Leveraging the digital world

Taking advantage of technology to improve the business and enhance the guest experience

It can likely go without saying for most people working in the industry that operating a spa today can be tricky business. Creating an environment that helps meet the needs and desires of guests and keeping them engaged while attempting to figure out how to appeal to prospective visitors can be a daunting task on its own. However, given the recent accelerated digitization of the world around us, spa owners and operators can leverage the power of digital technologies to enhance their businesses and deliver exceptional experiences that will be remembered by those who receive them.
There are a whole number of ways in which technology can positively impact an operation. Here are five of the most powerful results that can be driven by the digitization of the traditional spa.

Collection of powerful data
Whenever you accept debit or credit card payment from a guest, or take online reservations for your services and products, you’re receiving a significant amount of data from the customer. If you’re not capturing it for use, each transaction represents an opportunity lost to better inform your business and get closer to the customer. To bridge this gap, there’s a whole range of digital software that’s available and easily integrated into any existing POS, CRM, or inventory management software, opening up a whole new world of information and laying the foundation for endless possibility and opportunities. The collection of data does come with a legal requirement to govern it in accordance with existing data privacy laws. However, with an understanding of these laws and adherence to them, the sky’s the limit.

Increased personalization
Once the data’s collected, analytics software can be leveraged to make sense of the information, helping to more easily glean insights from its output. Some of the most powerful insights are often centred around the guest, revealing patterns and tendencies that can allow business owners to better understand their customer and the experience or product they seek. It enables greater personalization through pointed offers and enticements — the type of service that today’s digital-savvy consumer is increasingly expecting from the brands and businesses that they shop and interact with. In order to show your guests that you care, it’s becoming more important to leverage the capabilities of technology to know them on a deeper, more personalized level.

A more seamless experience
In combination with the personalization of the journey and experience that a guest will enjoy with you, digital technologies can also help make that journey and experience much more convenient and seamless. Providing multiple channels through which your guests can communicate and interact with you will provide them with the choice and flexibility that they’re looking for. And allowing them to digitally manage their purchases, packages, and reservations empowers them, facilitating a relaxing and mindful trip to the spa, rather than an experience that’s bogged down by the friction of lineups and transactions.

Enhanced engagement
The more channels you provide your guests to communicate and interact with you, the greater your engagement will be with them, enabling a significant and valuable amount of pre- and post-visit dialogue. It also helps spa owners and operators understand the ways by which their guests prefer to communicate with them and the ways they are most likely to be receptive to messaging, arming, and honing marketing efforts and strategies. This is where a confluence of data-informed personalization and an understanding of the customer can prove to be a substantial differentiator for any business.

Mobile connectivity
Ensuring that all online materials and sources, including websites and multimedia, be developed as mobile-friendly content is becoming critically important. Ever-increasing adoption of smartphones among the general public means that it’s imperative to be accessible and legible on mobile screens, lest you miss the opportunity of being in the palm of consumers’ hands all day and night. Allowing for an experience on mobile that’s at least halfway consistent with the experience provided online and in person will go a long way toward engendering a trust with consumers, keeping you top of their minds when it comes to their next spa trip.
Enabling your business with the right technologies, digitally transforming your operations and offering, allows for more informed business and marketing decisions, creates greater internal efficiencies in processes, and ultimately increases the profitability of your spa, serving as a platform for further growth, success, and customer acquisition.