Grow your grooming business - Message my pet groomer !
We are a pet family (2 cats and a dog), and we spend a lot more on our dog’s grooming than my own. The results speak for themselves at the dog park, as no one notices me, but they are all over our cute toy poodle Cuddles! I always engage with our fantastic dog groomer through WhatsApp, arrange appointments and confirm pickups, but it is always one on one so quite labour intensive for the groomer. Also, it got me thinking how best dog groomers can use conversational commerce (messaging current and prospective customers) to grow their business, increase their client base and sell new products and services. Conversational commerce can help new groomers and groomers that have run their salon for 10 years or more.
Message your current customers can help pet groomers !
When groomers are being advised to grow their business, one of the first things they will be advised is to get a social media account (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok etc.) and to grow a following you will need to consistently post new content (e.g., before and after pet pictures), advertise new services and new products. This is all good advice and anyone with a smart phone in their hands can be done quite easily.
A simple reality is that groomers are not taking advantage of the most important customer information and that is the customer mobile number (and the name). Today every interaction with my pet groomer is initiated by me to book an appointment, and then what follows is a back and forth trying to agree suitable times.
Instead, a more effective solution would be for pet groomers to take advantage of a conversational commerce platform that will automatically send a reminder on messaging (SMS or WhatsApp) to existing clients to book their next appointment. This will ensure your business has more regular repeat business, and your appointment book has less free spaces. More importantly you are less likely to lose existing loyal customers as they will look for another grooming business if your calendar is booked up for weeks. Adding a store and digital payments means that you can request full or partial payment to secure an appointment, thus ensuring cancelled or missed appointments do not leave you out of pocket.
Acquire new customers with conversational commerce !
Most new prospective clients start with a google search ‘pet groomer near me’ or even a search on social media ‘pet groomers in Manchester.’ If your business has a Facebook or Instagram account, you can direct the prospect to your social media account. prospective clients can do their research and get comfortable with your business. Then they will look to contact you through a phone call of instant message.
A lot of grooming businesses are small operations and are usually on the job and cannot answer their phone or respond to a message immediately. If the customer cannot reach a person or reach only voicemail, most customers will just assume that they will not get a call back leading to a missed opportunity for the business. This can be a very frustrating experience for a prospective client if you do not respond or respond late. These prospective clients will vote with their wallet and look elsewhere.
Now imagine the same engagement, instead of calling the groomer or leaving a message on Facebook for a person to respond at the end of the day, prospective clients would engage with a messaging chat bot that could take a client through a structured journey, allow the client to view a catalogue of services, see pictures of different grooming for pets similar to their own, book an appointment and digital pay for the service. The next time the client wants to use the grooming service, they simply need to go back through their conversation history and rebook a new appointment. Unlike a website or a social media account, any prospective client that engages with your business through conversational commerce you now have their phone number and as part of the engagement they have opted-in to receive promotional features in the future.
How can Payemoji conversational commerce help pet grooming businesses?
Grooming businesses can benefit from Payemoji conversational commerce through messaging apps in many ways from customer support to allowing customers to order and pickup. It does not matter if you are one person business or several employees, our services can support your business.
- Local mobile number: Every grooming business will get their own local mobile number that can be used on Google, website, social media, or business cards to engage the grooming business. We also provide QR codes to provide a quick way for customers to scan and launch a message to the business. This will save your own phone number for VIP customers, suppliers etc. and only conversations that need your personal attention.
- Structured menu: Each grooming business through the Payemoji portal will setup a menu and this is presented to the customer when they engage with the grooming business.
- Customer Support: Simple chat bots can answer basic customer questions like opening hours, location, or provide simple tips or how to properly care for their pets’ grooming needs.
- Personalized service: When customers need a more individualized touch, it is possible to handover conversations from the chat bot to a human.
- Shared inbox: For businesses with more than one groomer, the customer engagement through messaging can be easily viewed by different employees and understand the history of engagement with a customer providing a better experience and saving time.
- Book a grooming and reminders: Customers can book a grooming appointment and digitally pay. Also use our service to send reminders to existing customers of upcoming appointments.
- Free up time and save labour: This can free up precious time by allowing automation to engage with customers on simple repetitive tasks, and this will allow the business owners to focus on a more personalized service.
- eCommerce store for grooming supplies and services: Each business gets an eCommerce store and allow their customers to order and pay for grooming products, ensuring higher sales.
- Digital payments: Customers can pay with their credit card or using their phone with Google Pay and Apple pay. No need to handle cash or share your bank account.
- Loyalty and Promotions: As every customer will engage with their phones, grooming businesses will now have the phone number of every customer that engages with them and understand new versus repeat customers preferences. It is simple to offer exclusive deals e.g., 10% off Wednesday grooming.
- Receive customer feedback: Allow customers to rate their experience of the service.
- Simple integration into existing social media and google business: Just use the phone number provided to integrate into any social media app or into google.
- No Apps to download for customers: This is critical as many consumers do not like to download Mobile Apps for small businesses and this can be an unnecessary friction. No one is ever deleting their favorite messaging app like WhatsApp from their phone.
