Looking back on the past year and gearing up for 2025, Robin and Tyler discuss the hottest trends shaping the aesthetics industry.
From buzzwords like skinimalism and prejuvenation to the rising influence of GLP-1s for weight loss, they explain how these shifts are redefining the landscape.
Hear recommendations for adapting to the ever-changing market dynamics and regulatory landscape while keeping patient care and compliance front and center, including:
- How to reclaim patient loyalty in the face of Allergan’s recent changes
- Is aesthetics election-proof?
- Opportunities and potential risks of AI in aesthetics
- Is e-commerce a game-changer for boosting revenue?
- How the ballet body trend and "semaglutide" face are shaping the most sought-after procedures for 2025
- Robin’s top tip for standing out as the industry evolves
- How frictionless spending options improve the patient experience
- Are “buy now, pay later” options the new must-have for practices?
Listen
Watch
Hosts
Tyler Terry, Director of Sales, MedSpa
Nextech
Robin Ntoh, VP of Aesthetics
Nextech
Access Robin's toolkit of helpful resources to help optimize practice operations»
Transcript
Announcer (00:06):
You are listening to the Aesthetically Speaking podcast presented by Nextech.
Tyler Terry (00:11):
Hey guys, welcome back to the Aesthetically Speaking podcast. We have a special episode coming at you today. My name is Tyler Terry, and I'm here with the amazing Robin Ntoh, Robin.
Robin Ntoh (00:26):
Hey, Tyler. It's been a journey this year and we've learned to kind of move through those components of where are we? Where are we in a hotel? Are we in our home office? Believe it or not, you guys, I'm in Hawaii and this is my go-to for Christmas and the holidays. And so we are presenting from our respective homework offices and my homework office this week just happens to be in Hawaii at the obvious Disney resort.
Tyler Terry (00:52):
I'm so jealous.
Robin Ntoh (00:52):
So if anybody knows Tyler and myself, we have our fondest for the Disney component.
Tyler Terry (00:57):
Yes, we do.
Robin Ntoh (00:58):
Excited to be here today and excited to recap what we think of as far as the 2024 year and thinking about 2025 and ahead and love our theme today, Tyler Headwinds and Tailwinds, a look back at 2024 and look forward to 2025. So let's do it.
Tyler Terry (01:15):
Yeah, let's do it. And I love that you leaned in on this remote work. Our company with over 500 people, we probably have 600 people now. We are a remote work company and we've totally embraced that in our culture and trying to still connect and as part of our fabric within Nextech. So yeah, super excited that we get to be here today and talk about the look forward and the look back. And Robin, what would you like to talk about first?
Robin Ntoh (01:48):
Well, let's talk about something fun. You and I did some preparatory work for this episode and one of the things that we really thought would be very intriguing was let's look at the new buzzwords or words in general, the weirdest scene in the aesthetics industry. So kick us off with what did you think was your top one that you were, like wow?
Tyler Terry (02:12):
I would say my favorite was something that I've only heard a few times and it popped out for me because I think it resonates with not just one generation. I think it actually resonates with every generation, and it really comes from the word minimalism and the word is skinimalism. So the idea behind it is to have something where you have a high impact procedure or service with little downtime or minimal downtime. So people wanting to be able to go in and get something that maybe takes 30 minutes to an hour, but they can get right back to work. And not many people notice, but yeah, the word is skinimalism.
Robin Ntoh (03:02):
I think that all those energy-based device companies that we see out there are probably really focused on that because that's a big part of that skinimalism. I dunno if I can even say that. One of my favorites was zillennials, really? So not that we already had the individual generations, but now we got to to combine the two of them.
Tyler Terry (03:23):
Yeah. What happens when you're on the bottom, you're like, wait, wait, I'm a millennial. Are you sure? Am I a Gen Z? And they're like, let's just combine them.
Robin Ntoh (03:33):
Right. Yeah, no, that went threw me for a loop because I'm not even in that generation, but okay, let's just continue to redefine what a generation is. Yeah, maybe you can speak more to that one, Tyler.
Tyler Terry (03:46):
I would say it just goes back to, I think people are like, you know what, let's just redefine it. And I'm kind of at the tail end anyways, and I think I relate more to gen, I think it's just the people that I relate more to Gen Z or I relate more to millennials. I'm a zillennial.
Robin Ntoh (04:01):
Right. What about pre-juvenation? I mean that we heard early in the beginning of the year and it's like, okay, now we've got, it goes back to the generational differences.
