Med Spa Success Strategies Podcast

Episode: Marketing Math Med Spa Owners Must Understand to Unlock Maximum Growth & ROI

Host: Ricky Shockley
Co-host: Lauren
Date: October 6, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode delivers a comprehensive, practical exploration of the essential marketing math concepts that med spa and aesthetics practice owners must grasp to achieve steady, maximized growth and return on investment (ROI). Ricky and Lauren break down the five most common problems owners face regarding marketing data, ROI, and cash flow, and they provide a structured framework for measuring, optimizing, and scaling marketing investments. The discussion is rich with actionable advice, real-life examples, and memorable quotes—demystifying the numbers behind smart marketing strategies.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Five Biggest Marketing Math Problems (03:04–06:27)

Ricky introduces the five major pitfalls he sees med spa owners make with marketing investments:

• Problem 1: Failing to measure ROI properly—especially how it ties to cash flow and revenue growth.
• Problem 2: Uncertainty around what good results/benchmarks actually look like.
• Problem 3: Not understanding the inverse relationship between offer attractiveness and customer acquisition costs.
• Problem 4: Optimizing for incomplete objectives (initial visit revenue/low acquisition cost), ignoring the full client value and quality.
• Problem 5: Viewing marketing as an expense instead of an investment—even after seeing positive results.

"If you know your numbers and your numbers are good... you really have to break the mindset that marketing is an expense. There are very few things in our business where money goes out the door and it's directly tied to revenue growth."
— Ricky (05:15)

2. Measuring ROI the Right (and Wrong) Way (06:27–08:33)

Two Bad Ways to Measure ROI

Lauren explains:

• Lifetime Value (LTV) alone isn’t actionable for short-term cash flow, especially without hard data on retention.
• Initial Visit Revenue fails to capture the long-term value of repeat clientele—most first visits lose money by design.

Lauren's advice: Seek a blended, time-aware reporting approach to truly assess ROI performance relative to cash outlay and retention.

"More times than not, you're probably going to lose money on that first visit. That's not to say though, that it's not worth it... but both of these [LTV and initial visit revenue] are just a bad way to measure success."
— Lauren (07:13)

Special Case: Large Package Sales

For treatments where retention isn't the goal (e.g., CoolSculpting packages), Ricky says it's appropriate to judge ROI on initial visit revenue.

3. The Compounding Power of Retention (08:33–09:51)

Growth ROI is compounding, not linear. The revenue from advertising investment snowballs as repeat visits from prior months’ clients accumulate alongside new patients.

• Linear ad spend brings exponential revenue—as long as patient retention is strong.
• Access Ricky’s ROI calculator by requesting it via a comment on their social posts.

"The real magic happens when... the clients that were here three months ago and six months ago... are overlapping with all of our new patient acquisition to create a snowball effect."
— Ricky (08:50)

4. Benchmarks—Are Your Numbers Really 'Good'? (10:07–13:03)

Most owners don’t know their own customer acquisition cost (CAC). Lauren stresses the importance of actually having this data and comparing it to industry benchmarks.

Powerful Example Calculation:

• At $4,000/month ad spend, reducing CAC from $200 to $125 can mean $300,000 more revenue over two years (12:00–13:00).

"The difference between $200 customer acquisition cost and 1:25... is a $300,000 difference from a $4,000 ad spend investment over just two years."
— Ricky (12:30)

5. Offer Attractiveness vs. Acquisition Cost (13:03–15:48)

Making your offer more attractive (e.g., a discount) usually reduces your acquisition cost and boosts volume, despite industry reluctance over “cheapening the brand.”

• Classic Objection: “I don’t want to cheapen my brand.”
• Lauren’s answer: Experience trumps perception. Initial offers get butts in seats; patient experience keeps quality clients coming back.

"Action changes attitude faster than attitude changes action."
— Lauren (14:53)

• More 'at bats' (new clients) with a sticky retention rate is superior to fewer high-quality clients from the outset.

“Would you rather see 100 clients and 25 are sticky, or just 15 good quality clients...?”
— Ricky (15:50)

6. Real-World Data: Discounting Outperforms Upfront Optimization (17:28–21:48)

• Ricky references both guest anecdotes and proprietary data showing that even when using aggressive new patient discounts, retention rates remain >50%.
• Volume-driven strategies—like discounting—deliver higher revenue growth than optimizing for client quality upfront due to the sheer number of clients retained over time.

"I'd rather have 50% of 100 than a hundred percent of 40."
— Ricky (17:29)

7. Don’t Optimize CAC Alone—Capture the Full Client Picture (21:48–22:55)

• Low acquisition cost is only meaningful if clients are high quality and retained.
• Always look beyond the first visit.

8. Marketing: Expense or Investment? (22:55–25:51)

• If your numbers and retention prove marketing gives a positive return, it must be seen as an investment.
• Owners with a scarcity mindset about increasing budgets are limiting their own growth.

"When it's working well, it's a money printing machine. You're putting a dollar in and in 12 to 24 months, it's printing you 4, 5, 6, 7 on the back end."
— Ricky (24:16)

• More ad spend not only accelerates growth but also improves short-term cash flow when the math supports it.

9. Key Takeaways & Success Prerequisites (25:51–27:41)

• Know and track your marketing numbers—they build confidence and allow for sound decisions.
• ROI grows over time with high-retention services.
• Fine-tune your offer attractiveness while safeguarding retention.
• Dial up ad spend when profitable—don’t hesitate to grow when the numbers work.
• Business excellence (especially patient experience and rebooking habits) is fundamental to amplifying ROI—no marketing can compensate for B+ service.

"You need to be shooting for excellence. You have to be A+ in every capacity... Rebook in the office. Please do not let people leave without an appointment being on the books."
— Ricky (27:22)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the reason to spend big on marketing:
  "Spending $300 in marketing could potentially be worth up to $10,000 in patient revenue per patient. But that lifetime value comes on a timeline."
  — Ricky (04:40)

• On measuring campaigns:
  "You have to understand even what those numbers are to know then where to go from there, where to optimize."
  — Lauren (11:36)

• On brand, client experience, and retention:
  "Perception is created best through experience... If we truly want to be someone's favorite med spa, the best way to do that is to create perception through experience."
  — Ricky (15:48)

• On breaking the ‘expense’ mindset:
  "If you're still locked into a mindset that marketing is an expense and not an investment, you're shooting yourself in the foot."
  — Ricky (23:05)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 05:00 — Introduction to the five most common math mistakes in marketing
• 06:27 — Why lifetime value and initial visit revenue are bad metrics on their own
• 08:33 — Compounding benefits of patient retention and the snowball effect
• 12:00–13:00 — Case study showing the difference a low CAC makes over time
• 13:33 — Trade-off: Offer Attractiveness vs. Acquisition Cost
• 14:47 — Brand concerns around discounting addressed
• 17:29 — Data: Discount-driven strategies outperform reputation-only strategies
• 22:55 — Mindset: Why marketing is not an expense
• 25:51 — How dialing up ad spend changes cash flow and capacity
• 27:04–27:41 — Excellence in patient experience and rebooking is non-negotiable

Final Takeaways

• Track, understand, and act on your marketing numbers—don’t operate in the dark.
• Use both short-term and long-term ROI calculations for effective decision-making.
• Boost your offer's attractiveness for maximum volume but ensure your team delivers A+ experiences to keep clients returning.
• Once you’re confident in your numbers, ramp up your ad spend—growth will follow.
• Rebooking, retention, and consistent client excellence drive real ROI—not just the marketing math.

This episode is a must-listen for any med spa owner ready to treat marketing as their most powerful revenue-generating asset.