Medical Spa Pricing Strategies To Increase Profitability

Pricing your medical services is a key factor in your clinic's success.

Your pricing strategy helps to determine how patients respond to you, and their feelings about your clinic. It's as likely that you're charging too little as it is that you're charging too much.

There are plenty of different pricing strategies; bundling, discounting, subscriptions...   let's take a look at a few and the research that can help give you a guide for what might work in your situation.

Before we start, let's settle on a point of view and the outcome we're looking for. In general, we're discussing how to maximize gross revenues. There are some strategies that you may employ with other goals in mind; for example you may want to work only 20 hours a week and so your focus may be on maximizing hourly revenue rather than focus on a total. That's an entirely justifiable goal and we'll discuss it and other areas around this in future posts.

For now  let's just begin with maximizing gross revenue.

Pricing High or Pricing Low?

In some cases physicians combine "lowest cost / cheap" with "value".

This is completely wrong.

"Value" is the primary buying criteria for every person and every purchase. The difference is that while cheap or the lowest cost is an external measurement that's easily quantifiable, "value" is completely internal and emotional. Value is personal.

Buyers who purchase high-priced services or pay more do so because they perceive the value from these purchases to be higher than cheaper alternatives. I many cases this is completely without merit but there it is.

So... economy pricing could be a hit and miss for your medical spa. With many reports of botched patients and reviews about horrible side effects and complications, medical spa may want to avoid the "cheapest" label for a number of reasons. The problem with being the lowest price is that there can be only one, and you can get stuck in a race to the bottom with competitors who are also pursuing a "lowest-cost" pricing strategy. And a patient who comes to you for price will leave you for a lower price just as quickly.

So, it may be that premium pricing is a much better option if you're able to execute. 

Break it Down or Bundle it Up?

For this specific strategy, you would need to consider different ways to implement this. Breaking it down refers to x number of treatments for this price per treatment. Example, you can price a  treatment for ___$ a session as opposed to using a “starting from” price implementation.

A bundle pricing strategy could also work for patients who need multiple treatments (e.g. laser hair removal, non-surgical fat contouring) or multiple procedures that could reduce wrinkles but if you break it down, patients could also see how much the treatment is per session as opposed to bundling it up. 

Bundling is a common strategy for treatments that require multiple treatments to see an effect and satisfy a patient.

The answer may be to do both.

Some medical spas utilize a “membership plan” method, wherein a patient is given an option to avail of similar procedures, for this certain price. This is essentially that 'concierge medical model' but it is an uncommon practice in cosmetic medicine, yet it’s something that has serious advantages.

Should it be a 5, 9, or 0?

Pricing with the ‘9s at the end is called Charm or Psychological Pricing. It’s when you dock a cent off from its perceived value. Grocery stores employ this strategy thus many customers, and many are enticed when they see an original price and see the lower priced amount.

However, it doesn’t work all the time. You simply can’t have all treatments priced $_99. 

The answer: price treatments differently.

However, consider the “psychological” aspect of the patient when they browse your price list. Round numbers like 0s work well for people who rely on emotions because seeing the number would make them “feel good”.

One of the most effective pricing implementation strategies online is a discount or "credit" on a first treatment inside a specific time window. Sumo (see below)has done their research on the matter, and found that most customers signed up after learning they could receive store credit, and that the company’s email list grew by 87%. 

Slashing off or Discounting?

The strategy works well definitely for costly treatments. Instead of offering a $4 discount for a $12/unit of Botox, better to have it as such: $150 off a $450 for a treatment of Botox. Thing is, for both examples, the price is just docked 3 times off its original cost. Patients tend to go for the $150 off as a larger perceived value.

For values lower than $100, go for an actual percentage.

You can have a side by side comparison of the old price to the current price by putting a slash on the old price, provided the old price is higher than the current one.

