Source: Trader Education
Are you an Esthetician solopreneur or possibly a small business owner with an Esthetics or Beauty business, and you’re interested in getting more clients from Yelp? Yelp has been under some major scrutiny following allegations and even multiple lawsuits claiming they were unfairly punishing businesses for choosing not to pay for advertising – i.e. extortion. However, as explored in this extensive article we’ve written on this topic, Yelp is still conclusively a great place for small business owners to find more clients, especially in the skincare and personal grooming industry.
For this reason, we will be covering some important tips today that will help you as an Esthetician get more business from Yelp.
Before we begin, let me preface this by saying that Yelp has been underfire for quite some time, but still has a large volume of consumers using its platform to find Beauticians and Estheticians such as yourself.
So even though you may disagree with their alleged business practices, we can’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak.
Given that tens of millions of consumers are still searching for services on Yelp, how can we use that reality to our advantage and come out on top and profitable?
Let’s get right to it – how do you win on Yelp as an Esthetician?
Source: Elegant Themes
HOW TO DOMINATE YELP AS AN ESTHETICIAN
Maybe you’ve heard of the new documentary, Billion Dollar Bully.
Or perhaps you’ve read articles regarding Yelp’s alleged mafia-like business practices.
Either way, it’s no excuse for you not to take the time to investigate this challenge of a business and attempt to use it to your advantage.
If you were able to opt out of being featured on Yelp, this article would definitely have a different tone to it.
But as the situation stands, there is no way for businesses to opt out of having their listing (and public reviews) displayed for the world to see.
That being the case, let’s see if we can turn lemons into lemonade on this situation. If you’re already in the belly of the beast, you might as well make the most of it!
Let’s get to the practical aspects of how to win on Yelp as an Esthetician.
Source: Yelp
STEP ONE: OPTIMIZE YOUR PROFILE
Make sure your pictures are on point, including pictures of you holding up your Esthetician license, as we mentioned in our article on How to Run your Esthetician Business on PocketSuite.
One tip is to make sure you have plenty of pictures of smiling, overjoyed clients that received a facial or other beauty treatment from you.
Secondly, make sure that you have a Yelp Deal set up.
It doesn’t have to be a huge discount (something like $15 for $10), but it will make it so there is a green ‘Yelp Offer’ button next to your profile in the listings, which will draw consumers’ attention to your profile and distinguish it from the litany of other Estheticians on the platform
Make sure you input all of your business information, such as:
- Hours of operation
- Location (Physical Address)
- Phone Number
- Website
- Services offered
- Women-operated business (a new Yelp feature)
- A description of your business
In the description, try to speak from the heart and write about what made you decide to get into the Beauty and Esthetics field.
You’d also be wise to include information such as how long you’ve been in business, what product lines you carry, and your PocketSuite online booking link (so folks can book your services directly from Yelp).
Additionally, keep an eye on your email or Yelp app, as that’s where you’ll get notifications that you have a new message in the Yelp Messaging center.
Your customers will be reaching out to you via the ‘Contact this Business’ button, and when they do, Yelp will offer to automatically send their message to other businesses.
For this reason, it’s absolutely imperative to follow up quickly, so other Estheticians don’t gobble up your potential clients by booking them before you have a chance to!
This is another reason to have the PocketSuite online booking functionality as you can include your booking link in your follow-up messages to the folks that reach out to you through Yelp.
This cuts down on the friction of forcing them to call you and instead allows them to self book your services with a single tap or click.
Now that we’ve covered some practical ways to improve your Yelp profile, let’s talk about how you can get more 5 star reviews as this is the fuel that will propel your profile into the top ranks of Yelp where you will be discovered by more clients and get more views – and more bookings!
STEP TWO: GET MORE 5 STAR REVIEWS
An easy way to get more 5 star reviews is to ask your happy clients to post reviews on your Yelp profile.
“But how do I distinguish my happy clients from the disgruntled ones,” you ask.
Easily – by surveying each client post-service to find out their opinion on the quality of the treatment they received.
For example – let’s say you recently performed a stellar facial for your client Lisa.
You should contact Lisa via email, phone, or text message the day after her appointment, and ask something like this:
“Hey Lisa! It’s [Your name] with [Your business name]. I wanted to thank you for choosing us for your facial treatment yesterday. I wanted to get your feedback on what you thought about your service as this does help us to improve.”
Wait for the client to give you the feedback. If it’s negative, thank them for their feedback and try to make the changes requested or mentioned in the clients’ message.
If the feedback is positive, immediately follow up with something to this effect:
“Thank you Lisa. We do strive to provide amazing service, and I’m happy you’re impressed! I was wondering if you would be willing to share your experience by posting a review on our Yelp page? It would really help us out.”
You can also offer to text or email the happy client a link to your Yelp profile, which will make the process easier for them and improve the chances that they’ll actually post a review.
As a bonus pro-tip, you can repeat this process for other review platforms like Google or Facebook.
Side bar: You can actually automate the entire process of asking for an internal review and then a Yelp review in PocketSuite. Check out “Smart Campaigns” in PocketSuite to learn more.
So now that you’ve built up a respectable Yelp profile with good information, a sharp follow up system, and lots of 5 star reviews, you should see new business rolling in.
The next question is, how do you manage all of the scheduling, payments, messaging, and the rest of the routine tasks that typically come with running your own small business?
Here’s where PocketSuite steps in to help – you can book clients online, accept payments, take deposits, sell products, manage your inventory, and a whole lot more – all from a single app.
Try the Premium FREE trial and see why the ASCP (Association of Skin Care Professionals) specifically recommends using PocketSuite to all of their Estheticians!
If you’re already using PocketSuite, here’s how to set it up for your Esthetics business.
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