Your Product Website
Your Product Website
Author: Jenna White | San Francisco Hairstylist
August 3rd, 2022
August 3rd, 2022
I recently opened my own salon and went through the process of setting up a website for the business's retail. Previously I rented a chair and also managed my own product lines, but running a salon in partnership with another stylist required revamping my approach and making it accessible to people other than myself. Having learned a lot during the process, I wanted to put together a post sharing insights and guidance for anyone else going through the same experience.
STEP 1: Set Up Your Website
If you already have a website, you can jump to Step 2.
If not, you can check out this Forbes guide on 10 Key Steps To Building A Great Small Business Website.
For a faster and easier approach, skip the website all together and use a minisite like Milkshake on Instagram.
You can also have a simple one page website for the business that links to each stylist's personal website/Instagram to give everyone flexibility around what they promote and when. Services like Weebly make this easy and don't require any code.
If not, you can check out this Forbes guide on 10 Key Steps To Building A Great Small Business Website.
For a faster and easier approach, skip the website all together and use a minisite like Milkshake on Instagram.
You can also have a simple one page website for the business that links to each stylist's personal website/Instagram to give everyone flexibility around what they promote and when. Services like Weebly make this easy and don't require any code.
STEP 2: Plan Your Check Out Process
Planning your check out process ensures a smooth experience for your clients. Test the process out beforehand, versus testing with your clients the first time they try to buy a product. Also, take the time to make sure each person selling product at the salon knows how to use the checkout system. I've listed some tips below for setting up the checkout experience, but make sure to enlist the help of an accountant to ensure you're following the rules in your state and/or country.
Some things to keep in mind for product sales:
Things to keep in mind for in-person salon check out:
Things to keep in mind for online ordering:
Some things to keep in mind for product sales:
- Set up a separate company bank account to keep your personal and business finances separate. Use a service like QuickBooks to keep track of your business expenses.
- Note: If you have business partners, it may make sense for you to have two QuickBooks accounts. One for your hair services business that is just for you, and another for shared salon income plus expenses (ex: product sales, chair rentals, rent for the salon) that all the business partners have access to.
- Use an accountant to help you manage your business's sales tax. Most checkout systems offer services that set sales tax aside for you. Then your accountant can check that amount against your sales and confirm what is owed to the state.
Things to keep in mind for in-person salon check out:
- Invest in a product checkout system (ex: Square or Vagaro). Fyi - you'll need to purchase their checkout hardware as well. Clients can opt to save their checkout info in your system (which requires no hardware for checkout) but not everyone will be comfortable with this, so you'll need both options.
- Prepare a list of products with prices to add to your checkout system when setting it up.
- Make it easy for people to learn about your products, and to checkout, by:
- Adding QR code stickers on the bottle/packaging that link to a page on your website with more product info.
- Having a QR code to your salon's product list page out on the product shelves.
- Display products:
- In easily accessible areas.
- On shelves with room for open space around each product to make viewing/digesting the selection easier.
- Grouped by product type (ex: shampoos, conditioners, detanglers, masks, etc) or by product brand.
Things to keep in mind for online ordering:
- Give clients the option to purchase online and pick up at the salon by paying up front or onsite during pick up.
- Offer shipping options, which will require a salon partner/owner to drop products off at FedEx or UPS at the end of the day. Materials to keep on hand at the salon for shipping could include: tape, address labels, inserts with a personal note, boxes, bubble wrap.
STEP 3: Define Your Audience
Use the questions below to define your clientele and/or target clientele:
- What types of services/haircuts do you want to be doing?
- What is the average age range of your clientele (ex: 18 - 35)?
- What percentage of your clients are female, male, non-binary?
- Are any of your clients part or a rewards program that you run?
- How many years has each client been scheduling appointments with you for?
- Where do your clients live and/or work (cities versus suburbs)?
- On average, how much do clients spend on product(s) with you each month?
STEP 4: Research Your Competition
Do research on the product lines salons nearby are selling.
- What product lines have you chosen that differentiate what you offer from what they offer? For example, indie product lines may be less well known, and therefore novel and interesting to customers who don't know where to find them.
- If most of your product offerings will be similar, then what types of things will make buying from you easier or a better experience?
- Consider the following during your research:
- For urban salons, research competition within 5 - 10 blocks of your location.
- For rural salons, research competition anywhere from 5 - 30 minutes from your location.
