Enhancing patient outcomes while boosting practice revenue, Audrey Neff explains how retail skincare is an often-overlooked but essential component of a successful aesthetic practice
In the ever-evolving landscape of aesthetic medicine, achieving practice success involves more than just offering cutting-edge treatments. A comprehensive approach to incorporating retail skincare adoption is pivotal. Why? It doesn’t just improve patient outcomes — it has a direct impact on your business’s bottom line. Unfortunately, most practices fall short in this arena.
Medical aesthetic practices face a persistent challenge in effectively integrating and boosting retail skincare sales without undermining their core services. The gap between expectation and delivery of skincare in aesthetic practice affects multiple stakeholders, including practice owners, medical staff, and patients. For practice owners, limited retail sales mean reduced profitability and patient retention, as patients might seek other providers who offer more comprehensive care. Staff members miss an opportunity to enhance their roles as educators and brand ambassadors, which can impact their professional development. Patients, on the other hand, are at risk of not achieving optimal treatment outcomes, leading to dissatisfaction.
This article discusses tactics to implement in your aesthetic practice to improve retail skincare sales, providing a structured guide for practitioners looking to optimize patient outcomes, recurring revenue, and patient lifetime value.
The current state of skincare in aesthetic medicine
The total global sales for medical-grade skincare exceeded $3.8B in 2023, representing roughly 11% of the global aesthetic market1. Through 2025, total market sales are expected to continue to rise 7.9% per year1. As this sector continues to grow, modern aesthetic practices also need to understand the valuable opportunity skincare presents to not only your patients but also for the overall success and profitability of your practice.
Retail skincare sales account for a significant yet often underutilized portion of revenue in aesthetic practices. What percentage of gross non-invasive revenue should retail skincare account for in an aesthetic practice? Believe it or not, it’s around 15–20%. However, the industry average lingers around a mere 3% to 5%.
Four powerful tactics to boost retail skincare revenue
1. Harnessing before and after photos as educational tools
Before and after photos are quintessential for bridging the credibility gap and affirming the potential results clients can expect from their investments in aesthetic treatments. Patients search for reliability and relatability, and seeing the tangible results of others with similar concerns, skin types, or dermatological backgrounds can significantly reduce hesitancy. Practices should incorporate these visuals as a fundamental element of consultations. Leverage photos of previous patients as benchmarks for potential clients, which increases trust and promotes higher consultation conversions.
It is strongly recommended that practices have a documented process in place for taking before and after photos. There should be consistency with backgrounds, angles, and lighting to ensure the full clinical transformation(s) can be perceived by prospective patients. Additionally, ensure you have a bulletproof consent process in the clinic. Ideally, you should have two separate consents — one for internal use between the provider and patient, and the second for a patient to consent for their photos to be used in external marketing efforts such as on social media or your practice website.
As the demographics in aesthetics continue to shift with generational changes, younger patients (Millennials and older Gen-Z) are often more willing to share their results and experiences on social media vs. Generation X or Baby Boomer patients. This represents a valuable opportunity that will continue to expand for practices, considering the fact that Millennials make up less than 30% of the global medical aesthetic market yet are the only consumer group with full purchasing power expected to pick up market share over the next few years2.
2. Enhancing your consultation approach
A second strategy to improve skincare revenue in your practice is to assess your current consultation process. Are you spending enough time with a prospective patient during their initial first visit? Spending enough time (30–60 minutes) and incorporating a full-facial analysis are two tactics that can dramatically enhance your current processes. Leverage the patient consultation as an opportunity to design long-term, personalized treatment plans, embodying the principles of combination therapy — merging clinical treatments with skincare regimens for optimal outcomes. By educating clients about the benefits of using medical-grade skincare products alongside their treatments, practitioners can provide superior patient outcomes, thereby bolstering retention rates and establishing loyalty.
Regardless of whether a patient initially comes into your clinic interested in a single ‘gateway’ service such as a facial, neuromodulators, or HA filler, the responsibility falls on the medical provider to properly educate the patient on all the necessary treatments/products that should be used in conjunction with one another to achieve the best clinical outcomes possible.
Another strategy that can be useful when educating a patient on your skincare products is to physically have the products in the treatment room with you. Allowing them to try the product(s) on their hands or face, while simultaneously educating them on the features and benefits of the products, can also be effective at increasing adoption.
