Pulse Legacy Archive January / February 2011 | Page 17

FASTFACTS

EARLY CHALLENGES
“When we first opened eight years ago, a
lot of work had to go into educating customers on the merits of spa treatments
and a total spa experience versus a salon
experience which they were used to,”
Suleiman recalls Energy Day Spa’s early
challenges.
They took on a communal approach
to spa education, organizing “sparties”
(spa parties) regularly to allow target customers to experience spa treatments as a
community. “We set up trial stations
within the spa so potential clients could
get ‘mini treatments’ and ask our aestheticians and therapists any questions they
may have,” she says. “There were also
workshops on skin care, makeup sessions
as well as demonstrations on wellness
and alternative treatments like reiki,
acupuncture, Pilates, yoga, among
others.”
Suleiman pointed out that these
“sparties” were vital marketing initiatives
that soon converted facial and massage

Do you know that one of Energy
Day Spa’s most successful marketing campaigns is its
quarterly “Cat Postcards” with a
tagline “We’ll have you purring
in no time”? Instead of a
generic photo of a woman in a
spa, they used adorable feline
images to promote their latest
offerings and events which
generated a lot of interest. Not
bad for a minimal cost of ten
cents per card and a sales
increase of over 18 percent!
salon patrons into loyal spa-goers. “By
giving them a bite-size experience of the
spa’s holistic wellness and beauty benefits, they soon discovered that spas offer
a myriad of treatments—all under one
roof.”
Foot traffic was initially low inside the
then newly opened Great Eastern mall
where Energy Day Spa was located,
another business challenge the spa faced
early on of its operations. To address this,
they took their spa campaign outside the

four walls of the mall. “Our team set up
‘mobile spas’ in corporate functions and
events, at other malls, in exhibitions and
conventions where we feel we have a
good target market,” she says. “Aside
from offering free mini treatments, we
maximized Energy Day Spa’s public exposure by handing out flyers and brochures
as well as discount vouchers to first-time
clients.”

SEEING THE GROWTH
Since the day spa opened eight years ago,
Suleiman—who has worked in Malaysia’s
spa industry for 15 years now, including
in Kuala Lumpur JW Marriott which was
the first hotel in Malaysia’s capital city to
include a spa—observes a significant
growth in their number of clients and a
changing perception towards spas in
general.
“While women still make up majority
of our client base, we have seen a major
shift as far as male presence in the spa is
concerned. When we first opened, less

January/February 2011

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PULSE 15