Jessica Michelle Esthetics uses digital automation to free up more time for client experience
“It's worth every penny to me,” she says. “The grant money was a huge help for that.”
Jessica Cappadocia's career as an esthetician has taken her places from one of Toronto’s top-tier spas and a stint onboard a cruise line. But regardless of the setting, there was always one commonality amongst her clients – esthetics was a treat, not a priority. But that changed during the pandemic, says Cappadocia, owner of Jessica Michelle Esthetics in North Bay.
“We’ve seen such a demand, our industry has grown so much,” says Cappadocia. “It’s becoming more of a maintenance for women… they’re making it a priority for self-care now.” She says customers are pre-booking and making appointments more regularly.
It’s validation for Cappadocia, who opened Jessica Michelle Estethics in July 2022 after 17 years of working in the industry. “It was a dream of mine,” says Cappadocia, who specializes in a micro-blading technique called Permanent Makeup Brows (PMU). However, keeping pace with the growth is making it challenging for Cappadocia to keep up with some of the marketing elements she knows are vital to the business's success. “Social media is huge,” she says. “Even when I was working at a spa before, I was constantly posting my work.”
Earlier this year, she found out about Digital Main Street, a program which combines grants and one-to-one support from the Province of Ontario alongside partners to help main street businesses strengthen their online capabilities and plan for the digital future. Cappadocia applied for a $2,500 Digital Transformation Grant and received it alongside some digital training.
With the grant, she was able to invest in a social media manager. “Which was exactly what I needed because I'm fully booked at work all day long and then to go home at night and work on social media that's another full-time job,” she says. Through her social media manager, she got more comfortable with social media advertising. “With the online ads, you can edit them so that they’re specifically going to people in your area because they're the people that are going to be your customers.”
She’s also invested more in the digital backend of the business. “You used to have to call into the salon and book your appointment and every night we would have to do all of our callback reminder calls for the next day,” says Cappodocia. “Now I use the Square system and it sends out all of those reminder messages automatically.” Clients can easily book appointments or reschedule online. “Now I can be here, focused on doing my actual work and working on my clients and not have to worry about doing all of that stuff,” she says. “I’m very thankful we have social media and all of these online tools now.”
Though she’s already used the grant money, Cappadocia has kept her social media manager on. “It's worth every penny to me,” she says. “The grant money was a huge help for that.”
If you’re looking for an esthetician in the North Bay area, check out Jessica Michelle Esthetics here.
To learn more about the Digital Transformation Grant, and how it can help your business visit here.
Digital Main Street was created by the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) with direct support from the City of Toronto. DMS is also supported by a group of strategic business partners, including Google, Mastercard, Shopify, Meta, Intuit QuickBooks, Square, Lightspeed, Ebay and Canada Post.
Continued investment from the Province of Ontario, through the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade (MEDJCT) has allowed the ongoing expansion the Digital Main Street Platform in order to support more businesses going digital across Ontario.
