Ep. 44 Freebies, Games and Feel-Good Deals

Freebies, Games and Feel-Good Deals CUSTOMER RETENTION STRATEGIES

Are you spending your whole marketing budget trying to get new clients? STOP. It’s less expensive to get current customers to buy again. Some businesses are masters about getting you to keep coming back again and again. Torie Mathis and her co-host Sean talk about how to become one of those masters at getting repeat business.

We’ll discuss:
Why buying promotional items is a waste (unless done right)
How to increase customer retention
Why most loyalty programs are ineffective and useless
Why small business can’t follow big business customer retention strategies
Why the dentist is a master marketer to learn from

Recommended Tools:
Kartra https://toriemathis.com/kartra
Constant Contact https://toriemathis.com/constantcontact
WP-Engine https://toriemathis.com/wpengine
Grammarly https://toriemathis.com/grammarly

Get SMART AF resources and tools to grow your business at besmartaf.com

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION –

(transcription is auto-generated)

SAF 44

[00:00:00] Torie: That’s the key stop going out there and trying to find a bazillion new customers. How do you get the ones that are already coming in?

Hey, Hey, welcome to Smart AF on your host Torie Mathis. We have got a great show for you today. So let’s get started. You know, what I really love is that every time we go to Starbucks and Barnes and Noble, I don’t go to other Starbucks. So I don’t know if they. But every time we go to the Starbucks and Barnes and Noble, which I let the kids have ties when we go have books, is that they always give on the receipt, they give a receipt and then they give another little receipt that has some type of coupon with some type of scarcity that makes you come back because you want to use the coupon in a limited amount of time.

And I think it is fantastic. 

[00:00:58] Sean: The only reason we’ve ever gotten cookies from Starbucks, right? 

[00:01:02] Torie: Like the cookie, one is not my favorite one. Like right now they have a dollar off any large drinks, which like I would buy one anyway if I went in there. So if you’re going to give me a dollar off, but see the thing is, is that its scarcity. It’s only good for a couple of weeks. So you got to come in within that period of time. And if you just give me one and say, just use it any time, then I probably will never use it. So I love that because it’s such a smart way that they’re getting me to come back to them again in a specific amount. I think some companies used to do this with like the little, like by 10, and then you get one free, but there’s like, that could take a really long time.

Like how many times do you wanna eat the same sandwich? Like, I think it works for some people, but if there’s a person that would come and eat 10 sandwiches to get a free one, dude, they’re coming back already. Like, you don’t need the thing. How do you get everybody else to come back and to get those people to come back is not making them buy 10 things or 10 of the same thing.

Right. I can take them two years and they lost the card a long time ago. It’s stupid, you know, and that’s, I think Kohl’s cash, right. As much as the Kohl’s cash drives me crazy. The Kohl’s cash works. 

[00:02:16] Sean: You’ve never go into Kohl’s and use just the Kohl’s cash. 

[00:02:20] Torie: Now they always have you, he always ends up buying more stuff. It’s hard to make it just right. Trust me. I’ve tried like it, and it’s only as good for like, you know, a five day period or whatever. So they’re going to ramp up their sales during that five day period. Like it’s such planning in such a smart way. 

[00:02:41] Sean: Meanwhile, the five days prior, when you earned the Kohl’s cash, you purchased everything you already wanted at the store. So there’s nothing left. 

[00:02:49] Torie: What are we going to get? 

[00:02:51] Sean: Go buy crap. And then it costs more than the Kohl’s cash we have. And now I have more. 

[00:02:56] Torie: That’s not supposed to work. It doesn’t always work that way. 

[00:02:59] Sean: It’s perfect. It’s a perfect business model. 

[00:03:02] Torie: It is, it is a good business model. It really, really is. 

[00:03:06] Sean: I notice it, but I think a lot of people are. It’s free Kohl’s cash. They go in there and they just buy buy. 

[00:03:13] Torie: And old Navy has one and I’ve never, ever, ever used their old Navy cash. Complicated. It’s very complicated. You have to spend so much to get so much and like I’ve never, I tell you. 

[00:03:25] Sean: The Kohl’s cash is like, not good on like Nike or under armor or certain things in that that already that’s knowing cause. 

[00:03:34] Torie: If you don’t know that and you go up there with a whole bunch of like, qualify, like.

[00:03:39] Sean: Well, that’s all I want. 

[00:03:41] Torie: Right. So there is some things, but again, like they made it easy, like the old Navy one and maybe other people like use it religiously, but like I’ve gotten it. And I’ve never, even though there’s probably always, like, I could always go by Bella stretchy pants. Like I’m not going to buy Old Navy for myself really. But like for the kids that were out stuff. And I could have totally used that stuff. If it would’ve been more simple or straightforward, like Kohl’s cash caches, you know, the grocery store has like the little cards that they use. And those, I think, used to be really good and make you want to use like one grocery store, maybe alright, gas rewards might be one that would make you always go there. But now it’s just like, you get one everywhere and you have to get, use it to get the sales. I don’t think there’s anything special about it anymore. 

[00:04:31] Sean: Put your phone number in to publix today. 

