lisa-april naidoo
Beauty Salons in Dubai
How Behavioral Economics Can Attract & Retain Customers in a Competitive Market
The beauty industry in Dubai is thriving and highly competitive, with many local and international brands offering a wide range of services. With over 3,500 beauty salons to choose from, customers can feel overwhelmed by the abundance of options. This makes it difficult for beauty salons to attract and retain customers in the market.
The abundance of choice can leave customers feeling cognitively fatigued before they have even started a journey which can make it difficult to acquire new customers. Customers often turn to apps like Entertainer and Fresha to find the best possible deals in the area.
Using apps like these can be great for acquiring new customers but can also be a pitfall for retaining customers. So how do beauty salons acquire and retain customers in this competitive field? The answer is behavioural economics.
The first hurdle to overcome is choice overload
Choice overload is a phenomenon that customers experience when they are faced with too many options that are similar which leads to confusion and frustration. We have acknowledged that offering deals is one way to attract clients, but this is not sustainable. The beauty of behavioural economics interventions is that they are often easy to implement and cost-effective. Here are 2 ideas that beauty salons can implement.
1. Use hyper-personalization. Create an interactive pricelist that allows customers to filter treatments based on their skin type, time available, and previous treatments. This reduces customer anxiety and improves their decision-making journey.

2. Reduce channel factors. Make it easier for customers to access information by embedding prices and direct links in advertising posts. By reducing the number of steps required, we can reduce the effort required for customers to decide.

The next hurdle beauty salon owners face is ensuring that customers return which is made difficult by apps offering discounted deals. Customers feel no loyalty toward beauty salons. In addition to having excellent customer service, salon owners can:

1. Use the Endowed progress effect in the rewards structure. The endowed progress effect refers to customers feeling more motivated to complete a journey or task if they have already been given an illusory start. This can be done by giving customers a digital stamp card with a few spaces already stamped, creating an illusion of progress.

2. Implement a Farewell Ritual. Prime customers by letting them know when they should schedule their next appointment at the end of a service. Follow up with a message to reinforce this idea, which can increase re-booking.

In conclusion, the beauty industry in Dubai is highly competitive and requires innovative strategies to attract and retain customers. By implementing behavioural economics interventions such as hyper-personalization and reducing channel factors, beauty salons can reduce customer confusion and frustration.

To ensure customer loyalty and repeat business, salon owners can use the endowed
progress effect in their rewards structure and implement a farewell ritual with follow-up messages. These tactics will not only increase customer satisfaction but also improve business results.

LISA-APRIL NAIDOO
SR. BEHAVIORAL CONSULTANT
Lisa-April is an experienced behavioral economics consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the management consulting industry.

Skilled in assisting clients identify key behavioral biases that affect decision-making.
LISA-APRIL NAIDOO
SR. BEHAVIORAL CONSULTANT
Lisa-April is an experienced behavioral economics consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the management consulting industry.

Skilled in assisting clients identify key behavioral biases that affect decision-making.

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