You can implement any of these at a time, but remember not to go overboard with it. Learn which strategy could definitely work for your medical spa, and which would be more cost-effective as well. For your medical spa to get more patients and leads, you may need to switch up your pricing or implement different ones at the same time and which ones receive the most profits.

Further Reading On Pricing

Ciotti, G. (2015, September 09). 10 Pricing Strategies That Can Drastically Improve Sales. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/250289

Maguire, A. (2017, March 16). 6 Different Pricing Strategies: Which Is Right for Your Business? Retrieved from https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/pricing-strategy/6-different-pricing-strategies-which-is-right-for-your-business/

Moreno, N. (2018, May 10). 9 Pricing Strategies to Explode Your Revenue (Backed by Psychology). Retrieved from https://sumo.com/stories/marketing-pricing-strategies

Reeves, C. (2016, August 03). 8 Pricing Strategies To Use On Your Product, Service Or Workshop (FS124). Retrieved from https://fizzle.co/sparkline/7-pricing-strategies

Von Wilpert, C. (2018, July 04). Ecommerce Store Credit Strategy (Hint: 87% Email List Growth). Retrieved from https://sumo.com/stories/ecommerce-store-credit

Drive New Patients With Social Media

Everyone is on mobile, if you are not online then you're missing out.  But if you are, kudos to you and keep up the good digital work. As time passes, you may need to step up your game. Thus, improve your chances of patient visits by upgrading your current digital marketing strategies in the practice. 

Social media is omnipresent, that anyone who has access to the internet can have a social media account ready. Businesses use the opportunity to go on social networking sites, to gather more consumers and study their competition. Even if competition is evident, you can make social media a companion in your business. One of the many things social media introduced is the ability to go Live. This feature allows you to do as it suggests. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram has rolled out this new detail, and users (whether for personal or business purposes) have taken advantage of this feature. Going Live means you can present yourself or your practice to patients. Give them a glimpse of what your typical day is, which could make you look transparent.

Aside from investing on social media, blogging is also a great way to reach out to patients. It may be a tedious task as you may need to fill up one post with around 200 words at the minimum. Here's the thing, blogging gives you a voice. Many consumers are able to find new products through blogs. If you write about your work or your interests, people are bound to find you. Keywords will be your friend here, but use it with caution. Market your services with blogging, share your thoughts about any issue, and put your name out there.

If you are looking into reaching out with your customers, you and your practice staff can set-up an online community via groups, in lieu of an email marketing campaign that may cost you. Some examples of online communities are: Google+, Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups. Encourage them to join the online community, whether it is in Facebook or LinkedIn. Of course, there should be boundaries set, and have patients engage with you and reach you for any concern. You could promote services and should avoid any spamming.

This year, you should remember these tips and keep them if they work for you. If your practice isn't on social networking sites, you could be losing revenue and patients, so sign up real soon and be part of the competitive market.

Strengthening Your Medical Spas Local SEO Strategy

Many say, it’s always best to start small, which is true, because going big could cost you. It is crucial to keep up with the trends, and a solid marketing strategy can help you make your way to Google’s 1st page, without being banned. Thus, it is important to keep marketing at a steady pace while still following the rules. In this case, we advise you to start LOCAL.

Local SEO could help boost your website’s visibility in your city or state.

When you search for Local SEO, Google My Business (GMB) always comes up. This is a great way to be known through the search engine. Google is very much intuitive, knowing one’s location as they search. Thus, it is important as you update or set-up your website, to have a GMB listing underway. Google My Business also added a feature which is schedule appointments.

NAP, NAP, NAP

No don’t take a NAP. NAP means Name, Address, and Phone. All of which should be consistent in all your pages or social media websites. Aside from NAP, you also have to input your times and days of operations.

List on Local Directories

All businesses can start by listing their companies on Google My Business, so should your medical practice. Local directories could also help you put your practice on the map. Here are several directories you can start listing in:

• Google
• Yahoo!
• Yelp
• Facebook

Ask for reviews with Podium's special offer for Medical Spa MD Members.

