade and an exciting new layout! So come on over and see our great new educational content from community ambassador and industry guru, Lisa Starr! Lisa will be publishing blogs for GOtalk featuring content on industry trends, events and best practices for your business along with the SpaBooker technology and software updates you have come to know and love from the SpaBooker Blog.
Don't hesitate to come see what Lisa Starr and the collective SpaBooker / GOtalk team have in store for you!

GramercyOne Achieves Starr Status

noreply@blogger.com (Emily Coit) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 21:04:00 +0000

At GramercyOne, we are committed to finding new ways to help you run your business more efficiently, and that’s why we are proud to announce our new partnership with Lisa Starr, spa & beauty industry consultant extraordinaire.
Lisa Starr will not only become GramercyOne’s GOtalk guest blogger, but will also run a free monthly webinar which will detail tricks of the industry trade and be open to clients and non-clients alike. Lisa’s blogs will concentrate on the beauty and wellness industry, offer business advice and provide coverage of events, trade shows, and conferences.

Lisa brings over 30 years of industry-specific experience as a consultant, educator and writer to GramercyOne through GOtalk. Lisa also works for Wynne Business, a leading spa consulting and education company. Among other things, Lisa’s expertise lies in business operations and finances, sales and marketing, inventory management, human resource development, and business process improvement. She is a well-known speaker within the trade show circuit and is a frequent contributor to industry publications.

Lisa’s first webinar “Compensation Crackdown” will be held Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 2pm EST. Tune in to hear all about how to optimize compensation structures within your business – simply click here to register.

Are You Using Social Media for Your Business?

noreply@blogger.com (Emily Coit) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:41:00 +0000

You should be. At GramercyOne we’re fully aware how busy you are, and want to help make your life easier. That’s why we’ve started ‘Marketing Services.’ It’s our way of helping you make more money, save time and keep driving business back to your spa or salon, time and time again. There are several ways you can do this through the Booker software; and if you need a little helping hand, or you simply don’t know where to start – we’re here for you.
No matter your business’ size or budget, we have an a la carte menu of services for you. We can help in a variety of ways, with social media, custom gift certificates, internet footprint reporting, website creation, email marketing, online surveys and booking engine customization – you simply choose the services you need.

Social media is a great way to generate followers and promote your business virally – spas and salons everywhere are using it right now. So, just say the word and the GramercyOne Marketing Services team will set up your Facebook business page and Twitter account and link them to your SpaBooker system, all for just $149!

GramercyOne’s Marketing Services Team can start helping you grow your business immediately, start today by emailing us your company name and contact number to marketing.services@gramercyone.com.

New Year, New Release – Say Hello to SpaBooker 7.0!

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Lizio-Katzen) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:32:00 +0000

GramercyOne’s Booker platform has just undergone its latest update and we’re excited to let you know about some of the great new additions and improvements. Don’t forget that every time we release a new version of our platform, if you’re a client, you receive it automatically. That’s the beauty of cloud-based software – we make the changes and they appear right before your eyes. Please don’t forget that with every release, we have comprehensive release notes that link to videos and supporting documentation.

So, what’s new in 7.0?

Print Product Barcodes – now you can easily print barcode and inventory labels directly from within the product and inventory section.
Flexible Packages – Ever need to substitute a service for something else in a package? Well now you can do it easily. Administrators can choose which services can be substituted.
Live chat for support – This is a great new way for you to get support directly from your Booker system. A link to the new live chat functionality has been added to the help and support menu.

Those are three great reasons to love our new 7.0 version, but there are hundreds of other smaller changes that were made to improve the speed and functionality of the system.

And, perhaps most exciting of all, look for our new mobile business functionality (including reservations and payment) to launch in the middle of the month for Apple iPhone, iTouch, Android and some Blackberry devices!

Give a Little Love to Your Business this Valentine’s Day

noreply@blogger.com (Emily Coit) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:08:00 +0000

Why not use the day-of-love to give a little extra to your business? With Valentine’s Day just two weeks away, now is the perfect time to start thinking about how you can drive business around the holiday. Short on ideas? Don’t worry, the GramercyOne team is here to help you find unique and useful ways to promote your business this Valentine’s Day.

If you’re planning on using Groupon, LivingSocial, or another group buying site, we can help you manage your special group promotions and ensure that you direct all the new business to the times of the day and days of the week that best suit your business.

You can also take this opportunity to offer a Valentine’s Day special for couple’s treatments. Also, don’t forget to link your Facebook or Twitter accounts to your SpaBooker account too help publicize your specials. If you need help with this, just let us know. Another way to make Valentine’s Day a more successful business day is to use your social media presence to promote Gift Certificate sales. This is a great way to easily reach a large number of potential customers, and SpaBooker makes it easy! Feeling creative? With SpaBooker, you can even design custom Gift Certificates templates. To learn more, click here and read a SpaBooker Blog post on creating Gift Certificates.

Valentine’s Day will be here before you know it, so don’t miss an opportunity to increase revenue and drive new clients to your business.

