Are you losing customers to Massage Envy?

Finding out that a Massage Envy location has opened in your neighbourhood can be a little scary.  Massage Envy franchises benefit from the brand name recognition and marketing power of the US’s largest massage therapy franchise. With that kind of support, a nearby Massage Envy location has the potential to siphon away some of your business. But how do you find out if any of your customers have made the switch to Massage Envy?

That requires investigation. 

Start by looking at your before and after performance numbers. Here’s how.  

1. Determine your total number of clients and rate of growth.

Look through your records. Have your client numbers been increasing or decreasing from year to year and month to month? In other words, are you trending up or down?

See if you can spot a pattern related to Massage Envy’s arrival. Did your growth take an unusual downward turn after a Massage Envy franchise opened nearby? How many individual clients did you have before Massage Envy came to town and how many you have now?

2. Look at your customer retention rates.

Next, dig a little deeper to find out if you are losing loyal customers to this franchise competitor by examining your customer churn rates. If you lose 10 existing customers each month, but they are replaced by 10 new ones. You may be holding steady, but you aren’t building a loyal customer base.

Since gaining new customers is usually more expensive than keeping existing ones, churn raises your customer acquisition costs and lowers your profits. Where are your former customers going and why? Are your customers deserting you in favor of Massage Envy? We’ll discuss how to find out later in this article.

3. Review your total bookings and receipts.

Even if your client numbers haven’t changed, your total revenue could be affected by a new competitor in the area. To get a full picture of how your business is performing, look at your average bookings and sales trends pre- and post-Massage Envy. Have you noticed a drop in merchandise sales? Are your regular customers booking less often? Maybe they are splitting their attention between your massage clinic and Massage Envy.

Of course, there could be other reasons that your client numbers, bookings per client, or sales are down. But, gathering these numbers provides you with valuable information you can use to investigate further, which is what you’ll do next. Keep track of your performance figures from month to month. The more data you capture and retain over time, the better you’ll be able to spot trends in your business’s performance--whatever the cause.

Now, how can you find out for certain that a customer has chosen Massage Envy over you? Ask! 

If you’ve been keeping track of your clients’ visits, then you should have a pretty good idea of how often they visit you and when those visits slow down. You should also be able to identify those customers who have stopped visiting you altogether. Make a list of your lapsed clients and call or message them. Start a conversation and ask them why they aren’t seeing you anymore (or as often) and what you can do to encourage them to come back. 

Whether or not Massage Envy is the cause, touching base with these clients is a good idea and a great way to re-engage them. The information you discover during these one-on-one conversations will help you build a stronger, more resilient business.  

There’s a place for your business in the massage therapy marketplace. You don’t have to beat Massage Envy on price or hours of operation. You just need to find out who your clients are and what they want. Then, deliver it. 

Are they interested in less expensive services like the ones Massage Envy offers? Or, have they simply not thought about getting a massage lately? Could you expand your services so that a visit to your establishment is a special treat? Maybe they’ve moved and your location is no longer convenient.

Rest assured that if Massage Envy is nipping at your market share, there’s a lot that you can do about it. You’ll find a full set of tips and strategies for keeping what’s yours and beating Massage Envy in The Ultimate Guide to Beating Massage Envy. It’s free and waiting for you to download it right now. Because your success is our business.