How to Grow A Lash Business Part 1 | How to Grow Your Client List
Growing a Lash Business isn’t usually as easy as you might think, we often come across those incredible ‘overnight success’ stories on social media or on podcasts and it can seem unachievable, and can affect our confidence. The fact of the matter is that every successful lash technician has had to put in some serious work to get their business off the ground and develop it into the business they dreamed of! Just because it’s not easy though, doesn't mean it has to be hard – here are our top tips for gaining new clients!
Social Media
Love it or hate it, it’s the world we live in. Did you know that London Lash has grown thanks to social media? Our Founder Hanna was consistently asked by her Instagram followers to teach them how to apply the Russian Volume Eyelash Extensions that she was doing, which hadn’t yet made their way over to the UK at the time. Off the back of that, Hanna created a product line and used social media to promote her products and her training courses.
Did we get lucky? Sure, we were able to lean into social media’s influence on consumer habits at a time when that was a bit of a newer approach. While there is a lot more of that type of thing these days, if you do it right you can still use social media as a really powerful tool for business growth.
Social media now is less timeline-based, and more algorithm based. If you post things people want to see then your post will go further and will be suggested to users who don’t even follow you but who engage with similar content. Our top tips for social media are:
- Post videos and Reels. Still images can still do well but Instagram’s algorithm pushes video content over images, TikTok is becoming huge for businesses, and Facebook has its own dedicated tab just for video content, so it’s well worth putting your focus there.
- Write captions that educate, inform or inspire. Not everyone reads the captions but it’s another way to engage with people, and it also means that the keywords you use in your caption will help your content show up in the right people’s feeds
- Use relevant hashtags. That means try not to use a very broad ‘lash extensions’ tag but narrow it down to suit your specific intended audience: ‘hybrid eyelash extensions Calgary’ or ‘wispy volume lash extensions’ for example.
- Make sure your images and videos are crisp and have good lighting. If you are posting images of your work, you need to make them look appealing to potential clients – give your camera a wipe to prevent smudges, make sure the picture is in focus and get your lighting right.
- Make sure your bio says who and where you are, and the services that you offer so that it’s easy for clients to find you.
- Post stories. If you can’t post on the feed every day, make sure you’re posting stories of your work, your studio, and anything else that might be interesting to existing and potential clients. People love to see what goes on behind the scenes, and candid content is easy enough to shoot on a daily basis.
Welcome Discounts
A welcome discount is a good way to encourage new clients to you whilst letting them know that those low prices aren’t forever. There are a few different ways of offering a welcome discount – the obvious one being a reduced treatment price for their first visit, but you could also offer a half-price brow treatment when they book in for a full set of lashes if you offer both, or even a discount on their full set and lash fill if they schedule their lash fill at their full set appointment. You can use your imagination here of course, just make sure that whatever you offer is balanced between being enticing for a potential client while still covering your outgoings.
Word of Mouth
This can come in the form of a client recommending you to their friend, or as positive reviews on social media, Google, or your website if you have one. People’s decisions can be swayed by a review, so it’s well worth asking happy clients if they wouldn’t mind reviewing their treatment.
Word of mouth can be helped along by an incentive such as ‘refer a friend and you both receive $10 off of your next treatment’ or even ‘leave a review and be entered into a prize draw’. What’s important to note on that last point is that any incentive offered for reviews should be explicitly NOT bribery – any and all reviews are entered into the same draw/receive the same benefit – you might not want to reward someone for a negative review, but consider that it could open up an avenue for you to change their mind.
With That in Mind…
A bad review isn’t always a bad thing. It doesn’t feel good, we know, but what it does is show us what we need to change. It’s so easy to become complacent and not realize that your lash studio is a bit messy, or to be unaware that you can be a little bit blunt from time to time. Often, the way that you respond to a negative review has just as much, if not more impact on how future potential clients view you. A snarky, defensive response won’t win you any affection but responding to reviews in the right way can. Here’s how to deal with a bad review:
- Don’t reply straight away. Sit with the comments for an hour or so, let your blood pressure return to normal, and re-read it
- Thank them for their time in leaving a review, and say that any feedback helps you to provide the best quality services
- Respond to each point they have made – were you late to start the treatment? Apologize for that and assure them that while it was due to an earlier client running a little late, it won’t happen going forwards as you’ve put in place a policy where treatments end at their scheduled time regardless of when they began. Did they dislike the lash set? Offer them a different style. State in your response that you will be in touch directly to follow up.
- Finish off by thanking them again for their valuable feedback and then reach out and see what you can do to make amends.
If a bad review is completely fabricated, you can still give a tactful response so that other clients reading this understand that it’s not necessarily an accurate portrayal of you, your business, or what they can expect from you.
Enticing new clients can take many forms, and you might have a completely groundbreaking technique for getting new faces through your studio doors. Don’t be afraid to try a few techniques until you find the one that works best for you!
