Having a high customer retention rate is the key to having a successful business. Sure, acquiring new customers is equally important but it’s only half the battle won. With the cost of acquiring new customers increasing every year, your business’s number one priority in 2022 should be to retain as many customers as possible.
So that brings us to the question, How Can Food and Beverage Businesses Retain Customers? There are many factors that go into having a high retention rate, your business must offer exceptional customer service, simplify the purchasing journey and most importantly fulfil promises.
Here are the best strategies your Food & Beverage Business can use to retain customers in 2022.
1. Simplify Your Customers Ordering Process
To get customers to return to your business, you need to offer a fast and easy ordering process. Australian consumers are busier than they have ever been before, the last thing they want to experience is a long and stressful ordering process.
Your business’s ordering process needs to be fast and simple. From the time your customer finds the product they want to buy to the time it is delivered the entire process should be seamless. The best way Food and Beverage Businesses can streamline and simplify the customer ordering process is by using an Online Ordering Website.
The benefit of having an Online Ordering website is customers can complete the entire ordering process in their own time when it suits them best. The entire process from order selection to payment customers can complete the process simply in a just few clicks. With 45% of Australians won’t consider buying from a F&B business that doesn’t have an Online Ordering Website an Online Ordering Website has become essential for all Food and Beverage businesses in 2022.
Related Article: Why Australian Food Distribution Businesses MUST have an Online Ordering Website.
2. Remind Customers When They Haven’t Ordered at Their Regular Interval
When it comes to customer retention, you need to offer something more than the traditional service offering. To get customers to return to your business you need to look out for their best interests and not give them the thought of leaving. The best way to do this is by reminding customers when they haven’t ordered at their regular interval.
Reach out to customers when you notice they haven’t placed an order at their regular time. Remind them when your order cut off is approaching. The more you communicate and look out for the customer, the more likely they will return to your business.
Related Article: 5 Ways Food and Beverage Businesses Can Increase Cashflow in 2022.
3. Offer Flexible Payment Options and Terms
What is the most important part of the buying process? Payment. To get customers to return to your F&B business you need to offer flexible payment options. Your business needs to offer customers the ability to pay by any method of their choosing whether it be Credit Card, Direct Debit, PayPal, or Cash.
It’s important that your business caters for as many Payment options as possible, you need to ensure customers can order with you no matter who they use for banking or payments. The benefit of offering more payment options is it minimises the risk of debtors and non-payment.
Related Article: Customer Payments Made Easy!
4. Keep Your Promise
This point is so important! If you want to retain your customers, you need to keep your promise. If you say you are going to provide something to a customer whether it be delivery turnaround time, price, or anything else you need to make sure you fulfill that promise. There’s nothing more frustrating than paying for a product or service and being let down. When this happens, you normally never want to go back.
We get it! Sometimes things don’t go completely to plan, if you are running behind on an order that’s okay, but to avoid customer dissatisfaction you need to communicate instantly with the customer.
5. Ask Your Customers for Feedback
The key to improving your businesses customer service is by gaining feedback. If you want to increase your chances of having a customer return, ask them for feedback on the buying experience. Ask what areas they like and what areas you need to improve.
The benefit of gaining customer feedback is you can adapt your service and offering to meet the customers wants and desires. The more the customer enjoys the buying experience, the more likely they will be to return.
Final Word,
A strong customer retention rate is the key to success in the Australian Food and Beverage Industry. To grow your businesses customer retention, you need to offer a simplified and easy buying experience and go beyond the traditional service experience. The 5 tips mentioned above are great ways your Business can increase customer retention in 2022.
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About EasyVend
For food and beverage business, EasyVend supports and automates every part of your business simply, freeing you up to grow your sales simply unlike other ERP systems.
EasyVend has all the tools needed to manage your Food and Beverage Business seamlessly. Features include Stock Management, Online Ordering, Invoicing, Receipting, Automatic Credit Card Payments, Integrated Accounting, Route Management and Business Reporting.
To learn more about EasyVend or to arrange a no-obligation free demo of the software. Call us today on 1300 473 744 or submit the form below.