Tapping Into Unrealized Growth: The Surprising Case for Add-on Services – Career

Let’s start with the painfully obvious: we could all do with a little more revenue these days. Costs are high, competition is intense, and that little extra can make all the difference in the world. 

Now let’s talk about something that ought to be equally obvious: add-on services offer a fast and readily accessible path to revenue growth. Whether you own a hair salon, nail salon, barbershop, day spa, med spa, facial lounge, or anything in between, more add-ons equate to more revenue. 

No secret there, right? 

Right?

Leveraging the Power of Add-on Services

While the case for add-ons seems apparent, a deeper look at the industry data paints a rather shocking picture of unrealized opportunity. According to a new customer data analysis conducted by Boulevard, when it comes to add-ons, the gap between the haves and have-nots is significant. 

How significant? Boulevard’s analysis shows that the best businesses at leveraging the power of add-on services (defined as those in the top 10%) add at least one additional service to 34% of their appointments — more than one in three! By contrast, businesses that are merely average at leveraging add-on services add at least one additional service to just 5% of their appointments — just one in twenty! That’s not just a missed opportunity, folks. That’s an ocean of untapped revenue.

More than just lost revenue 

Certainly, the revenue lost when you fail to take full advantage of add-on services is significant. The customer analysis shows that tickets with at least one add-on service have a 63% higher value than those without. That kind of difference, of course, compounds over time, which is why clients with at least one add-on service in their service history have a 103% higher lifetime value on average. 

But it’s not just the revenue. The data also shows a strong link between add-ons and client retention. A client whose previous appointment included at least one add-on service is 25% more likely on average to return for another appointment within 90 days. The impact on retention extends beyond just our newer clients. As an industry, we have a tendency to fall into a routine with our more loyal clients. Add-ons are a great way to keep those legacy relationships feeling fresh by offering new and additional services. 

In other words, you have every reason under the sun to take full advantage of add-on services.

And yet, the gap remains, perhaps understandably so. After all, taking better advantage of add-ons falls firmly into the category of easier-than-done. There’s no single lever to pull. There’s no simple path from here to there. It takes a conscious, continuous, and collective effort on the part of everyone at your salon. But it absolutely can be done. 

Optimize for online booking 

If you’re ready to get serious about leveraging add-on services, there’s one clear, indisputable place to start, and that’s by fully leveraging the power of online booking. The link between booking online and tacking on an add-on service is evident in the data: 46% of all add-on services across all self-care businesses are added during online booking. It would take an entirely separate article to go through the dos and don’ts of optimizing your business for online booking, so for now, just remember that if more add-ons are your goal, online booking is your friend. 

Put add-ons front and center

Of course, offering clients a flawless online booking experience is only half the battle here. You also need to seamlessly integrate add-ons into the booking experience itself. They need to be front and center visually, with automatic prompts and the ability to add a service with nothing more than a single click. Here’s the deal: if a client has to take the initiative themselves, fish around to find what they’re looking for, or go through multiple steps just to add on a single service, they just won’t do it. Frankly, most clients aren’t actively looking to add on. It’s our job to take the initiative, give them the prompt, and make it as simple as can be. 

Train and incentivize your staff 

If 46% of all add-ons are booked online, that means lots and lots of services are still added on in person. So it’s critical to train your staff to talk with clients about add-ons. Knowing when to approach a client about an add-on service is critical. Data shows that clients are highly unlikely to book an add-on on their first visit to your salon or spa. Be patient and build relationships. The more a client trusts you as a person, the more likely they are to trust and act on your add-on recommendations. 

Don’t just train, either — incentivize. Do you want to grow your salon’s bottom line? Well then give your staff incentive to do it. Maybe that’s a higher commission percentage on add-on services. Or maybe it’s a bonus program tied to add-on attainment goals. The specifics of the program aren’t important. What’s important is ensuring your staff is as invested as you are. 

Educate, don’t upsell 

As important as it is to know when to talk to a client about add-ons, it’s even more important to know how to talk about them. The key is to educate rather than upsell. Look, upselling is a dirty word. Your staff doesn’t want to upsell, your clients don’t want to be upsold, and how can you blame them? Upselling is cringey!

What your clients do want, though, is to be educated. They have a deep thirst for knowledge and a desire —often unspoken — to understand how a given treatment or service might better help them look and feel their best. Explaining to a client why you think a certain color treatment would help them achieve the look and feel they want is a conversation that’s miles apart from one where you simply ask them if they want to add a color treatment today. Remember, when your clients look at you, they see an expert with a wealth of experience. So always educate, never upsell. 

Elevate the experience

I’m not about to come all this way and then tell you that optimizing how and when you deliver add-on services is not about revenue. It’s about revenue. But it’s also about client experience. Done right, add-on services play a critical role in providing the best possible experience to your client and sending them home feeling amazing —and when it comes to that, average is never acceptable.