As stores re-open, retailers are scrambling to secure customers’ best attention. Make sure your outlet is front and centre.
Excellent customer service creates contented customers that will happily buy from you again. On the whole, independent retailers do that incredibly well, says Cate Barnes of Citrus-Lime.
But how do you draw customers back to your shop in particular?
A good first experience is a fantastic start, but there is more that retailers can do to encourage repeat custom.
Coffee shops have got it sussed with stamp cards that give customers their tenth cup free. The promise of future reward is a powerful and effective motivator.
That same principle can work for speciality retailers, without requiring you to offer huge discounts that undermine the value of branded goods and eat away at margins.
Customer Rewards [created by Citrus-Lime] works on the promise of future savings on a next purchase. Each purchase enables the customer to earn points, which they can use to get money off a future purchase.
It’s a simple idea with plenty of benefits:
- Customers start thinking about their next visit straight away. They’re considering what they could use their points on next time as soon as they make their purchase. They’re already mentally planning to come back to buy from you again.
- It keeps you present in your customers’ minds. And it gives you a good reason to keep in touch, letting customers know the balance on their account and any promotions that might interest them.
- Customers are more likely to check out your shop first. The next time they need to make a purchase, they know they can use their points, and that they’ll earn more rewards on that purchase too.
- Customer Rewards protects the retail value of branded goods (an approach favoured by the brands) and prevents customers always expecting discount prices.
- Offer a meaningful reward to your customers: points translate to a legitimate saving on their next purchase.
- Customers will always have rewards to use. There’s always a reason to buy from you specifically because they’ll always have points on their account. It’s a perpetual cycle - each purchase generates points.
- Because Customer Rewards is part of the End-to-End Cloud Retail Solution [from Citrus-Lime], it works both in-store and online.
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