CHICAGO — Chance Stone, owner of Tropical Laundromat in Holly Hill, Fla., has plenty of competitors he’s facing in his town, situated just seven miles northeast of Daytona Beach.
“We’ve got four competitors within a three-mile radius,” Stone says. “Two of those competitors are within a mile of us, so it makes it an area that has a lot of competitors in what we do.”
Despite facing stiff competition, Stone explains that his laundry business, which he’s been operating for four years now, continues to grow. So much so that he’s been able to draw in customers from as far as 12 miles outside of his community.
Stone attributes this accomplishment to the strides he’s made in establishing his store’s loyalty efforts, both online and in his store.
But, he’s not alone. American Coin-Op reached out to various operators across the country regarding the steps they’ve taken, and the strategies they’ve implemented at their store to not only attract new customers, but to also keep regulars coming back.
ONE-TWO PUNCH
For his store’s loyalty card, Stone has taken a more traditional approach, providing customers a punch card to redeem rewards.
Patrons provide their name, e-mail and phone number on the cards, and are given one punch per visit, Stone explains.
“We may have a ‘Wacky Wednesday’ that we’ll announce on the website, in terms of how many punches you can get on your loyalty card,” says Stone, explaining that on such days, he will double or triple the number of punches he gives to customers’ cards. “We’ll try to bolster a day where our volume may be a little lighter than some of our other days.”
Though he also runs in-store promotions—like offering 15% off wash-dry-fold service every Thursday—Stone uses his store’s loyalty cards as a tool to host store giveaways.
“Once they have 10 punches on their card, it gets entered into a box, and that’s where the giveaway comes into play,” says Stone, explaining that customers are then entered into a drawing, where past prizes include a $50 gift certificate to his store’s services.
Phil Irwin, owner of Waters Express Laundry Center, Tampa, Fla., operates a similar monthly giveaway program called “Wash to Win.”
“What happens is every time they do a load, we hand them an entry form, so the more loads that they do, the more entry forms that they have [and] the better opportunity that they have of winning one of the prizes,” says Irwin, with prizes ranging from restaurant gift cards, to tablets and salon services.
Irwin explains that he used his previous experience as a McDonald’s franchisee in setting up his store’s loyalty program.
“We learned that the better that you take care of your customer, the more loyal the customer is going to be towards you, and taking care of you and your business,” says Irwin.
Stone shares the same philosophy, stressing the importance of giving back to customers, as well as using the opportunity to create buzz about his store.
“Before, there wasn’t anything like that in place, there’s really nothing for the customers to talk about, there’s no synergy. There [was] really nothing to build on, so the rewards program has done a couple of those things for us,” says Stone.
The drawing also allows Stone to capture customer data to further build his loyalty program.
“The e-mail address was the main thing. We’re able to now build a directory … of e-mails to where we can send out thank-yous, we can send out greetings for holidays, we can send out a plethora of things and it keeps us in contact with our customers.”
Check back Monday for Part 3!
Missed Part 1 of this story? You can read it now HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].