All right folks, so far in this series, we’ve looked at increasing your reach, which is getting seen more often. We’ve looked at increasing your engagement or sparking interest in your audience. We’ve looked at increasing your bookings or converting that interest into tangible results. We’ve even looked at increasing your average guest spend, which is maximising the value of every interaction with your customers.
This week, we’re focusing on increasing your repeat visit frequency—or how often, on average, a customer returns and spends more money at your business. Our goal is to increase your repeat visit frequency by 10%. This is because getting customers back is so much more powerful than having to constantly try and find new ones.
Customer acquisition costs basically disappear when your customers are coming back. Each repeat is high-margin revenue, and it has a huge impact on your customer lifetime value, or your CLTV. There’s a common misconception in all types of business that we’re always on the lookout for new customers.
New customers are the focus, and we should be on the lookout for new customers all the time, but they’re not the only focus. The truth is the cost of acquisition, or your CAC, for new customers is astronomically higher than retaining existing ones. Acquiring a new customer, according to some studies, can be between five and 25 times more expensive.
A 10% increase in repeat visits can dramatically decrease your marketing spend and boost your profitability. So, what are the best ways to increase your customer lifetime value? It is to focus on how often they’re coming back and increasing their visit frequency because a guest that stays twice rather than once effectively doubles their value to your business.
A 10% increase in these repeats would have a huge, huge impact on your CLTV. The other thing that’s worth keeping in mind when we focus on this is it does have a big knock-on effect on your new customers as well because of word of mouth. Mentions or word-of-mouth marketing, as people call it—it’s these loyal customers that are coming back on a regular basis that become advocates for your business.
They’re the ones that are promoting you to their friends and family. Especially for a small business like a rural farm stay or a boutique restaurant, et cetera, these sorts of organic referrals are priceless. So, how do we systematically encourage guests to come back and achieve that crucial 10% uplift in your repeat visit frequency?
How Can You Master the Post-Visit Experience?
Master the post-visit experience by staying top-of-mind without being intrusive. Send a personalised thank-you email or SMS within 24 hours to request feedback, and follow up with relevant, non-salesy updates about your local area to foster a long-term connection.
That’s what we’re going to look at now. But one of the things you’ve got to keep in mind when we look at trying to increase your repeat visit frequency is that providing an exceptional experience is just the baseline. That in and of itself isn’t enough to encourage people to come back more and more. Great service is just expected. Loyalty requires more.
In my book, one of the best ways of increasing this visit frequency all comes in the post-visit or the post-stay, depending on the business you’re in. It’s all about what happens after they’ve experienced your business for the first time. It’s all about staying top of mind without being overly intrusive.
For example, if you’re providing accommodation or you’re in the restaurant business, something along the lines of a thank you and feedback email or follow-up is important. Genuine appreciation and actively listening—so send personalised thank you emails or SMSs within 24 hours requesting feedback and showing that you act on it will increase the likelihood of repeat business. One of the other elements to focus on, rather than just that appreciation and that thank you, which is incredibly important, is that we also need reasons to drag it out a little bit longer to reengage with them again and again.
That’s where sharing relevant updates and experiences comes in. A regular email newsletter—it could be monthly, it could be quarterly, whatever really works for your business—showcasing what’s happening in the local area, seasonal activities, local events, and these types of things. A personalised, non-intrusive communication that fosters connection over time will build that 10% repeat rate increase that you’re looking for.
How Do You Build a Loyalty Program That Adds Real Value?
Build a value-driven loyalty program by offering exclusive perks, not just discounts. Focus on providing high-value, low-cost benefits like complimentary upgrades, late checkouts, or VIP access. This rewards loyalty, makes customers feel valued, and protects your profit margins.
But there are other more structured ways to build this loyalty as well. One of them that I think is fantastic is loyalty programs. A lot of people think this is stuff that’s only for the big end of town or that they’re really expensive to implement. But the truth is a simple, value-driven program can be highly effective for a business of any size.
