Meet the Partners: how Natural Balance Therapies uses Fresha to make spa management easy

Founder and owner of Natural Balance Therapies, Mark Alexander set up his spa with the goal of becoming a centre of excellence for massage and osteopathy.
15 years on and they have expanded to acupuncture, beauty treatments and more; here’s how switching to Fresha has given Mark freedom to manage his business.

Mark Alexander is something of a veteran when it comes to wellness and beauty. With over a decade and a half of experience as owner of Natural Balance Therapies, he is also a member of the Institute for Soft Tissue Therapists, and has lectured at the University of Brighton on their Complementary Healthcare course.

Mark’s list of qualifications and training is long, suiting the owner of Brighton and Hove’s ‘centre of excellence for massage and osteopathy’. Pioneering even in their early days, Natural Balance Therapies was one of the first massage businesses to have a bespoke booking software — but as business grew, so did their requirements.

“During the lockdown I wanted to change the system, and Fresha really stood out because it was mobile-friendly. The functionality is fantastic across all devices, which was a really big consideration for us.”

An easy way to manage a growing business

Natural Balance Therapies has come a long way since opening; they have changed locations, built a team of 14 therapists and grown their client base to over 1,000 people. Having an easy-to-use booking software has been a major factor in their recent growth.

“All of my therapists have the Fresha partner app, so they can manage their diaries and reschedule clients. I wouldn’t be able to manage a team of 14 without Fresha helping me.”

Fresha offers everything you need to run your business, and its fully integrated payment system means business owners like Mark can keep everything easily organised. They were able to take card payments on a previous system, but without the integration provided by Fresha, things weren’t always straightforward.

“There would often be discrepancies as the card machines we used didn’t keep a record of payments, so it created a lot of administration. Fresha’s integrated payment system is fantastic, you can’t get it wrong.”

And with Fresha’s reporting, Mark is able to check on his business when and where he wants - even if he’s supposed to be on a break. “Reports have made everything much more streamlined, I use it to do all my accounts and finance, and I can look at them from anywhere, even 5000 miles away on holiday. I love the reporting on Fresha.”

Promoting business through Fresha

While Natural Balance Therapies has been around for a while, they aren’t a high street business and their location is rather hidden away. This means Mark depends on their web presence to bring in business - and Fresha’s marketing tools help him stay connected to his clients.

With Fresha’s blast campaign feature, Mark is able to reach out with targeted messages via email, text message and in-app notifications. They’re a great way to promote products and services, helping you stay in your clients’ thoughts.

“We use Fresha blast campaigns for our monthly newsletter, but we also sent out a blast message by text with a 10% offer when bookings were a little slow. We targeted 1,400 of our clients, and when you send them out they work extremely well.”

A great solution for everyone

While Fresha comes with a range of great features, for Mark the main benefit is that it’s simple for everyone who needs to use it. It gives everyone the ability to manage their bookings, calendars and payments whenever they need to.

“The most important feature is the usability of Fresha - it allows our clients to make or amend bookings without having to phone us. I’d definitely recommend Fresha to other businesses, it’s given me freedom.”

Manage your business to success like Natural Balance Therapies by joining Fresha free. 

Discover Natural Balance Therapies here.