Have a Success Story? Don’t keep it to yourself, send your stories to marketing@gramercyone.com and we’ll help publicize it!

Personalize Receipt Messages with SpaBooker

noreply@blogger.com (Emily Coit) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:27:00 +0000

As we welcome a new year and a new chance to improve your business, the GramercyOne SpaBooker team would like to clue you in on a lesser-known feature that allows you to make your business a little more personal . Personalized invoice or receipt messages are a great way to reinforce your branding, communicate deals with clients, or help promote a friendly atmosphere.
In addition to being unique and creative, adding a customized message to the bottom of customer invoices and receipts is simple and takes just a few seconds with SpaBooker. You can write a custom message to your clients, import your business’ logo and name, or easily import a picture from the internet . No matter which route you choose, providing a customized message on a client’s invoice or receipt is a simple, thoughtful touch that your clients will appreciate.
To start adding customized messages today, simply log into your SpaBooker account, visit system settings, then select payment settings, scroll down to the receipt section to create a customized receipt or invoice! For more information click here to watch a video on customizing your receipts and invoices.

'Tis the Season to Promote your Business

noreply@blogger.com (Emily Coit) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:04:00 +0000

Ready or not the holidays are upon us and what better way to spread holiday cheer than with a SpaBooker gift certificate for your customers?

Providing a gift certificate for services and products at your spa or salon is a guaranteed way to increase sales and give your loyal customers a helping hand in their search for the perfect gift for that special someone. And the best part is your clients can buy them online in the comfort of their home or from their mobile device

If you are a little behind on your business preparation for the holidays, don’t worry. SpaBooker makes gift certificate generation easy and fun. With SpaBooker, you can either create your own customized gift certificate template, or choose from SpaBooker’s template gallery.. Either way, a gift certificate makes for a wonderful gift, and while you run this promotion, you will be giving yourself the best gift any business could ask for: an influx of sales and new customers and the start of plenty of new relationships.

Customizing your gift certificates to match the look and feel of your business or to show a little seasonal spirit is easy. To do so, visit the marketing tab, select the “Gift Certificate Templates” link, and click “Add Gift Certificate Template.” For more information about how to build your own templates, watch this video.

Start using gift certificates as a holiday promotional tool today! But don’t keep your success stories to yourself, share your festive and creative ideas with us by sending a quick email to marketing@gramercyone.com.

Spread the Word and Enjoy the Benefits

noreply@blogger.com (Emily Coit) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 20:34:00 +0000

At SpaBooker, we do our best to satisfy the needs of every one of our clients. As we continues to grow and expand, we want to give thanks where thanks are due and reward not only the newest members of the SpaBooker family, but also our loyal customers. If you are one of SpaBooker’s many happy users, help good news travel fast by telling your friends about your successful partnership with us. If one of your referrals becomes a SpaBooker customer, both you and your friend will be rewarded!

Once your friend signs a contract with SpaBooker, he/she will be given a 20% discount on the initial sign-up fee. What’s even better is that as soon as they have been a SpaBooker customer for three months you will be rewarded for your referral with either a valued Credit that can be applied to your SpaBooker monthly rate, or an American Express Gift Card, the choice is yours!

The bonus amount you receive depends on which SpaBooker level the person you referred signs up for:

If your friend signs up for a Professional Account, you will receive:

· $100 American Express Gift Certificate, OR

· $150 credit to your SpaBooker account

If your friend signs up for a Professional Plus Account, you will receive:

· $150 American Express Gift Certificate, OR

· $200 Credit to your SpaBooker account

If your friend signs up for an Enterprise Account, you will receive:

· $200 American Express Gift Certificate, OR

· $300 Credit to your SpaBooker account

If your friend signs up for an Unlimited Account, you will receive:

· $300 American Express Gift Certificate, OR

· $500 Credit to you SpaBooker account

Help your friends streamline their businesses by telling them about SpaBooker and enjoy a little extra money in your wallet! Its that simple!

Referring friends is easy, simply send us your referral’s name to marketing@gramercyone.com and we will take care of the rest!

It's a Wonderful Time of the Year for Your Customers and Your Business

noreply@blogger.com (Emily Coit) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 19:52:00 +0000

SpaBooker’s webinar series is back and ready to help you make the holidays extra special! This year we are presenting you with festive promotional ideas and holiday marketing tips to help give your business a little seasonal sparkle. Learn how SpaBooker can help you use the holidays to fill your appointment book, sell gift certificates and drive product sales. In this webinar, Dan Chandre, Vice President of Operations, will walk through the features of SpaBooker that allow you to easily maximize your sales. He will also show you how to promote holiday specials to both existing and new customers.

This webinar will show you how to make the most out of your SpaBooker account, from generating custom gift certificates that endorse seasonal specials, to using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to promote your holiday deals and discounts. So mark your calendars for this Wednesday, December 8th and learn some new tricks to help you grow your business:

• Creating custom holiday themed gift certificates to sell at retail or online
• Setting up specials and discounts that automatically apply at check -out
and when booking online
• Managing your gift certificate and card database
• Promoting your holiday specials through social media channels
• Using SpaBooker’s email marketing tools to mass email your customers

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to turn holidays into an experience your customers won’t forget and if you have any ideas of your own, share them with us at marketing@gramercyone.com.

