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As aesthetic practitioners, your life mission is to transform lives by extracting or enhancing natural beauty. Amazing as it sounds, it’s pretty difficult to navigate within this highly competitive industry. Juggling multiple tasks becomes a daily routine, to which practitioners add more and more. That being said, attracting new clients is one of such and is only the tip of the iceberg.
The pure art lies in creating long-lasting relationships with your existing patients. The ones that never fail, even when the time is difficult and takes a U-turn.
How to do that? What shall you do or avoid doing? 💡
There are plenty of questions to ask and tips to provide. Sometimes, the easiest actions are the best. The ones that do not require much time and money spent, but bring satisfying results along the way.
1. Importance of Patient Retention in the Aesthetic Industry
In the fast-paced world of the medical aesthetics sector, patient retention has become one the most pivotal factors for both success and business growth and development. On the one hand, attracting new clients is essential, on the other, nurturing and retaining your existing patients can have a significant impact on the growth and reputation of your aesthetic clinic. In this post, we discuss on how you can ensure your new aesthetic clinic will thrive.
You need to remember that maintaining strong relationships with your clients fosters trust and loyalty. When they feel valued and understood by you as an aesthetic practitioner, they are more likely to return for future treatments or for another round of the current procedure. You know very well that word-of-mouth recommendations play a crucial role in this industry, as satisfied patients will happily share their positive experiences with friends and family, leading to potential referrals. You cannot find a stronger relationship than this one.
Patient retention is important as it helps create stability amongst market and patient fluctuations. You all know that it's crucial to have a reliable base of returning patients during quieter periods or when introducing new services or products. These loyal ones are pillars supporting a steady foundation of aesthetic business growth.
2. Average Patient Retention Rate in the Aesthetic Business
When you run and grow an aesthetic business, you must measure your success somehow and react if the results are below your level of satisfaction. One of such key metrics is patient retention. The more satisfied clients who return for additional treatments or other services, the stronger your clinic's reputation will be.
What exactly is considered an average patient retention rate in the aesthetic industry? 📊
While there isn't a universal benchmark, studies have shown that aesthetic clinics with exceptional client care and effective marketing strategies can achieve retention rates upwards of 70% or higher.
These metrics provide a clear picture of patient retention and help identify any potential areas of improvement. However, every clinic is unique and factors such as location, competition, pricing and quality of service can impact the numbers received.
What is more, the metric can be impacted by a few things and actions taken:
- Focus on building strong relationships with your clients by providing personalised experiences tailored to their specific needs and preferences.
- Investment in ongoing communication channels, such as email newsletters or social media platforms to stay connected with them all the time.
- Maintenance of excellent customer service throughout every interaction with patients, from booking appointments to post-treatment care.
Moreover, making sure that each touchpoint exceeds their expectations will leave a lasting impression that encourages loyal patronage. However, we will focus and elaborate on strategies helping you improve your client retention rate in the next chapter, as there is much more of such to provide you with.
3. Client Retention Strategies for Aesthetic Practitioners
Building strong and lasting relationships with your clients is crucial for the success of any business, not only the aesthetic clinic. However, we will focus on some effective strategies that can help you improve client retention:
1. Provide exceptional customer service: make sure you prioritise customer satisfaction by providing excellent service, starting at every call and message. Train your staff to be friendly, attentive and empathetic. Address any concerns or issues promptly and do all to exceed your clients' expectations. Take time to understand their needs, preferences and goals. Tailor your treatments and recommendations accordingly, making them feel valued, understood and one of a kind.
2. Follow up after appointments: don't let the relationship end once the appointment is over! Follow up with your clients after their visit to check on their healing process, answer any questions they may have or offer additional support if needed. In this piece, we outline the importance of following up with patients and how virtual receptionists can help with that.
3. Implement a loyalty program: reward your loyal clients by implementing a loyalty program that offers incentives, such as discounts on future treatments or exclusive perks like priority booking or free samples of skincare products.
4. Stay in touch: keep your clinic top-of-mind by staying in touch with regular communication via email newsletters, social media updates or even handwritten notes ( for example on special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries). Regularly ask for feedback from your clients through surveys or simple conversations.
5. Focus on a positive online reputation: positive reviews from satisfied clients can greatly influence your potential new patients' decision-making process when choosing an aesthetic clinic or practitioner. Make it easy for them by sending follow-up emails requesting feedback through platforms like Google Reviews,Yelp and social media channels.
6. Offer educational resources: such as blog posts, videos or webinars, to provide educational content to your clients. Share valuable insights on skincare, beauty treatments or any other relevant topics that would be of interest to your target audience.
7. Keep up with industry trends: follow the latest trends and advancements in the aesthetic industry. This will help you stay competitive and offer cutting-edge treatments and services to your clients.
8. Encourage referrals: word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied clients can be a powerful tool for attracting new potentials. Encourage your happy clients to refer their friends and family by offering incentives or rewards for successful referrals.
Difficult as it is, patient retention has become one of the key factors in running an aesthetic clinic and being a successful practitioner. You need to remember that in order to build a strong base of loyal customers and increase client retention, who will keep coming back to your clinic, time, effort and a vast number of actions to take are required. From a very attractive online presence, to word-of-mouth recommendations, it can only pay off whenever and whatever you try.
Remember, happy clients are the key to a successful business! Also, achieving success in the aesthetics industry isn’t solely about offering top-quality treatments, it’s about creating an unforgettable experience that keeps clients coming back for more!