Tyler Terry (04:10):
Yep.
Robin Ntoh (04:10):
People are starting to invest earlier in the way that they can ward off those signs of aging, which isn't necessarily new, but I think there's a younger generation now that's really focused and intentional about it because they're probably looking at their parents and their aging and thinking about if they were to compare, wow, look at my mom, but look at her next to her sister who has done nothing. That stuff really works. I'm going to get started. Or maybe it's just the influence of all of the social media that's out there that's really made it hyped and readily available, especially those that really focus on social media as far as where they do their buying and the influencers that are out there. So I think that that really hit me as, okay, yeah, this is now not just a thing that we kind of understand is maintenance. It's more about how we start early and really lean into it.
Tyler Terry (05:03):
Yeah, I agree. I love it because it is, and it takes a proactive approach. And you're right. I think social media definitely drives awareness. And then like you said, even when you have a family member and you could see the difference because at the end of the day, of course, it's all about our inner beauty, but our outer beauty does make us feel more confident in what we do. And yeah, I would go back to just the awareness of it. Patients are more educated. Practices are trying to educate patients on, Hey, let's not just be reactive, let's drive proactiveness, and we're going to call it pre-juvenation. And I think it resonates with the younger patient database. It definitely resonates with me. And you think of things like even going back to this skinimalism, what are the minimum things that I should be doing? Okay, I should watch my face in the morning. I should put on sunscreen. I should have some type of moisturizer. It's a great word. And I think it will be here through the next 10 or 20 years. So I don't think that word's going away.
Robin Ntoh (06:12):
No. Ballet body was another one that came out with the plastic surgery industry report this year. And I think it represents, well, the minimalism that you just mentioned, where people are looking for natural. And ballet body, I thought was an interesting way to describe it because when you think of ballet, you think of elegance, you think of sleek, you think of someone that's definitely athletic because that takes a lot of work to actually maintain that type of body. So it's not just what we do from aesthetic perspective that might be surgical or nonsurgical. Now we're bringing into that component, the wellness part, because you don't maintain a well toned body just by exercise. It goes back into diet. So I felt like we're now bridging that component of not just the things we do surgically or non-surgically. It just now is extending into where we've seen that huge growth around the wellness market as well. So just kind of encompasses, I think all of those arenas that we're really leaning into.
Tyler Terry (07:15):
This would've been probably my second favorite word. And I don't have too much to add to what you said. You said it beautifully, but it just feels very organic, natural, beautiful, simple in a way of like, yeah, that resonates with me. It's not overdone, it just feels like this is me.
Robin Ntoh (07:34):
Yeah. Oh, definitely, for sure. Well, we can't ignore the weight loss. So [semaglutide] face, but then that evolves into [semaglutide] everything. And I think that it also caused the merging of or the add-on of additional services that we saw in a lot of our practices. So the med spas and me have only just been focusing on injectables. Now they've added on that other component of wellness or more specifically those weight loss treatments. So we've seen a huge shift in that this year because it really does prepare a practice for recurring services, recurring revenue, but also helping those patients that eventually as they lose the weight and they have the [semaglutide] face, now they're the perfect candidates to then fall into some of those other procedures. So we've introduced a whole new type of patient, if you think about it, into the med spa arena that may not have been a candidate before.
(08:31):
And then on the flip side, you see that in the surgical market as well, where they may not have been surgical candidates, but surgery practices that introduced this service, because then it gave them that continued focus on the patient's journey so that as they started to lose the weight and then they became candidates for surgery. They'd already built that relationship with the practice. So what a beautiful way to bring into focus the things that we're thinking about when it comes to weight loss and how we add those services into our business. So yeah, [semaglutide] face, it's a good way to think about it.
Tyler Terry (09:07):
Well, and shout out to you, Robin, you're one of the first who really we're pushing for us to invest heavily to understand this wellness segment of the market before I heard anybody else talking about it, and I heard of, okay, of course, IV therapy, I knew what GLP-1 was, semaglutide the different, but you were calling it out like, no, no, no, these are going to be their own practices. They're going to also be combined with med spas. They're going to be combined with plastics. This is a new component. It's a new page. It could either be a new menu altogether or a new page of the menu, which is exactly what it's become, and it's still even in its infancy, which is crazy.
