Perfecting the Atmosphere of your Massage Business
Countless studies have proven that a massage location’s atmosphere can influence the decisions a customer makes. These decisions can make or break your business. The decision to come back, the decision to add a few extras to the experience, the decision to tell their friends and family about you, or the decision to pay extra to try the expensive massage table can be the difference between you getting more clients than you can handle, and you struggling and waiting at the door, wondering why no one is coming. So how can you influence these decisions?
Fine Tuning the Experience
Well, there are many things that are within your control. According to an article by mgsportsmassage.com, the best things you can control are the music you play, the lighting you use, the essential oils you use, and the temperature of your rooms. The article references a study by PsychCentral that directly connects music choice to emotions. The study found that many of the people they studied saw music as a way to get their emotions out– not too dissimilar to how a massage helps people release their tense muscles and joints. Music can help people feel relaxed and at peace, a feeling that they likely are getting a massage to experience. Calming music can be the perfect addition to the experience– so consider spending a little more time personalizing your massage mix for your clients. It can help you bring out just what your clients were looking for.
Music
Music isn’t the only thing that affects the client’s emotions. The lighting can be a huge contributor as well. A study by Science Daily states that the lighting of a room does indeed affect the decisions we make. The study found that brighter lighting led to more intense emotions from the participants, while dimmer, softer lighting led the participants to feel more muted emotions. This affects the decisions the customers make, in that brighter lights can make people more decisive, while dimmer lights can change the types of decisions the customers make. This can be used in your reception area and your massage rooms. If you want customers to consider adding more to their massage experience (and spending more), you should consider making your reception area dimmer.
Scent
As for scents in the massage room, a Harvard study found that there is a clear connection between scent and emotion, and the aroma used in your massage clinic can hugely affect the atmosphere you’re presenting. Most massage therapists use aromatherapy in their massage sessions, and many allow the clients to choose what “flavor” essential oil they want during their session. It is worth testing your essential oils to see which ones smell the best or bring the best reaction from your customers, but if you just feel like going to the experts, check out this article which includes a list of the top 10 essential oil brands. Allowing the client to choose their kind of essential oil also gives them a sense of personalization, as if their experience is uniquely theirs. This will help strengthen their connection to your spa and increase the likelihood that they will be back for more.
Temperature
Lastly is temperature. Temperature can be manipulated in various ways in the massage room, but one thing that is almost guaranteed to make a lasting impression on your clients is a heated massage table. This can be a tall order for some massage owners, as it requires extra spending, but given that few massage businesses do this, it is a solid way to make your massage business stand out. Whether you have the budget to upgrade your table collection to have built in heating, or you only want to get heated massage blankets for each table, offering a heated massage is sure to make a lasting impression on all of your clients.
There are so many options to improve the experience and atmosphere for the customer– many of which are be extremely affordable. For a massage business to thrive, customer experience is everything, and when massage therapists make the effort to heighten that experience, they are very likely to see their efforts and attention to detail pay off.