11 Strategies to Increase Customer Frequency at Your Local Business
A thriving business doesn’t just attract new customers. It brings customers back for repeat visits again and again. When you increase customer frequency, you set your business up for success.
Increasing customer frequency and getting existing customers to return is important because:
- It’s expensive to attract new customers. When you finally make the conversion and turn a prospect into a paying customer, you want to keep that relationship.
- It’s easier to sell to existing customers. Promotions are more likely to resonate with customers who have already been to your business.
- Existing customers tend to spend more than new customers. When customers already know your brand, they are more likely to spend more during their visits.
If you aren’t working on increasing customer frequency and reducing customer churn, you could be leaving money on the table. So if you don't already have a method for bringing back existing customers, here are some effective strategies to try.
How to Increase Customer Frequency
To increase customer frequency at your restaurant or hospitality business, try these strategies.
#1) Collect customer contact information.
The key to getting customers to come back for repeat visits lies in effectively collecting contact information from the people who do business with you. Customer contact information, such as an email address or phone number, is your gateway to reconnecting with customers through many of the marketing strategies we are going to outline below.
Related: 7 Simple Ways to Collect Your Customer's Contact Information
#2) Collect customer purchase history.
Customer contact information becomes more powerful and useful when you pair it with purchase history information. Don’t just collect names, emails, and phone numbers. Instead, build out a full customer database that tracks information such as:
- Dates of visits
- Location of visit (if your brand has multiple locations)
- Items purchased
- Size of purchase tickets
Related: The 12 Pieces of Consumer Data Your Small Business Needs to Monitor
#3) Send personalized promotions.
When you have contact information and purchase history, you can begin to create personalized marketing campaigns for past customers. You can send them emails and text messages with offers that are related directly to the products or services they’ve shown interest in. For example, you could send:
- Coupons if a customer hasn’t visit in a few weeks
- Deals on a product a customer has recently purchased
- Promotions for events, sales, and specials at the store the customer usually visits
#4) Create customer loyalty programs.
To make collecting customer information a natural process for your team and consumers, create a loyalty program. A loyalty program gives customers an incentive to sign up and share their information. You can create a database of your customers, while they get the benefit of rewards and coupons. Plus, giving customers a reward for visiting your business helps increase customer frequency as it gives them a reason to return.
Related: Create a Customer Loyalty Plan That Benefits Both Your Business and Your Customers
#5) Make it easy to buy with online ordering.
Offering online ordering for delivery or take-out orders makes it easy for customers to place orders at your restaurant. And, it also helps you bring those customers back again. When customers order online, they create an account. You can monitor that account to see what and when they order. You can use that information to create follow-up offers that drive them back for more orders and visits.
Related: How Restaurants Can Successfully Pivot to Offer Delivery & Take-Out
#6) Create limited-time offers.
To get customers to come back to your business, give them something new to try. Offer limited-time offers that drive up customer interest and give them a reason to visit. Limited-time offers are effective at driving customers to your business because they create a sense of urgency. Customers know that there is a time-limit on the offer or product.
Related: Create Better Limited-Time Offers for Your Restaurant With These 9 Tips
#7) Sell small denomination coupons.
Drive repeat visits from customers by giving them deals that last through multiple visits. Instead of giving them one coupon for one visit, give them multiple smaller denomination coupons that can be used over many visits. For example, you could use a program like MyArea Vouchers to give customers an opportunity to pay $50 to receive six $10 coupons. The customer saves money and receives an incentive to visit your business multiple times (where they will likely spend more than the coupon value, which increases your revenue).
Learn more about MyArea Vouchers.
#8) Target customers when they’re near your business.
To increase customer frequency, give customers a nudge to visit again when they are near your business. Use geofencing advertising to send promotions to customers when they enter an area near your business. For example, if your business is in the mall, you can send a customer a coupon to visit your business when they enter the mall property.
Related: Why Geofencing Is a Powerful, New Way To Hypertarget Local Customers
#9) Set up digital retargeting ads.
Another way to use ads to connect with existing customers is through digital retargeting ads. Retargeting ads are ads that appear in front of customers who have already engaged with your business in some way. They are more effective than presenting ads to cold audiences because they are shown to customers further down the purchasing funnel. Retargeting ads presented on social media sites or as banner ads on other third-party sites can convert and drive warm audiences closer toward your business.
Related: 5 Customer Retention Strategies Local Businesses Can Start Right Now
#10) Develop a consistent email and text marketing strategy.
An important part of increasing customer frequency is continuing to communicate with customers. You want to stay top-of-mind so customers think of you when they have a craving. To stay in front of customers, develop a consistent email or text marketing plan that sends regular messages to your audience.
Related: Email Marketing for Restaurants: 7 Ways to Bring Customers Back
#11) Collect feedback from customers.
No amount of great marketing is going to increase customer frequency unless you get one thing right: providing great customer service. If your customers aren’t happy with your business or offerings, they won’t come back. So always be in touch with customers to find out what they like and don’t like. Consistently collect feedback to identify blind spots, improve deficiencies, and add more offerings that customers love.
Increase Customer Frequency with the Right Data Programs
As you can see, increasing customer frequency often lies in having the right data. You need customer contact information to stay in touch with your audience, and you need behavior, geographic, and purchasing data to make informed decisions about which marketing promotions and deals will perform best.
Collecting and knowing how to understand your business data is imperative to creating programs that drive existing customers back to your business again and again.
If you need help setting up a customer data platform so you can collect and more importantly, own your business data, let’s talk. MyArea Network has helped many large and local brands create data programs that increase customer frequency and sell more to loyal customers.
See how MyArea can help your business drive existing customers for repeat businesses. Schedule your free call today to see how we can help!
