Loyalty Promotions With Customer Tracking Generate More Volume From Fewer Customers
- Customer Tracking from DRB Systems and Golden Nozzle Car Wash, Springfield, MA
Challenge: To maintain, or even increase, dollar volume while record rainfalls are depressing car wash tunnel traffic.
Solution: Use Customer Tracking to run loyalty promotions that encourage your best customers to visit more often, regardless of weather conditions.
It was a year that car washers in New England would rather forget. Record
rainfalls kept customers away from car washes in droves. The successful Golden
Nozzle Car Wash in Springfield, MA experienced the same tough challenges as
other washes in its region.
A chain of 11 exterior-only washes and one full-service location, Golden Nozzle saw its traffic count fall by 8% for the year as a result of the bad weather. Yet despite this decrease, Golden Nozzle managed to accomplish something that few other area car washes could match. Instead of dipping the way tunnel traffic did, the chain’s dollar volume actually moved in the opposite direction, rising by 3%.
Loyalty Plans Boost Volume
“We were very pleased with this increase,” said operations manager Richard (“Smitty”) Smith. “Given the fact that there was tremendous downward pressure on car wash traffic throughout the region, our 3% volume increase was a good accomplishment. Customer Tracking played a key role in helping us achieve this increase.”
Golden Nozzle used Customer Tracking to run a loyalty club program that allowed customers to pre-purchase books of 6 car washes at a 15% discount. Customers who participated in the program were also entitled to a free 10th wash and free birthday wash, plus a rain check guarantee. As a result of these incentives, club members were more likely to return to Golden Nozzle on a regular basis -- even when bad weather kept a lot of other customers home.
“Looking at our sales reports, it became clear that club members were continuing
to return to the wash faithfully, when the bad weather kept other customers
away,” said Smith. “On good weather days, club members accounted for less than
12% of our tunnel traffic count. But on rainy days this figure jumped to an
average of 18% -- and often over 20%. The worse the weather got, the more we
depended on club members. Interestingly, of our 12 locations, the one that
sold the most club memberships was the only one that had an increase in traffic
count for the year, despite the bad weather.”
According to Smith, customers who join a prepaid loyalty plan are more likely to return to a wash regardless of weather conditions. “In my view, prepaid customers are more prone to see car washing as a regular part of their routine, so they tend to return more often. Psychologically, these customers are also more willing to take a chance on the weather, because they’re using coupons instead of actual cash.”
Pre-Sell Means Money Up-Front
During the first three years it ran the loyalty plan, Golden Nozzle enrolled over 7,250 club members annually. Members pay $6.95 to join the club, and then $5 to renew annually. “We make money on the sale of club memberships,” said Smith. “It’s like selling an extra service package for us.” The club membership fee entitles customers to the 15% discount on prepaid washes, the 10th wash free and other benefits. Golden Nozzle uses a scannable bar-coded card to enter club member purchase histories into its Customer Tracking files.
As effective as Golden Nozzle’s club has been during bad weather periods,
Smith found it to be an even more powerful marketing tool after the New England
skies cleared. The chain’s traffic count rose by 18% during poor weather, and
went up 31% over year-ago levels during the winter when weather conditions
returned to normal.
The bottom line: “Rain or shine, Customer Tracking has helped us build our business,” said Smith. “It is one of the best things that can happen to a car wash.”
