The Top Customer Retention Strategies For The Drink Industry
Statistics on beverage industry basics
reveal that the alcoholic drinks market will witness a total revenue figure of
over 239 billion US dollars in 2018, with the spirits market alone counting
to $56,148 million. Major F & B
firms are now rejuvenating their customer retention
strategies, in order to connect better with the
values and expectations of their existing customers. To illustrate the point,
the beverages major Coca Cola has decided to phase out its popular loyalty
program called My Coke Rewards, based on critical feedback from customers and
is all set to relaunch a new set of customer retention stargazes.
- Use Instagram To Create Visual Appeal
Instagram has made it to the limelight as
a super-efficient photo and video sharing social media platform. Upon creating
a business account, beverage firms can stock their galleries with high quality
and inspiring images. Being active on social media platforms results in photos
of your brand getting tagged on Instagram and these results in solid referral
traffic. The 'raise-a-glass' campaign of Jack Daniels has been extremely
rewarding, wherein customers are encouraged to share photos of them with the
brand. The brand has been engaging audiences on other platforms like Tumbler
and Facebook as well with its stunning images.
- Remember Special Occasions Of Loyal Customers
Loyal customers love to be remembered on
their special days like birthdays and anniversaries, when there are more
reasons for them to wine and dine. F & B organizations can automate their customer retention strategies and keep their frequent communications
calendar active. It serves double purposes of urging active customers for fresh
sales and also prevents dormant customers from attrition. Some proven examples
include the DD perks campaign of Dunkin Donuts that offers a free drink on
birthdays, while the A & W group of restaurants, Alaska offer free root
beer float upon joining the A & W mug club.
- Encourage Customers To Share Experiences
This is the age of social selling.
Getting customers to interact with your brand will get tangible results from
customer retention programs. It is also important to feature user generated
content as against self-generated promotional content on digital platforms.
Getting customers to talk passionately about your brand, their experiences on
buying the first drink and nostalgia associated with the same are ways of
making your online presence interesting. Influencing customers to upload photos
with their favourite drink has been a very rewarding strategy that can boost sales
and also your SEO position. Besides brand to customer interaction, it is also
important to attend to community-building initiatives and encourage customer to
customer communication. This assures more traction to the brand and increases
brand loyalty.
The beverage portfolio is very profitable
for any F & B organization, provided that customers bring in potential
lifetime value. More than financial rewards and incentives, it is only loyalty
programs that win emotionally connected customers who are less price-sensitive.
It is a proven fact that customers might not hesitate to pay a little more,
when they learn that their brand is socially responsible and delivers safe and
healthy products.