You need to focus on exclusive perks, not discounts. If you focus on discounts, it really is just a race to the bottom, and you’re cutting your margin every time. But if you can focus on things that you can provide that have a large sense of value to the customer but don’t necessarily break the bank to provide, then you’re onto a winning formula.
For things like an accommodation provider, does it really cost you any extra to provide late checkout or a complimentary upgrade to repeat businesses or repeat customers? For restaurants, something like a free coffee at the end of the meal or a glass of wine during the meal for repeat customers—your loyal customers that you’re trying to reward. Or for a tour operator, priority seating or VIP access to the little-known local secret that you don’t take everyone to. These types of things that don’t really cost a great deal extra to provide but in the eyes of the customer are a huge bonus.
There’s a lot of intrinsic value in being valued, and that’s what you’re sharing in your loyalty program—this connection with your customer, showing them that you value them as a customer and you appreciate the fact that they came back. If you’re going to look at implementing these kinds of things, there’s no reason why you can’t have a tiered structure for your customers that come back.
That first or second time they get this little bit of an added value. But given when people are coming back to you, as we said before, the customer acquisition cost is a lot lower, you can afford to give them more and still remain profitable. For those customers that are coming back on a regular basis—and how regular really depends on your circumstances—but if they’re coming back on a really regular basis, you can afford to give them more and bigger perks to show them just how much you value the fact that they’re spending their time and their money with you on a regular basis.
How Can You Make the Re-Booking Process Effortless?
Make re-booking effortless by removing all friction. Use a system that identifies repeat customers to pre-fill online booking forms, save payment details, and even provide a personalised, streamlined booking link via a follow-up email. An easy return path encourages repeat business.
Okay, so we’ve looked at the ways that your business can reward and incentivise people to come back on a more regular basis. But one of the things you really need to focus on is making sure that that process is as seamless and as friction-free as possible. You need to make sure that when people are coming back, you have a system in place that quickly identifies them as a repeat customer so that you can reward them for coming back and, in turn, incentivise them to come back again.
For your online booking forms, ensure it’s set up properly so that you can pre-fill as much information as possible—even things like saved payment details to make that purchase decision as quick and as hurdle-free as possible. But what about taking it one step further? What if we go back to that thank you and feedback email that we spoke about and include in there a personalised URL or a link that makes it easy for past guests to bypass your normal booking process?
It’s a quicker, streamlined process—however it works for you—but something that’s unique to them that makes them feel like they’re part of this exclusive repeat business club, whatever you want to call it. It’s an easy return path for past guests to come back again.
How Can You Turn Loyal Customers into a Community?
Transform customers into a community by fostering a sense of belonging. Actively encourage guests to share their experiences and photos on social media (user-generated content), then engage with, share, and celebrate their posts. This builds social proof and makes them feel like true brand advocates.
Formal loyalty strategies provide a clear pathway for repeat business, and that will have a direct impact on this 10% frequency increase that we’re looking for. It does have a big, big impact on your bottom line. But loyalty isn’t just about what you offer; it’s about belonging as well. So, how do we look to build that sort of community feeling that every business can foster?
We’re using terms like repeat visit frequency and these types of things, but really what we’re talking about is trying to create a community around your business. It does sound a little bit corny, but that is what we’re aiming for. For these people that really, truly feel valued and come back on a regular basis and encourage others to do so as well, that’s what it becomes. It is a community that’s built around your business and your product offering.
One of the best ways to really kick this process off is by actively encouraging user-generated content on social media. Encourage your guests to share their photos of their experience and tag your business in it. But it’s not just enough to have them doing that part. You need to do your part, which is engaging with them, thanking them, sharing it yourself, and engaging with their content. That’s where you’ll start to see your reach really grow exponentially.
These things don’t just happen on their own. It takes a dedicated effort, and it needs to be driven by you. So, running a social media campaign to get guests to share their experience is a great place to start.