Robin Ntoh (09:50):
I totally agree with you. Infancy is a really good way to describe it, and I think that there's going to be more to come in 2025. I mean the drug companies, we're seeing that shift there with the availability and how that's going to impact some of the practices and how they offer those medications. We're also going to see more regulatory, I think, in that area as practices are starting to see compliance come into play. And then we're going to start to see where practices have to think about not just documenting, charting those patient visits around toxins or fillers. Now they've got to think about a new way of charting and how do they chart that correctly? And I think that goes back into another issue that we could spend a lot of time on, which is regulatory and compliance for sure.
Tyler Terry (10:39):
Yeah, 100%.
Robin Ntoh (10:40):
Okay. I'm going to tell you one of my favorites.
Tyler Terry (10:42):
Yes. I want to hear.
Robin Ntoh (10:43):
I just heard this one. Are you ready? Doom Spending.
Tyler Terry (10:47):
Doom spending. All right. Tell me about Doom Spending.
Robin Ntoh (10:50):
Oh my gosh. It really came from, I think the Gen Z'ers, and it's like the people want to, they're coping with pessimism about the economy, politics and other issues, and so even their own personal finances. So they're thinking about, well, you know what? They're calling it doom spending because they're on average, less wealthy than older consumers, but they're going to spend because it just makes 'em feel good. So I think that in other generations we call this something different. It wasn't doom spending. Let's see, what did we call this? There's another phrase that we called it, I'm sure, but this is not new. It's just I think
Tyler Terry (11:35):
Treat yourself.
Robin Ntoh (11:35):
Yeah, treat yourself. Let's see, revenge shopping.
Tyler Terry (11:41):
Yeah.
Robin Ntoh (11:41):
I think that's another one. There's different things that we've called it over the generations, but doom spending was a new way to actually express it, so I thought that was a great fun term to think about.
Tyler Terry (11:51):
I really like it, and you start to think about it like, oh yeah, I know a few people that do that. The other one is glow up, which I think is really just self-care. Treat yourself, get a glow up. What is a glow up? A glow up could be different for everybody, whether you get injectables and fillers. Is it skincare? What is it? But glow up does seem to have some traction with some practices.
Robin Ntoh (12:16):
Yeah, for sure, for sure. Menopause makeover, I think that just, it's not necessarily, the word menopause isn't new, but the makeover part, I think about mommy makeovers. Those were a big thing. That was a big term several years ago, and now we've come into the next phase of this, which is menopause makeover. Could be the same things, but I think this in particular brings into focus wellness again, because you're talking about the entire body and not just surgically correcting things. You're looking at inside and outside and how you appear and how you feel. All of it just kind of comes back into this whole focus of the ballet body, and what's natural ,and what's achievable, and what focuses on all budgets, and how do I start now so that I can grow into it more. I think all of those things, just a new way of thinking about what was a smaller business, but how it's expanding across so many different specialties and so many different revenue streams.
Tyler Terry (13:20):
When you say menopause makeover, of course this has coming from a male perspective, but what I like about it is that it's empowering all women to feel like they have the right to enter that next chapter and take care of themselves.
Robin Ntoh (13:35):
Yeah. Well, I think that all of these things just are another way of focusing on what is truly evident in this market and what we've seen evolve over this year. It's moving quickly. It's moving really fast. I mean, wow, what did the industry show? Almost 18% growth in med spas from 23 to 24? That's significant. It's crazy. It's significant. It means people are definitely focused on their body, their face, their skin, and not just outside, but inside. I think that that's definitely where we've seen some of those are going to blend into as tailwinds in many ways, into 2025 as it continues to grow and shift.
Tyler Terry (14:16):
I feel like for the first time, there really is something for everyone. You could say that, yeah, [injectable neuromodulators are] for everyone or skincare is for everyone, but I feel like for the first time, because it's expanded into wellness, that there really is something for everyone, whether you're trying to tone your muscle, lose weight, become more healthy, have better skincare, brighten your smile, have better lips, whatever it is, there's so many things out there that I feel like there is something on the menu or multiple things on the menu for every human being and in every generation.
