After your Deal goes live: Preparing for your Customers
Train your Staff on Redemption:
Making sure everyone on your staff who might have to interact with a deal knows exactly how to handle the it is the first step in ensuring your deal is a success with your customers. No one likes having to wait for the one person in the building that knows how the system works!
Luckily, we make this as easy for you as possible. We have a number of redemption methods, which you can review in the “Merchant Redemption Options” handout (or in the Help section of the online merchant tools). You should decide ahead of time which method(s) for redemption you are planning to use so there is no confusion when it actually comes time to redeem. Remember that sometimes combining redemption methods is going to be the most effective method for you — for example, many businesses will just check or cross out vouchers as they’re redeemed on a spreadsheet and just enter them into the online redemption tool at the end of the day or during slower periods.
Preparing Your Staff for Increased Volume
Your deal is going to bring in new business for you — potentially a lot of new business! It’s best to be prepared and have adequate staff on hand immediately after your deal ends to be ready to handle the surge in business.
On average, 10% of customers that have purchased your deal will show up within the first ten days and 20% of customers will visit your establishment within the first month. Depending on the size of your deal, that may be an incredible increase in traffic. Scheduling additional staff during the first ten days of your deal in particular is a vital step in ensuring that your customers and your staff have a good experience with the deal.
Upselling: Turning New Customers into Better Customers
Make sure you consider opportunities for your new customers to be aware of products you offer in addition to what may have been specified in the deal. For many, it’s going to be their first experience with your business. Even if your deal just specified a dollar amount off of their purchase, you want to ensure they’re aware of all of the products, services and specials you offer so they can spend as much money as possible with you!
In addition, you will want to try to make sure a sub-total on the customer receipt indicates what the “full” price of the visit would have been without their deal. This both drives home the value to the customer and helps them tip (if applicable) appropriately based on the full value of their visit.
Building Repeat Customers
As with any type of advertising the point of your deal should be to not just bring customers in once, but to make a lifelong customer. There are a number of ways you can do that:
1. Make their experience a memorable one. You will never get as many new customers into your store as you will after running a deal. Anything you can do to make them remember the great experience they had is sure to make them more likely to return.
2. Introduce your new customer to your loyalty program. Punch Cards or Rewards programs are a great way to bring back repeat business as people always strive towards that next reward.
3. Offer incentives for coming back. Schedule a new appointment at a discounted rate or offer a 10% off coupon for their next visit.
4. Offer incentives for coming back with friends. Offer the customer a special discount for returning with a number of friends. Have your customers do your marketing for you!
Questions? Please give us a call. 805-965-5205
11/2011