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Why 4 is the magic number in customer retention

Repeat visits are top of mind for every brand but few may realize how critical the fourth customer visit is and why it requires a specific strategy.

Customer repeat visits was the focus of a panel session at the recent Fast Casual Executive Summit held in early October in Seattle.

November 12, 2018 by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com

Fast casual brands must not only focus on enticing new customers and keeping customers happy, they need to boost the 'repeat' customer metric.

Why? Consider these stats: for the first-time customer visit there is a 50-50 chance of a return visit; that chance jumps to 70 percent once a customer has visited twice and then, with a customer's fourth visit, the figure jumps up to 85 percent that the customer will be back within six months.

Boosting fourth visit activity is crucial to forging a steady flow of customers and a marketing strategy is a necessity as well as ensuriung a customer's initial visit proves to be a compelling experience.

"We're trying to elevate the first experience to drive the second, third, fourth," said Frank Paci, CEO at Corner Bakery Cafe/Il Fornaio.

Corner Bakery's quest includes ensuring a manager interacts with each first-time customer and driving a connection between a store associate and the consumer.

"That is very important — engagement drives repeat visits," Paci added.

Paci offered his insight during a panel talk, "Why 4 is the magic number when it comes to inspiring customer loyalty," during the three-day Fast Casual Executive Summit held at the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington in early October.

The summit, run by Fast Casual's parent company, Networld Media Group, draws restaurant executives interested in learning and networking via interactive sessions. The session was moderated by Michelle Tempesta, marketing director at Paytronix which sponsored the session. Paytronix is a loyalty program provider specializing in customer loyalty, acquisition and retention for multi-unit restaurants, retail stores, and convenience store chains.

Paci was joined on the panel by Nicolas Bernadi, CEO of bakery and cafe chain La Boulangerie; Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh CEO James Park and Lisa Regelman, director of loyalty for Peet's Coffee.

The quest to drive loyalty

Peet's Coffee launched its loyalty app a year ago and then relaunched it this past July, offering a "new look and feel," and is now working on offering an order ahead capability.

Both initiatives, said Regelman, are reflective of the brand's strategy to drive customer loyalty. And it's working given 35 percent penetration, she noted.

Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh CEO Park said his brand is focused on people, innovation and execution when it comes to spurring repeat visits and loyalty.

"If you do those three things, even if you're selling *&** in the store you'll do really, really well," he told the audience. "It's critically important to engage with our customers."

Park said his brand's strategy relies heavily on data insights and leveraging data "to get a customer for life."

"We're constantly trying something new," he added.

Corner Bakery has a similar philosophy, noted Paci, and has transformed its loyalty program into a 'club' that rewards repeat visits and purchases. The club now has 1 million members, he noted.A big key to the success, he added, is understanding who the consumer is.

Knowing the customer, and what they want and like, is also key for Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh which has incorporated a marketing strategy that pushes customers to another menu item.

The experts noted that the repeat visit strategy can't be just a singular campaign, but a plethora of marketing moves given that the cost of customer acquisition is often the biggest cost of business for most brands.

And the strategy, as Bernadi explained, can't just be led or directed by one department within the brand.

"You need all the business organizational teams to work together," he advised.

About Judy Mottl

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Judy Mottl is editor of Retail Customer Experience and Digital Signage Today. She has decades of experience as a reporter, writer and editor covering technology and business for top media including AOL, InformationWeek, InternetNews and Food Truck Operator.

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