7 Ways Customers Fall In Love with Your Pet Franchise

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Building lasting relationships in the pet franchise is imperative as with any small business. It is not always about building a large clientele base as it is finding the right customers. In the digital age, new tactics to provide engaging retail education and retaining great customers are becoming more about caring for customers than bringing the masses to your shop.

With the aid of social media sites like Yelp, disgruntled customers can easily affect business. Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique shop owners have the fortune of having built-in social media marketing as part of the company’s proprietary software. Yet, the importance of creating an experience for your customers to fall in love with is always prevalent.

Many Small Business Fail at Customer Care

According to Forrester Research, “only 37% of brands received good or excellent customer experience index scores,” while “64% of brands got a rating of “OK,” “poor,” or “very poor” from their customers.”

The negative-trending statistical research doesn’t stop there. Around 89% of customers will choose a competitor after receiving bad customer experience, according to Oracle customer experience researching. Good news for us in the pet franchise is that 67% of customers stated they are willing to pay for better experience.

This gives shop owners plenty of opportunities for shop owners establish their clientele base. Zero hassle customer convenience and care that treats customers and their animals as royalty are how Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique became one of the fastest growing and awarded companies revolutionizing the pet franchise.

This article explores 7 ways to continue to develop a customer-focused culture in your shop.

Genuine Interaction

Customers experience is still spread via word of mouth. It is just done differently—the internet. Pet franchise reports show that if a customer is pleased with their experience they will recommend a business to 4 to 6 people.

A Splash and Dash shop owner is the face of their own small business. They are a representative of the brand and the ones having personable interactions with their customers. Shop owners genuinely talk with their customers using their name and their pet’s name.

Friendly and personal responses through social media or in the shop are fundamental for shop owners. Instead of focusing on the sale, focus on the person. What do they need? What are they concerned with for their pet?

Providing and educating customers instead of forcing sales will helps shop owners’ amiability shine through.

Respect Your Customers

A pet franchise is not a used car lot. Customers come in bringing their loved ones—their pets. Keep this in mind when communicating with your customers. Especially when consumers report experiencing rude customer services at least once a week with 58% of them telling their friends.

It is vital for shop owners and staff to maintain professional and be wary of customer’s moods when resolving any issues. Things happen. If a customer is upset, allow them time to vocalize the problem. This provides pet franchise owners an outlet to resolve the issue and make them comfortable.

Unhappy customers should not be ignored but viewed as an important feedback opportunity. Helping a disgruntled customer can help stop this situation from happening again.

Listen To What Your Customers Are Saying

As leaders in the pet franchise, Splash and Dash corporate offices provide dialogues between customers and the company’s brand. A feedback loop is established to ensure customers are receiving amazing service every time. Any unhappy claims are mitigated by corporate’s proprietary software.

A shop owner’s duty is to follow through with the feedback they receive. Make time to listen to complaints, suggestions, or compliments of customers and translate these into business models and sales tactics.

After listening to a customer, smile.

Offer Ongoing Support and Promotions

Dissatisfied customers will leave. The most key finding in customer attrition is dissatisfaction. As a shop owner, establish everything in your power that provides excellent customer service to customers that are constant. Respond quickly and with enthusiasm and be ready to market with promotions and up-selling that will benefit your customer.

Company-wide marketing promotions are always useful to provide on-going offers to keep customers charmed and informed. For example, last month corporate disseminated a company-wide Valentine’s day promotion, and this month a St. Patrick’s Day promotion will be available. Let every customer know about promotions like this via email, social media, and face-to-face communication.

Two Way Street

Reasonable requests from customers should be taken seriously. If you have the same complaint over and over again, take the necessary actions to resolve this. Listening to customers is only as good as the changes made to keep complaints from happening.

Focusing on customers this way creates loyal and trusting patrons that appreciate and love the services your pet franchise provides for them as much as you do for them.

Trust is Vital in the Pet Franchise

Splash and Dash love the family atmosphere of our shops. The brand is based on establishing a ‘mom and pop feeling’ with all of the ‘big box’ amenities.

Furthering this mom and pop feeling is achieved through transparency. It takes 12 positive reports on customer experience to compensate for one bad one. If you make positive changes, tell your customers. If there are problems, please tell your customers.

As a shop owner, some things like dog food callbacks are beyond an owner’s control. As a pet franchise that is uncompromisingly ethical with our client’s animals as the top priority, it is important to inform your customers about things like this when they happen.

Recently, social media app Instagram updated their terms and services but neglected to contribute clear phrasing to the changes. Many users were outraged and threatened to leave. Instagram quickly apologized and made necessary changes, but lost much-needed credibility. The app could have avoided this with clear transparent communication with their customers.

Keep Customers Coming Back

Simple fundamental things like saying “Thank you,” are always appreciated by customers. Treating customers with kindness and gratitude always keeps positive engagement flowing throughout your shop.

Corporate has spent time analyzing the psychology behind many of our customers who send in five-star reviews on Yelp. Many of them are more concerned about their pet’s well-being than anything else. Convenience is key. So are promotions. But as a pet franchise, one of the biggest ways to retain customers is to ensure their pet has a positive experience.

When a Splash and Dash shop owners present a newly groomed happy dog back to their owner, this is where the magic happens!

 

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