We also want to empower these guests to spread the word. Incentivise recommendations with things like referral programs and actively ask for testimonials and reviews. If the reviews are coming back negative, then obviously you need to deal with those. You need to provide that feedback and show that you’ve acted on it to make your business better.
For those positive reviews, you need to encourage those. You need to engage with them, you need to thank them, and you need to share them because it’s social proof for these other people that are considering coming to visit you for the first time. Actively engaging with all of the feedback is incredibly important.
You might say that one-time visitors don’t really care about loyalty. But every one-time visitor has the potential to be a repeat customer, and you don’t know which one that’s going to be. So, you need to treat every single one of them the same way—like they are going to be your best ever customer.
Which Metrics Should You Track to Measure Success?
To measure success, track your repeat visit frequency rate (repeat visits ÷ unique customers) and your customer lifetime value (CLTV). Segmenting this data by customer type will reveal trends, while tracking loyalty program ROI will guide your future strategy and investments.
So, how do we track if our efforts are actually bringing our guests back more often? That’s what we’re going to cover next. As with everything in this series, before you start implementing any of these changes, you need to have your baseline. You need to know your numbers as to where you’re starting so that you can measure whether or not these changes you’re making are actually having a positive impact, no impact at all, or even a negative impact on your overall business.
What you need to know to begin with is your existing repeat visit frequency rate, which is essentially what percentage of all your customers are coming back. It’s a number of repeat visits over the total number of unique customers. That’s a really simple and straightforward way to look at it. Also, be looking at your customer lifetime value.
What is your customer lifetime value across the range of your different customer types? And talking about different customer types, you can segment your customers to see if you can see particular differences or trends in the changes of their repeat patterns. Use all of this information to guide your future decision-making.
With your loyalty program, once you implement that, track how much money you’re investing in it and what impact it’s had on your repeat visit rate. The tools for this are the same as always. It’s your CRM systems, your booking engine data, your email marketing platforms, Google Analytics, et cetera.
What is an Actionable Plan to Increase Repeat Visits by 10%?
First, audit your current post-stay experience to establish a baseline. Then, implement one or two key retention tactics, like a personalised thank-you email requesting feedback. Always focus on increasing the value you provide rather than simply discounting your price to protect your margins.
As always, it’s a huge amount of numbers for the average business, and if you’re looking for assistance in interpreting the data, that’s what Scott Aussie is here to help with. If you’re ready to turn those one-time visitors into loyal, repeat customers and really build that business, these are your action steps.
First up, audit your post-stay experience. What happens after they leave? When I say stay, obviously we’re kind of using accommodation terminology, but the same thing applies to restaurants and cafes and tourism and everything else. If you’re not collecting these people’s data—their name, phone number, and email address is a bare minimum—you should be.
Then what happens after they leave? Are you following up with them? Are you thanking them for their stay? Are you encouraging them to come back again? Once you know what your starting point is and you’ve completed your audit, implement one or two key retention tactics.
Start small for measurable gains. Start with the thank you email or SMS requesting feedback. Have the encouragement to come back again and focus on value, not discounts. As I say every time, focusing on discounts and reducing your price just scrapes away at your profit margin, and it is very much a race to the bottom. Focus on increasing the value that you provide rather than discounting your price.
Focus on personalising your communications through the data that you’re collecting. As always, remember to jump on to scottaussie.com and have a play with our Profit Power Up calculator and see the big difference that these small changes in your business can have.
Ready to Build a More Sustainable Business?
Repeat visits are the bedrock of a sustainable and profitable business. Achieving a 10% increase is not as hard as it might sound, but it does deliver huge long-term benefits to your business. So, identify one way to deepen your connection with a past guest this week. Visit the Scott Aussie website and have a play with the Profit Power Up calculator. Stop chasing fleeting interest.
Start building lasting relationships with your customers and watch your profits grow sustainably year after year. As always, if you’re looking for any assistance with anything we’ve covered today, Scott Aussie Tourism Marketing is here to help, and we’d be more than happy to do so. See you next week.
