Customer loyalty is everything that gives customers a reason to come back and to talk about the business. For a local business it rests first on the experience (welcome, quality, remembering a customer’s habits), then on a few simple tools.
The most common levers
- a customer list: knowing who your customers are, with their consent, so you can get back in touch;
- a loyalty card, paper or digital;
- a newsletter or email: news, events, exclusive offers;
- small gestures: birthdays, an invitation to a tasting;
- referral: a customer recommends the business to a friend and both get a perk.
Referral in particular
A referral programme organises word of mouth: instead of hoping customers mention you, you give them a reason and an easy way to do it (a card to hand over, a code, a link). The perk must be useful to both people and easy to track.
A concrete example
A beauty salon gives each client a card: “Give a friend £10 off their first treatment; you’ll also get £10 off your next appointment.” The referrer’s name is written on the card; the salon records the friend’s visit and credits the referrer.
Common mistakes
- chasing new customers and forgetting existing ones;
- sending emails without consent or too often;
- a scheme so complicated that staff forget to offer it.
To go further, read the customer retention guide and the referral programme guide.
Go further
Related terms
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
NPS (Net Promoter Score) measures how likely customers are to recommend a business, from one question scored 0 to 10: percentage of promoters minus percentage of detractors.
No-show
A no-show is a customer who booked a table, appointment or room, doesn’t turn up and doesn’t warn you. The slot stays empty when it could have gone to someone else.
Commission-free booking
Commission-free booking means an online booking system where the business pays a flat subscription (or nothing) instead of handing over a fee for every booking or customer received.