One of my roles as a Spa Consultant is creating Spa Menu's, and its actually one of my favourite things to do. I love the whole process from selection of skincare, to concept creation, to dreaming up rituals, to writing clever copy and then going through the design process of branding and image selection. While its obviously a natural part of a pre-opening project, a spa menu is also often a key element that requires fixing within an existing day spa.
Your spa menu is your key sales and marketing tool. Without a well designed and well written treatment menu your spa may lose potential business. When developing a Spa Menu the following needs to be considered:
Consumers gravitate towards imagery that captures the imagination, touches the senses and evokes a feeling of relaxation and rejuvenation. Images can be a mix of treatment, product and surrounding landscape. The spa facilities can be featured but only if the spa space evokes the feeling of luxury, escape and elegant design.
Every spa menu must open up to a concept statement that touches on the inspiration, spa treatment philosophy, the facilities, the professional skills of therapists and the products used. The statement may finish with a tag line such as escape, explore, enrich.
The order of spa treatments is very important and thus the menu should start with higher priced signature rituals that also offer the business a higher profit yield. The person reading the menu will work their way down to the treatment they can afford.
The spa copy needs to speak to a wide audience... the busy A type, men, women, savvy spa guests and newcomers etc.
Choose a name for the treatment that is reflective of the spa concept.
List the elements involved in a spa ritual such as body scrub, wrap and facial so that this is clear for those who want to quickly read through the menu.
The evocative details can be described in the main part of the description. Things such as ‘be smothered in lashings of organic coconut, lime and shea butter’.
Keep the timings of treatments consistent. For example: 30, 60, 90 mins.
Always finish the treatment description with 2 to 3 benefits. For example: wonderful for circulation, dry dehydrated skin, men, jet lag, relief of tension etc.
Add options to upgrade and accessorise treatments for higher profit yield.
Last page details spa etiquette and other spa details and policies.
This month Spa Wellness was commissioned to write and design a new spa menu for One Spa at RACV, which has 6 locations, and Amara Wellness Centre in Melbourne. Its been a busy month of creativity, crossing 'i's and dotting 't's and design, but the end result for both businesses has me feeling excited for what profits will unfold.
You can view our work on our Portfolio page, and if you have a spa menu that needs a bit of help don't hesitate to drop me a line. Photo taken on location for the collaterals at Island Day Spa, Fraser Island.