When: December 8, 2010 at 2:00pm EST, 11:00am PST
Register: Click Here!

Take It Easy - Let SpaBooker Manage Group Buying Promotions for You!

noreply@blogger.com (Emily Coit) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 22:36:00 +0000

Are you considering using Groupon, Living Social, GiltCity or a similar group buying promotion to drive new business? Are you excited but possibly a little worried that the sheer volume of new customers could be overwhelming? Help is at hand because SpaBooker can help make the process smooth and rewarding from start to finish.

Let’s use Groupon as an example: create a special promotion in SpaBooker that allows Groupon customers to book online and receive their discount automatically. When a new customer books their appointment online, their information and details are saved in the SpaBooker system, allowing you to convert a one-time visitor into a life-long customer.

Additionally, our online booking option will help to move the pressure of hundreds, potentially thousands of new clients off your phone lines, allowing your staff to provide your customers (both new and old) the attention and service they deserve. Some businesses have found that their peak times were being overrun by customers wielding vouchers from flash deal sites, but with SpaBooker, you can hand pick which appointment times are available to these customers, allowing you to drive new business to quieter times during the week.

Because SpaBooker is linked directly to Facebook and Twitter, news of your promotion will spread fast through your social media channels. And to make things even easier, SpaBooker automatically uploads and updates all daily vouchers. This handy feature lets you track customer usage so you can watch your business grow in real-time.

If you’re thinking about running a group buying promotion, let us know by emailing marketing@gramercyone.com. SpaBooker’s online booking and customer tracking tools will help with the heavy lifting.

ISPA Conference & Expo

noreply@blogger.com (Emily Coit) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:32:00 +0000

Our team is back from a fun-filled few days at the 20^thannual ISPA Conference & Expo in National Harbor, MD. The week was filled with great conversations and exciting new partnership opportunities with businesses and spas from all over the globe.

We made some great connections at ISPA and were very pleased to announce the expansion of the Booker platform through the creation of GramercyOne. Thankfully, there was still time to catch up with our current SpaBooker clients and hear about how our #1 online booking, CRM, POS and business management software has changed and improved their businesses.

ISPA was a huge success and the perfect way to close out an exciting year for SpaBooker. It was great to see everyone who stopped by the SpaBooker booth, we hope you had as much fun at the conference as we did. If you were unable to see us, or would like additional information about SpaBooker spa software, visit www.spa-booker.com and we will be happy to arrange an online demonstration.

To see photos from the show please visit our Facebook page. Let us know what you think with a comment!

GramercyOne Launched to Grow Booker Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Emily Coit) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:03:00 +0000

In the three short years since its inception, SpaBooker has evolved into the industry-leading software solution and is considered the SaaS provider of choice for spas globally. During the exciting growth of the platform and company we have delivered innovative products backed by great customer service. To maximize the platform’s potential and continue providing best-of-class service to our partners, we have created and launched GramercyOne. GramercyOne is the company under which our Booker platform will be developed and marketed. Today these products include SpaBooker, SalonBooker, FitnessBooker and OneBooker.

GramercyOne’s platform has already demonstrated significant success outside the spa industry and has been embraced by new audiences, including installations in medical, fitness, yoga, pilates and activity-focused businesses. In addition to growth across industries, the platform has been translated into nine languages and is in use in more than 30 countries around the world.

Our vision, as a company, is to help businesses achieve their potential through innovative, cloud-based technology solutions. We look forward to continue providing our partners with a market leading software platform that helps them to realize their potential.

If you have any questions about GramercyOne or any of the Booker products, please email them to marketing@gramercyone.com

Security - Take it Seriously

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Lizio-Katzen) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:19:00 +0000

With thousands of clients worldwide processing hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions on a yearly basis, the security of our customers’ data is paramount to the service that GramercyOne / SpaBooker provides. Since security is such a critical part of any software solution, we thought we would take a minute to talk about four specific areas that any business should consider before choosing a system:

Data Security
Application Security
Network Security
Physical Security

Data Security
The security of your data is perhaps the most critical component of any system. Countless times we’ve seen this be the driving reason that a customer is considering new management software. Generally, and unfortunately, an owner will have had a hard drive or computer fail with all of their valuable customer data, and after experiencing that loss, they never want to experience it again.

Since our launch in 2007, SpaBooker has never experienced a data loss or data corruption incident. We ensure that this doesn’t happen by utilizing an n-tier system architecture. What this means is that we have multiple, redundant application servers, database nodes, and networking devices. All data is backed up nightly. Our policy is that we worry about redundancy and data backup so that our customers don’t have to.

