At Salonized, we are constantly working to find new ways to help our customers. During the crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak, we created a number of new functions, such as the gift voucher widget. This way, salons can still generate some income while they are closed.

De Herenkapper Apeldoorn is a salon that immediately got going on it! In a short time, they have sold a significant amount of gift cards with this new feature. With a strong presence and a dash of humor, they are quite a source of inspiration for using social media. We asked to share their experience and had a chat with Joost, who manages the social media pages for the company.

We hope everyone is safe and healthy on your team! Can you follow the measures properly?

Fortunately, everyone in our team is safe and healthy. Before the closure was announced, we did everything we could in terms of taking measures. We were able to regulate the maximum number of customers by working entirely by appointment and extending the time for haircuts, so that we could take more time for a conversation with each customer, etc. Previously you could just walk in without an appointment.

How do you manage to stay active?

Unfortunately, it is currently not possible for most of our team to remain active. In the hairdressing world, things quickly come to a standstill if you cannot cut. Fortunately, we can continue to develop at our Academy with the new courses that will be discussed as soon as that is allowed again. We are also busy with extra measures to think about how we can position ourselves as a salon if we are going to continue in the "1.5 meter economy".

We came across some nice videos on your social media! How did this start?

Our social media has always been a major motivation. From the beginning, we came up with all kinds of ideas about what we think the customer would like and started working on it. We have noticed that customers appreciate it and also enjoy interacting with us that way. You become a point of recognition and it is important to remain "on top of mind" with your customers.

How do you stay on top of mind with your customers?

During this corona crisis, we regularly send newsletters to our customers to keep them informed of the developments and the consequences of our cabinet's measures. We use the function within Salonized for this. We also announced in this way that we are selling gift cards online, for those who would like to support us. In return, we offer everyone who has purchased an online gift card a 10% discount on the next haircut.

What would you take out of this crisis for the better times?

What we take with us to better times and what we learned in the weeks before we had to close is that, among other things, we really enjoyed working by appointment. This is something that will soon be fully implemented so that we can serve our customers better, plan our staff better without a rush. We will keep Saturday for free walk-in, so there is something for everyone.

Good to hear! Finally, do you have a message that you want to share with other hairdressers/salons?

Our message to share would be that we wish everyone a lot of strength and wisdom during this time. We hope that everyone can keep it up and that in the future there will be more understanding of the function we fulfill as hairdressers. Nowadays people not only notice that it is incredibly difficult to get a haircut (with hilarious posts on the internet as a result), but also the social function that hairdressers have is missed. We hope we can pick this up again soon!

De Herenkapper Apeldoorn has been a household name in Apeldoorn since 2016, consisting of a large team of passionate hairdressers led by owner Marc Warburg.