[00:04:36] Torie: You don’t get anything. They give you the sales no matter what, like, like everywhere they track your stuff. And I think you might get some special ones emailed to you or something, but now you don’t have to use it to get the same. There, you know, who has great ones. And I want to go back all the time.

Now Leedle Lidell Leedle they just opened one, not too far. And they wanted you to download the app and they would give you like a, it was a good coupon. It was like like 15 or $20 off of 40 or something like you got 50% off on buying $40 worth of groceries. If you don’t know, it’s like a little German groceries. Kind of like all the where it’s not super fancy, but they’ve got lots of, lots of When you’re like international foods and organic foods and some of the regular brands that you might get, but they all have their own store brand and stuff like that. 

[00:05:28] Sean: It’s not a massive store. 

[00:05:29] Torie: So it’s nice. If you want to just get in and get what you need and get out. Like, I really like it. We almost always just go to all the now and now Leedle because they have the greatest reasons to come. So they have on their little app, which rather than putting in your phone number, they want you to scan your app and you do it yourself. You just put your phone up there and it scans it and then you can tell it which coupons to use.

And so that’s your shopper card, which is super smart. Cause then you want, you will end up pulling out the app and then they give you coupons straight through the app. And it’s not like you’re not getting their sales, but they’re giving you straight money. Like I went there a couple of weeks ago with Bella because they gave me $10 off of $10.

And did I spend more than $10? Well, of course I did. I was happy to spend my $10 off of $10. It got me to go there. I drove further to get stuff. I could have went to all the closer to our house. So it’s super smart and they have a frequent shopper. If you go there within three times or something like that within a month and you spend not very much, they give you like 20 bucks.

Like that is super smart. Like there’s all these different ways that they’re kind of gamifying things they’re taking, like what the regular grocery store shopper type thing. And they’re really doing a lot more with it because again you know, that people are going to come and do you know, by a more than that $10 when. 

[00:06:54] Sean: They’re changing your perspective, what do you feel like you’re getting. A good deal. You feel like you’re getting something for free in reality, you’re not, but it feels good. So it’s a win-win on both ends because you know, it feels good to feel good when you spend money versus feeling a little dirty and like regretful. So if any business can take that away and make you feel good about your purchase.

They’re doing something right. 

[00:07:23] Torie: They are well, and it’s it’s for flop thought and planning. Like you got to plan these things out, but no matter what, some of the businesses, you could get people to come back, like as simple as birthday club, right. Get people’s address or get people’s email address, get their birthday and invite them back on their birthday and give them something small.

I love that restaurants, do it because they give you like a dessert or an appetizer. Like you’re not going to go in and just by yourself and get that one. They’re very smart about planning, which things you get, like $10 at legal. You’re not going to go in there and buy 10 bucks. It’s a grocery store might as.

[00:07:58] Sean: Well I took Riley for his birthday and extra for his birthday.

[00:08:04] Torie: Right. And then he’s in the system and you’ll probably get an email. 

[00:08:07] Sean: It’s a free race, every birthday. 

[00:08:10] Torie: And so you’re probably gonna come with somebody else. And you probably didn’t do more than one race. 

[00:08:16] Sean: Two races is 45 bucks. 

[00:08:19] Torie: So that’s actually a good deal to go. It’s not cheap. Like I had to get the membership for it, for him to get that free race. But theoretically, next year he could just go do one race for free and that’s it. 

[00:08:32] Sean: I mean, that’s not going to happen, right. 

[00:08:35] Torie: That could happen. Like, and like the appetizer at the restaurant, like it’s possible, but there’s so many other people that are going to do more than. And it’s a lot better than giving somebody a discount every single time. Like if you could just give them an add on like, don’t just, don’t take 50% off of everything you buy. Cause then you’re not going to make money. But if you add on something that just has value. Then that’s a way that you’re going to give people value and not end up losing money. Like Kohl’s is doing this on a massive scale.

Like if we did that for our business and like for every, you know, thing that you bought, you got three bucks for us. Like we would go broke. Like it wouldn’t work for our bill, but there’s other ways that we could do it to make it work for like a marketing company. 

[00:09:23] Sean: We’re not early adopters by any means.

But I’d say we were pretty early on Amazon for sure. I was on prime specifically. 

[00:09:33] Torie: Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:09:35] Sean: Do you pay for that? Amazon Alexa, Alexa, here’s what I found on Wikipedia. Amazon echo is a brand of smart speakers developed by an Amazon Alexa. Fantastic. Right. So free shipping. And now you get the free TV and all kinds of stuff. But initially when we first did it, like, it, it just, it wasn’t $99 a year, and then we got free shipping. And that was it. 

[00:10:08] Torie: That was it.

[00:10:12] Sean: Tell us about a perception though. Like that could go so many different ways. Like damn they could have charged more charged, less charges. But instead they sold us on a membership and then gave something for free. 

[00:10:30] Torie: And then we’re like, no, we’re not going to buy it over there because we’ve got free shipping in it. Right. I don’t want to say it because she’s going to turn on again. You know, we’re going to use it because we have the free shipping. 

[00:10:38] Sean: It’s clever. And then it’s, it’s grown to like now, like why would you not have prime? 