Application Security
Due to the volume of transactions that flow across our platform, GramercyOne / SpaBooker is certified as a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) Level 1 audited organization. To attain this accreditation SpaBooker utilizes some of the most advanced technology available today for Internet security. For instance, when a user accesses our system using industry standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, our clients’ information is protected using both server authentication and data encryption, ensuring that their data is safe, secure, and available only to registered Users.

Additionally, SpaBooker utilizes triple factor authentication, which in plain English means that each user must enter an account name, unique user name and password each time they log in. SpaBooker does not use "cookies" to store other confidential user and session information, but instead implements more advanced security methods based on dynamic data, encoded session IDs, and even accessing IP addresses.

Network Security
GramercyOne / SpaBooker utilizes a multi-layered network infrastructure including multiple firewalls, routers, and switches. All devices within our production environment are monitored in real time by intrusion detection systems (IDS), discrete logging appliances, and actual people, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

In addition, every device within our production environment is subjected to multiple internal and external penetration tests per month. And , to top it off, SpaBooker has third party security auditors – sometimes referred to as “white hat hackers” – perform full, on and offsite, security testing on a regular basis.

Physical Security
At GramercyOne our core competency is creating the best scheduling and business management software in the cloud, not running a data center. As such we host with Rackspace Hosting one of the best hosting providers on the planet. Rackspace is a PCI-DSS Level 1 and SAS70 certified provider that utilizes state of the art physical security precautions including:

Keycard protocols, biometric scanning protocols and round-the-clock interior and exterior surveillance monitor access to every one of Rackspace’s data centers.
Every data center employee undergoes multiple and thorough background security checks before they're hired.
Should a total utility power outage ever occur, all Rackspace data centers' power systems are designed to run uninterrupted, with every server receiving conditioned UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) that are N+1 redundant, with instantaneous failover if the primary UPS fails.
Every data center's HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) system is N+1 redundant. This ensures that a duplicate system immediately comes online should there be an HVAC system failure.

At GramercyOne we serve the service industry and we believe strongly that our partners should be able to use a system that allows them to spend more time with their customers, instead of worrying about their software. If you have any questions about this article or about our security policies and procedures, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at daniel.lizio-katzen (at) gramercyone.com.

Hilton Makes a Splash with the Eforea Launch

noreply@blogger.com (Emily Coit) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:37:00 +0000

Relax, unwind and enjoy the standard of excellence we have all come to expect from Hilton. That is exactly what spa industry executives and enthusiasts did last week at the launch event for Eforea, the new Hilton Spa brand. The event was held at the Hilton Short Hills, located in Short Hills, NJ.

SpaBooker’s own Dan Chandre, Vice President, Operations attended the event and said “if the Eforea spa at the Hilton Short Hills is any indication of how the brand will resonate throughout the industry, then it will undoubtedly be a huge success.”

The spa itself provides a warm, elegant, modern and strikingly beautiful atmosphere for its guests, says Chandre, it creates a sense of comfort and relaxation upon entering that continues throughout the spa experience.

Not to be outdone by the spa was the launch party itself. Hilton went all out to launch their new spa brand, inviting Bethenny Frankel of Real Housewives of New York and Bethenny Getting Married to hold a book signing and singer/songwriter Seal to perform for the crowd. The Eforea branding was incorporated into all aspects of the party, and the high impact logos will soon be familiar to spa goers worldwide.

During his speech, Dave Horton, Global Head of Hilton Hotels and Resorts said “Eforea has the potential to evolve the spa segment of our industry on a global scale.” And according to Chandre, “Hilton is off to a blistering start with this launch. The spa is beautiful, the concept makes sense and the opportunity exists.”

Is Halloween a Trick or Treat for your Business?

noreply@blogger.com (Molly C. Southern) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 18:06:00 +0000

While Halloween usually conjures up images of ghosts, goblins and all things frightening, here at SpaBooker, we like to think of this holiday as the perfect way to increase client traffic to your business by unveiling some frighteningly clever promotional ideas. Here, you’ll find just a few of the ways in which you can bring extra value to your holiday offerings.

By using social media and email marketing through SpaBooker, you could promote Mani/Pedi specials featuring Halloween themed designs to your clients; just in time for the holiday. This specialized nail artistry will provide a fun, timely way to promote your spa or salon’s creativity and exceptional service.

It’s important to create a fun, memorable experience for your clients. A "best costume" competition for customers featuring a first-place prize is a good way to attract Halloween business. You can also schedule a day where all staff are asked to dress in costume. On that day, why not provide treatment specials, or discounts on retail items? By using SpaBooker's built in social media features, you can alert your clients about the specifics of the competition and prize details as well as the one-day deals.

Finally, SpaBooker can also allow you to target specific customer groups with custom gift certificates. For example, contact frequent massage clients with a Halloween-themed gift certificates for discounted massages between now and October 31st.

And don’t keep your Halloween tales to yourself – tell us all about it. Send your frightening pictures and scarily profitable stories to us at marketing@gramercyone.com. We’ll feature the great and ghoulish on our website.

