What Makes You A Loyal Customer

Editorial

On a crisp Sydney morning, I was waiting in the taxi rank in front of the international airport terminal. I hopped in my designated cab and the driver, a mild mannered Indonesian-Chinese man, offered me a bottle of water. The taxi was comfortable and the service, so far, was impeccable. I am as much of a freebie whore as anyone else and that taxi ride got me thinking - how much does it take to win over customers? Is that the cost of my loyalty? A $3.50 bottle of still water from Coles?

In the food industry, a simplistic view is to assume that the price of loyalty extends to a complimentary drink or dessert.  Some restaurants in the US and UK, from fast food joints to small eateries, are offering free meals or pay-what-you-want option. While this started as a result of the tough economic times, it has gained some traction as a means to win customer loyalty. Certainly those free chicken ribs I got while standing in a queue for Nando’s made me think twice about defecting to the Colonel’s eleven herbs and spices.

Flashier restaurants, of course, offer palate cleansers or appetizers ‘compliments of the chef’. Some places may even go a step further. China Doll in Sydney, for example, offers a dessert tasting plate after you spend a certain amount per head.

Let’s have a look at airlines. When Virgin Australia started, there were disgruntled travellers who refused to opt for a Virgin flight as they would have to pay for their own meals. The question is, how many of them now remained loyal to Qantas, who offer complimentary meals? The wider view, some may argue, boils down to clever advertising and a fresher look in keeping up with modern times.

That said, a store in New York’s Lower East Side called Yonah Schimmels, has been selling knishes (a baked pastry wrapped around a filling of potatoes, spinach, cabbage, kasha) for 100 years with virtually no change to the original dilapidated storefront, the tables, counters and ceiling. The business is going stronger and more popular than ever with returning customers, a feature in the Woody Allen film ‘Whatever Works’ and an alleged request by Martha Stewart to feature the restaurant on her show. So what is the secret? You certainly cannot ‘follow’ them on Twitter. When all businesses seem to be blogging, tweeting and promoting, the owner concedes to one defeat in the name of modernity - for every 12 knishes, you get one free.

Many of my favourite hole-in-the-wall restaurants subscribe to the same philosophy. No fancy twitter handles, no ‘liking’ their Facebook page and no food bloggers dinner to reveal their new summer menu. It is just good, consistent, quality food, every time.

Essentially, what loyal customers seem to like is consistency and a restaurant or store that does not make concessions to modernity. But I want to hear what you think. Is this too simplistic a view? Are we getting tired of ‘more of the same’ or do we believe that ‘the same is more’?

Alvin Quah for Citysearch, October 2011

Photo: Flickr/Nick J Webb