Square and SendinBlue have free services that make my heart ka-ching.
Square is a credit card payment service.
SendinBlue is an email marketing service.
I’m not going to lie, I wish I didn’t have to use a credit card payment service or an email marketing service.
For one, I want all the money for each massage I do.
But a lot of clients want to pay by credit card.
So, you have to pay-to-play.
Regarding an email marketing service, here’s what I was willing to spend on email campaigns in the past.
$0.
Oh, “free” was out there.
And I found it, but “free” was okay at best.
As my business grew I outgrew “free”, but the not-free version was too expensive
Couple that with a monthly fee my credit card payment service was charging me on top of transaction fees and it felt like some major sticking it to the little guy/gal.
But now it’s different.
I have a free email service with all the features I need and a credit card payment service that gives me the capability to sell gift certificates and schedule clients online for free.
That’s huge.
Seriously.
Okay, before I get too excited and have a heart attack, I need to tell you that the services I recommend below have affiliate links. That means if you click on a link and sign-up for a service, I get a commission.
If you sign up through a link, thank you for supporting my work! And if you ever have a question/issue with a service I recommend, come to me, let me know and I’ll make sure that you have an answer/solution.
Sound good?
Okay, back to free.
Let’s start with Square.
Square
Square charges a percentage fee for each credit card transaction (like all credit card payment systems).
So, they want you to do A LOT of transactions!
And out of the goodness of their hearts (haha), they provide tools to help you sell.
Enter online gift certificates.
Online Gift Certificates
If you have a free Square account go to the home page and click on gift cards.
There you can choose your template and fill in the the dollar amounts.
Once you’re done that you simply click on Configure and that’s where you’ll find the URL to stick on your (hyperlink) website. (If you need help with that, let me know.)
That URL takes the customer to a Square page where she can purchase an online gift certificate and print it out or send it via email to someone else.
Here’s what it looks like on our PressurePerfect website.
In the past I used a service called Gift Card Café to sell printable gift certificates on our website.
Their cost is an additional 4.95% per order for the Lite plan on top of the normal credit processing transaction fees of the credit card payment system.
Free versus an additional 4.95% per order…wait let me think about this—NOT.
Online Scheduler
Like I said, Square wants us to have everything we need to sell our services so that they can profit, too.
That’s why they also provide an online scheduler.
For a one-person massage operation (individual), the scheduler is free.
It syncs with Google calendar.
Clients can book on your website and you can set it up to text appointment reminders to clients.
Did I mention it was free?
I’m loving what Square is doing.
The more marketing tools they provide to us (for free), the more both of us make money.
Total win/win.
Okay, onto the dreaded email campaigns that no one wants to do.
SendinBlue
I had a love/hate relationship with my previous email service, Mailchimp.
I loved that Mailchimp had a free option which allowed me to do email campaigns when I was at my poorest as a massage therapist.
I didn’t like that the free version wouldn’t allow me to do certain things, like automated emails, without upgrading to a paid version which was cost prohibitive at the time.
But the biggest problem I had with Mailchimp was that there was no support for the free version.
Guess what? I’m massage therapist with a massage business not an accounting firm with a marketing team. I need help.
The final straw for me with Mailchimp was when it wouldn’t allow me to send a time-sensitive email campaign and there was no way I could resolve the issue right then.
Within 30 minute I discovered SendinBlue. An hour later, I had transferred my contacts to SendinBlue and sent the email.
Can I just say, I love them.
High-Five Usability
The dashboard is super easy to understand and use.
Directions are clear.
And they provide support—even if you’re using the free version.
Basically, SendinBlue provided all the solutions to the problems I had with Mailchimp.
And it’s no accident that they’ve reached frustrated Mailchimp users like me.
By the way, if you know that you should be doing some email marketing, but don’t know what to do, go here.
More Low Cost Marketing
Hey, we’re not done saving money. I have more ways that I make online marketing affordable.
I build my own websites without hiring a designer or a SEO specialist.
The two resources below will help you out with that.
Build a Massage Website Guide.
Choose a Website Builder Article (4 minute read)
And if you want to know when I have more cost-saving tips out, sign up for my email group.
It’s free:-)
