The makeup industry continues to grow, reaching over $40 billion this year. When looking at a typical spa’s total revenue, makeup applications and retail sales present a very exciting, positive opportunity for growth. By implementing fresh new ideas and innovative approaches to promote your makeup business in the spa, makeup applications and retail sales can really grow your business.
Most women don’t like to leave their homes, much less their spa, completely barefaced after a treatment. If you’re not touching up your clients’ makeup after a treatment, you can be sure she is applying her own in her car before continuing on with her day. This is a big opportunity missed!
Makeup services provide an opportunity to make sure 100 percent of your clients are walking out the door feeling confident. This begins by making sure that you are marketing your makeup services throughout your location. The first step to marketing makeup applications (and in turn, sell retail) is to include makeup applications on your service menu. The best way to create awareness of your product line is to make it visible throughout your spa. Having a full display available for guests in the waiting area will create curiosity and encourage them to try it on. The following are some great ideas for adding makeup services onto any salon or spa service.
Post Treatment Makeup
One of the easiest ways to promote makeup in your location is following a facial service. Seize this opportunity to educate new and returning clients about the importance of ingredients in their makeup, and earn their trust by recommending a makeup that will promote the continued health of their skin, rather than compromise the results of their facial treatment. Today’s client is very savvy when it comes to product knowledge and interest in ingredients. It’s imperative that clients understand that the ingredients within their skin care and makeup regimens are clean and healthy for their skin, but they should also know which ingredients they should avoid. This is where you and your makeup line come into play, providing an opportunity to create awareness and demand for your offerings.
This cross-selling makes it essential that your entire staff is educated on your makeup line. They should also be provided with the products to wear themselves. It’s a known fact that we recommend what we wear, and with so many different makeup lines that provide much more than just beautiful makeup, the personal testimonies of your staff can differentiate your offerings on a new level.
Estheticians should have small makeup displays in every treatment room, with a small offering of products that can be applied on the spot before the client steps out of the room. Offering a complimentary touch up at this stage can often lead to a full service application.
Try to avoid verbiage such as “makeover,” as this can make the client perceive that the service will take a long time, or it might make them feel like they are being sold to. The best way to position makeup services is to offer a “touch-up.”
After the quick application, hand the client the mirror so she can see the amazing coverage she has. If she enjoys it, bring her to the main display in the waiting area to offer a quick two to five minute touch up. Offering the service as a complimentary add-on does not take long, and it is cost effective. From here, just this simple touch up can lead to her booking a full on makeup lesson or application. Owners need to make sure that these touch-up services are not offered as an option, but rather automatically included as part of the service.
Post Massage
When booking other types of treatments such as massage, body treatments and nail services, which are harder to cross-over, it’s more challenging to promote makeup services and retail— but you can still make it happen in a way that feels natural.
Clients can be invited to come in 15 minutes early for their appointment, during which time they can sit with the professional makeup artist or esthetician on your team. They should be asked to bring in their daily makeup bag so that while she waits for her massage or nail appointment, she and the makeup artist or esthetician can go through it together.
The artist or esthetician can educate, demonstrate and potentially present new retail makeup options that are a better fit for the clients’ skin.
Massage therapists can easily recommend makeup post-massage. When clients lay face down in the cradle, it can smudge mascara and other makeup, creating the perfect opportunity to recommend a quick touch-up before the client leaves the treatment room. Makeup remover swabs, a dual ended cotton swab with a botanical based, hydrating makeup remover built in, are perfect in this situation. You can say goodbye to the raccoon eye in a matter of seconds! The same idea applies to body treatments. Since using showers to wash off body scrubs or masques is quite common, these treatments present an excellent opportunity to squeeze in a makeup touch-up post shower.
No Artists On Duty?
If you have staff members that are not fully trained makeup artists, or they just don’t feel comfortable applying makeup on clients, there are some fun and innovative ways that they can help with retail. Again, make sure that the entire staff wears the makeup so that they can easily talk about it with clients and answer any questions with a personal touch. Another good way to increase sales with people who aren’t comfortable with makeup applications is a little healthy competition. Creating a fun incentive for whichever staff member sells the most makeup over a pre-determined period always shows an increase in retail dollars. If your staff doesn’t retail makeup, they are missing out on substantial profits!
