Our $11k Virtual Event Launch Client Success Story

Yes, you did read that right: our $11k virtual event launch client success story is the topic of today’s Spa Business Mastery episode!

As Launch Certified spa industry professionals, my marketing manager, Delia, and I have been dedicating much of our talking points here on Spa Business Mastery to discussing the ins and outs of virtual event launches… and we’re now taking that a step further by giving you a play-by-play of what worked, what didn’t, and what we would change for the next time we help a virtual event launch client earn over $10k in sales!

Here’s all you need to know:

The Value of Ultra-Organization in the Spa Industry

Whether it be in our VIP Days to iron out spa owners’ marketing plans, single coaching sessions, or these event launch-based sessions, A) being ultra-organized, and B) having tried-and-true systems in place always come out on top when it comes to being successful in the spa industry.

In the case of this specific client success story, which is about a virtual event launch, we also recognize that virtual events are very new in the spa industry! Therefore, it’s important to analyze the outcomes of virtual event launches in the industry so that you can set benchmarks for yours and tailor the approach you take to best adhere to your specific goals and needs.

What we know for sure in working with spa professionals for general spa biz growth, event planning, hiring, niching, and especially marketing is that, when you apply a proven and high-level system with high-level strategy and action steps, you get better results. It’s just a fact! That’s how we’ve learned to take the wins of spa-centric ecourses and business coaches and apply them to the steps leading up to launching a virtual event (which, let’s face it, is something the spa industry needs to improve upon in general! Even before the pandemic, action steps leading up to in-person spa events were tentative at best and non-existent at worst.)

Why Spa Owners Should Start on Their Virtual Event Launch Strategies Now

As a quick aside before we jump into the nitty-gritty of our client success story, we wanted to reiterate that, while we know (and understand!) that some spa owners feel more at home in the treatment room than shifting their focus to virtual offerings, it has become increasingly more important to do so since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

With the pandemic being the impetus that the spa industry needed to get their eCommerce, virtual events, and other online offerings rolling, there is still a gap in the professional skin care industry when it comes to virtual services and eCommerce sales.

 Benefits of getting your virtual strategies sorted early include:

• The ability to smash that glass ceiling of earnings by no longer being tied to the treatment room
• Having the opportunity to connect with both potential and existing clients in a fresh way
• Growing your email list long-term
• Boosting your retail sales

Now, on to the overview of our $11k virtual event launch client success story:

The $11k Virtual Event Launch Client Success Story: An Overview

This success story is about a solo spa owner and skin therapist who is currently based out of a small, secluded town in Northern Canada. Her story of having finite in-person clients is one that we expect will resonate with many spa owners: not only was she solo, she felt that, without turning to virtual offerings, she would quickly run into a wall of how many clients she could have!

In addition to having a small pool of potential in-person clients, her email list was similarly small, being under 300. However, she solidly invested in email marketing over the years and kept that small list warm by consistently communicating with them; she was also consistent on social media for over two years, with five posts a week going out between Instagram and Facebook.

This was a large part in what made her first virtual event this past Spring, which was retail-only due to COVID-19 restrictions at the time, a success. Despite her small following, she reaped over $2,000 in earnings during that event alone!

Her second event, which is what we will be deep-diving into today, was a skincare masterclass and sales event.

How Goal-Setting Increases Sales Long-Term

When the Launch Certified experts here at Kirsten Foss Coaching work with spa owners, we split financial goals into three categories: “Good, “Better”, and “Best”. This spectrum helps to determine profitability so that you’re comparing apples to apples, so to speak.

For this spa owner, we set three sales-related goals:

• For retail: Selling x amount of holiday boxes
• For services: Selling x amount of her peel series
• For bounce-backs: x amount of people booking a January treatment using the bounce-back offer

Setting these goals will also help you measure success for all future related spa events you put on.

What Worked, What Didn’t Work, and What We Would Change Next Time

For the next part of our overview, let’s outline what worked:

• This client had a warm email list via monthly email newsletters, which made pitching the virtual event to her clients easier
• She had been offering online skin coaching and virtual facials consistently for 18 months, so her clients were familiar with her offers
• Her marketing message had been consistent across all email marketing and social media marketing avenues pre-launch
• She readily followed our provided strategy and action steps
• She was able to make sales pivots based on real-time sales results to maximize revenue opportunities (for example, she had four days of open cart available)
• She had a team behind her to help her manage the event so that she could focus on presenting the actual masterclass

As a result of these points, she doubled her attendance from her Spring event, had an almost 100% show-up rate at this masterclass, had email opens that were 3x above industry average, and yielded her $11k+ in sales!

That doesn’t mean everything ran perfectly, however! Despite this huge success, examples of what didn’t work include:

• This client not knowing where the recording of her masterclass was after the event ended, which caused short-term stressed
• She had not used her email opt-in recently, so that opt-in was not as warm as it could have been; this lost her potential sign-ups
• She was offering a service series that had a high upfront caused, which caused some hesitancy among clients; we adjusted the offer to reach her service sales goals

So what would we change?

• Get the client’s opt-in used more pre-launch in order to further build up her list 
• Add an Afterpay-type service to appeal to clients who don’t use PayPal in order to increase average spend

Create Your Own Virtual Event Launch Success Story Today

Any time a spa owner tries a new approach to business strategy, there’s always a learning curve. We saw this first-hand between this client’s Spring and Fall event: a $10k difference, to be exact!

This learning curve is why you always need a debrief. That means:

• Separating your feelings and your data (after all, numbers don’t lie! Events that you may assume were a complete flop may be much more valuable than you realize, even if you didn’t meet your sales goals)
• Recognizing areas of improvement to apply to your next event launch
• Doing the necessary prep work
• Starting to plan earlier than you think you do
• Outsourcing launch tasks that you don’t have the time or skill set for
• Determining if your marketing copy and calls-to-action resonated with your target audience

If you’re planning a Spa event, you’ll need to start planning ASAP.

Here at Kirsten Foss Coaching, we need to start organizing your event with you at least 12 weeks prior to your event so that your success story can become a reality. Reach out to make it happen today.