Customer loyalty seems a rare commodity these days.
Especially with price hikes and product shortages, consumers are drawn to try new avenues in the hopes of getting what they need.
But along with concerns about new customers straying comes the opportunity to lure your own newcomers.
Here, four veteran retailers describe some of their programs that help them cement the loyalties of current customers and gain new followers.
Mallory Bjekich-Wachowski
Retail Operations Manager
DesRochers Backyard Pools & Spas
Shorewood, Ill.
We’re all getting customers who would not have normally shopped with us because there’s a shortage. The big box stores in our area … their supply isn’t lasting as long. So we’re seeing customers whom we haven’t seen in years or we thought moved or people who have never shopped with us. So my thought when this was happening was, “I don’t want these people to just visit my store once because I have tablets, and then never come back. I want to give them a reason to continue to shop with me.”
One thing we’ve done is help our customers — new and old — manage with the chlorine shortages. Once we realized that the shortage was going to be a mad rush, with everything selling out really quickly, instead of just allowing somebody to come in and buy a single bucket of tablets, we explained to them, “We would love to sell tablets to everyone, but we want to make sure you’re using your products appropriately, which means tablets, shock and algaecide. So if you would like to buy tabs, you would also have to buy those other things that our VIP customers would purchase.”
We did get a little bit of backlash — I got a couple bad reviews from it. But we saw our actual customers jump right in to defend us.
We had people trying to buy 10 buckets — people who’d never stopped here. But those 10 buckets were allocated to people who do come here. So I figured, “I want you as a customer, but this is what my customers do.”
Then, their contact information was placed on our VIP list — and they experienced our VIP treatment. We would keep them updated on pre-sales and explain that we’re expecting shortages again so they should come in and purchase their chemicals. They appreciated it: “Wow, this is unreal that you reach out to us to let us know that there is still a shortage and that we’re on your VIP list.” We made a promise and we followed through.
Jane Merritt
Owner
Anchor Pools
Easley, S.C.
I offer a layaway program. People who purchase bundles between August and October can make even payments toward it from the time they purchase through April 1. We charge their credit cards the first of each month. From August to October, we also offer a 20% discount on chemicals.
In March, we do a chemical sale, and again we sell bundles then as much as we can.
People who buy a bundle that we put together then receive a 10% discount throughout the next year in the store.
To create the bundles, we started looking at all the ancillary products that we weren’t selling. People would come buy a bucket of tabs, some shock, and maybe some algaecide, but they weren’t buying other things, like backwash filter cleaner, tile cleaner and clarifiers. We put together a bundle so customers would start buying everything from us instead of piecemealing it.
Ten percent is a substantial discount to offer through the year, but I almost doubled my average ticket just by selling the bundles, especially from those who did layaway. Since we took payments each month, they didn’t feel it like normal, and they were comfortable spending more in the store during the year.
This also increased average purchase throughout the year for these customers. The first year I did it, I went back and looked at the sales of the people who bought the bundles compared to the others. Sales of my ancillary products — things like toys, maintenance equipment, parts, automatic cleaners — those also increased by the same amount. So between the bundles, and purchases throughout the year, these customers really were spending about three times as much with me as they normally did in a year.
Dan Lenz
Vice President
All Seasons Pools & Spas
Orland Park, Ill.
We have a loyalty program where every dollar gets them a certain allotment of points. When the points accumulate to a certain level, we mail the account holder a gift card that shows what dollar value they have earned. They come in $5 increments.
It can only be used in the retail store — not for service or construction.
I piggy-backed off a local hardware store that had a similar program. It was very effective to me: I’d get a card in the mail, put it in my wallet and remember to drive to the hardware store in the other direction instead of the one that I pass everyday on my way to and from work.
In our store, we have a lot of customers who redeem our cards.
A program like this can be time-consuming to manage. You have to track points and create cards. But it becomes filler work for our retail staff: During slow times, the clerks and salespeople in the store can sit down and run the loyalty program. It is laborious and time-consuming, and has costs beyond the fact that you’re giving people money back. But it’s definitely worth it.
We try to send the cards out every two weeks. But during the crazy-busy times of year, we might not mail the cards out. The staff may be too busy then. Plus, our heaviest traffic is from the middle of April to the end of May, so I want to give them a reason to come back in after that. When we get to June and there’s a little bit of a lull, we’ll do it and hopefully they’ll come in and pick something up other than what they initially stocked up.
Shannon Martin
President
Texas Blue Lake Pools
Amarillo, Texas
I have an annual sale that people know they can count on. It’s at the same time every year, and our customers know when it is and expect it.
Originally it was done in January, so I could get rid of old product before the new stuff came in. And I marked everything 10% to 15% off. Then I realized how many people were looking for new products, or they wanted to come in and they really wanted a discount. So I thought, “What a good way to kick off our store earning money.” By spring, we’ve been doing all these early buys, spending money and bringing new product in. I figured it would be a great way to put some money back in our bank to recover that, or get ready to pay the bills that were coming due. So we started giving about 10% to 20% off on new products, and 50% off items I wanted to get rid of.
It went on like that for years, and then it became a set date. My entire base of 8,000 customers knows it’s the first weekend in April. They don’t even have to ask anymore. Whenever that first Saturday is, you go backwards to Wednesday, and it’s that week.
And it always has an elaborate theme.
In 2020, the world shut down before the sale, but we decided to go ahead and have it and offer 20% off everything in the store, no matter what it was, as part of our Roaring 20s theme. Customers had to pull up, and we had to load it in their cars, because they couldn’t come in our stores. So they weren’t buying any impulse items. Our rule has always been if you’re out of town or you can’t make it, you can call in your order. We had a lot more of that during lockdown, and customers asked, “Can we pick it up later?” So we made arrangements.
It was huge that year.
This year, despite prices going up, I have decided to move forward with the sale and offer 15% across the board again. And the theme is flamingos.