Robin Ntoh (14:52):
Yeah, no, I totally agree with that. And that is one of the great things about what we offer in this industry is you can sit at the table and it's almost too vast, and one of the things, it's not really what I would say is a term of the year, but something that I started to see this year was this concept of creating a plan for the year. I saw this in a small way last year, but I'm starting to hear more and more about, how do I create a plan for my patient that carries them through the year so that there's a focus? Whether it's looking at my concerns and how we actually manage them over the year, because some things may take multiple treatments, and then there's other things about maintenance. So there's corrective, there's maintenance, there's augmentation, so some of 'em might be surgical, but then there's also the budgetary concern. So people are thinking about their budget. And so this concept of a plan, whether you call it a pre-juvenation plan or a rejuvenation plan or a skinimalism plan, I mean I think you could put it in front of any of 'em.
(16:07):
It sets the stage for a new way of thinking about how I care for myself. And so the practices have to be more considerate and thoughtful about how do I sit down with my patients, really consult with them and help them figure out what that looks like in more than just one visit. But it also takes a certain type of patient that wants to invest in that, but also wants that education that helps them understand what's achievable, what's realistic, what's within their goals, what fits within their budget, and who's willing to actually help them achieve that? I think that we'll probably see that as a differentiator in the med spas and the plastic surgery practices in the coming years, but I think that anybody that steps forward and owns that in 2025 is probably going to find themselves really able to build a stronger patient base. We always worry about retention, right? This is a nice way to achieve retention, but I also think about differentiation.
Tyler Terry (17:09):
Yeah, wow. When you say that, I'm thinking, gosh, if I had a med spa, that's exactly what I would do. I mean, because with the rise of the about 20% increase in practices, now you've got two or three new competitors within a five mile radius.
(17:26):
Now how do you differentiate? And of course there's always the guest services, the ambiance, the actual care, but instead of just treating the patient, patient calls in, we schedule a 15 minute block for [injectable neuromodulators], maybe 30 minute block for [injectable neuromodulators] He or she's in and out. What if every single patient, you start a new patient, you start them off with a one year plan and it actually is a 20 minute consultation. And you literally sit down and you go through based on what they need, they could point it out to you. They know that they want or they think they want [injectable neuromodulators], but then you can actually point out based on them saying, Hey, I've got a freckle here or a dark spot here. All of a sudden you're opening the doors and also some of these wrinkles, and when I do this with my eyebrows or whatever, but I love it. I mean, what a differentiator. Just that at the very beginning saying, I'm going to do a one year plan, and the patient could call out what their budget is and it turns into a full treatment plan on day one.
Robin Ntoh (18:30):
Well, I mean practices that I know have been doing it, they actually require their patients to do this on an annual basis, because it not only sets the stage, but it shows that the practice or the providers invested in the patient and their journey and care about that outcome. It's a great way to show progress when you're taking the right photos and you're documenting their journey, and then you're sitting down with them and you're actually sharing with them, this is your achievements, these are your results, and that journey then becomes achievements. It becomes successes for that patient, but then they now are feeling like, wow, this practice really cares about me and they're investing in me versus a practice that is just about you want your [injectable neuromodulators], you want 50 units, here you go. Bye. That's a different kind of practice set.
Tyler Terry (19:21):
Completely different.
Robin Ntoh (19:21):
That's a practice that isn't really trying to gain commitment or retention. They're just basically letting the patient dictate what the patient wants, what the patient needs. Now, I'm starting to see this shift where, yeah, there's patients that are going to come in and they're going to be very well educated. They're going to know what they want, they're going to know what they need, but there's also the patients that are starting to think about, you tell me what I need. So providers need to be prepared for how do I manage that patient or how do I start thinking that way and shift my patients to start thinking that way? You want them to start embracing this idea of, let me help you achieve that. I mean, gosh, Tyler, when you think about it, okay, there's 25 top plastic surgery procedures. That's not a lot. If you think about the number of devices out there to treat nonsurgical skin conditions: 50, 75?
(20:16):
There's so many different devices, there's so many different treatments. I think the world of nonsurgical treatments and options is so vast. It really is important for med spas to really embrace the concept of how do I educate and give them what's best for them because that's going to basically be the best option because then those patients, then, even if they walk out the door and they don't purchase anything, if you've educated them, then you've just raised the bar that someone else has to meet. So if they go to the next med spa, you've now armed them with the right questions to ask the right expectations from that next person, which they may then decide, wow, this person isn't even coming close to what the last person did. I'm going back to spa number one because they actually were invested in me, listened to me, understood my goals, but then gave me a plan that I may or may not be able to fulfill financially. But again, there's options and I think that's going to be a big differentiator when we think about it.
