When traffic dividends peak and new customer costs soar, the first reaction of medical beauty institutions is often to “make the membership system bigger”. But the cruel data is in front of you: old customers who have applied for cards are still lost, and occasional consumption without cards may lead to high repurchases. This article directly addresses a cognitive misunderstanding that is ignored by 90% of organizations – old customer management ≠ member management. The author uses a diagram to clarify the seven major differences between the two in scope, logic, and goals, and gives a landable combination of “hierarchical operation + emotional connection + member leverage”: let old customers stay first, and then use systematic rights and interests to lock up the high-value groups among them.
In the first half of 2025, the development environment of the medical beauty industry, whether it is upstream manufacturers or mid-range institutions, should be high-pressure, tense, weak and stimulating. “I feel that this year is particularly difficult to do”, “year-on-year data has declined sharply”, “the profit margin of customer unit price has decreased significantly”, “what should be done in the second half of the year”……. With the wider and wider acceptance of industry audiences, the flood of information on social media platforms, and the intellectualization of user choices, as industry practitioners will hear more and more anxious voices and business problems, how to face them? Anxiety is useless, go all out, and follow the trend.
At present, everyone is thinking about how to break the situation, how to operate to win, from the information learned from all aspects, the general direction strategy is basically from the main drive of off-market marketing to internal refined operation to find changes. Regarding internal operation-driven change, the unit theme I want to discuss with you today is: old customer management ≠ member management.
1. Directly expose the misunderstanding of operation: old customer management = member management
In medical aesthetic institutions, old customer management ≠ member management have both overlapping user attributes and essential differences in behavior. Understanding this difference is crucial for medical aesthetic institutions to operate accurately and enhance customer lifetime value. In fact, the business managers and operators of many institutions do not clearly distinguish between the cognition of old customers and members, and roughly summarize: they are all old customers = all members. This is the early market when there is a dividend period, rough operation can still survive, and when the dividend period subsides, it is the cognitive pattern of institutional managers and operators. When you can’t find anything outside, you must look inward. The key to looking inward: internal refined operation management, that is, old customer management and membership management.
Simple sorting out the management of old customers:
For all customers who have a consumption record (regardless of whether they join the membership system or not), through continuous relationship maintenance, demand mining, and service optimization, the goal of “repurchase improvement, word-of-mouth communication, and loss recovery” is achieved.
To achieve these three challenges, product managers will only continue to appreciate
Good product managers are very scarce, and product managers who understand users, business, and data are still in demand when they go out of the Internet. On the contrary, if you only do simple communication, inefficient execution, and shallow thinking, I am afraid that you will not be able to go through the torrent of the next 3-5 years.
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Its core is “people-centric”, focusing on the entire life cycle of individual customers (first consumption→ postoperative recovery→ secondary consumption→ long-term loyalty), and emphasizing personalized interactions (such as postoperative follow-up visits, customized project recommendations, emotional care, etc.).
Focus: People-oriented, maintaining behavior around the relationship between “people”. Simple combing member management:
For customers who have joined the membership system (need to actively register or meet the threshold, such as full consumption, card application, etc.), through standardized “level rights, points rules, exclusive services” and other systematic designs, customers are encouraged to continue to consume and increase the frequency/amount of consumption.
At its core, it is “system-centric”, achieving large-scale incentives for the member group through clear rules (such as level promotion for silver→ gold→ and diamond) and benefits (such as discounts, priority reservations, exclusive events).
Focus: System-centered, around the “system” of motivation tool behavior.
The above is an example summary: they all go to the Holy Land of Rome, some people drive, some people walk, and the way is different. At present, the refined management of involution should be more of a dimensional upgrade thinking, so it is necessary to promote the operation of more refined nodes in the future.
