RWRD’s 7 Steps To Increase Retention and Footfall

Having partnered with hundreds of independent coffee businesses all over the world, we’ve learnt a thing or two about customer retention and footfall. We’ve highlighted some of our top tips to ensure your business is continually growing and keeping your clientele.

Step 1

Stay relevant outside the shop.

Using various digital platforms, it is important to stay relevant and engage with customers as often as you can. Use various means of digital contact to share your latest news, offers and promotions. Creating the feeling of regular updates and news presents your venue as a vibrant location that customers will want to visit.

Step 2

Put your story on the wall.

Nearly every shop that we have visited has a brilliant and unique back story to how it all started, who the driving forces are behind the venue and what inspired the style and vibes within the coffee shop. Don’t just share your story on your website, as this is often lost or never seen by customers stopping by for a quick brew. Share your story in multiple ways, showcasing this gives customers something to read whilst waiting in line and it helps to build your personality.

Step 3

Coffee is King.

Serving a quality product speaks volumes. We have found that the majority of customers are keen to try different coffee and experience a variety of blends or flavours. Make sure that you are able to highlight what is new to customers, or offer something a bit different. If you have the capacity to feature a guest coffee bean in a second grinder, this can be one way to diversify the offering and attract attention. If not then make sure that you communicate the quality and source behind your coffee selection.

Step 4

Know your customers.

A simple way of building a loyal customer base is to get to know your audience and make the customer feel valued. One effective way of doing this is to ask your team to learn the names of 3 customers each month. By simply greeting a customer by their name on arrival, the impact is huge on both the customer (who feels valued and remembered) and those around the shop who will notice the extra touch and strive to be recognised as one of the regulars. By making the task simple 4 amongst the team the impact is easy to achieve.

Step 5

Get personal with your communications.

Having the ability to segment your audience so that you can target small groups with more specific messaging will really improve engagement. By breaking your audience down will help to tailor your promotions and give your outreach a much greater impact.

Step 6

Connect with the local community.

Reaching out beyond the doors of your venue will help you to build a reputation within your area. Working with sports teams, social clubs or partnering with other 6 local businesses will help to cement your shop within the fabric of the community.

Step 7

Everyone likes surprises.

Digital loyalty is a great anchor to increase retention. Our analytics show that 83% of customers return after starting a digital loyalty card. Shops can go further and maximise retention by using various methods to surprise loyal customers with higher value rewards or random discounts. Occasionally, reaching out unprompted with a surprise and delight offer to customers has a big impact.