The Loonine blog
Customer retention
What customer churn costs a local business, how to measure it, and how to bring back the regulars who quietly stopped coming.
How to get customers to join your loyalty programme
Enrolment rate is the number that decides whether a loyalty programme works, and it is set almost entirely by what you ask the customer to do at the counter.
SMS, email or wallet push: which reaches your customers?
The three channels a small business can use to reach its own customers, compared on open rate, cost, consent rules and what each is good for.
How to measure repeat customer rate (and what to do with it)
The formula for repeat customer rate, the window to measure it over, what a good figure looks like by industry, and the two numbers that are more useful.
How to calculate customer lifetime value for a small business
A simple, defensible way to work out what a customer is worth over their whole relationship with you, and what to do with the number once you have it.
Birthday and seasonal rewards: worth it, or a distraction?
When a dated reward earns its place, what to collect and what not to, and why the seasonal message usually matters more than the reward attached to it.
Do loyalty programmes work?
An honest look at the evidence: where loyalty programmes measurably change behaviour, where they only subsidise customers you already had, and how to tell which is happening.
How to win back customers who stopped coming
A practical playbook for identifying lapsed customers, choosing the right moment to reach them, and writing a message that brings them back.
Why paper punch cards fail, and what to replace them with
Paper loyalty cards lose customers for three structural reasons. Here is what each one costs and how a wallet card fixes it.
What customer churn costs a small business
A worked example showing why a small improvement in repeat visits outperforms almost any acquisition spend for a local business.