2. Key differences: scope, method, core focus, development relationship, management logic
In daily operation and maintenance, the maintenance of old customers is mainly aesthetic customers (sales posts), and the maintenance of members is the member center or member management department (service post). However, many medical aesthetic institutions do not have a member center or member management department, or there are no jobs; This is the problem of internal management of the organization, the relationship between managers and operators, old customers and members, what they want is not what they want, but in fact they can’t do it clearly.
3. Overlap and association: membership management is one of the “tools” of old customer management
The member group is the core group of old customers who are “more likely to spend and are more willing to be deeply bound”, so membership management is an important part of old customer management. For example, the exchange of points for members and the maintenance of hierarchical rights and interests are essentially strengthening the loyalty of these old customers, which is a “systematic means” for old customer management.
However, the scope of old customer management is wider: for example, if a customer has only done a small bubble project once (without membership), the institution will encourage him to repurchase through a follow-up visit of the skin condition 1 week after surgery and a reminder of the project experience needs after 3 months, which is “old customer management”; If customers subsequently join the membership system and enjoy points credits or related membership rights, they will enter the category of “membership management”.
Extension 1 to talk about the core methods of member management:
1. Rights and Interests System Design: The higher the level, the better the rights and interests (member discount + limited rights);
2. Points rules: The consumption amount is linked to points (such as consumption of 1 yuan = 1 point), and the points can be exchanged for items, physical gifts or cash;
3. Member activities: exclusive member day (such as double points for members on the 7th of each month), member salon (weekend consumption gifts).
Extension 2 Core methods of old customer management:
1. Refined labeling: through consumption records, consultation content, and feedback information, label each old customer (can be specific to the detail unit) to achieve accurate reach; Regarding the label management of old customers of medical beauty institutions, it is also possible to disassemble the whole link process with an article in code.
2. Full-cycle tracking: from 1 day postoperative redness and swelling reminder, 1 week effect feedback, to 1~3 months after demand awakening (continuous awakening importance);
3. Emotional interaction: birthday/holiday wishes (do not be templated, combined with customer preferences, such as remembering that you like pink roses, the birthday month prepares a rose skin rejuvenation experience for you), word-of-mouth incentives (such as inviting friends to consume, both parties get a small bubble experience). One more thing about this: people are perceptual animals, emotional interaction can be perceived by the other party, (sales post) adheres to altruism, maintains a sincere attitude, will go further.
4. Why can’t they be equated? Confusion can lead to operational deviations
If the management of old customers is simplified to membership management, non-member old customers (this group of people may not join the membership because they are “unwilling to be bound by the rules” or “low consumption frequency”, but there is still the potential for repurchase), resulting in the loss of this part of customers due to lack of attention. If you only manage old customers without a membership system, you may lack a standardized incentive mechanism for “high-value old customers”, and it is difficult to convert their “natural loyalty” into “active consumption motivation” (such as high-frequency consumer customers, if they do not have the sense of honor and rights brought by membership levels, they may turn to competing products because they are not “treated specially”).
The two have different value orientations: long-term retention vs. short-term consumption The core value of old customer management is to “reduce churn rate and improve long-term retention”.
For example, through continuous service follow-up, customers who have only consumed once can repurchase 3 times within 1 year, even if she has never become a member, the value has been increased.
The core value of membership management is to “increase the frequency and amount of consumption and strengthen short-term conversion”.
For example, through the “limited addition” membership activities, members are encouraged to increase consumption in the short term, or through “points are cleared at the end of the year”, members are forced to redeem items as soon as possible.
5. Synergy: The combination of the two can maximize value
Membership management is a “subset” and “tool” of old customer management: the incentive for members is essentially the “systematic operation for core groups” in the management of old customers;
Old customer management is a more comprehensive “chassis”: if you only do member management, you will ignore the potential of non-member old customers; If you only manage old customers without a membership system, it is difficult to form continuous incentives for high-value customers.
As mentioned above, the manager or operator of a medical aesthetic institution should implement the strategy as follows:
Use old customer management to cover all consumer customers, and establish emotional connections and other necessary actions through personalized services (such as postoperative follow-up, birthday care, and demand research) to reduce churn.
