42 Medical Spa Management Best Practices [Essential Checklist]

Last Updated on 20 September, 2024

By Luciana Dabit

Managing a medical spa requires attention to detail and superb customer service skills. 

Medical spa managers must put clients at ease and help them relax—all while maintaining medical spa cleanliness and adherence to procedures. 

In this guide to medical spa management, we dive into why it’s so important to get things right. We also offer a comprehensive checklist of best practices to help you kickstart your own policies. 

The importance of effective spa management 

Clients expect a safe, clean, and comfortable experience when booking any medical spa service. If you fail to meet basic expectations, your online reviews will suffer, and you won’t drive repeat business—which is essential to any’s MediSpa’s success. 

Spas also fall under certain regulatory guidelines. All clinicians must have the appropriate licenses. Medical spas need to safely dispose of syringes and needles used in procedures that require skin penetration. 

Failure to manage your spa effectively can result in poor online reviews, a damaged reputation, fines and citations, and ultimately the closure of your business. 

42 best practices across key components of medical spa management 

Ready to excel at spa management? Consider this your go-to checklist as a medical spa management professional or business owner. 

Staffing and training 

1. Training: Provide continuous training for medical spa professionals, with sessions on new best practices and procedures at least annually.
2. Customer Service: Train staff in effective client service and communication skills.
3. Culture: Offer a wellness program, occasional free services, and recognition for high performance to improve staff satisfaction and employee retention.

Facility and equipment management 

4. Cleaning: Maintain high standards for cleanliness. Create post-service, daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning procedures and schedules.
5. Inspections: Create a schedule for medical spa inspections to ensure cleanliness and quality. For the best results, have inspections conducted by a staff member who’s not in charge of cleaning.
6. Materials: Purchase the appropriate equipment and materials before offering a new service and have a plan in place for safe disposal.

Customer experience and satisfaction 

7. Branded Experience: Provide a cohesive customer experience and infuse your brand into every element of the customer journey, from your online presence to in-person services.
8. Environment: Create a serene and calm spa environment through your furniture, decor, music, lighting, and room temperature.
9. Feedback: Automatically request client feedback and reviews to discover your spa’s strengths and weaknesses.
10. Pricing: Implement strategic pricing based on your competitive strategy and local market. Depending on your brand promise and desired customer experience, you might offer lower or higher pricing than nearby competitors.
11. Rewards: Establish a customer loyalty program with rewards. Incentivize clients to purchase products, attend events, book services, review you online, refer you to their friends, or any action you choose.
12. Testing New Services: Introduce new services a few times a year to keep up with medical spa industry trends and test what your clients are most interested in.
13. Video Consultations: Offer video consultations for new clients to increase convenience and offer more sales opportunities. 
14. Care Instructions: Create a library of videos with pre- and post-care instructions. This improves convenience for clients while optimizing your staff’s time.
15. Mobile App: Setup a mobile app so clients can check their appointments, review rewards, and view videos in one place. Learn how to easily create an app that integrates with your business.

Business operations and administration 

16. Booking: Provide an easy way for clients to book appointments online. 
17. Payments: Offer secure online payments so clients can pay for their services upon booking.
18. Medical and Consent Forms: Make it easy for clients to complete medical and consent forms digitally to reduce paperwork and streamline the in-person spa experience.
19. All-in-One Software: Use spa management software like WellnessLiving to securely store all client information digitally and reduce the need for secure disposal of paper.
20. Notifications: Improve appointment show-up rates by automating email and SMS notifications.
21. Cancellation: Create cancellation and no-show policies and clearly communicate these to clients at the time of booking.
22. Insurance: Procure the appropriate business insurance for your spa as a whole and individual liability insurance for each clinician.
23. Emergency Planning: Create an emergency preparedness plan, and ensure all administrative staff know how to implement it.

Inventory management and retailing 

24. Products: Provide products for purchase that assist in post-care or will help clients get better results from your services.
25. Inventory: Use medical spa software that includes inventory management so you can keep track of your products and know when it’s time to order more stock.
26. Online Purchase: Offer products for purchase online from your website, and allow clients to pick them up in person.
27. Product Opportunities: Ask top clients if there are any products you don’t sell that they suggest you carry.

Financial management 

28. Financial Reports: Maintain a balance sheet, profit and loss report, cash flow statement, financial projections, expense reports, and payroll records.
29. Outsourcing: Most small businesses don’t need full-time finance staff. Outsource your accounting, bookkeeping, payroll, and HR tasks as needed so your internal spa staff can focus on the client experience and growing referrals.

Marketing and promotion 

30. Choosing Channels: Kickstart your marketing by focusing on one outbound channel and one inbound channel to ensure success before adding more tactics. Get our guide to medical spa marketing to learn how to choose the right channels.
31. Client Database: Maintain a single database with all spa client information, appointment notes, purchases, and interaction with your marketing. This makes it easy to target the right clients with the right promotions.
32. Social Media: Use social media to showcase the experience your medical spa provides through behind-the-scenes content and influencer reviews.
33. Before-and-Afters: Include before-and-after results on your website, social media posts, and relevant email newsletters. These mini case studies can improve the results of all of your marketing formats.
34. Live Events and Parties: Host in-person parties and events with great deals on specific services to boost your new clientele and encourage existing clients to invite their friends.
35. Hyperlocal Marketing: Utilize local lifestyle hashtags on Instagram and TikTok to grow your reach with the right audience.
36. SEO: Optimize your website and business listings for target keyphrases. Get our complete guide to medical spa SEO to learn how.
37. Email Marketing: Stay in contact with clients through email marketing. Send beauty and wellness tips, product recommendations, events, promotions, and other medical spa news.
38. Community Involvement: Participate in local community events and consider sponsoring local schools and non-profits. This fosters a sense of goodwill and reciprocity towards your brand.
39. Partnerships: Build relationships with local businesses and establish referral swaps or other partnerships.

Regulatory compliance and quality assurance 

40. Licensing: Ensure that all medical spa practitioners have the appropriate licensing for your province or state.
41. Compliance: Use medical spa management software like WellnessLiving that offers client management features that are HIPAA and PIPEDA compliant
42. Waste: Safely dispose of all materials and equipment, making sure to separate hazardous waste from non-hazardous waste.

How to use medical spa management software to streamline operations 

To manage your medical spa like a pro, you need the right platform. Look for software that brings as many tasks and procedures under one roof as possible. This way, you have a unified view of each client, and you can handle administrative tasks in less time—freeing you up to focus on growing your product sales, event attendance, and new clientele. 

Look for these key features in software to help you manage your medical spa: 

• Online appointment booking 
• Client data management, profiles, and forms 
• Inventory and product management 
• Online payments and in-person point-of-sale 
• Employee management, tasks, and schedules 
• Client communication and marketing 
• Events management 
• Business and financial reporting 
• Client review requests 
• Website design and online shop 
• Loyalty programs and rewards 
• Virtual consults 
• Video library for pre- and post-care instructions 
• Custom-branded mobile app 

Want to see what you can achieve with the right medical spa management software? Book a demo of WellnessLiving.