by Jenna Stephens | Aug 29, 2023 | Beauty, Business Texting, Salons, Success Story
$1.5M in new incremental
monthly revenue
$250K in monthly revenue through text marketing campaigns
About Sono Bello
Patient experience is at the center of the Sono Bello brand. As an industry leader in cosmetic surgery, with 60+ locations across the United States, Sono Bello invests considerable resources into ensuring its prospects and patients receive the very best care, customer service, and treatment throughout the patient journey.
Industry: Cosmetic surgery specialists
Location: 60+ locations across the United States
Contact Center Size: 100+ seats
Use Case: Improve low contact rates, speed up agent response time, add text marketing for re-engagement & brand awareness
Every patient deals with the headache of appointments. Whether a prospective patient needs a consultation, or an existing patient needs to reschedule their check-up, the process of making appointments affects everyone.
In the past, the Sono Bello team relied on phone calls and emails to confirm appointments and to remind patients, make changes, or process cancellations.
Constant No-Shows
Despite sending confirmations and reminders, Sono Bello had an unacceptably high number of patient no-shows. Patients were simply not opening their emails or clicking portal or confirmation links.
With limited staff and time, each missed consultation was a lost opportunity to help someone in need of treatment. “Because our model is based on appointments, it’s critical to communicate easily,” says Tim Surowiecki, Chief Marketing Officer at Sono Bello. “Unfortunately, our patients weren’t picking up the phone or returning calls.”
Plus, phone calls lacked the privacy some patients needed. “Cosmetic surgery is a sensitive topic. Patients don’t want to say their age, weight, and body mass index out loud. They’re in meetings with coworkers. They’re out to lunch with friends. They want a more discreet way to provide this information. Text messages are perfect for that.”
- Business texting enabled across all Sono Bello locations
- Convenient, quick support over SMS, where patients can ask questions, reschedule, cancel, and follow up
- Text-based marketing campaigns to engage new prospects
- More efficient, empowering experiences for customer service agents
“We started getting inbound texts before even telling people about SMS support,” says Eric O’Brien, VP of Technology at Sono Bello. “As it turns out, our demographic is texting all the time.”
Today, customers receive appointment confirmations by text, and they can text back to confirm, reschedule, or cancel. Alongside other contact channels such as voice, Sono Bello customer service agents now text one-to-one with patients.
Before, Sono Bello staff could help only one patient at a time. Now, they support multiple customers at once by switching between text conversations. Plus, since SMS isn’t tied to Sono Bello’s open hours, patients can cancel, reschedule, or ask questions whenever they want.
Nothing falls through the cracks, and responsiveness is really great. We have two or three people available that can respond to patients quickly. If we leave our patients a voicemail, we might never hear back from them at all. Textel is a game-changer.
Result: More Patients & More Revenue
Many Sono Bello patients begin their journey by filling out a web form to get further information or schedule a consultation. From there, the Sono Bello team uses Textel to automatically initiate personalized drip campaigns via text that patients can respond to.
Sono Bello also launched a same-day text confirmation program for current patients. “We always had email reminders a couple of days out. But we felt like a simple day-of reminder would be helpful for patients,” says O’Brien.
As a result, show rates increased by a dramatic 9%, leading to 500 more “patient shows” per month and a $1.5 million increase in monthly incremental revenue. Similarly, Textel-enabled engagement campaigns generate $250K in incremental revenue per month.
“Nothing falls through the cracks, and responsiveness is really great. We have two or three people available that can respond to patients quickly. If we leave our patients a voicemail, we might never hear back from them at all. Textel is a game-changer,” says O’Brien.
About Sono Bello
Patient experience is at the center of the Sono Bello brand. As an industry leader in cosmetic surgery, with 60+ locations across the United States, Sono Bello invests considerable resources into ensuring its prospects and patients receive the very best care, customer service, and treatment throughout the patient journey.