Use membership management to screen high-potential old customers, amplify their consumption value through systematic rights and interests (such as tier-exclusive discounts, point redemption projects, and member day activities), and feed back the accuracy of old customer management through membership labels.
6. How to do a good job in old customer management and member management
The core actions of the two: refined services to build trust, hierarchical operations to meet differentiated needs, and equity incentives to strengthen stickiness.
Long-time customer management: Reduce churn from “transaction” to “trust”
The core value of old customers lies in the potential for repurchase and referral ability, and the key to management is to make customers feel “valued” rather than “promoted” through “postoperative care + deep digging of needs + emotional connection”.
1. Customer stratification: precise positioning, differentiated maintenance
According to the consumption amount, frequency, project type, etc., divide the old customers into 3-4 layers (such as super customers, potential customers, ordinary customers, sleeping customers), and formulate targeted strategies:
Super customer(Annual consumption of 100,000+, high-frequency repurchase, strong willingness to recommend):
(1) Exclusive “customer butler” one-to-one service, regular door-to-door or in-store private customized plans (such as anti-aging annual planning);
(2) Gift scarce rights and interests (such as the dean’s personal operation, free participation in high-end medical beauty salons, and priority to experience new product projects);
(3) Give high-end gifts (such as big-name skin care products, customized physical examination cards) on holidays/birthdays to strengthen the sense of exclusivity of VIPs.
Potential customers(Annual consumption of 3-100,000 yuan, with repurchase but low frequency):
(1) Telephone/in-store communication every 1-3 months, combined with the effect of the last project to recommend related projects (keep awake);
(2) Invite to participate in the “old with new” small tea party and reintroduce through interactive activation.
Regular customers(Annual consumption of 1-30,000 yuan, mainly single consumption):
(1) Follow-up recovery in stages at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after surgery;
(2) Push “old customer exclusive coupons” (full discount or cash) to stimulate secondary consumption.
Sleeping customers(Not in store for more than 6 months):
(1) Actively investigate the causes of loss, and synchronously execute the sleep activation tool;
(2) By activating the tool “recall to the door”, reassign aesthetic consultants 1V1 maintenance to gradually awaken the demand.
2. Postoperative care: Build trust with “professionalism + details”
The “recovery experience” of medical aesthetic projects directly affects customer satisfaction and needs to cover the entire process of preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative:
Immediate postoperative: After the project is over, the operating physician or follow-up nurse will send the “postoperative precautions” (picture, text + short video form is the best);
Follow-up during the recovery period: 3 days, 1 week, half a month, and 1 month after surgery, periodic follow-up visits, recording recovery and solving problems in time;
Effect review: After the project effect is stable (such as 1-3 months after surgery), invite customers to the store for “effect comparison analysis” (take pre- and post-operative photos), and recommend “consolidation/upgrade plan” at the same time.
3. Emotional connection: jump out of the “sales thinking” and strengthen “friend-like interaction”
Personalized memory points: record customer details in the CRM system (such as “super afraid of pain”, “like a certain brand of perfume”, “child’s birthday”), and mention it in the next communication (such as “I remember you are super afraid of pain, this time I prepared a comfort toy for you”);
Non-utilitarian interaction: send “non-advertising blessings” (such as “mothers’ anti-aging knowledge” on Mother’s Day) during the holiday, and the consultant will personally call the blessing on the birthday + give a “gift to the store” (such as customized cake + skin test);
Private domain content penetration: Share “light science popularization” in the customer’s WeChat circle of friends (such as “What projects should be done for 25+ anti-aging? cases, cases (before and after comparison of privacy), occasionally like and comment on customer dynamics, weakening the sense of business.
Membership management: Lock in long-term consumption with “systematic rights”
The core of the membership system is to “make customers feel that there is a clear return on consumption/upgrade”, and it is necessary to design a closed loop of “clear levels, attractive rights and interests, and useful points”.