Spa Insight-Looking at SpaBooker Performance Indicators (SPIs)

noreply@blogger.com (Molly C. Southern) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:44:00 +0000

Here at SpaBooker, we like to take the time to look at some of the key indicators that impact our clients’ businesses. This invaluable insight allows us to look at how the SpaBooker platform can be used to drive these SPIs and help our clients use them to move their businesses in the right direction. These recent performance indicators are based on aggregate data across almost 1,500 SpaBooker partners over the first half of 2010.

We are seeing an increase in membership programs overall but many businesses have yet to implement one. Membership programs drive more retail business: Businesses without membership programs average 14% retail spend, whereas businesses with programs average over 25%.

Specials and discounts are also popular with our partners’ members. 6% of members used specials available only to them and 8% used generally-available specials. Our suggestion: businesses should create more member-only specials, which in turn will increase the value of membership benefits and sign ups.

Across the board, spa retail revenue as a percentage of total revenue is 8%, which is around the industry average. Across a sample of over 600,000 services tracked on the SpaBooker network, the breakdown by service type was:

We respect the privacy of our partners; therefore SpaBooker only analyzes and publishes data in aggregate. We hope the SPIs mentioned will provide you with insight into the business results of spa and wellness operations around the globe and how SpaBooker is contributing to those results.

SpaBooker Version 6.3 Released

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Lizio-Katzen) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:00:00 +0000

We’re excited to announce that the latest version (6.3) of the “Booker” platform has been released. In this release we have introduced many new personalization and ease of use features, including:

More functionality in the marketing section
Extended Twitter and Facebook integration
New appointment types
Extended CRM functionality
100s of other features and enhancements

As usual, the full list of features and enhancements can be found upon logging in to the system
or in our support section. Let us know what you think!

Putting a Positive Spin on Cancellations and No-Shows

noreply@blogger.com (Molly C. Southern) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:40:00 +0000

Cancellations and no-shows can be a nightmare for service based businesses anywhere in the world. But with SpaBooker it doesn’t have to be that way. There are a number of steps that you should be taking, which will minimize the number of cancellations and deal effectively with the inevitable no-shows that you just can’t avoid.

First, make sure you confirm all appointments. The very best way to do this is to call each client, but you may not have a receptionist with the time to do that, so use SpaBooker’s automatic email confirmations to do it for you.

It’s crucial that you have a clear cancellation policy and that your clients are aware of it when booking. SpaBooker provides the platform to create the policy and will also ensure that it is agreed to prior to your clients booking online (which will also help you fight the inevitable charge backs).

So, how should you set up your cancellation policy? Luckily SpaBooker has built in tools that will guide you through setting the rules in terms of who it applies to, when to apply the fee (X hours before appointment), how much the fee is, if there is a different fee for no-shows, and any class cancellation fees.

Next, you will need to write the text that your customers see during the online booking process and in your email communications. For example:

Spa del Tranquillo values your business and appreciates your understanding with regards to our cancellation policy. Please respect our schedule by honoring your appointments. If you do need to cancel, please provide a minimum of 24 hours notice. If you are unable to provide at least 24 hours notice, please contact us. If we cannot rebook the appointment, you will be charged 100% of the service cost.

For a detailed step-by-step guide to setting your cancellation policy up in SpaBooker, click here to read our Tuesday Tip. Tuesday Tips are SpaBooker’s weekly email to all our clients, which cover support hints and advice. Next Week’s tip will look at how to charge for cancellations through SpaBooker.

Finally, SpaBooker’s built in social media features can help you rebook canceled appointments. As soon as the cancellation happens, use SpaBooker to post to Twitter and to your Facebook page and your clients will hear about the availability – you could even offer an incentive or promotion to accompany the appointment. For a more detailed look at SpaBooker and social media, don’t forget to sign up for tomorrow’s webinar: Social Media and Your Business II: The Next Level.

The Spa of Tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (James Bremner) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:09:00 +0000

Do you wonder what spas may look like in the next 5-10 years? In this article, James Bremner, Senior Director of Marketing for SpaBooker, provides insight into how he envisions the customer journey may change, and it’s pretty exciting.

Engagement, relevance and immediacy: these are three words that are going to be central to consumers in the not-so-distant future. You may have seen the Steven Spielberg film Minority Report, where optical scanners read retinas and display advertising targeted specifically at that person. Well, that type of personalization and ‘suggested sell’ is not far away. The data is there, it needs extracting and then analyzing, with a healthy dose of intelligence thrown in.

‘Suggested selling’ analyzes a customer’s information and determines which retail product to suggest to that person. It takes all of their available information into account – age, what they’ve bought in the past and which services they usually have. It knows what treatment they just had, which product(s) are ideal post-treatment, and applies algorithmic calculations to pick appropriate products. In the future, this calculation may trigger a video to be displayed at the point of sale, inviting the customer to buy the product, possibly at a discount. It’s an incredibly powerful way to drive greater retail sales.

