New Client’s to fill off-peak hours
The H Club
is a co-operative of independent therapies, and wellbeing practitioners. We all
work for ourselves and help each other to generate new client opportunities and undertake corporate work, conferences and
exhibitions together. We have worked with numerous national and international
organisations and their marketing and promotions houses and aim to help promote wellbeing services across the United Kingdom
and Europe through these parnerships.
If
you are a practitioner who is willing and able to work with us in our promotion campaigns they would be an excellent marketing
opportunity for you. The programme of campaigns are not guaranteed to fill every
appointment space you have, but have previously been shown to generate new client visits that can be arranged by you to fit
into spaces between existing clients that would otherwise remain empty.
ANALYSIS OF CAMPAIGNS
Most of our member practitioners find our promotions
can lead to unprecedented referral client, booking conversion rates. Initial
callers are screened by The H Club and individual practitioner details are not revealed - thus preserving the
safety and security of those who work from home studio rooms or on a mobile basis.
Participating member practitioners are contacted and offered
the details of the pre-screened client so they may contact them and make appointments that are mutually suitable.
2010
The H Club moved away from a pre-screened client format in it's voucher redemption management due to the extremely
high costs of telephone call backs, management of client voucher detials and matching service costs.
Instead, www.TheHClub.co.uk Practitioner Locations website page was used as the vehicle by which promoters were asked to get clients to contact their
closest practitioner.
Monitoring of activity of client contacts has been varied, with London proving to be the
most popular area. Unfortunately the news was not particularly good here as analysis shows that many clients in London
do not wish to travel more than 3 miles to their regular practitioner - and the choice is VAST even in such a short radius.
Typically, voucher holders in London did NOT becopme repeat clients on the largest part.
Too few practitioners
are available in the East, South West, Wales and Scotland to provide any regliable data there. However, in the North
West, it appears voucher holders are more likely to convert to paying clients if they live within a 10 mile radius.
All in all though, whilst hundreds of thousands of vouchers are issued, the redemption rate is extremely poor and this has
been concluded as a 'low priority' promotional activity due to the emmense amount of work involved in setting up agreements
and updating marketing companies with practitioner information - all at NO reward back to The
H Club itself.
Whilst The H Club will continue to
promote member practitioners using this means, we do NOT envisage great hordes of business for practitioners in this way and
will expend greater time on work to promote our own web-site. This will include our own 2for1 vouchers being made available
FREE to those who log on and use a practitioner for the first time. 2009
Our promotions campaigns during 2009 included some very big
names, amongst them, Banks, Telecommunications, and Retail outlets.
We have analysed the responses to Newspaper
voucher offers and come to the conclusion that these are no longer cost effective. Typically, those clients who came
to us via the Observer or Telegraph have become so used to such voucher offers that they simply end up using them again and
again. The value of their repeat sessions with us on a year in year out basis is thus eroded when it is a 2 for 1 offer
they are getting every year. After all, you can't refuse to accept the voucher when that was the way you engaged
them as a client first time round.
We have also identified that the internet 'Beauty and Relaxation'
types of voucher offers result in low income generation. Typically, the people who use these are very used to searching
for vouchers for everything and anything they would otherwise have to pay for. They tend to use the voucher and then
not return. Preferring to try a range of different venues, cashing in vouchers with all of them to gain treatments on
a highly subsidised basis. This type of 'Knowledgeable voucher user' seems to be growing as the economic situation
and recession leaves people with less disposable income for the luxuries in life.
Lastly, we would urge caution
in relation to allowing people to book treatments using their vouchers as 'Birthday Gifts' for their friends and family.
The lucky person who uses the 'gifted' session receives the treat but our members have noticed that they rarely spend
money on luxuries for themselves and so rarely ever become a repeat client. Remember - we nagotiate with marketing
voucher promoters that vouchers are NOT transferrable.
2009 Promotions Partnerships
Fresh rewards, First Direct, Esso, BT Broadband, Legal and General, NatWestPrivilege, RBS, Zurich, Brand New You Magazine, Best Rewards, O2
2008
During the early part of 2008, The
H Club referred literally thousands of clients across a range of promotion types: FREE micro-treats with upgrade
options ranging through to promotions with 2 for 1 treatments. WE NO LONGER ENGAGE IN ENTIRELY
FREE VOUCHER SCHEMES - see analysis below
All referalls were at a recommended list price of
£44 per hour - paid direct to the therapist - to which any discount or promotion was then applied accoding to the voucher
terms and conditions. For example, clients referred with 15 minute FREE treats were encouraged to 'upgrade
to full one hour' sessions so that the practitioner received £33 payment for their time and the client received
a full treatment with 25% off. Both then benefitted.
We also work with a number of marketing partners
to put together a number of specific 'fee paying' promotions, ie 2for1, £10 for taster sessions, etc etc. These marketing
promotions houses have agreed to create an environment where members of the public can be introduced to our skills and where
we can move away from delivering FREE treats and into 'value for money' promotions
for all parties concerned.
The H Club has moved away from all promotions where potential clients
receive entirely FREE sessions because this leads to lost time and no significant increase in customer base.
