Nadine Dilong Skin memberships are popping up everywhere. We talk to two clinic owners about the advantages of making your clients commit.
Skincare has become an essential daily ritual for many beauty consumers. The global skincare market size is currently valued at £107.46 billion (AU$191.66 billion) and is expected to grow at a 4.18 per cent rate. Spas and clinics have begun to tap into this market through skin memberships, offering tailored treatments and expert advice to help clients reach their skin goals with rewards such as bonus treatments, products and special offers along the way.
Gold Coast-based clinic Ultimate Skin and Body and the Hunter Valley’s Black Diamond Clinic are among the new wave of Australian medispas that offer exclusive skin memberships, both with slightly different offerings according to their customer base.
Could skin memberships be the right addition to your clinic? We speak to the clinic owners to find out more about what’s on offer and the benefits of the membership system.
Ultimate Skin and Body
Re-launched in February 2019, Ultimate Skin and Body offers several memberships to their clients, including injectable ones. Owner and Director Deb Farnworth-Wood explains why it works for them.
What made you introduce memberships to your clinic?
We introduced our memberships as a way of introducing our clients to a wide range of treatments. While we all know that no one treatment will fix every concern, many clients do not wander out of their comfort zone. By putting together packages we were able to demonstrate just how much better results are from combination treatments. In addition, our client base is loyal with some clients coming to the clinic for 25 years. We saw memberships as a way of rewarding these loyal clients and giving back for their years of custom. We find that our clients are not necessarily looking for heavily discounted treatments, but they do appreciate good value and the flexibility of being able to pop in regularly for that personal and tailored approach.
What is the most popular one?
Our two most popular memberships are our Essential Skin Membership and our Injectable Anti-Wrinkle Membership. Our skin membership is a general maintenance regimen that everyone needs regardless of their skin type or colour and it also acts as pre- and post-treatment care for any of our advanced treatments offerings. This membership includes Microdermabrasion, LED, and Fraction RF. Our injectable membership is great for keeping clients on track with their regular anti-wrinkle and helps spread the payment for the client.
“I believe [skin membership] generates a stronger bond between the client and the clinic.”
Deb Farnworth-Wood, founder and owner of Ultimate Skin and Body.
What is the advantage of memberships from a business owners’ perspective?
I believe it generates a stronger bond between the client and the clinic. The clients come more regularly, and in doing so they see better results and are happier about their treatments, which leads to more referrals and recommendations. We also find that the client average spend is higher with more add on sales on the day.
Do you find people make the most of their memberships?
We make it our goal to make sure the client gets the best value out of the package. Our goal is to get the best results, which means we follow up with clients to make sure they are on task to achieve their best skin outcomes. Our member follow-up system alerts the team when our members have not been in for their monthly program and enables the staff to reach out to them personally. Of course, many people are often time-poor, prefer to attend after-hours and like to book online – all of which we can accommodate.
What percentage of your client base has booked into a membership?
We have been in business for over 25 years so our database is vast. Membership accounts for only 5 per cent of our whole database but in real terms would apply to around 15 per cent of our regular customers. Our membership clients are super knowledgeable when it comes to skincare and want to look after their skin, and have a genuine desire to see the best results.
Black Diamond Clinic
Black Diamond Clinic has two locations in the Hunter Valley and prides itself on offering completely customisable payment plans and memberships. Founder Ashlinn Smith explains how it works.
Please explain the payment plan concept you offer at Black Diamond.
We offer several different options when it comes to payment plans. We have some generic 5+1 free offers, especially for our body treatments that we run all year round. However, our most popular option is our DIY payment plans. These are completely customisable to our clients, as we know not one size fits all.
With the recommendation from our clinicians, we suggest what treatments would reach our client’s goals in the desired time frame, and design a treatment plan for them around that. This could be weekly LED Facials combined with some other facials once a month, brows every three weeks and lash lifts every six weeks, for example.
After a lot of behind the scenes work, we designed the mother of all spreadsheets! We enter the treatment info and calculate the total price and payment plan pricing. The clients have the option to pay upfront and receive larger savings or opt for a payment plan, which happens 98% of the time. This gives them the option to pick the duration of the package and how often the payments come out (weekly, fortnightly or monthly).
When we have our clients on payment plans, we have fewer cancellations or no shows as the clients have already paid for their treatments. We see more commitment from them, they have a clear direction for their treatment plan and they often buy more retail at their appointments as they don’t have to outlay for treatment and products therefore enhancing their treatment, they see results quicker and our average dollar sale increases.
“When we have our clients on payment plans, we have fewer cancellations or no shows.”
Ashlinn Smith, founder of Black Diamond Clinic.
What do most clients decide to commit to?
We have such a wide variety of clients and celebrating individuality is one of our core values here at Black Diamond. Some clients like to commit to only a 3-month option while others love the idea of an entire year package. We have made set packages in the past that were set at three months, others six months or 12 months and we found we didn’t have one that was more popular than another. This was one of the reasons we decided to design our DIY packages so our clients can pick the duration of their payment plan and package.
Do you think this is the future of beauty and aesthetic treatments, i.e. having a membership with an aesthetician just like you would with a gym?
100 per cent! We know everyone wants easy, autonomous and more affordable options and we believe this is the future of our industry. We provide high-end treatments that come with the price to match, as much as we would love to give all our clients amazing skin for free (wouldn’t we all) unfortunately we can not, and we understand everyone is in different stages of life. We believe these options provide the solution to keep treatments more affordable, automated and easy!
What is the feedback from your clients like?
Our clients love the ease of having their treatments already paid for when they come into the clinic. They also love the option to pick the duration and payment frequency and not being shoved into a box of ‘x’ treatments for ‘$’ and thinking they are just another number or sale.
This article originally appeared in Vol 88 of SPA+CLINIC magazine. Read the whole issue below.
DID YOU KNOW
There are 5 ways you can catch up with SPA+CLINIC?
- Our quarterly print magazine, delivered to your door. Subscribe here.
- Our website, which is updated daily with its own completely unique content and breaking news.
- Our weekly newsletter – free to your inbox! Subscribe here.
- Our digital magazine – click here to view previous issues.
- Our social media – see daily updates on our Instagram, Facebook & Linkedin