It’s not bad nor it doesn’t violate HIPAA practices when asking for reviews. After all, most patients look for reviews first prior to scheduling an appointment with the doctor. Ask your patients to include the location of your practice when you encourage them to write their review. If some patients have already submitted their own, you can filter out the bad reviews, if any. Note, never to call out the patients that gave you a bad review.

Powerful Marketing For Your Medical Spa: Social Proofing

Increase conversion rates of cold sales emails through social proofing!

Social proofing is a psychological phenomenon which influences someone to think that you are great after knowing that other people think you are great. It is informational social influence where people assume or conform to other's actions in an attempt to reflect the correct behavior for a given situation.

This is useful especially when you are communicating to your potential customers for the first time, as when you are cold emailing them.

Social proof is also notable on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The more followers you have, the more trustworthy and reputable you appear to be.

Product reviews and ratings are relevant for American consumers. Statistics says that more than 70% of them look at product's site and its reviews and ratings before deciding to purchase a product.

Several techniques of social proofing can be utilized, including mentioning in your email the patrons of your product, perhaps a famous company which is also your client, a famous investor, or the person you know in common in the mail.

It shows your potential customer that others have also taken the action that your company wanted them to take, whether purchasing or subscribing. Research shows that when a famous customer is mentioned at the bottom of the email, replies in the cold email doubled.

In a study of 10,000 accounts at a German bank, it was shown that customers who came from customer referrals had 16% higher lifetime value than those who came from other acquisition sources. Social media has sparked dozens of different ways to provide this kind of social proof.

Facebook widgets that show other Facebook friends that “like” a brand, Twitter’s display of people you follow that also follow another person, and the various ways that company offer rewards for referring others to the brand are all examples of this. Perhaps you might also want to mention present customers with established positive reputations.

These influencers are seen more positively with association. A shared LinkeIn Connection may also be mentioned. It was found that when you point out a shared connection with someone in common, 25.5% of the people who received the email opted in to have a further conversation about the product compared to the 4 % who received the basic mail.

Testimonials, accompanied with corresponding faces, are one of the most persuasive forms of social proof out there. Compared to statistics, stories and real-life experiences by other people are more trustworthy and persuasive because these examples touch our hearts and mind.

Optimizing Your Clinics Email Marketing

Email marketing is a good way for businesses to engage both potential and existing customers. In 2015, email users are nearly around 2.6 billion and this is expected to exponentially increase to over 2.9 billion in the year 2019.

Emails are very useful in the business world and as well as consumers - mainly due to its use for notification consisting of online sales.

Further, survey says that 91% of consumers check their email at least daily and 55% of companies surveyed say they generate more than 10% of sales from email.

Data from the Direct Marketing Association reveal that 66% of online consumers made transactions out of an email marketing message.

Email marketing allows you to be efficient. You can save a lot of your precious time after optimizing your autoresponder sequence or your sales funnel. Automation takes over and does most of the work for you.

But first, you have to plan about the results you want to achieve when hatching plans to grow your list. Map out how email marketing can be incorporated in your overall marketing scheme.

So, how do you improve your patient interaction through email marketing?

Start with what you write as a keyword in your subject line. A study shows that those with keywords confirm, features, upgrade, magic and raffle are likely to be reported as spam so it is best to avoid them unless you were able to built up a list that really trusts you and your brand.

Make a great first impression on your new subscriber through the welcome email or the autoresponder sequence.

When do you send them?

Try sending them on days other than Tuesday and Thursday and email your customers between the hours of 2 PM and 5 PM.

MailChimp’s Email Genome Project reveals that more mails are sent on Tuesday and Thursday than any other day of the week so you might want to test sending emails on other days so you will have less competition. This will pave the way for increased inbox space and click through rates.

People are more likely to open their email between 2 PM to 5 PM, regardless of time zone, according to the Email Genome Project.