Now imagine the customer is part of a loyalty program and has an electronic loyalty card. The card has an RFID chip in it, which is essentially a radio transmitter. The computer at the point-of-sale picks up the radio waves, identifies the customer, plays the suggested selling video, sends some information to their smartphone and adjusts their loyalty points automatically. It may also check them out and apply the transaction to their account.

Let’s add another possibility; this time, exactly the same thing happens but the customer is prompted to rate the experience on their mobile phone. The review is added to the database, providing great feedback and allowing the spa to make the suggested selling algorithm smarter and to offer other services through various forms of marketing.

Social media may well play a part in the experience too. The customer’s review not only helps the spa but via services like Foursquare and Yelp, also helps the customer’s friends. This will develop into trust networks, allowing friends to decide which friends’ judgments they value most. They may even have access to promotions through these trust networks, creating more viral connections at every stage of the customer journey. There are endless possibilities as these types of connections expand and compound; like connecting these location-based mobile services via apps and websites with direct links to online booking and special discounts. Actually SpaFinder and SpaBooker combine to offer that right now!

This technology isn’t all here today, but you can certainly perform your own suggested selling right now. Observe your customers, find out who was buying a product regularly and then stopped, and ask them why. Offer them a small discount to start buying from you again. Try and up-sell your customers to the next price point . You can do all of this now with targeted marketing and you can even use social media to create groups of customers.

Watch this space for feature news as SpaBooker is continually innovating and thinking of new, bright and interesting ways to make your life easier and your businesses more profitable.

Global Spa and Wellness Briefing Paper: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Molly C. Southern) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:40:00 +0000

Last week, SpaBooker VP of Operations, Dan Chandre, explored the impact of the recent economic climate on the spa and wellness industry in the United States. Here, Dan looks further at some of the statistics and innovation in the industry.

What would you consider to be the most interesting statistic to come out of your region in the past 12 months?

The most intriguing, and at the same time troubling, statistic that has emerged in the US spa and wellness industry in the last year has been the overwhelming percentage of single item transactions. Looking at a sample size of over 800 operating spa locations, over 80% of the transactions that occurred over the past 12 months only contained one ticket item[1]. The implications of a statistic like this point directly to the much discussed economic situation and reveal two key conclusions.

First, spa and wellness organizations in the US are doing a poor job of up selling add-on services to compliment the primary treatment. Additionally, the overwhelming majority of the single item tickets are for only the treatment performed, meaning that spa and wellness facilities are not doing a sufficient job at adding retail items to tickets. The importance of a successful retail selling operation is well documented, and adding retail to less than 20% of treatment tickets is not a positive statistic.

Second, the high percentage of single item transactions reflects on consumer buying habits in the spa and wellness arena. Ultimately it is the consumer that makes the buying decision, and this statistic implies that the consumer, while still consuming to a degree, is focusing on the core of their spa and wellness experience and not purchasing peripheral items. The silver lining is that it leaves room for improvement once the consumer loosens the proverbial “purse strings”.

What innovative things have you seen in the spa and wellness arenas in your regions this year?

One innovative trend that we’ve seen in the spa and wellness arena in the US is the growing importance of offering online booking for spa services. As simple as it sounds, the spa and wellness industry has been well behind the rest of the hospitality arena when it comes to offering the convenience of online booking to their customers, and in kind, customer adoption of this method of booking. In Q1 of 2009 across all businesses offering online booking on the SpaBooker system, there was an average of 10 online bookings per month per spa. In Q1 of 2010, that number has jumped to 29 online bookings per month per spa[2]. That’s a 190% increase in the number of online bookings made per spa per month with online booking available.

And what have you done to innovate your own business recently?

Since SpaBooker is an online, SaaS (Software as a Service) tool for spa and wellness companies to manage their business, we’ve focused on helping these businesses more easily connect with the online consumer, and more specifically, the mobile online user. The first avenue we took was to develop the SpaFinder iPhone Application, which allows consumers to search for spas directly on their iPhone, and through integration with the SpaBooker Platform, actually book appointments in real-time. This is a revolutionary step forward for the spa and wellness industry as it brings the concept of real-time booking to the fingers of the world’s most technologically savvy individuals. Secondly, we have optimized the online booking engines of all of our clients to adapt to mobile devices and provide an easy-to-use booking platform for all of our partners. The significant innovation in this regard is that we’ve done the mobile adaptation on their behalf so the individual businesses don’t need to commit time and expensive resources to have it done.

Tuesday Tip Celebrations!

noreply@blogger.com (Molly C. Southern) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:52:00 +0000

It’s a year since we started the Tuesday Tip. Each week we send out an email to all our partners with a slice of information about how they can enhance their SpaBooker experience. It might be a guide to setting up a popular feature, or the answer to an often-asked support query. Whatever the topic, the Tuesday Tip is opened and enjoyed by our partners all around the world.

The Tuesday Tip this week celebrated its birthday by highlighting how to send birthday emails from SpaBooker. To continue the celebration, the SpaBooker Blog pays homage to the Tuesday Tip by providing some birthday tips of our own.

