Meghan Fitzpatrick, Marketing Assistant for Spa Phoenix

Meghan Fitzpatrick, Marketing Assistant for Spa Phoenix, is responsible for publicizing all that Spa Phoenix has to offer and in the Q & A that follows, she discusses how the commercial spa venture - like many not-for-profits - is making very good use of e-mail marketing.

Interior of Spa Phoenix

Meghan, to begin, can you give us an idea of your main responsibilities at Spa Phoenix?

I mostly focus on cross-marketing between our three categories of clientele (day spa, medical spa and salon) in an effort to upsell. I want to convert what we call "single-category" clientele into double- and triple-category clientele. I also work to convert Galumbeck Plastic Surgery patients into Spa Phoenix clients and vice-versa.

In all cases, the easiest, cheapest and most efficacious means of attracting new, and retaining present, clientele is via electronic marketing.


What is the general demographic of your clientele?

The greatest percentage of our spa clientele are women, aged 25 to 50. They are single and married, but fewer than half have children.

In addition, each year we are seeing more men, as spas like ours offer increasingly unisex treatments and services.  Furthermore, children who used to tag along to the spa with their mothers have grown into teens who visit us for manicures, pedicures and sunless tanning.  We are also seeing more and more people aged 50 and over.

Over half of our client base consists of repeat customers who return monthly, and, in some cases, even weekly.  Given the loyalty of our salon clientele, regular e-mail marketing makes good sense. 


You are relative newbies to e-marketing. Tell us what kind of e-marketing strategy you have put in place since you began using PatronMail a few months ago.

We aim to keep our clients interested in, and abreast of, new trends in aesthetics and medicine by providing reliable news from expert sources. I generate a monthly electronic 2-column newsletter that, not only, highlights the discounted spa Treatment of the Month, but also features professional advice and beauty tips.

In addition to this, I occasionally send electronic postcards that function, most often, as holiday discount reminders.


You've had some pretty good results with some of your recent campaigns. Tell us about your Mother's and Father's day specials.

Since implementing PatronMail last April, I have used e-postcards to advertise two holiday specials: a Mother's Day Phoenix Facial and Spa Pedicure and a Father's Day LaStone Massage.

The Mother's Day campaign was sent to 2,490 recipients and had a 28.2% open rate. It generated a 22% increase in sales revenue over last year - when we publicized the Specials via newspaper ads.

The Father's Day campaign was sent to 2,118, had a 20% open rate and generated revenue that was 50% higher than our 2004 special.


Is your plan for future e-marketing "more of the same" or do you have other strategies you'd like to implement?

Improving awareness of the spa, and, ultimately, increasing revenue are my top priorities. 

I plan to continue using e-newsletters to promote interest in, and drive business to, Spa Phoenix.  I also plan to enhance e-marketing efforts by embracing newer technologies such as blogs and white papers as a means of further increasing traffic on www.spaphoenix.com.