A question of loyalty

Loyalty is what all salons and spas strive for but determining what makes clients stick with your brand is not always simple, writes Hellen Ward

Exactly what makes a person loyal to a brand? It’s the million-dollar question for entrepreneurs and marketers the world over. Is it an emotive decision?

Price-led? Experience? Relationship based? Which of the senses need to be ignited to create the process that leads from the initial purchase to a lifetime of loyalty and devotion? Is a visual connection more instant or important than how a product makes you feel? Is there any way to quantify?

There’s an age-old adage which says be fast, be cheap or be good but pick two. Known as the iron triangle, this principle weighs cost, speed and quality:

• If you are good and fast, you’ll have to be expensive

• If you are good and cheap, it will have to be slow

• If you are fast and cheap, it will be low quality

• But what is never possible is to be all three.

We all love certain brands inexplicably. Perhaps there’s an element of capturing all the senses to create a feel-good factor, or maybe it’s an aspirational desire that’s ignited. Regardless, some brands are just in your heart.

Chanel founder Coco Chanel, who created my all-time favourite brand, famously defined it by stating: “Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends”. Whenever I’m in Paris, I cannot leave without visiting Chanel’s original atelier in Rue Cambon just to step inside and be transported into another world.

Last December, I walked past the brand’s Paris office and the reception sported a ceiling-height black Christmas tree, adorned for the festive season in black, gold and cream baubles shaped in the iconic CC logo and signature camelia decorations. It was stunning in its simplicity; understated, elegant and beautiful, like the brand. No compromises. Control of its brand perception is as vital as the products themselves. Still owned by the family of co-founder Pierre Wertheimer, Chanel is firmly in charge of its imagery at every level.

Take control

I’ve been listening to a brilliant podcast on Spotify called Acquired, where each episode looks at the back story on companies and takes the listener through a timeline of how some of the world’s greatest companies were built and shaped. The episode on luxury goods company LVMH is particularly fascinating. Bernard Arnault’s story is a compelling listen. He famously said, “Affordable luxury – these are two words that don’t go together”. He believes that if a brand controls its distribution, it controls its image. It’s hard to disagree with the sentiment, and brands like Louis Vuitton and Chanel are testament to his philosophy.

Recently, a “lapsed” client returned to the salon. Once a regular with a standing weekly appointment, she had defected to another salon. Although she could be considered a bit “tricksy” (read: demanding) she was a regular fixture. But sometimes people need a change, sometimes that change is as good as a rest. The reason for her not coming in for some time was actually logistics.

“The SMALL DETAILS are what give the brand THE STORY, and with the story comes the VALUE„

Despite being a client since we’d started out in 1992, she was not in the best of health and walking across Duke of York Square was too much for her. But she returned, and in doing so told us it was like being back with longstanding family members. That indefinable feel-good factor for her was firmly about the people in the salon, not just their expertise.

In the detail

It’s the same with lapsed brands. It’s easy to think of the once must-have product names that have fallen from favour. Has greed and over-expansion got something to do with it? Because as we’ve proved, control is everything. Lose that and, arguably, you lose your appeal too.

The queues that used to form for brands like Superdry and Hollister form no longer. Sometimes, the founder leaves and the venture capitalists that take control destroy what made the brand special in the first place, only to gain back its reputation when its founder returns.

Think Chanel again. No expense was spared on its Paris office’s Christmas decorations because everything has to befit the brand story, even to company visitors. Similarly, I recently travelled to a conference in Milan where Daniel Kaner, co-founder of hair brand Oribe, described the brand’s mindset as being obsessed with the small details.

Some brands, he reasoned, make it their mission to look at the big picture, whereas the small details are what give the brand the story, and with the story comes the value. He showed us his original brand book where he and the late, great hairdresser Oribe Canales sketched out their vision for the products, making sure every element was detailed to the nth degree.

In our sector, men are famously loyal customers. Statistically they are less likely to swap brands, products, operators or services. Once they get comfortable with a salon and their team, they’re in it for the long haul. Women tend to be fickler, but they often return even if it is after shopping around. It’s so easy to try to be all things to all people but the scattergun approach will never lead to sniper results. As salons, celebrating our brands and our points of difference is vital. Paying attention to the small details is key. Realising that people will always notice the difference in the detail is a lesson for us all.

Hellen Ward is managing director of Richard Ward Hair & Metrospa in London, vice president of The Hair & Beauty Charity and co-founder of Salon Employers Association (SEA).