How to obtain customer email addresses

[Ric]

I want to begin to obtain a database of customer email addresses. I would use the addresses to market back to the customer in the form of newsletters, coupons, etc. What ideas do you have for obtaining these from IBA and self serve customers? Drawings? Surveys? Via website? We are attended about 5-7 hours per day but don't want to "lock" ourselves into or advertise specific hours. That could lead into employees and "should I, should I not" due to weather issues, etc. Been there, done that, back when I had exterior tunnels.

 

[pitzerwm]

Whatever you do, give them something for their participation, another token, free something. Place value on their email address. I'd just start asking for them. Also put your web address all over the wash, people will check it out. Put a game on your site, kids will play them. I'm creating a "snake game" in 3D, we will use here, I'll keep you posted.

 

[MEP001]

Creating a "fun" website should help - you can register a domain really cheap, build a basic page, maybe add a forum of your own which I've done myself.

 

[robert roman]

What you are touching on is the loyalty business model which is the foundation of the carwash industry. With this model, a company's resources are employed so as to increase the loyalty of customers in the expectation that the company's objectives will be met or surpassed. In short, the quality of the product or service leads to customer satisfaction which leads to customer loyalty which leads to profitability.

In the loyalty or service quality model, customer satisfaction is based on a recent experience of the product or service. The customer's assessment depends on prior expectations of overall quality compared to the actual performance. As such, you need to do at least two things; 1) perform at a high level; and 2) give the customer something of value.

I recommend starting with something simple like establishing a customer loyalty or VIP program. In the beginning, you could use an index card and filing system to collect customer information. This can include basic stuff like name, street address, telephone number, type of vehicle, e-mail address, etc. After you collect a sufficient amount of members, you can transfer the data to something like Microsoft Access so you can manage the data and use it effectively in your marketing and promotional efforts. You must take care to assure your customers that you will not "sell" or otherwise share their personal information with others.

You should also do something to entice customers to join the VIP and share their personal information. For example, give them a free carwash to sign up. The VIP should also have clear benefits and value. For example, VIP members get a free carwash on their birthday, special discount coupons on holidays, buy 4 washes get one free, etc.

Another aspect of the loyalty model is the concept of "cycle of success." In this cycle, an investment in your employees' ability to provide superior service to customers can be seen as a virtuous circle. Effort spent in selecting and training employees and creating a culture in which they are empowered can lead to increased employee satisfaction and employee competence. The likely result will be superior service delivery and customer satisfaction. In turn, this will create customer loyalty, improved sales levels and higher profit margins.

I hope these excerpts from my book are of some help.

Bob Roman
www.carwashplan.com

 

[Ric]

Bob,

That's exactly the approach I took when I owned an exterior tunnel. I was a very successful program.
I would like to implement the same type program in my IBA/self serve. There are some unique challenges to overcome there however. Mainly not having regular attended hours in which customers can redeem coupons etc. We have tokens, paper tokens (IBA), and punch in codes for the autocashier to work with instead.