Celebrity Ink™ sets franchisees up to deliver a premium customer experience.

As one of the world’s first tattoo studio franchises, Celebrity Ink™ is setting new standards in its industry and elevating body art from the underground to the mainstream. Originating from one small tattoo studio in Thailand, the business has grown quickly and now has 26 studios across four countries offering world-class tattoos, piercings, cosmetic tattoos, and laser tattoo removal services.

“We are all about challenging the status quo and paving a new way for the tattoo industry, especially within the Australian market where we’re continuing to break down biases and help people tell their story in whatever form they choose,” said Nick Bird, Chief Technology Officer, Celebrity Ink™.

One of the ways Celebrity Ink™ differentiates itself is through a premium customer experience underpinned by Salesforce.

Celebrity Ink™ started its digital transformation with the search for a new CRM. “We were no longer a small business with a single studio, but a growing corporation and we wanted one single platform to support all arms of the business,” said Bird. “One of the biggest reasons we chose Salesforce is because it could be customised to help us develop our business in the direction we wanted to go.”

Much of this customisation has been done directly by Bird and his team. Leveraging resources like Trailhead, they completed the final stage of the initial Salesforce deployment and have driven continuous innovation on the platform. This has involved collaborating via Slack with other head office teams to understand their specific requirements.

Now, all parts of the business are united on Salesforce and have the apps and data they need to drive success. This includes a wealth of insights that can be used to attract new customers and deliver customised messaging to wow them in every interaction. For instance, the team now has more detailed demographics and information like popular tattoo styles by age group.

“The more we work with Salesforce, the more we understand its capabilities and what it can deliver for our customers,” said Bird.

While the head office generates leads, the business’ franchise studios are responsible for conversion and keeping customers engaged. Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud have set them up to do both effectively and efficiently.

For instance, for the first time studios have visibility of lead enquiries and can convert consultation bookings online. There is also greater access to customer data and reporting which has substantially improved conversion opportunity.

“One of the ways Salesforce has helped studios is by giving them visibility over leads that have not yet converted. So they can use that information to follow up and encourage conversion,” said Bird. Celebrity Ink™ has used Marketing Cloud to automate communication, enabling studios to personalise engagement across every touchpoint at scale. For example, every booking triggers a personalised journey including email and SMS messages that remind customers about their booking and any pre- or post-care needed to ensure the best results.

The business has also recently added an NPS survey to the customer journey. The survey email is automatically sent to customers after their appointment to capture their feedback and encourage them to submit an online review.

“We are just starting to collect more in-depth data to understand our customers’ motivations and interests, as well as invaluable feedback on their journey with us. All this information will help us to effectively build out and improve the customer experience, while adding the right touch points to keep customers loving us and coming back,” said Bird.

In addition to these results, Marketing Cloud has helped to drive a 323% year-on-year uptake of gift cards. This amazing growth resulted from a combination of effective marketing as well as improved ease of ordering via the website.

Effective marketing and a streamlined purchasing process have increased gift card sales by 323% year-on-year

Once customers have made up their mind to get a tattoo or piercing, they often want to move quickly. It’s important for the business to respond to customers right away and make it easy to schedule appointments.

Salesforce Scheduler within Service Cloud helps by facilitating online consultation bookings so studios can capture customers at the time of intent and minimise lost opportunities. Customers simply visit the Celebrity Ink™ website and enter details such as their name, location, and tattoo inspiration and they can select a time for their consultation. Salesforce Scheduler orchestrates scheduling of resources, including the tattoo artist and room.

Celebrity Ink™ has also leveraged Salesforce Scheduler to provide studio artists with a calendar view of their bookings. The calendar is accessed via a portal on Experience Cloud and includes key details to help artists prepare for each appointment.

With online consultation scheduling, Celebrity Ink™ can now capture customers at the time of intent

Celebrity Ink™ continually seeks to improve the customer experience while efficiently scaling the business. One way it does this is by tapping into automation. Salesforce Flow, for example, automates complex processes and eliminates mundane tasks like sending out reminders for deposits — ultimately freeing up artists to focus on higher-value activities.

AppExchange apps including EPOSLY and Conga Sign similarly streamline activities like invoicing and contract management.

Bird shared that Celebrity Ink™ has also streamlined development as a result of consolidating data and workflow onto one platform and using tools like Salesforce Flow.

“Salesforce has made our lives 10x easier from a development perspective. Everything connects seamlessly and works together,” said Bird. “And while there’s so much more we want to do with the platform, the last six months have been a game changer for the business.”