ETS Tanning Bed Blog

To stay competitive in the tanning bed industry, you have to stay on top of what your customers are thinking – what do they like about your salon? What don’t they like? What new tanning bed options they would like to see? How could you improve? And, most importantly, how can you keep them as a customer.

Remember, a satisfied customer rarely speaks up whereas an unhappy customer usually just leaves. Instead of watching that business walk out your door and never come back, start talking to your customers, get their feedback and implement it.

You can get feedback in numerous ways:

• A printed survey in your lobby.
• Specific questions asked by your front counter staff.
• An anonymous feedback section on your website.
• Encouraging customers to use business rating services like Yelp.com.
• Start using Twitter to both track your feedback and comments, but also respond.
• The old-fashioned suggestion box.

One salon we work with has set up a text messaging account that lets them survey customers after their tanning bed appointment and get feedback via SMS. It’s innovative, fast and definitely appealing to that 18-40 tanning demographic.

For texting or SMS customer feedback solutions, there are a number of services that will automate the process for you. For example; Clickatell, a bulk SMS gateway that also offers a retailer’s marketing package; Touchwork, a company that specializes in customer feedback text messages; and ResponseTek, another firm that sells a CEM (Customer Experience Management) text messaging package.