Customers are becoming more demanding, and competition is becoming more intense. It's becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate one spa from another.  Through loyalty programs, customer and transactional data can be collected, and the intelligent use of that data will provide a much clearer picture of the customer base.

The theory of customer loyalty is simple: a business that retains its customers for longer usually makes more money from them at lower cost than one that is constantly paying to acquire new customers. The basic principles are simple: know your customers, and only reward them for desired behavior.

The Four Steps of a Loyalty Program

1. Focus on the best customers that you already have
2. Optimize the profit that can be made from them
3. Increase the period in which they remain customers
4. Be able to produce measurable results of success

Smart operators used loyalty programs not to buy repeat visits, but to garner information from their customers in order to learn more about them: who their most profitable and least profitable customers were, what they wanted, and what changes or offerings would be most likely to make them truly loyal.