Arthur Chang and Katie Ho from Coyle have just published an invaluable piece of information in the Spa Sentiment Research Report 2009
Two statistics really struck me in reading this report.
• 74% of respondents said they choose a spa based on word of mouth
• 42% said that customer service is one of the reasons they don’t visit spas more often
These statistics really speak to the importance of a Quality Assurance Program, considering that nearly 3/4th of the new clients who enter a new spa were probably influenced by a previous client’s positive experience. If this is the case then quality assurance needs to become part of your marketing program and may be your most valuable marketing tool.
Does your spa have a consistent program in place to make sure that you aren’t contributing to the poor customer service that is turning 42% of spa-goers away? We know that people who have bad spa experiences often don’t tell the spa because of embarrassment. Spas really need very good feedback to understand and prevent any parts of the experience are not peaceful and don’t match managements vision.
Of the over 1,300 spa-goers polled, 35% visit a spa 3-5 times a year and 38% visit a spa only 1-2 times a year, so the chances for a spa to “Wow” their clients is limited. That is one of the reasons why customer service needs to be consistent with every guest and from every staff member, and management has to find a way to make sure this is occurring even behind closed doors.
