New to Medspa Management? We Got You, Fam

Learn what makes Medspa management unique, how to book and retain clients, and more.

The medical spa market has seen rapid growth in recent years: It’s on track to reach a value of nearly $30 billion by 2025. Whether because of COVID-19 and the need to look good on a Zoom call, or a rise in the adoption of self-care, it’s easy to see why so many people are booking appointments with Medspas for anything from skin tightening to hair removal.

If you’re new to managing a Medspa (or just new to Medspas in general), you’re in the right place. In this post, we’ll go over the key distinctions between a day spa and a MedSpa, how to protect your clients’ privacy with HIPAA, how to book and retain clients, and what kind of reports you’ll need to keep your business running.

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Know the difference between a day spa and a Medspa

Day spas provide services like massages, facials, nail care, waxing, and other non-medical beautician services. 

A Medspa, on the other hand, will provide many of these similar services, along with a variety of procedures that require actual medical experience and licensure. According to the American Med Spa Association, a Medspa has a few key features that differentiate it from a typical day spa:

• It provides non-surgical aesthetic medical services.

• A licensed physician provides general supervision for the facility.

• Procedures are handled by specially trained and qualified employees.

Medspa-specific services include chemical peels, hair restoration, laser hair removal, liquid facelifts, Botox, and similar procedures.

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Stay on top of HIPAA compliance

Because Medspas procedures require practitioners with medical expertise, they’re subject to the same privacy regulations as health care providers. HIPAA determines the standard for how patient information is stored, managed, and accessed.

What does this mean for your Medspa? It means training staff so they take extra precautions when handling patient information. Training should occur with all new hires as soon as they start working, and annual retraining should be part of your schedule. If staff isn’t HIPAA-trained (or is unable to be trained), they need to be removed from all aspects of operations covered by HIPAA.

You should also make sure that your booking software and patient databases are HIPAA-compliant. This means information needs to be encrypted and backed up regularly (with the back-ups also needing to be encrypted). Communication about test results and other procedures must be handled confidentially, and can only be handled by specifically-trained medical providers.

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Booking software can help optimize scheduling (and revenue)

Finding the right medspa booking software for your is tough. Between specialized scheduling needs, prep and cleaning times for appointments, and the aforementioned HIPAA considerations, it’s important that your booking software can provide accurate schedules while maintaining flexibility. That way, you can maximize the number of appointments you can fit into your business hours.

You should also make sure that clients can book their own appointments — handy self-booking features let clients seamlessly find appointments that fit their schedule while fitting into yours. Other features you should consider include service and equipment booking optimization, and the ability to store individualized client notes and medical histories.

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Run regular reports to know what’s working (and what isn’t)

Reports are a vital component for managing a successful business, and Medspas are no exception. Knowing how to maximize ROI on ad campaigns, calculate the efficiency of your scheduling and procedure times, and figure out where downtime is occurring so you can maximize your bookings — these are all areas your reports will help with. The best booking software will also help manage your reports so you can integrate that data into your overall operations.

The “profit and loss statement” is one of the most important reports you should track as you run your Medspa. This will let you pinpoint where your money is coming from, and where it’s going — and can help determine areas that need to be cut or deserve extra attention from your budget. An “average cost of units sold” report and a “total appointments by service” report provide similar snapshots of two different sectors of your business, essentially pinpointing which products or services are successful, which aren’t, and a ratio of cost to revenue for each. These reports will give you a good bird’s-eye view of the health of your Medspa, allowing you to focus on your strengths while shoring up any deficiencies.

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Know how to keep clients coming back

Managing a Medspa isn’t just about keeping clients happy in the moment (though that is important), it’s also about retaining clients so they come back for multiple visits. Studies show that generating new clients is six to seven times more expensive than retaining existing clients, so maintaining repeat clients is the key to ensuring steady revenue streams.

There are a lot of ways to do this that act as a natural extension of your business without feeling invasive or needy. For procedures that require follow-up visits, make sure those appointments are scheduled immediately — while the client is still at the Medspa, preferably. If follow-ups are recommended but not required, provide opportunities for the client to make those appointments while the procedure is still on the top of their mind.

Upselling through add-ons like skin-care products or high-tech wellness gadgets can also provide opportunities for retention, in addition to the obvious revenue-generation benefits. By making those sales connections with your clients, you’re helping to promote good home care habits while keeping wellness at the forefront of their lives — providing additional opportunities for rebooking. Further enhance your client’s VIP experience with a loyalty program so repeat clients see added benefits, encouraging repeat visits.

There’s also nothing like good, old-fashioned e-newsletters and follow-up calls to remind previous clients of additional services and upcoming sales. Your booking software may even have ways of setting reminders to reach out to clients and even providing ways to get in touch with clients directly, further taking the hassle out of maintaining direct contact.