Industry: Cosmetic surgery specialists
Location: 60+ locations across the United States
Contact Center Size: 100+ seats
Use Case: Improve low contact rates, speed up agent response time, add text marketing for re-engagement & brand awareness
by Murph Krajewski | Mar 15, 2021 | Salons
We often forget that we are all consumers and that time is the most valuable asset in our lives. We loath waiting on hold. We rarely respond to voicemails, but our expectations are very different when we text, and we tend to have more patience. Texting is the most-used smartphone feature, in front of emails, internet access, and voice calls. Most of us read texts within minutes of receiving them. We text our kids, our friends, and now, our businesses. It is no surprise that texting proves to be an excellent tool for business communications.
Clients are using the Internet and their mobile devices more than ever. They purchase items, book their travel, rate experiences, and communicate via text. Clearly, your salon or spa should be included in their mobile behaviors. Catering to your mobile-minded clients will add convenience to your client’s daily life and strengthen client relationships and satisfaction. Learn more about salon & spa business texting.
Business Texting Increases Customer Satisfaction Rates for Salons
- Everyone texts. It is the surefire way of getting in touch with someone quickly. Your clients (especially your next-generation customer) want to text you on your landline phone number.
- Texting is reliable. Texting is a preferred method of contact for clients. While some appreciate a phone call, others may prefer to keep things fast and easy. Texting takes far less effort than the sometimes-lengthy process of an entire email or the dead-end of leaving a voicemail.
For the Love of Texting – 10 Proven Use Cases for the Beauty Industry
- Stay In Contact with Scheduled Clients
Your clients who run late do not have the time to call your salon. Even if they do, they will not want to wait on hold because it is inconvenient. Most people would rather sit in traffic than wait on hold for an hour; however, they will text your business if you let them easily reschedule. - Schedule Appointments
Your clients want to text your salon to schedule an appointment, and they want you to text them back. Imagine doing so right from your computer without ever leaving Millennium or Meevo or any other application. Talk about a time saver – less call volume, easily manage multiple clients at once! - Send Alert Notifications
Changing business hours or procedures due to weather conditions or COVID requires rapid notification to your clients. Mass text blasts allow you to quickly send updates to your customers where they are most likely to see it. - Add a Human Touch to Your Brand
The customer receives your text from your salon number, not an employee’s personal number or a 5-digit automated number. You can track each conversation your team is having with a client, and they can now directly text the number they already know and have saved on their phone. - Market with Specific Keywords
You have a great new product launch, gift with purchase, seasonal loyalty bonus point offer, or seasonal gift card promotion. Create a social media post informing your guests of the keyword promotions! Your client texts the keyword “gift” to your salon phone number and invites the client to show the text message at checkout on their next visit to receive a free gift with subsequent purchase. - Virtual Concierge
Does your salon offer seasonal gift card promotions? Remind clients to text the keyword “giftcard” to your salon phone number anytime, and your virtual concierge will auto-reply back with a text message containing the gift card promotion details and call to action. Your keyword virtual concierge is always working for you in the background, 24/7. - Call-to-Action Marketing
Your salon offers a loyalty program, and there is a “bonus points” offer every month. Your loyalty program customers always want to be in the know. They can now text the word “loyal” to your salon phone number to find out the service of the month offer. - Communicate Internally with Staff
Your team meeting is scheduled once per quarter. Your team can text the word “meeting” to your salon phone number to receive the auto-reply text containing the meeting’s details at any given time 24/7, 365 days of the year. - Staff & Front Desk Communication
A spa guest would like to schedule more time with your aesthetician for an add-on masque. The aesthetician checks their salon management tool like SalonBiz or Meevo 2 and sees that she has a 30-minute availability. She sends a text message to the front desk so they can schedule the extra 30 minutes. Your team can now communicate with the front desk without ever leaving their treatment room. - Increase Front Desk Productivity
Your call center is bustling. Why not increase productivity at the front desk by allowing your employees to manage all incoming text messages between guests at checkout? It is as easy as simply clicking on a reply button right from their computer without leaving your POS or CRM.