It has taken us nearly 8 years of analysis and persuasion,
but we have proven to both ourselves and to the various marketing and promotions houses with whom we work, that:
ENTIRELY
FREE SESSIONS DO NOT LEAD TO PAYING CUSTOMERS for THERAPISTS.
This is why we have worked tirelessly to persuade
these marketing organisations to change their approach and to centre their offers around %-off and multi-purchase promotions
instead - witness the sudden rash of 2for1 offers that are now in the marketplace.
We think we have finally got the message across -
clients who will become customers will make a payment towards their first treatment.
Voucher holders who don't pay anything at all are
simply looking for anything FREE and will show no loyalty to those who work for FREE. They will take the FREEBIE and then
return to their normal therapist.
WE NO LONGER WORK FOR FREE TO
HELP PROMOTE SOMEONE ELSE'S PRODUCT OR SERVICE - they expect payment for their product or service, so do we !
2008 Promotions Partnerships
Fresh Rewards,
Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Oral B Sonic Toothbrush, Mullerlight, Tesco
Sea Chill , South East Water, Sainsbury Magazine,
The Guardian, The Observer, Feel Good Treat,
Lotus Thirst Pockets, Pamper Treats,
Abbey Bank
2007
In 2007, The H
Club worked in conjunction with a number of new partners on similar campaigns that focussed not on 'Beauty'
or 'Pamper' but more on 'Health & Wellbeing'.
These included a free holistic/complementary/wellbeing
micro-treatment through The H Club’s register of member practitioners. These were limited to only
short Taster Treats so that members didn't end up working themselves out of available
appointment hours for no payment..
Offer wise, we found
conversion of referrals to clients taking up the offer and making appointments was superb. Unfortunately, the rate of
'no shows' and 'cancellations on the day'
was as high as with the 'free Pamper treatment' promotions.
Further, after 12
months, few of the free Taster session takers had actually become clients for those practitioners
- average was only 5%.
2007 Promotions Partnerships
Carotino, Nescafe, HSBC, Bounty Pregnancy Magazine, B&Q, Feel Good Treat, Pamper
Treats, Abbey Bank
2006
In autumn of 2006, The
H Club
was able to offer its member practitioners numerous new clients based around '15
minute Taster Treat vouchers'. All ladies who wished to take up a free taster treatment on the understanding
that this would introduce them to a quality assured therapies practitioner close to their home location who they could then
visit for treatments at a later date.
Referral numbers went crazy and we found we had to ensure member practitioners didn't
end up being 'too available'. Those who limited and restricted the times of day and days when they undertook the free
work were thus able to maintain their existing client appointments without disappointing 'regulars'.
Post 2006, analysis has shown that very few, perhaps only 2% of the free vouchers
delivered, ever became paying clients.
2006 Promotions Partnerships
Best Rewards, RCI
2001-2005
Up until 2005, The
H Club had been given little choice by promotions and marketing companies. All voucher and promotion offers for clients
were traditionally 'full treatment' sessions.
These came through at a fairly steady rate and clients
always congratulated our practitioners and told them just what a fantastic treatment they had had.
Subsequent analysis has shown that over the period
2001-2005, the incidence of 'no shows', 'cancellations' and 'missed appointments' has grown by a factor of at least 10. This
not only leads to reduced availability of appointments for paying clients, but also costs money in heating and lighting the
therapy rooms - all to no benefit.
In addition, those wonderfully relaxed clients saw
the sessions as a 'luxury' as they were often marketed as 'Beauty' or 'Pamper' treatment offers. Whilst finding the sessions
'fantastic', less than 2% ever re-booked for a paying treatment and fewer still became 'repeat regulars'.
All in all, The
H Club concluded that whilst pro-active campaigns and client introductions are great, a less time consuming
way was needed to enable the referrals to be generated and the clients converted
PREVIOUS CAMPAIGNS
Aero,
ELC,
Nectar,
Tampax,
Pampertreats,
Feelgoodtreats,
L’Oreal
– Matrix Salon sign up, O2, The Daily Express, Brand New You, Daily Express Newspaper, Top Sante Magazine, RCI Gratis Collection, 118 118, Telegraph 2for1, Goodbye 13 stone hello life book, Vivid Promotions (Everyone’s a winner), Lifes2Good, Crown Paints, Nestle – Dairy Box, Gillete Sensus Divine, Playtex (secrets of makeup),
Braun
Epilator, Matalan,
Direct
Line insurance, Clinton
Cards, Night
Nurse, Royal
Doulton, RAC,
The
More Magazine, Filofax
UK, La
Senza, Nivea,
Avon,
Sun/News
of the World, Alders
Department Stores, Glynwood
Ltd –Hilton Premium members Club, Boots, Pantene, Leeds Building Society, Pentagon, Adams Children’s wear, Timelinx, Westfield Health, Novus Leisure, Asda T Mobile, Veet, Garnier, ELC, Pipex Website, Roche Diagnostics, Wella, Ryvita, AOL, Poulter Partners (Northern Rail), Evian (Path to Purity), Norwich Union
|
|
