Yujin Nail Studio

Background

Yujin Nail Studio opened on a quiet Itaewon side street in 2018 and built a loyal book of 140 or so regulars in its first two years. Then came 2020. By late 2022, Yujin had counted: 84 of those regulars had either moved, changed jobs, or simply stopped coming. A 60% loss. She reopened fully in early 2023 on a single chair, running at roughly 40% of her pre-pandemic weekly bookings, and spent 2024 stuck there.

What we tried

Two layers, stacked carefully. The first was a joayo first-visit offer: ₩39,000 for a gel manicure (normally ₩55,000), capped at 6 new-customer bookings per week so the books didn't get flooded with one-time deal hunters. The second was a built-in loyalty hook inside joayo — anyone who rebooked within 28 days got their third visit at 20% off. Yujin didn't chase anyone manually; joayo handled the nudge.

What happened

The first-visit offer filled its 6-slot cap every week from week two onward. What surprised Yujin was the rebook rate: 48% of first-visit customers booked a second appointment within the 28-day window, and 31% hit the third-visit milestone. By month four, her weekly bookings were at 140% of her pre-pandemic average. By month seven, 180%. She hired a second nail artist.

The detail that mattered

Itaewon's foot traffic had shifted post-pandemic — more short-term expats, more freelancers, fewer long-commute office workers. Her old book couldn't come back. joayo put her in front of the new neighborhood. She stopped trying to win back people who had moved to Seongsu, and started meeting who was actually walking past her door.

What Yujin says

"단골 명단을 붙잡고 있었어요. 한 명 한 명 왜 안 오는지 이유를 달고. 그게 제 문제였어요. 이태원은 이미 다른 동네가 돼 있었거든요. joayo가 '지금 이 동네 사람들'을 보여줬어요. 그때부터 다시 컸어요."

What's next

Yujin is testing a Sunday-only "express gel" 35-minute slot priced at ₩29,000, targeted at people heading into Itaewon for brunch. She expects it to add another 14-18 bookings per week without cannibalizing her full-service appointments.