We recommend you start celebrating clients’ birthdays in three great ways. Each provides a really effective way to drive business and reward your best customers.

1. Happy Birthday specials are easy to set up with just a few steps. Visit System Settings>Specials>Add Special> Follow Steps 4-8. Pay special attention to Step Three, where you will decide how many days before and after the customer’s birthday the special can automatically be applied. When all the steps are complete, select Save.

2. Click here to see the Tuesday Tip’s description of how to send a Happy Birthday email in SpaBooker.

2. If you want to send your clients a more personalized email, use MailChimp to create a birthday template and send an email blast to a custom list. Monthly birthday promotions are great for increasing the frequency of visit. If you’re not using MailChimp already, contact us to find out how to add it to your SpaBooker account.
3.Watch out for those Birthday cupcakes with SpaBooker! In the Details tab of the customer profile, use the Birthday field to record the birth date. SpaBooker will automatically place a cupcake symbol on the appointment and next to the customer’s name prior to and after the actual birthday.

We do love feedback, so if you have topics you’d like to see the Tuesday Tip cover, please let SpaBooker's Partner Success team know.

Happy celebrating,
SpaBooker Blog

Robert Scoble Talks with SpaBooker's Own Daniel Lizio-Katzen

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Lizio-Katzen) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:55:00 +0000

Earlier this month SpaBooker's managing director Daniel Lizio-Katzen sat down with building43's
Robert Scoble to chat about the technology powering the SpaBooker platform and some of the
new products in the pipeline.

Global Spa and Wellness Briefing Paper: Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Molly C. Southern) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:11:00 +0000

The Global Spa Summit in Istanbul, Turkey explored the impact of the recent economic climate on the spa and wellness industry in the United States.SpaBooker VP of Operations, Dan Chandre, discusses the very clear and dramatic effect of the economy on the industry.

How has the recent economic climate affected the spa and wellness industry in your region, both negatively and positively?

The recent economic climate has had a very clear and dramatic affect on the spa and wellness industry in the United States. The economic crisis that all major industries experienced in the United States was exaggerated in the spa and wellness arena due in part to the period of time that immediately precipitated the collapse. Prior to the economic downturn, the spa and wellness industry in the US had experienced its most prolonged period of expansion and economic success. This, combined with the fact that most consumers budget for spa services comes from their disposable income, exacerbated the economic contraction that resulted from the poor economic climate. The combination of an expanded marketplace and the economic downturn resulted in distinct primary and secondary reactions in the spa and wellness industry.

The primary reaction of the spa and wellness industry in the US was an immediate market contraction and correction. In particular regions of the US, particularly Southern Florida and Southern California, the number of businesses in our industry had grown by so much that the supply greatly outweighed the demand. In areas of overcapacity such as these, the market saw immediate business closures throughout 2009. Of the businesses that survived in the US, over 45% reported reduced revenues compared to 2008.1 To survive, business owners needed to adapt to the economic climate.

One of the most prevalent negative effects of the recent economic climate is the propensity of spas to routinely and deeply discount the price of the services offered. Discounting is a slippery slope and one that has potentially irreversible effects. The industry is continually trying to strike a balance between rising overhead and labor costs and shrinking profit margins. Discounting only narrows the available margin for business owners. Furthermore, wide-spread discounting of services weakens the industry on a whole by devaluing not only the treatment, but also the provider performing it. Once an industry conditions its customers to expecting discounts as a pricing philosophy, it can be nearly impossible to revert to “rack rate” pricing.

Even when faced with challenging economic factors, the best and most industrious business owners find ways to steer through the difficult times and emerge on top without destroying the value of the services they are providing. There has been a short term shift from concentrating on the acquisition of new customers to focusing on the retention of existing customers. The spa and wellness industry in the US has reverted back to focusing on the core customer; the customer that existed prior to the massive expansion.

The shift to retaining core, loyal customers consists of three primary manifestations. The first is the growth and emergence of membership programs that focus on providing value to clients who are already consuming services on a regular basis. Contrary to traditional membership models that are designed to benefit the business through breakage, these membership models are designed to provide intrinsic value to the core consumers that are already spending; essentially providing them with added incentives to continue their spending habits and even increase their frequency of visits. A second trend is the increase of loyalty programs specific to spa and wellness operations. A parallel can be drawn to other hospitality industries, such as hotel and airline, which have been years ahead of spa and wellness with regards to loyalty and point programs, but to which our industry is now catching up. These programs provide an excellent and proven way to encourage customer loyalty and repeat spending. Lastly, more than ever before, spa and wellness businesses are leveraging existing clients to be the source of new clients. By structuring beneficial referral programs, spa and wellness businesses are able to capitalize on the social networks of their existing core clientele to grow their business.

Look out for second installment of Dan Chandre's Global Spa and Wellness Briefing Paper in the coming weeks.