Tyler Terry (21:19):
The top thing that pops up in my mind when you say that is when you do this, it doesn't become about price. It really flips the script to become about care and make it about care. If you don't want to make it about price, then don't make it about price. It's not about how much per unit, how about treat the patient with the best care possible, almost simplifying it, but if you provide an experience where you're giving me this level of a consultation, of course I'll pay three or four or $5 more per unit because I can tell that you're more expert, you care more about me and I'm probably going to get better. I will get better results. Who wouldn't pay more for better results? Because that's why we're here anyways.
Robin Ntoh (22:04):
So let's talk about another thing that happened in 2024 because I think it lends itself to this really well, and this has been a very hot topic. So big changes in the Allergan industry this year. And those changes created a little bit of a stir, I think little is undermining that word a little bit, a big stir in the marketplace. And physicians and med spa owners and providers really shared their feelings about that to the point where in the past few days, Allergan has decided to really go back to what they had before, that original program that [aesthetic loyalty] program. Applaud the fact that they actually listened to their providers, to their owners and said, okay, we hear you. We're going to go back to what it was. I applaud them for actually listening to them. But I also think that the providers really also brought up a really important component, and that is back around retention and branding.
(23:07):
And a lot of times these practices are frustrated because companies like the pharma companies, et cetera, they're very focused on the consumer, but yet the providers are the ones purchasing the products. They're the ones delivering the treatments, and the providers want that loyalty to them, but yet the loyalty is being driven towards the brand. I think a lot of that goes back to a practice can reclaim that loyalty if they stop focusing on the brand being the one who dictates what the patient needs and the providers re-own that ,they reclaim that. And that goes back to creating a plan for the patient. Creating your menu of services around what they're focused on, correcting versus these are all the devices that we have and educate around those components versus letting the brands continue to dictate that. It goes back to we've let the industry out there create an opinion around education. When education really comes from the expert, the expert is the provider, the physician. They're the ones that are trained to deliver. They're the ones that the patients want to and should be listening to because they're the ones that really should be the ones providing the best course of treatment, whether it's across 10 different brands that provide the product or the devices to support that. But it really comes back to the provider being the one that dictates what that patient should be having.
Tyler Terry (24:40):
It's such a hot topic and I mean there's so many points to be made here. I go back to on your website, on your social media, are you using just the videos in the brand box that are generic? Or what if you said, I'm going to spend one hour a week creating content, creating videos about me talking about [injectable neuromodulators], me talking about my energy devices, whatever they are, because that resonates with patients. When patients watch a video about you talking about something, and it doesn't have to be long, it could literally be a one minute, a one minute video. Tell me about it. Thank you. Usually a lot of patients, again, multiple generations like and enjoy and appreciate short form videos. Give me a short form video, tell me what are your top 20 services. And again, take an hour a week for the next two months doing it, and you'll have those videos for the next three years and then make them over and over. But to your point, I would rather hear it from the expert than from the manufacturer because I'm hiring the artist and my focus shouldn't be on the brand of paint that they're using.
Robin Ntoh (25:51):
Yeah, I think education is the key takeaway there, which we talked about a lot this year and many of our podcasts, several of the people that we had on our podcast. I think it's relevant and we could talk about it all day long, Tyler, because I think we're both very passionate about education and what it means to a business, not just a business such as ourselves, internally, externally, but it's more important for those patients or the consumers out there. And who should be the voice and the expert that delivers that education? What better place them to start right there in that practice.
Tyler Terry (26:22):
Yeah.
Robin Ntoh (26:22):
And how are they delivering it?
Tyler Terry (26:24):
And if you're not delivering the education, they're getting it somewhere. So you either own it or you let somebody else own it, and if you let someone else own it, then their expectations might be different based on what they heard from someone else outside of the person that they're getting the service from.
Robin Ntoh (26:39):
All right, Tyler, let's talk about the big topic this year of the election.
Tyler Terry (26:43):
The big E word.
Robin Ntoh (26:44):
The big E word. So I've been in this industry for a long time. You've been around it now for many years, and it's hard for people to understand it unless they've been in this space, but the election has always impacted aesthetics, every single election, some more than others. Now that we're through it, I'm starting to feel and hear that people are feeling the pressure of the downturn that they were seeing from their consumers or their patients is kind of wafted off. It's not as relevant, and people are starting to open up their wallets, spend more again, booking procedures. They're not so indecisive. So we're seeing that, it's post election, and it's kind of normal. It's happened every maj
