Paolo Petracchi
This post is intended for Floating Center Owner and operators.
After having spent time analyzing Floatation centers performances in order to distillate reasonable effective advises for the participants to our Floating Master Course, and having spoken to several floating centers owners, customers retention appears to be the most challenging issue they face their during day by day business operation.
At Float & Co, along the production of the Theta 1 and 2 Floating Pods, we run Floating Flo centers and as well as other we venture this activities not without a firm belief in the effectiveness of floating for the human being and the conviction this would be not just a rescue mission, but something that would have made us earn a reasonable amount of money.
But why, despite the so peculiar and proven benefits of a recurrent Floating practice, 90% of floating center experience a limited customers retention?
In this post I do not want to discuss social media marketing and commercial strategies, things that somehow we all do but that are very often responsible for a loss of profit and just push forward of few months the very moment moment when the customer will not be any longer considered as recurrent.
I believe the real question is: are our customers able to understand the potential of the tool they are using, especially the new comers without any sort of personal development or “holistic” understanding?
Well, the longer we won’t be able to communicate them how and what they can get out of a use of floating combined with their mind power, the longer we will experience retention issues.
We all know, or we all think to be reasonably sure we know about the positiveness of floating practice for the human being. But why are we not able to effectively communicate to our customers?
Our interaction time especially with newcomers is limited to the welcome briefing , possibly a small briefing in the post floating relaxation area for the ones they like to interact disturbing the customer meanwhile enjoying their endorphins effects, and the debriefing before the check out: 2 or maximum 3 chances.
Are we sure we are performing at our best in these times? Are we asking whether they (the customers) will see them doing it again? Whether will they advise (word of mouth) their beloved, friends and colleagues to make the experience of floating and possibly at your center? Yes, I believe we all do it, but then why most centers despite all efforts experience a very bad customer retention issue?
I believe if we would like to find an answer, we should try to see this issue from customer prospective. I believe we should shift our focus from highlighting the benefits (enlisting them at our best, most of us are very good at - we know very well why they should regularly practice floating-) in the hope something would stick in their mind, to have customer playing a more active role during their floating experience, guiding them for their sake.
Most first timers, 80% will not come back without a very good reason which if we want them to be recurrent, cannot be just the economical one. Sorry for marketing strategist...
We can firstly segment newcomers customers in 2 groups:
-the ones which have a specific reason or need to practice floating (physical, mental) these are the easy ones but the minority of potential recurrent customers.
-the ones which they have no real clear idea about why they should float out of what have been told them (word of mouth) or they have red of
and statistically among them roughly:
-80% will stay in control of their sensation and the environment during the majority of time during their first session.
-20% will leave control very quickly and experience sensory deprivation for longer time during their first session.
Both groups in the pod will sooner or later reach and remain in a meditative status, theta status, tranche or anything which keeps their brain waves around 8 Hz, but if they do not know how to recognize and manage it, it will soon shifts in a very restorative deep sleep.
Thus what will they take home out of the experience? Lightness, energy, magnesium, restoration?
All the other Floating and Sensory Deprivation benefits despite you could have communicated at your best will in their mind fade away simply because they are not able to reconnect those benefits to the experience they have done once at you center.
At the very end what will remain in their head will be the relax, the “floatation feeling” like the one you can experience on the dead see, deep sleep, time acceleration and if they did not pay attention, the salt stings in their eyes... That’s all folks!
Do you believe these are reasons good enough for them to return? And, how effective their word of mouth would be?
Well, I believe you have already the answer and despite you are trying to cope with it using social media marketing, email campaign, promotion, and pricing strategy, at the very end you are just frustrating yourself in loosing money, time and customers.
Have you ever thought to actively guide your first time “floanauts” during the time they spend in the Pod/Tank/Room? Helping them in deepening their state of consciousness, administering empowering suggestions and amplifying the experience of sensory deprivation, however, creating a sense of security and wellbeing, a post - hypnotic suggestions of enhancement and attraction to the monthly reset (i.e. the next floating session) to be carried out at your center. This guide won’t play all the time during the floating session but at least at the beginning and at the end leaving floanauts better prepared to experiencing the central part.
A personal development track of 21 days which they could do at home and lead them every 3 weeks to float at your center. “21 days to float”
Stay tuned…