Where do you link your email?

Try sending your email traffic to a dedicated landing page because this is usually the one that has a higher conversion rate. Also, you might want to include social share buttons in your emails as this can also generate higher click through rates.

Got other email marketing advices? Share them by posting your comments below. =)

Make Sure Your Medspa Staff Meet Their Sales Goals

Technological advancement is all around us. It would be advantageous to make use of all the available online applications and technological trends to reach your clincs sales goals, rather than unduly stress yourself out by not utilizing the available tools at your fingertips.

ELECTRONIC NOTEBOOKS

Using electronic notebooks such as the Evernote suite may come in handy when you do some scheduling, note-taking, and even have effective meetings by presenting your work as it evolves. This app has also a voice recognition feature and even allows you to sketch a whiteboard type image to facilitate communication with your prospective client.

According to Evernote developers, this application allows you to bring your life's work together in one workspace. It also allows you to collaborate with your colleagues and create more opportunities for your team. Also, it has a function which allows you to keep track of tasks, and write notes without the need of the conventional pen and paper.

A comparable application to Evernote is Microsoft's OneNote which allows you to sync and open your notes while using a your computers, tablets and phones. There is also Springpad, an app which is designed to automatically guess what you have clipped from the web or uploaded to your notebooks and then organize it without your help.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TOOLS

When you would need to generate more leads and reach out to your potential customers, here are some tools that will help you reach your sales quotas: There are tools that allow you to monitor when your brand is mentioned on social networks, blogs, or forums.

The app Mention allows you to monitor your brand presence and even monitor keywords that you want to keep track of. If you have your own Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google account, Buffer is a social media tool that sends your updates to the your social networking sites. It also tells you when is the best time to make updates based on your updates.

Collaboration with your team can also be done so your accounts are up to date. Other tools include Feedly for content discovery, Twitter Counter for tracking the progress of your tweets, and Bottlenose which displays information based on its order of importance.

A provider of marketing intelligence service such as InsideView and Data.com may help you in making decisions about your sale territory because these provide your with valuable marketing data useful in accelerating your sales.

Using these available and easy-to-use technologies may greatly improve your business' performance. With these apps, ease of communication and coordination among you and your members is facilitated, making it easier for your to achieve your sales targets.

Renaissance Ideal vs. Niche Market

How broad is your menu of services?

There are arguable benefits to both generalization and specialization. 

Generalists believe that every new trend should be added to their spa offerings for fear of losing a client to a competitor. These polymaths say that customers want one stop shopping. Some like to put everything out there to see what will stick. They offer everything from bioidentical hormone replacement to laser toenail fungus treatments. DaVincians are presented with a marketing challenge as their buyers span the entire spectrum of demographics. 

Specialists insist that expertise cannot be achieved by a jack-of-all-trades. They apply the old proverb, "If you chase two rabbits, they both will get away." They focus their efforts on one or several procedures and hone their skills to levels of proficiency.  They get to know their niche consumer and target them specifically.  Sometimes, they will open a very distinct enitity like a vein clinic or a tattoo removal center. However, those with narrower menus may lose the "largely cast net" benefit of the generalist. 

While there is a happy medium between the two extremes, I have made a choice to offer fewer services over recent years.  I did a profit analysis of each service carefully capturing all associated costs.  Those procedures with lackluster returns and a low promise of improvement were dropped.  All associated equipment was liquidated. In the end, my clients respected fewer offerings rather than trying to be everything to everyone.  I am busier now than I was when I offered more.

The economic downturn combined with increased saturation of the cosmetic market has resulted in a more discerning consumer.  Today's buyer cannot afford to jump from clinic to clinic and wants to get it right the first time. This prudent purchaser may perceive a greater chance for a home run outcome in a niche setting over an "everything under the sun" venue.  The attributes sought in a provider are becoming a  matter of mastery over mediocrity.

Where do you fit in this spectrum?