Position Yourself as a Massage Expert, Part 3
(Click here for Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.)
As humans, we’re naturally wired to want to be a part of a larger group. As consumers, we trust peer recommendations way more than we do advertisements. As individuals, we feel supremely more confident in our buying decisions when we know others are making the same choices.
That’s why you’ll find reviews, customer case studies and client quotes—materials known in the marketing world as social proof—used heavily on the websites of successful businesses, from Amazon to Zappos.
Social Proof Is Powerful
As an expert massage therapist, you can and should share your clients’ stories. Those snapshots of real clients give authenticity to your business and ease concerns of future clients, and they’re a golden opportunity to show you get the results you say you do.
According to a CompUSA and iPerceptions study, as referenced in a Search Engine Journal article, “63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews.” That’s the power of social proof in action.
Build Your Credibility as a Massage Expert
There are many ways to use social proof to build credibility for your massage business, including:
- Add short testimonial quotes from happy clients throughout your website, or create a new page to showcase them all. Be sure to ask permission from clients first and, if possible, include a name and photo with each quote.
- Create a case study sharing a specific client’s story. Ask her to write a few sentences about the issues she was having before receiving massage from you and how those issues have been resolved or improved. Then add details of the services and modalities you used. Share this case study on your blog or services page.
- If your business has a physical location, claim your Google listing and Yelp page, then encourage clients to leave reviews online. Approximately five reviews on Google are all it takes to get a star rating associated with your business.
- If you have a following on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter, add social media widgets on your website so you can show off your popularity. Clients and prospective clients should always be able to find your social pages via your website.
Social Proof in Action
Since she started using social proof as a marketing tactic, massage therapist Helena Teply-Figman, C.M.P., of Hummingbird Bodyworks, has gone from having 100-percent same-day bookings to having half of her calendar booked in advance with repeat clients. She shares testimonials on almost every page of her website and can direct prospective clients to a full page of reviews on Yelp.
“I started by approaching clients that I had worked with for at least a year and had made significant progress with me. They were more than happy to give me a testimonial or leave an online review,” said Teply-Figman. “I also follow up with an email to new clients after their first session. It’s good customer service, and sometimes those clients will reply telling me how great their experience was. Often they’re happy to let me use their review on my website or social media, and even post it to my Yelp page.”
Whether you send email follow-ups like Teply-Figman or have printed cards you hand to clients with their receipts, creating a regular way to collect and share reviews and other forms of social proof will help grow your credibility and influence as an expert in massage therapy.
Click here for Part 4 of this series.
About the Author
Connie Holen is a Web and graphic designer at PixalityDesign.com. She specializes in creating clean, modern and easy-to-manage websites for small businesses and professionals in the wellness and fitness industries.