Getting clients to come back.
A lot of people book one treatment at a med spa and never return. This sample project shows how we work on that with a practice like Lumen. We look at the visit itself, the layout of the space, how people book and how treatments are priced.
The problem
About 80 new clients a month, but only 3 in 10 came back for a second visit. Consults ran 45 minutes, plans lived in the provider's head, and checkout was a crowded front desk where nobody asked about next time.
The goal
Raise second visits from 30% to 45%, cut the consult to 20 minutes, and launch a membership so happy first-time clients keep coming back. We wanted to do it without renovating or hiring, so most of the changes are small and cheap.
Does this sound like your practice?
If three or more of these apply to you, the rest of this page is worth a read.
- Tap any that apply.
Where a client walks, before and after.
In the old layout, every client stopped at the same front desk twice, once to check in and once to pay. With a line at the desk, nobody had time to book the next visit.
Example model for a two-location med spa seeing 80 new clients a month. The math is in section 08, and you can run your own numbers in section 12.
We booked a facial like any new client.
We start every project by going through the business the way a new client would. At Lumen that meant a secret-shopper visit, from the first phone call through the following 30 days, and a walk-through of both locations with the owner.
12:40
9:05
10:58
30 days
โWe need more new clients. Let's run more ads.โ
The spa had enough new clients. It just wasn't asking them to come back.
Most first-time clients never made it to visit two.
We compared the secret-shopper notes with two weeks of booking data. Clients liked their treatments, but most left without a plan or a date to return.
Sample numbers. The "after" bars are the targets the rest of the plan is built to hit.
โI loved the result. Nobody told me when to come back, so I justโฆ didn't.โ
Client, 34 ยท first-time HydraFacialโI spend half the consult explaining pricing. By the time we get to the plan, we're out of time.โ
Nurse injector, 6 yearsThe visit from the client's side.
We mapped how a client feels at each step of a visit. The worst moments were the paperwork, the wait and leaving without a next appointment.
A first visit went from 105 minutes to 62.
The service blueprint lays out what the client sees, what staff do out of sight and the software behind both. New or changed steps are highlighted.
Treatment time stays the same. The 43 minutes come out of paperwork, waiting and a consult that now starts from the client's quiz answers.
Three small changes to the room.
None of this needed construction. We moved furniture, added signs and turned part of the waiting room into a consult area. See the plan โ
โ Arrival bar
A standing counter by the door that only does welcomes. Forms are done, so it takes about 3 minutes.
โก Consult corner
Two chairs, a mirror and a tablet in the old waiting room. Consults stop tying up a treatment room.
โข Plan & rebook desk
It sits near the exit with the client's plan already on screen, so booking the next visit is the last thing they do before leaving.
Booking that starts with what the client wants.
The booking flow asks what the client wants to work on before it asks for a time. Providers see those answers before the consult, and the client gets their plan by text afterward.
What would you like to work on?
Your 3-visit glow plan
TodayVisit 2
Week 4Visit 3
Week 8
Stay on track every month
Call, hold, check calendar, call back, card on phone, forms again, email confirm.
Open the text with the plan, pick a time and confirm. Card and forms are already on file.
Most of the fixes cost nothing.
We didn't renovate, hire anyone or sign up for new software. The changes use furniture the spa already had, features in tools it already pays for and a few hours of staff training.
The impact bars are our estimate of how much each change helps second visits. We expect the three free changes to make the biggest difference.
A membership that pays for the project by month 4.
We priced three membership levels against the spa's margins and modeled the first year. The math is below so the owner can check it.
Essentials
- 1 express facial a month
- 10% off skincare
- Member-only booking times
Signature
- 1 signature treatment a month
- 15% off skincare
- Member pricing on injectables
Plus
- 1 advanced treatment a month
- 20% off skincare
- Quarterly skin review
Before: $250 first visit + 30% chance of $375 more. Member: $250 first visit + $150 ร 10 months. A member is worth about 4.8ร a regular first-timer.
| New clients a month | 80 |
| Second-visit rate, 30% โ 45% | +12 visits / mo |
| ร $250 average visit | $3,000 / mo |
| Members by month 12 ร $150 blended | 60 ร $150 = $9,000 / mo |
| Cost: example engagement + materials | $18,000 + $2,050 |
| First-year cash while ramping | $107,400 |
| Run-rate from month 12 | $144,000 / yr |
We launched it to existing clients first.
We didn't spend anything on ads in the first month. Past clients heard about the membership first, then their friends, then the public.
We planned for slower growth after month 8. Beyond about 60 members, the spa would need another provider day to keep appointments open.
Twelve weeks to set up, then we keep it running.
We start at one location and add the second once the numbers hold steady for a month. The red diamonds are milestones.
What the owner checks every Monday.
The owner gets these four numbers by text every Monday. When one drops, it shows which part of the visit needs attention.
Targets for this sample engagement. On your engagement, the scorecard reports your measured numbers every week.
Try it with your own numbers.
This uses the same assumptions as the Lumen example. Second visits go up 15 percentage points, and by the end of the year you have about 3 members for every 4 new clients you see each month, at $150 a month.
Estimate only. We check it against your booking data in the first two weeks.
One team covered all eight parts of the job.
A project like this usually means hiring a researcher, a designer, a developer, an operations consultant and someone to build the financial model. With Osnova it's one team and one monthly invoice.
UX Research
Find out why people leave.
- Secret-shopper visit
- Walk-through of both sites
- 14 interviews + booking data
Service Design
Plan the visit step by step.
- Journey map
- Service blueprint
- Rebook script
UX/UI & Web
Make rebooking quick on a phone.
- Skin-goals quiz
- Plan builder
- Membership checkout
Brand & Space
Change the room without construction.
- Floor plan
- Arrival and rebook stations
- Signage and plan cards
Operations & Process
Take 43 minutes out of a visit.
- Online intake
- Room turnover rules
- Staff training
Finance & Pricing
Set up monthly memberships.
- 3 membership tiers
- Year-1 model
- Payback analysis
Marketing & Growth
Launch without ad spend.
- 30-day launch plan
- Referral program
- Review engine
Data & Reporting
Report results every week.
- 4-number scorecard
- Weekly text report
- Quarterly review
If this sounds like your practice, give us a call.
We start with a secret-shopper visit and a walk-through. You get our notes and a priced plan before you decide on anything else.