We recently sent out a newsletter, asking our customers if they’d like to get involved in a Wagner survey of trends within the spray tan industry. We received an overwhelming response – and now, we finally have the results to share with you! How important is the sprayer to you?

93% of you said that your spray tan equipment is very important to your business. This is not surprising, seeing as the quality of the equipment:

  • Impacts the quality of the spray tan
  • Is noticed by your customer – a stylish spray tan machine can help to impress
  • Keeps your business going – an unreliable machine can harm your business

 

If you trust the solution brand, does it mean you expect a good machine too?

 

We were very interested in your responses to this. At certain times of year (particularly Christmas!), competitor spray tan brands will bring out ‘economy’ spray tan kits. We are put under a lot of pressure to do the same, but we’ve made the decision year-on-year to stick with quality spray tanning systems, fit for professionals. For this reason, here at Fresh Indulgence, we only stock Wagner (‘Aura’), Earlex, FreshMist and Tanning Essentials.

We were pleased to see that you value this in a spray tan brand: the ability to trust that the equipment they are offering is of the highest quality. Of course, price is important too, and we always do our best to ensure that we offer all equipment at affordable prices. In fact, if you see anything that we stock cheaper elsewhere, please let us know!

 

 

What is it you think that drives people into your shop / to your business for a spray tan?

We were really surprised by your answers to this one! We expected “customer service” to be a popular response, but were really delighted that 39% of you felt that it was the solution you use that brings people back again and again.

When it comes to your choice of spray tan solution, undoubtedly, important concerns are:

  • The quality of the tan
  • The range of tones and shades
  • The branding – is it a brand that your customers can identify with?

Given that the majority of you also rated Fresh Indulgence as your primary spray tan brand, we were obviously delighted by these results!

What do you charge?

Most of you are offering tans for £20 or £15. Salon owners tended to respond with slightly higher pricing, at the £25 or £30 price points.

Many of you responded that you offer special pricing for:

  • Spray tan parties / group bookings
  • Loyalty cards
  • Half body tans
  • Seasonal offers

 

How much solution do you use in a spray tan?

We get asked this all the time over the telephone. We usually advise customers that they will probably start off using 60ml, but over time may get it down to 50ml or even 40ml. The vast majority of you report that you use an average of 50-100ml per spray tan.

What usually goes wrong when performing a spray tan?

 

Answers to this question were many and varied, but 40% of you reported the main source of error to be the client: lack of skin preparation, putting clothes on too quickly, or regretting the shade they’d picked. Another popular category was to do with ‘problem areas’ on the skin, such as dry patches, hands/knees/elbows (a light coat of barrier cream can be helpful here), patchy or streaky tans (consider prep spray). Most of you were pleased with your equipment, but those who did have machine issues quoted splattering, leaking and the machine simply being too loud as common complaints.

 

 

How do you spray – horizontally or vertically?

 

58% of you said you use a vertical spray pattern, with the remaining people split equally between horizontally and a combination of both.

How frequently do you perform mobile spray tanning?

 

95% of you are out tanning your customers at least once a week, with 17% of you busy bees working more than 5 days a week.

Name the machine

Nobody correctly identified all 3 machines. The most commonly identified system was the Tanning Essentials Rapid, pictured in the middle. Names given for the other models included:

  • Aviva
  • SiennaX
  • TS50
  • MaxiMist
  • Fresh Indulgence
  • T100
  • Rapidtan
  • Apollo
  • Sunless
  • TS20000

In fact, this was a bit of a trick question from Wagner, because aside from the Rapid system, the other two machines are ‘generic’ Chinese models, which companies have been own-branding. Names you may have seen them by are ‘Spray Tan Kitty,’ ‘LA Compact,’ ‘TE Mini,’ to name but a few.

 

Do you think that better technology can provide better results, or is this irrelevant?

30% of you felt that better technology would not deliver any real benefit to your business, but the majority of you felt that improvements in technology will deliver better results for you and your clients. We’re guessing that this was the message Wagner were hoping to hear, given their recent launch of the new Aura Allure, with huge improvements over previous generations of spray tan machines.