[00:10:47] Torie: It’s just something that’s normal. And I think the reason that I originally got it is I was buying diapers. Diapers are expensive y’all and so I could do their subscribe, subscribe, and save and get 15% off of diapers. And so I was just it. And then I was like, oh, well, if I buy diapers or I can buy toilet paper and they just, all these little things that just made it. So I kept coming back. You guys key? Stop going out there and trying to find a bazillion new customers. How do you get the ones that are already coming in to come back, come back to you. We talk about the dentist. Like the dentist is the smartest in the whole world because the dentist has you come back. They tell you, you have to, you don’t have to, you, you really don’t have to. If you don’t want to, you’re not going to die and mommy’s not going to grab you, but they tell you.

You have to, and you, and they tell me I have to go more than twice a year because of however, my mouth is, I need an extra cleaning a year. They tell me I have to, and you know what I do. I go in for an extra cleaning. If they didn’t tell you that you had to go back in, like they would go bankrupt instead.

Do you see what these dentists are driving? They’re doing pretty good. They have figured out how to get everybody to come back. Especially in something like that, that people don’t want to come back. Obviously you probably are in a business that maybe you’re not, but people want to come back to see if you give them those little incentives, give them that free cookie, give them that Kohl’s cash.

Game-ify something like every business can make people come back to them again. And again, you know where I want to go back to the dog groomer. 

[00:12:39] Sean: What’s the name of that place? 

[00:12:40] Torie: I don’t know because they didn’t give me anything to come back to. That’s like a hair salon. That’s everybody goes like they tell you, you have to come back in six to eight weeks and you, you agree with it. You’re like, okay, I’ll be back. They’ll make you an appointment right there. Six to eight weeks come back. Coronavirus happens. What happened? Nobody went for six to eight weeks. You know what happened? Everybody has long gorgeous hair, right? Like everybody’s hair is so long right now because they didn’t go in for six to eight weeks and nobody died and their hair looks better than it did before.

Have you seen these women, these girls long, very long everybody’s hair is very long. Even some of you, men whose wives don’t cut your hair, like it’s long, but that is a business that they’ve decided like, we are going to tell people, you need to come back in this specific time. They set up the appointment before you leave. Most of them, if they’re smart. And they have you come from. I like places that, because it drives me crazy when they only offer sales to new customers. That’s the stupidest man that pisses me off. Why would you do that? Don’t DirecTV me, man. I hate that, man. Like, you really got to take care of the customers that you have.

[00:14:08] Sean: And cell phone providers. 

[00:14:10] Torie: You know, what, and satellite providers they’re going bye-bye why could you treat your clients like garbage? We know you treated us like garbage and we, we left a long time ago. 

[00:14:20] Sean: You shouldn’t. MI, like not make me go away and then come back and then he can’t even come back for a couple of years with, and unless you don’t get that new customer deal again, and then the deal like usually goes so crazy. After so much time that like, you’re you pissed off that you’re paying that? 

[00:14:45] Torie: Well, we had AT and T forever. I think I had, like, I had Singular which AT and T bought. And so then I had AT and T we had A T and T forever. Then they ended up like grandfathering us in. But then like all these other people that had AT and T that came newer, like they had all these cool plans and got new phones. Like we were grandfathered into some crap that we didn’t get anything. You know what we did, we left, we went to sprint, we got their new plan.

No, I think they went with T-Mobile T-Mobile yeah. So now we deal, we have AT and T internet, which they really wanted us to get AT and T service. And I was like, we just left you, your service is crappy, but these companies have no it’s all volume-based. They have no real reason to keep people around like people jump all over them. You you like, you’re not a huge corporation. You can’t do that. Like do not use these types of companies to base your business on like, it’s not good practice. You gotta make people come back. What’s your stick. What’s your link. What’s your line. What’s your, what’s your thing to make people come back.

Like we talk about the HVAC companies. We have a lot of HVAC clients and they have things that need to be done every six months, every year. You need service. So why not? Be like the dentist be like the hairdresser don’t ask them. Don’t let them know when, when the time is, do tell them you need to have the service.

It’s a year, well rule, you know, set up the appointment right now. You know, maybe you give them a small discount and give them in fact, give them free like filters or something. They’ll give them a discount, give them something for free. Give them the filters for free because you guys get them so cheap.

Like it doesn’t matter. Like the client sees the value in that. Whereas it’s not really costing you very much but may make the appointment right there. Like Miles Through Time. You tell people to come back. Why? 

[00:16:46] Sean: Because it’ll be different. And I need them to come back to see that so that they can then go and tell their friends and family, Hey, this place is awesome.

It’s changed. Even since I’ve been there. 

[00:16:58] Torie: There is a reason for people to come back, every business can do this. Just need some Bora thought planning, dog groomer. Listen.

[00:17:11] Sean: Can’t do it. Can’t do it. 

[00:17:15] Torie: So if you liked this episode, please subscribe. We would love that we would also love it. If you left a review and shared this with somebody that you know, might be entertained or might be able to get 70 cents. We appreciate it. And we’ll see you in the next show.

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