It’s August … the time of the year when the weather is warm and your tanners are starting to cancel, freeze or put their memberships on hold. They say, “See ya’ next year!” to their beloved tanning salons in hope of maintaining their perfect bronzed color outdoors while enjoying the sun.
To avoid the Tumbleweed Effect at your salon for the rest of the summer, let’s talk about a few ways to get customers to stay. Turning your seasonal tanners into year-round customers is critical to keeping your session counts up and in turn, increasing revenue. My favorite promotion to run this time of year is “Tan until (2025) for $99.” Offer this price for Level-1 sessions, and the sooner your customers purchase this promo, the better the deal is for them. The sun may be shining now, but how do they plan to keep that summer color? What about being ready for holiday parties and events throughout the fall and winter? Offering unlimited sessions at your salon for a low, set price is a great deal, and tanners can always have the opportunity to upgrade their memberships to the higher-level sessions if they so choose. But, this is an ideal and affordable way to start training your seasonal guests to become year-round tanners.
Turning seasonal customers into year-round tanners is critical to keeping your session counts up and in turn, increasing revenue.
90-day Upgrade Plan: What do you usually charge to upgrade a Level-1 tanning package to Level-2 for a month? Take that number and cut it in half. If it is usually a $20 upgrade charge, offer three months of tanning at the next highest level for a one-time fee of only $29.99, or let your customers jump two levels for $49.99. I recommend this promotion because, again, you are extending the tanning season for these seasonal tanners. If they commit to another three months, by the time their membership is expired, it will be time to start tanning again for the holidays.
100% Lotion Rebate: I know this may sound a little crazy, but I have seen this work very well in many salons. With this promotion, a customer buys a product from you and gets that amount back in “tanning dollars.” For example: buy a $60 lotion and get a $60 credit that can be used toward upgrades and sunless sessions. This money cannot count toward a monthly EFT draft or be used to purchase other products. The reason this is such a successful promo is because tanners are less likely to cancel their membership if they have free money “sitting” in their account. This is also a great incentive for them to purchase lotion during these slower summer months.
August is classified as “slow season,” and it might be impossible to convert every tanner into a year-round member. But, I feel as though the promotions I have discussed this month can help to prolong the season for your salon and maintain some of your customers who may have opted to not keep their membership throughout the summer.
Wishing you all a safe and happy summertime season!