Compensation Conundrums: Can you really afford percentage-based compensation plans?

noreply@blogger.com (Molly C. Southern) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:11:00 +0000

In a recent Tuesday Tip to our partners, we highlighted the need to accurately reward staff as it is highly motivational, but can also have consequences if not structured correctly. Here at SpaBooker, we were fortunate recently to have one of the industry’s most prominent consultants, Lisa Starr of Wynne Business, come and talk to us about that most crucial of business decisions – how to structure compensation for technical staff?

Years ago, with the advent of salons morphing into spas, percentage-based compensation plans became the norm; and the rates can vary wildly by region as well as by individual. So, how do you plan and manage your overhead when the variables are so significant? Well, unfortunately the answer to that for many spa and salon businesses is that they can’t. Often, paying staff too much of every dollar of income, and tying that income to the price charged to clients, has led to businesses being unable to make a profit and the long term impact of this is terminal for the business and therefore for the staff’s employment – not good for anyone.

Lisa suggests that salons and spas willing to buck the trend and pay a fixed dollar amount per service can reach a win-win situation; fair rates of pay for technical staff based on their skill set and knowledge, and the ability to charge what you need to for services without forever sharing a disproportionate amount. Owners who structure their business this way can afford to hire excellent customer service staff and employ multi-faceted marketing plans, ultimately leading to longevity and growth for both the business and the employees.

If businesses take the time to calculate their operational overheads and deduct them from gross profit, the resulting amount should not be more than they are paying employees. Sounds relatively basic , but it’s a practice that is not necessarily followed in every circumstance and Lisa’s mission is to help businesses in the industry become sustainable, profit-making enterprises where everyone flourishes.

Once you’ve done this, you can hire a new employee with confidence and present him or her with a more specific compensation plan that is built around weekly or annual earnings, like most other jobs in the world. We know there is a trend for a trained professional to walk into an interview with a proposed commission percentage, which can even exceed 50%. However, now you can know exactly what you can afford to pay employees regardless of their proposal. Ideally, these programs have tiers or levels that will allow technical staff to move up upon meeting specific performance criteria that are within their control, thus providing a career path where increases in compensation are self-generated.

The wrong compensation plan may enrich your staff but can put you in the poorhouse. Using advice directly from Lisa Starr, we have some questions for you that you can use to make sure your compensation plan is on the right track:

Does your compensation plan drive the right employee behaviors?

Does your menu reflect the ability to up sell and increase average ticket?

Are your performance appraisals tied to financial results?

Are you in control of your labor costs?

If you answered no to any of these, you may benefit from taking it back to basics and calculating exactly how much you can afford to pay your employees moving forward.

About Lisa Starr:
Lisa M. Starr has almost 30 years of experience in the beauty industry, and is currently the senior East Coast business consultant to new and existing spas and salons for Wynne Business, a leading spa consulting company in the US. Her knowledge and experience include business operations and finances, marketing and advertising, inventory management, human resource development, and business process improvement.

www.wynnebusiness.com
www.spatrade.com

Want to go viral? SpaBooker makes it much easier than you think

noreply@blogger.com (Molly C. Southern) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:45:00 +0000

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the Social Media Webinar – it was a big success and thanks to everyone for the great feedback. In fact, the average rating of the webinar by our attendees was 4+ stars (out of 5).

If you would like to watch the webinar on social media please click here (~25 minutes).

SpaBooker’s managing director, Daniel Lizio-Katzen, began the webinar by highlighting the size and growth of social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is certainly the most dominant player, but Twitter is growing quickly, with more people and businesses creating Twitter accounts every day. We ran a poll at the start of the Webinar to see just how many attendees were using Facebook and Twitter.

Take a look at the pie-charts below. You’ll see that, as expected, business use is lower than personal use, especially with Twitter. But don’t forget that the best way to promote your business is to have your messages ‘go viral’. That’s literally the spread of the message across friends of friends of friends etc… On Facebook it’s achieved by hitting ‘like’ and on Twitter by retweeting (RT). So, if you use your personal accounts to retweet and like Facebook posts, your friends may pick up on it and in turn pass it on. If their friends do the same, you’re starting to really amplify your message and that’s viral marketing!

During the Q&A, we had some recurring questions that may be useful in optimizing social media networks:

In order to connect my Facebook with other applications such as SpaBooker, where do I find my Facebook ID?

To find your Facebook page ID, simply go to your Facebook page. Next, hover over your profile picture. In the bottom of your browser window, you will find the page address, containing your ID. It will look similar to this:

The number following the equal sign is your ID.

How do I attach incentives such as promotions to people who book directly through Facebook or Twitter?

Using SpaBooker, you follow 6 simple steps to connect promotions with booking links listed on Facebook and Twitter:

1. Click on System Settings

2. Go to the “Specials” link

3. Find the Special you plan to promote

4. Select the “Promote” Link

5. In the window, you will find the short URL to provide for booking. Also, you can create a customized message to accompany the Tweet or posting.

6. Select “Send Now”

7. When a customer clicks the link posted to Facebook and Twitter, he or she will be directed to the booking engine and immediately notified that the promotion has been applied.