How to Establish Service Pricing for a Med Spa

If you want your med spa to grow, you need a clear pricing strategy. Set the right prices and you’ll cover costs, attract patients, and position your brand for success. Price too high and you lose clients. Price too low and you risk undercutting your skills and hurting your bottom line.

Building a good pricing plan isn’t about guessing numbers. You’ll need to know your exact costs, scope out your market, and use reliable tools to keep track of profits and client trust. Let's dig into what you need to do step by step to build pricing that works.

Pricing Basics for Med Spa Services

Start by creating your service menu. What treatments will you offer? Which ones are your signature options? When you get your menu clear, you know where to put your time and energy.

Your starting point for price depends on a few big things:

• Staff credentials: Board-certified injectors or highly skilled aestheticians let you set higher rates than new providers.
• Operating costs: Think about rent, utilities, insurance, and equipment. Your pricing needs to cover these, every month.
• Location: Spas in Manhattan price higher than those in smaller towns.

Transparency is key. Clients want to know what they're paying for. Show both individual session prices and package deals. When you explain that pricing comes from treatment area size, session numbers, provider training, and product quality, you show you’re setting prices for good reason.

Try tiered pricing. Set up basic, premium, and signature levels. This helps clients find what suits their budget, plus makes upgrades easy to spot. You’ll see more clients choosing premium packages, which boosts your average sale per visit.

Spot Your Audience and Stand Out

You can’t set prices if you don’t know your market. 88% of med spa clients are women, and 78% are under age 55. But dig deeper for your area. Your clinic might see younger, older, budget-friendly, or luxury-focused clients.

Break your audience into segments. Some clients want just facials and light treatments. Others go for complex treatments like laser resurfacing or body contouring. Some come every month for tweaks. Others come a few times a year for more serious medical aesthetics.

Make sure your tiers match what your clients want. Build packages around what they’re really asking for and not just what you guess they’ll like.

Your brand position matters. Are you a boutique clinic offering cutting-edge medical devices and white-glove service? Price on the high end and focus on exclusivity. Or do you want to welcome more people to aesthetics? Keep prices value-focused, but don’t cut your quality. If you aim for the middle, balance rates with a great value story.

Perceived value is huge. Well-trained staff and clear communication help clients understand what’s in each treatment. A nice space and good follow-up make clients more willing to pay for your services.

Track Costs, Profit, and Use Real Tools

You can’t just set pricing once and never look again. Keep an eye on your expenses, your profit margins, and what’s selling well. Figure out your true cost for each treatment:

• Product costs: Injectables, fillers, skincare products
• Labor: Use actual staff hours, include benefits
• Equipment: Factor in depreciation
• Overhead: Use a fair share of your rent and bills

You’ll want your costs of goods sold between 15% and 35% of your revenue. Injectables and fillers sit on the higher side. Facials and body treatments eat up more labor time.

Labor costs deserve a look. Labor cost percentage should be under 35% as you get bigger. If your payroll is eating more, you might be underpricing or overstaffed. Adjust as you grow.

Your EHR and management software needs to help you track profits and spending. Look for:

• Quick reporting on service popularity and profitability
• Client acquisition costs and retention data
• Inventory management to avoid product waste
• Automated scheduling and payments that save you admin time and improve cash flow

Your profit margin will vary depending on your setup:

• Solo injectors: 40-55% net profit. Low overhead and no payroll help here.
• Boutique clinics (1-5 staff): 18-28% net profit.
• Standalone med spas: 10-15% margin.
• Med spas tied to dermatology/cosmetic surgery: Up to 40-50% net profit, since you share referrals and space.

If a service is busy but low margin, raise your price or cut its cost. If you’ve got a high-margin, low-traffic item, market it more. Consistently low-performing services might not deserve your menu.

How Portrait Makes Pricing Simple

You need software that makes decisions easy and keeps costs low. Portrait ties everything together, so you don’t have to juggle dozens of apps or spreadsheets.

Portrait’s platform rolls EHR, scheduling, payments, inventory, and analytics into one system. Track key numbers in real time. See which services are winners and tweak the rest. Inventory tracking helps you automate orders and cut waste before it becomes a problem.

Your supply spending affects your bottom line. Portrait’s supply network gets you special deals on injectables, devices, weight loss products, and skincare. With up to 60% savings on supplies, you can keep margins high and pricing stable.

The Rewards Program goes even further. When you buy supplies, half your discount is instant and half turns into rebate points for future orders. Every order makes your business a little more profitable over time.

There’s more than just software. Portrait walks you through the hard stuff: market research, pricing, facility setup, patient experience, and compliance. You’ll get help designing offers, setting up pricing, and showing off your expertise to the right patients.

Establish and Re-establish Your Pricing

Your prices shouldn’t stay the same forever. As your practice evolves, check your financials often. Know your costs. Watch trends in your revenue. Keep an eye on how much it costs to get and keep clients. Fine-tune your services and prices as you go.

Ask clients what they think. Are they balking at certain prices? Are most upgrading to premium packages? Are clients asking for services you don’t have yet? Use their feedback to reshape your menu and pricing tiers.

Watch your competition, too. See what other local spas charge. Know your place in your market. Adjust your positioning if you need to. But don’t just battle on price. Lead with your value, your experience, and your results.

Memberships and loyalty programs build recurring revenue and hook clients for the long run. A well-built membership can be 20-30% of your total revenue. Create clear levels, so upgrades are obvious and valuable. Make sure benefits really add up to more than the monthly fee, so clients feel good about joining.

Skip constant discounting. Discounting core services can damage your brand. Instead, use smart product discounts or value-added perks to keep clients loyal, without making your main offerings feel cheap.

Running a profitable med spa comes down to knowing your costs inside out, understanding your clients, and building a cost structure that’s sustainable and trusted. With the right tools and a solid strategy, you’ll set prices that reflect your skills, pay your bills, and set you up for long-term growth.