Do me favor and go get your purse before you read this article. Look inside. Try to see past the miscellaneous receipts, loose change, and multiple tubes of lip gloss or lipstick. How many loyalty/punch cards do you have in your wallet? Let’s be honest — how many are floating around in your purse? Everywhere you go now days, there is a loyalty card. Currently, I have dozens in my purse. I have one for gallons of milk, one for gas, one for shoes, several restaurant cards, etc. It has gotten to the point that I had to buy a loyalty card organizer, just to keep up and keep them organized.

Does your salon have a loyalty program? What are you doing to reward clients for coming back? There are many elaborate programs out there. Some have cards that have to be scanned, some are punch cards, and some are just tabulated by a computer system. Loyalty cards can range in price, options, and function.

You have to decide what you want to track and reward. Here are a few things I have seen through my travels consulting in salons:

> Birthdays: Clients can receive some kind of discount or reward on or around their birthday. I have seen gift bags, products, and gift certificates given to clients for their birthdays. Some loyalty systems even alert you with a list of clients that have birthdays during the month. Some salons send cards to their clients or alert them to come in to receive a special perk during the month of their birthday. When implementing this program be sure to only ask for your client’s birth date and not the year as some may be offended by that.

> Pre-booking: Some salons will give you points for booking your next appointment prior to leaving the salon. I have seen a slew of offers to get you to book your next appointment. Some salons offer $5 off your service when you pre-book. Others offer a punch card — book a certain number of appointments and receive 20% off your service.

My salon has been very successful letting the client choose to put their name into the drawing of their choice when they pre-book. We have four choices: Enter to win a complimentary massage, pedicure, facial, or haircut. When they pre-book they get an entry blank. They have to fill out the entire entry blank. Name, address, phone numbers, e-mail address. We read every entry blank and use the information to update our information in our computer. They then put their name into the drawing of their choice. You may choose to draw a winner weekly or once a month. This is a low-cost way to entice our clients to prebook and see what services they would like to try. We take their entry blank and update their information in our computer system. We also send them a postcard with a special offer for the service they put their name into. For example: $39 facial, pedicure, or massage. We do this because we know they are interested in the service because they put their name into the drawing.

> Pedicure/Manicure Clubs: Buy three, get one free. Your client would pay for the three pedicures upfront. For paying upfront they will receive a 25% discount, plus a complimentary pedicure. Some salons offer punch cards. After a certain number of pedicures have been purchased, they may receive half off of their next pedicure or they may receive a complimentary polish or purse-size lotion of their choice.

> Product Purchased Cards: Some salons offer a punch card that works like this: Every time you make a purchase, spending $10 or $20 on products, you get a punch or stamp. When you fill the card, you receive $20 towards products or a percentage off of your product purchase.

These are some of the most common benefits I see in salons on a regular basis. There are many more elaborate systems and reward programs. You don’t have to do all of them, your salon may only offer one or two of these items mentioned. You can start a punch card easily by making up one yourself.

Tune in next week for more loyalty card ideas. Loyalty cards to keep your clients loyal — one more way to help you stand out above the rest and become the BEST!

— Jill