It doesn’t matter what industry you are in; brand loyalty is a key component when it comes to success in business. You’ll find slightly different definitions of what brand loyalty means depending on the source you use, but generally, it can be seen as the emotional decision and bias (both conscious and unconscious) towards a particular brand over competitors.

Customers feel emotionally attached, engaged and connected to the brand. Customers feel they can trust the brand and they have faith that the service/product will meet their expectations. This leads to repeat purchases and recommendations to their friends and family. As a result, it can therefore be extremely powerful for businesses.

Why is Brand Loyalty Important for Car Wash Services?

Brand loyalty is important for car wash services simply because there are bound to be competitors and other businesses offering similar services. This means you need to showcase clear benefits for returning back to your car wash and why they shouldn’t be tempted to use another.

There are certain customers, for example, taxi drivers and sales people, that are often likely to require car wash services quite frequently. Being able to get them to keep returning to your business will certainly play a defining role in the overall success and profitability of the business.

Brand loyalty also means the lifetime value of each customer is much higher. This means a business that experiences high brand loyalty and repeat purchases, won’t be as pressured to promote their business to new customers like a business that has very little retention.

How to Build Brand Loyalty into Your Services Today

So, how can a car wash business create brand loyalty and enjoy all the benefits it brings?

  • Loyalty Programme

One the simplest ways to get started with loyalty, is by having a clear incentive for customers to come back. A loyalty scheme, club points, rewards, etc, are all examples of incentivising customers for their repeat business.

Loyalty schemes should be simple, clear and easy to manage (both for the business, and the customer). Prepaid and Fleet Cards are a great option for car wash businesses to get started with loyalty programmes in a quick and effective way.

They enable you to run highly customisable fleet schemes, car wash clubs, bonus points and other innovative loyalty promotions with minimal admin responsibilities. The cards are supported by WashConnect, an advanced management system that allows you to view all of your site’s activities for up-to-the-minute information from a Windows computer of mobile device.

  • Extra Perks/Rewards for Referring Friends and Family

Another great way to create brand loyalty is by getting customers to refer their friends and family. The business can then reward those customers who refer new customers. By referring their friends and family, customers are likely to persuade and encourage others to use the service, helping create loyalty to the brand.

Something as simple as giving customers a free car wash if they refer a friend, could help increase visits and new customers to the business, simply and effectively.

  • Exceptional Service

Arguably the best way to develop strong loyalty and customer advocacy is by simply offering the best service or product around. It doesn’t matter how good the marketing or sales is, if the end service isn’t good enough, customers won’t return.

This illustrates the importance of hiring top talent and ensuring the services available are to a very high standard. The experience customers have with your brand, is likely to be what defines their overall view of it – and whether or not they come back in the future.

This also means understanding what customers want. Contactless payments are a great example of a new technology that customers now expect. Shops and businesses that don’t adapt to such technologies risk leaving customers frustrated or simply not being that impressed by the interaction with the business.

  • Customer Journey

There needs to be a perception of value for customers to keep choosing your business over others. This could be anything from price, to technical knowledge and service, to big discounts for repeat buys; the important thing is knowing what the customer journey is and ensuring the business’s actions reflect this.

A customer who is about to use the service for the first time, is likely to have different desires and expectations that someone who has used it over 10 times. A first-time customer is likely to be mainly focused on the quality of the wash. However, a customer who has used the service over 10 times may be more interested in receiving bulk discounts and long-term loyalty programmes. Understanding how to treat customers depending on their unique journey with your business, can ensure you provide them with that they want.

  • Marketing and Promotions

Having a great loyalty programme but failing to promote it can be a common pitfall for many businesses. To ensure your car wash services stay at the top of people’s minds, you need to ensure you are marketing and promoting it effectively.

Direct marketing through email can be a great way of keeping your customers interested. It allows you to build direct relationships with them, and can act as a good reminder about your services, products and any offers.

Just because a car wash is an offline service, it doesn’t mean businesses can’t utilise things like social media and e-commerce web shops to get special offers and promotions out in the public domain.

Car Wash Management and PSD Codax

If you’re looking to take your car wash brand and customer loyalty to the next level, discover more about our range of products here at PSD Codax. We’re focusing on revolutionising car wash payments and monitoring, to help car wash business be more profitable and deliver a better experience for their customers.

Our customers range from the major oil companies, forecourt operators, and leading supermarket chains around the world, to the regional and individually-owned car wash operators in your neighbourhood. No matter the size of your company PSD Codax has the right solution for your organisation.

Get in touch today.