Page 38 - AVN February 2018

RETAIL DETAIL | By Allison Travers
BUSINESS
REWARDING LOYALTY
Treat regulars right to ensure customer retention
you spend a considerable
amount of time trying to
increase your customer base,
AS AN ADULT RETAIL STORE OWNER,
tap into new markets and drive
up your revenue. But don’t
put so much focus on luring
new shoppers that you neglect
your regulars. It’s important to spend time and allocate
resources toward customer retention.
One way to ensure repeat business is to develop
a loyalty program. Whether you use a point system,
social media check-ins or a game concept, these kinds
of programs will boost engagement and make your
customers likely to come back and spend more money.
Kirk Haines, vice president of Boudoir Noir in Fort
Wayne, Indiana, created a loyalty program for his store
20 years ago.
“We were one of the first in the industry to offer
any kind of rewards program,” Haines said. “Our
program is set up with a money-back incentive in $10
increments. For every $10 the customer spends, they
get $1 back. And 20 years later, we have an extremely
loyal customer base.”
He added, “Any program that incentivizes the
customer to return is a great idea, but it needs to be
a win/win. The customer needs to see the value in
your business and of course we see the value in our
customer.”
Keeping Score
Every business is different, so whatever loyalty
program you develop, make sure it’s reflective of
your brand and appeals to your particular customer.
Here are some ideas for a loyalty program you can
implement in your store:
Points: This is sort of a way of keeping score
of how much customers spend in your store. For
example, every $1 they spend, they get one point, or
a set number of points. Of course these points will
translate into a financial incentive or free product.
But don’t miss an opportunity to have some fun with
this program. Instead of receiving points, have your
customers receive “O’s,” which is short for orgasms, or
tier your points program from “Virgin” up to “Master
of Sex.” The more they buy, the more they score. See?
This can go on and on ...
Social Media: As you are well aware, our industry
is still challenged by stigma issues. One way to
help mainstream our business is to encourage your
customers to follow and like your social media pages
and check in online when they visit your store.
Encourage customers first to follow you on Facebook,
Instagram or Twitter and maybe incentivize with 10
percent off a purchase or add points with every follow.
Then every time they check in at your store, give them
another 10 percent off or additional points. It’s good
to encourage check-ins because they promote your
business. Every time a customer checks in on his or her
social media page, that post works as an advertisement
for your store that pops up in other people’s timelines,
helping create awareness (and intrigue!).
Games: You’ll have some regular customers who may
not be interested in joining your loyalty program for
one reason or another. One way to generate interest is to turn your loyalty program into a game. According
to Concur.com, 54 percent of customers are inactive in loyalty programs, but gamification of your program
can increase engagement by almost one-third. Also keep in mind that millennials, a major portion of today’s
market, are a generation raised on video games.
If you’re using a point system, have a visual progress bar that customers can track each time they come
in. Give “titles” to customers that hit certain milestones. Hold a drawing once a month for all of your loyalty
program customers where the winner gets a free product or a serious discount on their next purchase.
Once you nail down what kind of loyalty program you want to run, you’ll want to measure the success of
this program. Haines uses his POS to see his customers’ balances and their repeat visits.
“Reporting and tracking is key,” said Haines. “Make sure you get a ROI in everything you do. Track email,
track customer info and always market upcoming promotions through these channels.”
“ANY PROGRAM THAT INCENTIVIZES THE
CUSTOMER TO RETURN IS A GREAT IDEA,
BUT IT NEEDS TO BE A WIN/WIN. THE
CUSTOMER NEEDS TO SEE THE VALUE IN
YOUR BUSINESS AND OF COURSE WE SEE
THE VALUE IN OUR CUSTOMER.”
—KIRK HAINES, BOUDOIR NOIR
There’s an App for That
There are many online apps that can help you set up a loyalty program in minutes and can provide valuable
analytics of your customers’ spending habits in your store. Even though it’ll cost money to use one of these
apps, you save yourself the time and energy of developing your own loyalty program.
UpCity.com has listed its Top 20 Loyalty Rewards Program Apps for Small Businesses. Some of the apps
they feature are FiveStars, which allows you to send your customers reward messages via email or text, and
LoyalZoo, which integrates into your current POS system.
We hope this article inspires you to experiment with increasing your customer engagement. Good luck
with developing and implementing a successful loyalty program! And, as always, remember that the best way
to keep your customers coming back is to be an informed and reliable source of sexual health knowledge. At
Eldorado we encourage our clients to become “sexperts” by completing our free online program at Elevate U.
The more you know, the more reason your loyal customers have to come back.
This article by Allison Travers, Eldorado Trading’s director of marketing communications, originally appeared in the adult
distributor’s monthly newsletter. To sign up for the newsletter, email marketing@eldorado.net.
38 | AVN.com | 2.18