With more price-conscious consumers, consider offering three different tiered options for a treatment plan, with each one increasing in cost and commitment. Providing more than just one option for patients can help maximize consultation conversation rates. Offering flexible patient financing is another tactic practices should implement in 2025 and beyond.
Selling your skincare in ‘packages or systems’ can also be effective at simplifying a recommended skincare protocol. For instance, develop an acne, mature skin, or hyperpigmentation-specific protocol or bundled system that includes all AM/PM skincare products with branded step-by-step instructions for addressing those specific concerns.
According to an industry study3, 86% of patients expect providers to recommend a pre-treatment skincare regime, but only 14% of patients were recommended any at-home skincare. Additionally, 91% of patients expect a recommended post-treatment skincare regime, but only 30% of patients in the study were recommended post-care skincare products.
This exhibits a massive gap in patient care, as providers are doing a disservice to their patients by not educating them on the need for using at-home skincare to protect their investment in aesthetic treatments.
Incorporating pre and post-treatment protocols for all lasers or energy-based device services is another proven way to drive retail skin care adoption and practice revenue. You can either bundle the skincare in with the total cost of the package/series or offer it as a value-add or upgrade to enhance clinical results. While not universally applicable, many practices find this method reduces the pressure of upselling and assures patients receive the best post-treatment care.
The broader implications of such integration extend beyond immediate sales. They foster patient trust and enhance the overall perception of value within the practice. By ensuring patients adhere rigorously to prescribed skincare regimens, practices not only uplift patient satisfaction but also affirm their credibility and reliability in delivering exceptional clinical results.
3. Maximizing marketing channels for patient education
Beyond the consultation or treatment room, strategic use of digital platforms and in-practice education to elevate patient awareness and, consequently, retail sales is another impactful tactic.
Dedicate time to create content for social platforms such as Instagram by leveraging posts, reels, stories, and highlights. Applicable examples include filming videos talking about different skincare products, educational posts explaining the key benefits, and Instagram live Q&A sessions.
Additionally, the scope of before and after photos stretches beyond consultation support. They serve as powerful marketing assets when shared across social media and digital platforms, emphasizing transparency and positive results. When posting before & after photos (with proper consent) on social media, be sure you are also describing in the caption the treatment plan and at-home skincare used to achieve the specific results showcased. Shedding light on the timeline and specificity of the treatment plan bolsters practice credibility, helps manage patient expectations, and amplifies acquisition initiatives.
In-practice marketing techniques can include the usage of pop-up banners, brochures, QR codes, or having your skincare products highlighted on smart televisions with relevant before and after photos throughout the practice.
4. Invest in staff training and cultural buy-in to your skin care products
The marketing strategy extends into the practice itself with detailed staff training — a cornerstone for increasing retail sales. Your staff needs to be trained and culturally bought into your practice’s treatments and products. The impact of enthusiastic, knowledgeable staff cannot be overstated, particularly when they become brand ambassadors for the skincare products offered.
Training encompasses building an understanding of the value and efficacy of products and empowering staff to overcome potential consumer barriers related to pricing. Practices should begin by training staff comprehensively on the features and benefits of their skincare products, ensuring they are well-prepared to engage patients in meaningful discussions about their skincare needs. Regular workshops or seminars, possibly supported by vendors, could enhance ongoing education.
Overall, team engagement and ongoing education are pivotal. Practices should ensure all employees are well-versed in all product line(s) and that they are also enthusiastic users. Your staff are your biggest advocates, and their genuine belief in your products can be one of your strongest sales tools.
Obstacles like competitive pricing from online retailers can be mitigated by offering exclusive in-office promotions, VIP programs, memberships, or value-added services like bundled procedural packages with built-in skincare essentials, ensuring patients receive unparalleled value for choosing in-practice products.
Conclusion
In conclusion, retail skin care is essential in crafting a resilient and sustainable practice. Why? Because you are not ‘just selling retail.’ You are selling an experience, outcome, and clinical result to better serve your patient base. Practices adept in harnessing comprehensive consultations and photogenic proof, supported by skilled staff and robust marketing efforts, will position themselves as leaders within the industry. They cater to evolving consumer expectations and carve out a distinctive advantage, transforming each interaction into an opportunity to elevate reputation, trust, and results.
