Like many industries, the beauty sector was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic but beauty services are currently booming and beauty treatments have become a normal part of life for many of us, with both men and women having regular beauty treatments to help them look and feel good.
This is hardly surprising as the pandemic left many people reevaluating what’s important to them and prioritising wellness and self-care. Common beauty treatments include hair colouring, manicures, body hair removal and facials. There’s also been a rise in the number of people trying non-invasive beauty treatments like chemical peels and dermaplaning.
As with any kind of treatment, people want to know that they’re getting the best possible service and that their salon or beauty provider comes highly rated and recommended by others, which is where customer reviews come in handy.
Where Are the Best Beauty Salons?
Customer reviews are one way to find a reputable beauty salon and their importance shouldn’t be underestimated as around 77% of people say that they read online reviews when researching local businesses and only 3% of people would consider using a business that had an average star rating of two or less.
To get a more in-depth view of customer reviews specifically in the beauty industry, beauty supplier Capital Hair and Beauty surveyed 2,000 Brits to discover what leads customers to leave positive or negative reviews of salons. As part of their research, they also took an in-depth look at 32 major UK towns and cities outside of London, looking at how many salons each one had and how many of those had 4-star reviews or higher.
Norwich came out top overall with over 550 salons with 4-star (or more) ratings. However, joining Norwich in the top ten were two of our very own Yorkshire hotspots for beauty - the cities of York and Hull, which claimed fourth and fifth place respectively. York had 192 beauty salons with a four-star-or-more rating and Hull had 226.
What Are the Main Aspects Influencing These Reviews?
So what prompts customers to leave a positive review for a hair, nail or beauty salon? Reasons for giving a four-star or higher review to a beauty salon included having a positive overall experience, which over half (58%) of the respondents said was the most important factor. This was closely followed by being happy with the results (57%).
Other considerations for leaving a positive review included the personality of the professional, which 41% of people rated as an important factor and being offered complimentary extras, such as hot drinks and magazines, which was mentioned by 27% of customers. Overall, the research found that almost two-thirds (62%) of Brits placed ‘good value’ as the biggest deciding factor when leaving a review, showing the importance of great service at reasonable rates.
