Customer loyalty: six tools that bring customers back
Winning a customer once is the expensive part. Keeping them is where a meal prep business makes its money. Your site has six tools for that, and they work best together. Here is what each one does and when to reach for it.
Referrals: let happy customers do your marketing
Every customer gets a personal referral code on their account page. When a friend uses it, the friend gets a discount on their first order and the referrer earns a reward on their next one. It runs by itself once you set the two rewards. Use it from day one. A customer who just had a great first week is your best salesperson, and the account page hands them the code. Start with How the automated referral program works and set the rewards on Discount archetypes: the templates behind automatic discounts.
Account credits: keep the money on your site
Credits are money on account, worth $1 each, spent on any order with one click at checkout. Use them as a refund that keeps the customer coming back, as a thank-you for a big order, or as the prize in a promotion. A customer with a credit balance orders again. See How to add credits to a customer account.
Gift cards: turn one customer into two
Sold on your gift card page, or created by you for a customer. Every gift card brings a new person to your order page with money already in hand. Sell them at a discount around the holidays to move volume. See How to create a gift card from the admin and How to add a discounted gift card.
Promotions: reward the bigger basket
A promotion gives something automatically when an order crosses a line you set during a window you choose: spend $100 this week and get a $25 gift card, or buy 100 credits and get 25 more. No code to type, so no code to forget. Run one when a menu is slow, or to push customers toward larger orders. See Bonus gift card promotion: spend more, earn a gift card and Bonus meal credits promotion: buy credits, get extra free.
Discount codes: the precise tool
For everyone, for new customers only, or for one person. A percentage, a dollar amount, or a fixed amount per item, with limits on use. A discount code is the right tool when you want control over who gets what and for how long. See How to create discounts and How to view discount usage.
Repeat orders and subscriptions: remove the friction
A customer who liked last week can repeat the order in a couple of clicks, or turn it into a subscription so it arrives every week without a decision. The fewer steps between "that was good" and "again please", the more often it happens. See Repeat orders: order it again in a couple of clicks, How to set up recurring meal plans and Monthly meal plans: renewals and renewal settings.
Automations: make it run without you
Tag a customer in Mailchimp when they hit their fifth order, or email yourself when a referral code is used. Automations connect the tools above to what happens next, so your loyalty program keeps working when you are in the kitchen. See Automations.
A simple playbook
- Switch on referrals and set the two rewards.
- Add a welcome discount for first orders.
- Give a small credit whenever you fix a problem.
- Run one promotion a quarter.
- Let Automations tag your best customers, and write to them.
Keywords: retention, repeat customers, win back
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