- The competition's aesthetic compared to yours - edgy, romantic, modern, eclectic? What makes your aesthetic different and desirable?
- Does the brand marketing of your product line(s) compliment your aesthetic (or the salon's)? If yes, see how you can leverage things like their Instagram stories and TikTok videos on your social media and the business's. If no, plan ways to create your own promo content that does fit (ex: photo shoots, Instagram or TikTok collabs).
STEP 5: Plan Your Branding and Messaging
Branding
Messaging
- What will your product brand strategy be? How does it fit with your salon's brand strategy?
- Services like Canva offer great tools for outlining your brand strategy. Search "brand guidelines" on their website for templates.
- What brand colors will you use in your marketing content?
- Will you showcase your products by:
- Taking your own product photos (these will be unique to your business, and remind people of your salon when they're seen)?
- Using the marketing material provided by the product line (this material works too, but it won't be a differentiator for your business)?
- Tips on taking your own product photos:
- For your product photo shoot set up, use a black background (for example, two pieces of construction paper, one underneath the product and one behind it against a wall). This will make it easier to use a service like Canva to remove the background in the photo.
- Plan a photo shoot with existing clients and/or partners and take photos and videos of you using the product that you can use on your website.
Messaging
- How do you want your target audience to feel when they see your marketing content (ex: happy, nostalgic or eager to schedule their next appointment)?
- What is your call to action in the marketing content (ex: click here, schedule here, purchase here, etc)? Don't assume people will know what to do after seeing your content. Find ways to make it as easy as possible for them to follow through. Do test runs of the process yourself before launching.
STEP 6: Plan Your Go-to-Market Strategy
Now that you know your audience, your competition, your branding and your messaging, plan your go-to-market strategy.
Go-to-Market
Go-to-Market
- Who will market the products?
- A specific person that oversees the salon's marketing (usually better for larger salons)?
- Each individual stylist via their social media accounts (can be used by large and small salons)?
- What metrics will you use to define a product campaign's success?
- Daily website visitors (ex: your goal is to generate awareness)
- Product sales/revenue (ex: your goal is to drive retail sales)
- Number of products sold (ex: your goal is to make room for new inventory)
- Daily website visitors (ex: your goal is to generate awareness)
- Where will your existing clientele hear about the products you're selling? Are you reminding clients to follow you on Instagram and/or TikTok during appointments?
- Where will new potential clients hear about the products you're selling? (ex: HairLooks, Google, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, local partnerships, referral programs, brand ambassadors)
- What dates are you targeting for launching your website and campaign?
- Why should customers respond to your campaign? Why respond now and not at a later point in time?
STEP 7: Pre-launch Checklist and Planning
Make sure to have the following prepared for the launch:
- Content (photos, videos, reels, Instagram posts, etc) for announcing the products you'll be offering.
- An email sign up option on your website for sharing Newsletters and information about your salon.
- An account with an email campaign service (ex: Mailchimp). Send yourself a few test emails to make sure the emails sent from the service don't wind up in spam. Do this a week or so before the day of your launch (STEP 8), because some security settings take multiple days to clear.
- A schedule for posting to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and any other channels you're targeting.
- A way of tracking your metrics (ex: Google Analytics, Segment, Branch, an excel spreadsheet for metrics that are custom to your business).
STEP 8: Launching
Keep the following in mind for the day/week of the launch:
- Try to automate as much of the content posting as possible so it works on autopilot throughout the week for you (ex: Later).
- The launch phase should be focused on executing a plan, versus coming up with ideas in the moment.
- Check your campaign metrics throughout the week and adjust your approach if necessary (ex: posting in the morning if you notice more clicks or pageviews compared to the afternoon).
STEP 9: Relaunching
After you've planned and generated content, you can reuse it at different intervals month-to-month. Remind your existing clients, and potential new ones, that you're there to help them improve the health of their hair, plus their self esteem. Your product campaign may generate the following, which can be reused (or redone) again and again:
- Product photos with descriptions on your website.
- Infographics on your product line(s).
- Classes, events, or pop-ups at your salon and/or at other local businesses you partner with.
- Webinars or TikTok videos that teach how to use different hair products.
- Contests or giveaways offering services and/or products for:
- Sharing your website (can be confirmed with a screen shot or a tag in a social media post).
- Giving client referrals (the new client can enter a referrer's name during booking).