1. Membership level: Stimulate upgrades with “ladder benefits”
Set 3-5 levels (such as ordinary members→ silver cards→ gold cards→ diamond → black cards), the level threshold is linked to the consumption amount/consumption amount, and the difference in rights and interests needs to be “visible and usable”:
Note: Grade rights and interests need to be combined with the core projects of the institution to avoid the bug of “too high cashing cost” to avoid a poor member experience;
2. Points system: Let “consumption-points-redemption” form a closed loop
(1) Points acquisition: Points are awarded for the consumption amount of 1:1, and additional “bonus points” are set (such as double points for consumption on birthdays, 500-2000 points for referring new customer transactions, and 10-50 points for community sign-in/sharing cases);
(2) Point consumption: points can be used for “redemption items” (such as 5,000 points for small bubble cleaning), “deduction amount” (1,000 points are worth 200 yuan), “redemption products” (medical beauty masks, sunscreens, etc.), and set “points redemption days” every month (the redemption ratio is increased by 10%) to stimulate consumption;
(3) Transparency of points rules: Publicize the rules for obtaining, redeeming, and clearing points (such as the 1-year validity period of points) in the mini program/front desk to avoid customer confusion.
3. Exclusive activities for members: enhance the “sense of circle” and interaction
Regular Membership Day: 1 “Member Open Day” per month, members can enjoy additional points on that day, experience new projects for free (such as the trial of the newly introduced photonic skin rejuvenation equipment), and double the redemption of points for a limited time;
Theme Salon: Exclusive activities are held according to levels (such as “anti-aging private meeting” above gold card, inviting doctors to talk about plans + customers to share experience; silver card “skin care dry goods class”, with free mask DIY);
Referral fission incentives: In addition to the regular points rewards, members can receive additional “referral gifts” (such as recommending 3 people to upgrade their gold cards, recommending 5 people to send a single experience of anti-aging equipment), and the old and new rewards need to be “instantly credited” (such as after the new customer pays, the points of the old members will be increased immediately).
4. Member data operation: use CRM system to achieve “accurate reach”
Tag management: record members’ “project history”, “preferences” and “consumption cycle” in the CRM system;
Smart reminder: Set “repurchase warning”, “point expiration reminder”, and “level retention reminder”;
Hierarchical marketing: Push differentiated activities and segment filtering for members of different levels.
The above is only a reference for the use and implementation of strategy tools, and more needs to strengthen the execution and implementation of operations by institutional managers and operators. I would like to add here: if the human efficiency management assessment of the institution is strict, it can give priority to the management and operation of old customers.
7. Summary
The dismantling of the relationship between old customer management and member management can be repeated in a long article, but in the actual operation and execution, especially the practitioners in the operation position, no matter what kind of “martial arts secrets” are obtained, they need to combine the genetic attributes of the institution to promote the follow-up operation execution actions, and cannot be separated from the front line (customer) to implement the operation plan without margins, and the focus of all operation strategies is people (customers). Therefore, medical aesthetic institutions need to “take old customer management as the basis and member management as the lever” – first use personalized services to retain all old customers, and then use systematic rights and interests to stimulate the consumption potential of members, and the combination of the two can achieve “maximizing the value of existing customers”. In a nutshell: old customer management is the “surface”, covering all valuable repeat customers; Membership management is the “point”, focusing on the deep binding of core groups. The two complement each other, but they cannot be confused.
At the end of the article, I will repeat one point: old customer management ≠ member management. Managers of medical aesthetic institutions should first change from self-perception to affect the operation and execution positions. To avoid the dilemma of chaotic uplink management and not knowing what to do downward, the management (authority) and the executive level (landing) can better manage and serve customers (customers + members) in both directions.
Pay attention to old customer management and member management, and the correct strategy is the best solution to break the situation.
