12 Apr
Stopping your customers from leaking to your competitors
We’ve all had it happen to us, your business is going well with a steady flow of customers and then boom! A store opens up down the road who offers the same product or service as you but with way cheaper prices. It’s unfair isn’t it? You work so hard, and we all know that your business and staff are much better, but those pesky customers have been swayed by lower prices. If you’re lucky your customers will have a bad experience with your competitor and come running back to you, but you’re taking a big risk. What if they don’t come back to you, then what? What if there was a way to stop them from ever leaving you?
This is where the magic comes in. Consumer psychology can sometimes be a mystery to us. Ok sure, we all know that consumers are swayed a lot of the time by cheaper prices, but what if it was much more than that. Customers are actually heavily focused on the whole package, not just the price. Did you know 44.3% of consumers in the UK admitted that if a retailer annoyed them, they would not hesitate in using another retailer (Webloyalty, 2016). That’s a pretty big stat! What if a staff member accidentally serves your customer the wrong coffee? Poof! and your customer could be gone down off the road, never to return. Let’s think about it though, is that really the customer you want as a business owner? Business owners want customers that love them and vice versa. But how do you make a customer feel loved, this is the age old question. Sure you can go out of your way to remember every customer’s name and their favourite product but that’s a lot of effort (and a very good memory). What about rewarding them for being a regular?
Customer’s come to see you sometimes every day if you’re lucky enough but what do they get in return? The same latte in the same cup, served by the same person with the same smile. 55.4% of consumers in the UK admitted that they often get bored of using the same stores and brands (Webloyalty, 2016). Well what if once in awhile the customer gets a free muffin with their coffee, or a 10% discount on their next purchase, that might make a difference. Loyalty cards have been around for a long time, to make this possible and to make customers feel loved. Are cards the right solution though? They always end up getting lost somehow and then the customer just ends up accumulating a stack of cards that eventually ends up in the bin because they don’t fit in the customer’s wallet. Guess what, loyalty programs are now on the rise in a digital format. “Yippee!!” I hear you say, those faithful customers are now going to love you even more. Squash those competitors and start benefitting from moving to digital. You’ll wish you had changed sooner.
