Treatwell is the largest hair and beauty booking website in Europe and carries forward Wahanda’s mission to inspire people to feel beautiful by effortlessly accessing a 24/7 booking platform to suit every lifestyle. We spoke to Treatwell’s Senior Affiliate & Partnerships Manager, Jeannine Martel to learn what the rebrand means for the performance channel and how mobile is playing a key role in 2016 .
Is Wahanda’s rebrand to Treatwell part of a longer term and overall marketing strategy to work in the U.S market and have a stronger Global reach?
Last year Wahanda embarked on a major acquisition campaign, rapidly expanding into ten European countries. Our acquisition of Germany’s Salonmeister, Lithuania’s Lemon Labs, Zensoon in France, Beautycheck in Austria and Treatwell in the Netherlands, were all part of a strategy to grow our footprint in Europe. Growth is always at the forefront of our mind and the rebrand was a natural progression for us to explore further expansion on a global scale. Our focus now is to consolidate our position as Europe’s leading online hair and beauty booking platform, with the aim of being in twenty countries in the next five years – so watch this space!
How does the Treatwell business model fit in with the demanding UK and EU Health & Beauty market?
Despite our new look, it was important that our values and our business model remains unchanged. Treatwell is all about the power of self-expression and enabling customers to connect to experiences that allow them to express who they are. The health and beauty market is under increasing pressure to adapt and move into the digital age – with people wanting to be able to book themselves in for a bit of TLC at any time and anywhere. This convenience has always been at the heart of our offering, and is still the driving force behind everything that Treatwell stands for.
What new offerings will come off the back of the re-launch when it comes to affiliate marketing?
Our makeover and consolidation into one brand is accompanied by a new visual identity across our online and offline channels. We are investing heavily in the affiliate channel this year. Our key objective is to acquire new customers and reward their publishers accordingly. The newly made-over site will showcase The Treatment Files – the new editorial destination for all things beauty. Brought to life by our Editorial Director, Liz Hambleton, The Treatment Files offers weekly inspiration and helps consumers find the best treatments and services for their needs. It will also showcase top stylists, therapists and Treatwell beauty experts; providing more content and imagery for publishers and regular updates on top spas and salons in key cities around Europe.
Mobile activity is growing rapidly on the Awin network, as Treatwell has always been an advocate for smartphone usage due to many hair and beauty businesses still running on pen and paper, is your affiliate programme catering to this trend?
Mobile is incredibly important to Treatwell. Almost 60% of our customers are already booking their appointments on mobile devices, and over 15% of our suppliers’ bookings are derived from our salon management software app – Treatwell Connect. We have affiliate tracking in place on our responsive website and we are keen to work more closely with publishers who have large volumes of mobile traffic to further develop this trend, and lead from the front. Our own research shows that a large proportion of people now expect to have an appointment within three hours of making a booking, and growing. It is this evolution in consumer behaviour that is one of the key driving force behind our mobile-first strategy.
Is there anything upcoming within 2016 for Treatwell that you would like to highlight?
Obviously we can’t share everything we have in store for this year, but know that Treatwell is on the move! The rebrand has added fresh momentum to our business, employees and customers and we are excited for what the future holds. We are trialling our new Point of Sale system in Germany that will soon launch in the UK before being rolled out across our other markets. We are also launching our brand new consumer app in the coming months and the IE affiliate programme – so stay tuned!