You can learn more about how Textel can improve your salon & spa’s productivity by contacting us.
by Murph Krajewski | Jul 20, 2018 | Salons, Success
Each Sunday night, Tori Spelling welcomes viewers back to The Look: All Stars, a TV series broadcast this summer on the CW network, showcasing top beauty experts as they compete through themed-timed challenges and makeovers while presenting beauty hacks, techniques and top looks. Each week, the audience texts in their votes for their favorite team and makeover.
Who else would the producers turn to for an interactive texting solution that would play such a critical role in their show’s success? None other than the popular St. Louis startup whose business texting platform has proven to be the perfect business texting solution for salon and spa industry: Textel.
“Our series isn’t just about watching, it’s about having fun while you learn to look your best,” said Gregory Butler, Executive Producer of The Look: All Stars. “Textel makes it easy to be a part of the action, driving engagement that is beneficial for our viewers and our brand partners. We are excited to be working with a such a great company, and a great product.”
Once texting took over as the premier form of communication among customers, the salon and spa industry quickly shifted to include this in their customer service strategy to save time (their own and their customers) as well as costs due to operational efficiencies.
Textel makes it easy to implement a text-first strategy by using your existing business landline phone number and offering easy price points to get started without any contracts or limits and unlimited texting.
Why Salons and Spas Choose Textel
Front Desk Efficiency
Textel’s cloud-based business texting portal serves as a “call center inbox” for salon and spa front desk employees with easy permission controls and even messaging history so they know right where the last conversation left off.
More Bookings, Less No Shows
By reaching out and replying via text, front desk or call center staff can increase bookings while cutting down on call times, voicemails, emails, etc. Plus, they avoid no-shows by confirming guests via scheduled texts or rescheduling appointments on the fly due to last minute changes.
Increased Profits
Along with increasing retention by making your front desk and call center employees’ lives easier, Textel helps organizations stay in front of changing customer needs. Salon and spas can recapture lost revenue by quickly confirming and rescheduling the cancelled appointment.
Improved (Measurable!) Marketing Results
It’s easy to drive traffic to your salon or spa by making keyword texting promotions part of your marketing strategy. Pick a keyword, program an auto-reply text that offers surveys, prizes, discounts, text to win, gift with purchase, etc. and then promote it around your store or on social media. The ROI is immediate and measurable.
See Textel in Action for Local Salon and Spa Owners
Textel offers a variety of business texting features that enable salon and spa organizations to provide top notch customer care and employee engagement. See why Ginger Bay Salon and Spa and Paul Mitchell turn to Textel to power customer communication and cut costs:
“We use Textel for a lot of reasons. We can communicate more efficiently and effectively not only with our guests but with our team. Texting has become an eco-system of communication from guests to our salons, salon to salon, call center to front desk and staff to call center or front desk. One of the most profound ways that Textel has changed the way we do business is in our call center. In the same amount of time we answer one phone call, we can respond to about 5 test messages. That saves us about 60 man hours per month which translates into about a $13,000 per year payroll savings. It has improved the way we do business over night and we couldn’t live without it.”
- Laura Ortmann – CEO/Daymaker Ginger Bay Salon & Spas
“Textel gives our guests who prefer to text, the option to do that now. Textel also helps my service desk leaders not have to continually place guests on hold. They have the ability to respond to texts at a convenient moment. I also like the fact that we have the ability to perform virtual consultations. When a guest texts a style or inspiration photo to us, we can book them with the appropriate stylist for the appropriate time and we can also inform a guest if the style they are requesting is actually possible.”
- Ginger Reed – Guest Service Leader/Co-owner, Paul Mitchell The School
Bring the Power of Textel to Your Salon and Spa
No one wants to be put on hold for booking or changing an appointment. Give your customers the freedom to text their ideas, pictures, questions and availability to your business and create happy customers who tell their friends why their salon and spa is the best in town.
