Introduction
Customer satisfaction remains an abiding principle in the ever-developing esthetic services. The aestheticians in the current world face enormous workloads and unpredictability. Therefore, a close analysis of these challenges, their causes, and their challenges is essential for creating effective policies to address them (Shin et al., 2019). This study aims to analyze the obstacles estheticians encounter while ensuring customer satisfaction. The impacted parties, the underlying reasons, and a potential solution are also explored. The aim is to assist in creating the highest possible level of service quality by investigating client expectations and communication strategies, among other aspects, for customer satisfaction.
Problem Identification
Estheticians are entitled to address various problems to maintain happiness among their customers. One of the problems these people address is that the client sets expectations for the estheticians, and they need to match the services or tasks they render. The study by Delen et al. (2020) contends that the precise need for estheticians’ services should be geared toward clients’ needs. The study reveals the significant gap between client anticipation and estheticians’ services. For instance, this issue can result from problems like poor language between doctor and patient, lack of proper understanding, and service characteristics, which can be other causes (Shin et al., 2019). When they are appropriately aligned, an association of premises and reality can result in dissatisfaction among customers, which can cause problems for estheticians in reaching their goal of an uncompromising customer satisfaction rate.
Shin, Yeom, and Park (2019) highlight the crucial role of customer satisfaction with specialized training within esthetics education. The studies they conducted show that dissatisfaction among the clients was one of the biggest problems and negatively affected the efforts of skin care experts to get a high rate of client satisfaction. This is simply because it extends beyond immediate effects that interfere with the interaction between the aesthetician and the client. It also reveals the lasting implications of not meeting the customer’s expectations, which may negatively impact the whole image and reputation of the salon in the market.
Affected Stakeholders
Estheticians’ need to work on fulfilling customer satisfaction impairs the different stakeholders they interact with within the sector of beauty aesthetics. In this regard, customers who are dishonored are affected by the adverse effects at the individual beauticians’ level and beauty centers such as spas, salons, and cosmetic clinics. Adverse situations might discourage some consumers from future patronage, reduce business income, and cause a reduction in customers’ brand image, which affects the bottom line of businesses and their viability in the long run (Shin et al., 2019). The consequences impact the individuals doing the procedures either directly or through the institutions, such as practices where the procedures are performed. Further, it goes beyond the individual practitioner, practice, and manufacturer to the level of the whole industry. Constant client discouragement can spoil the industry’s integrity and discourage consumers’ trust and brand loyalty, which is needed to improve performance and attract new customers from the market.
Root Causes
Several causes determine the lack of customer satisfaction of the estheticians. One of the prominent factors is the subjective nature of beauty perceptions, which is responsible for the inability to meet various customer expectations that are utterly unique. Moreover, estheticians and clients need more interactions and might develop misunderstandings and dissatisfaction (Egemen, 2022). In addition, insufficient training and education for estheticians would put obstacles in their path to adjusting to changing consumer needs and consistently bringing top-quality services to clients. This relationship between individual interactions and systemic factors within the esthetics industry illustrates the difficulty of a solution. Hence, a solution that considers and targets both isolated and systemic aspects of a problem should be given preference.
Persistence of the Problem
Despite the perennial challenges for estheticians in customer satisfaction, the reasons behind this persistence are complex. One of the most important things is the need for measurable metrics to assess service quality in the beauty field. Ali et al. (2021) explore the role of service quality in the hospitality industry as a determining factor of customer satisfaction. In their results, they argue for objective service standards as one of the factors. On the contrary, the domain of esthetics requires that easy standards be established for the artists to be consistently evaluated and satisfy customers’ expectations. The fact that new skincare technologies and techniques are evolving very fast makes the need to continue learning and adapting the profession over time.
Stakes of Non-Solution
Failure to address the points of concern that criticize aestheticians might cause significant problems. The distressing issue is that it affects the reputation and survival within the beauty sector of individuals and cosmetic specialties. Unsatisfied customers will do everything possible to find other suppliers instead of re-visiting the same club by mentioning negative comments, leading to the loss of competition and negative reviews (Shin et al., 2019). In addition, the multiplicative powers of generalized dissatisfaction can seriously harm the industry, undermining the trustworthiness and image of the beauty industry.
Potential Solutions
To solve these problems, several technical options can be introduced equally. The first potential solution is to improve the communication between cosmetologists and clients. This will result in a wide-ranging program of consultation in esthetics where they can understand the needs and preferences of the client, leading to reliable services and the highest satisfaction levels. Moreover, funding the training and retraining of the estheticians is crucial in maintaining knowledge of the processing trends and finding ways to refine their skills. Also, if comparable quality standards are developed, the balanced scorecard-type approach proposed by Delen et al. (2020) can also be used to help evaluate and upgrade service delivery consistently.
Conclusion
In summary, catering to clients’ needs is complex and sophisticated, so it deserves thoughtful contemplation. Ensuring the social, economic, and environmental advocates of this concern are identified and involved makes it evident that managing these dilemmas puts the country at the dangerous point of becoming an aesthetic industry that destroys and does not develop. However, some challenges can be overcome by proactive processes such as better communication, investing in education, and implementing metrics. Estheticians can overcome these challenges by using these processes, which will eventually lead to more satisfied people, which will cause the growth of the industry ecosystem.
References
Ali, B., Gardi, B., Othman, B. J., & Ahmed, S. A. (2021). Hotel service quality: The impact of service quality on customer satisfaction in hospitality. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351780048_Hotel_Service_Quality_The_Impact_of_Service_Quality_on_Customer_Satisfaction_in_Hospitality
Delen, D., Dorokhov, O., Dorokhova, L., Dinçer, H., & Yüksel, S. (2020). Balanced scorecard-based analysis of customer expectations for cosmetology services: a hybrid decision modeling approach. Journal of Management Analytics, 7(4), 532–563. https://doi.org/10.1080/23270012.2020.1818319
Egemen, M. (2022). Building Construction Clients’ Design Consultant and Contractor Selection Criteria Versus Post-Occupancy Satisfaction Levels. SAGE Open, 12(2), 215824402210899. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221089968
Shin, Y., & Park. (2019). Customer Happiness and Open Innovation in the Esthetics Education for the Elderly Generation. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 5(4), 86. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc5040086
Shin, Y., & Park. (2019). Customer Happiness and Open Innovation in the Esthetics Education for the Elderly Generation. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 5(4), 86. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc5040086
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