Check out Textel’s Salon and Spa Demo to see how it can improve your business.
by Murph Krajewski | Jul 6, 2018 | Salons
TEXTEL, A BUSINESS TEXTING STARTUP, POWERS CW NETWORK’S THE LOOK: ALL STARS WITH “TEXT TO VOTE” AUDIENCE INTERACTION TOOL
Each week, viewers use St. Louis-based Textel’s keyword texting feature to vote for their favorite look and team.
ST LOUIS (July 2018) – Textel is excited to announce its partnership with The Look: All Stars, a TV series on the CW/MyNetwork TV stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group. Hosted by Tori Spelling, each episode provides educational how-to’s for the audience through themed-timed challenges that provide beauty hacks and tips to improve one’s overall look featuring top beauty experts and their best professional techniques and products. The reality beauty show is one of the first of its kind to make audience interaction a pillar for engagement week after week through texting, augmented reality and tie-ins with industry brands.
After each episode’s original airing date, The Look: All Stars’ audience chooses their favorite makeover transformations by texting 1-888-803-2426 with the keyword that represents their favorite Real Life Challenge Makeover, High Fashion Challenge Makeover and Team Vote. Voting ends Saturday at midnight ahead of the next week’s episode.
“Our series isn’t just about watching, it’s about having fun while you learn to look your best,” said Gregory Butler, Executive Producer of The Look: All Stars. “Textel makes it easy to be a part of the action, driving engagement that is beneficial for our viewers and our brand partners. We are excited to be working with a such a great company, and a great product.”
Textel, a cloud-based, two-way texting portal, powers that live participation through their popular “Text to Vote” feature that uses specific keywords to trigger a better voter experience. It’s the same functionality that is currently being spotlighted in salons across the country for its role in driving customer communication, managing call center volumes, increasing marketing promotions and optimizing the overall guest experience.
“Textel is very excited to bring text voting to The Look: All Stars,” said Mike Mixon, CMO of Textel. “Texting a keyword is easy for viewers since anyone can do it right away without an app. This partnership made sense because our keyword texting tool is currently being used by salons and spas across the country to attract first time guests and drive engagement. Textel is a proud supporter of the beauty industry and honored to bring our texting technology to such an empowering TV show.”
In the changing guest experience landscape, the salon industry and many others continue to seek more effective ways to drive traffic to their business while providing an engaging, efficient solution to match customer expectations. Textel’s business texting platform zeroes in on the preferred customer communication method to help save businesses time and payroll cost, while filling more appointments and decreasing no show rates, all from a manageable call center “inbox” on their desktop.
“As a 33-year veteran of the salon industry, I want to express a sincere thank you to the team behind The Look: All Stars for choosing such an efficient platform to showcase the passion, talents and serving hearts of our industry peers,” said Michelle Steimann, Textel Brand Ambassador. “This ‘Text to Vote’ functionality is the perfect way to show our support for the competing teams’ craftsmanship and the audience who’s eager to interact with them.”
ABOUT THE LOOK: ALL STARS
THE LOOK: ALL STARS is a one-hour reality TV competition series, airing prime-time Sundays from June 24th, 2018, syndicated nationally across CW and MyTV Network stations. The show is owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. and produced by Dreamventure Productions. The weekly program focuses on head to toe makeovers performed by respected established hair, makeup and fashion stylists who compete and deliver two makeovers per episode. Learn more by visiting https://www.thelookallstars.com/.
ABOUT TEXTEL:
TEXTEL makes customer communication simple with a business texting platform that helps enterprise to small businesses reach their customers in the fastest way possible from any location. This cloud-based software serves as an efficient call center inbox by receiving and sending customer texts from the existing business landline phone number. Learn more about TEXTEL features and pricing by visiting http://textellegacy.elikirk-dev.com/.
For more information, please contact:
Mike Mixon
CMO, Textel
314-349-4880
[email protected]
