VENUE LOYALTY – If you were the perfect host, why wouldn’t your clients want to return?

Creating loyalty for any business is a considerable challenge. However in the ever-changing events industry and with many events being a one off it can be difficult for venues to secure repeat business. When creating loyalty you have to really focus on relationships with your clients and find ways to have them wanting more. Now I certainly wouldn’t recommend the ‘treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen’ approach – we’re not trying to build that kind of relationship! But there are other things a venue manager needs to consider, here’s my top 5… 

1.  Remain current.

Stay attractive by improving or expanding your facilities year after year. It is important that venues upgrade and keep in tune with what the market is looking for. One of the biggest reported motivations for refurbishment is to achieve the high level of consumer satisfaction every venue strives for.

2. Marketing should remain tactical. 

For ultimate success a venue should maximise its potential and strive to attract new markets and clients as well as retaining existing ones. HOWEVER, as a venue manager you must be wary of offering two separate clients, two separate offers. Repeat customers may question why they are not open to flash deals and enticing first time offers and consider trying out a new venue instead.

3. Identify dissatisfied customers. 

Listen to their problems and develop effective packages and solutions, which satisfy their needs and expectations. Ensure you’re quick to act on this, before they lose interest and take their business elsewhere. For example - what happens if a detrimental problem arises with your catering at one event? And that particular client is one who brings significant business to your venue each year? Rather than losing them invite them back for tastings, perhaps with alternative catering partners and suppliers. Meet with the catering managers yourself and devise new menus, new packages and consider offering your client complimentary add-ons. Show them you’ve still got it and give them an offer they simply cannot refuse!

4. Always stay in the forefront of your clients mind.

Find yourself bogged down with hundreds of ‘enticing offer’ emails a day? Pointless newsletters from organisations you signed up to at a trade show? Well, it’s time to take a fresh approach to your regular newsletter.

Email is still the most humble and valuable way of communicating directly with your clients. Pronto Marketing note how regular newsletters, drip emails and personalised thank you messages are still the best ways to help connect with your customers and stay at the forefront of their minds. NOT a generic email a day! Personalised and relevant communication is how you gain the edge over your competition.

5. Host client familiarisation events. 

Finally, develop your client relationship through familiarisation events. Events have proved to be an efficient platform for building relationships. They’re commonly used at visitor attractions venues as a strategy to get customers to revisit. They provide a new experience that individuals have not had before so are a great way of re-engaging your clients and showing them how much you can really offer. Even if your client isn’t looking for that particular something right now but they’ve had a memorable experience themselves, they’ll be sure to remember 6 months down the line when a new enquiry comes through.

What does the future of venue loyalty look like?

Venue managers can only expect competition in the events industry to remain tough. Loyalty programmes provide ways to obtain consumer interest however successful schemes are often easily copied by competitors. With many venues seeking to differentiate themselves, why wouldn’t consumers want to experience more of the variety on offer?

CMO asked Farrell Hudzik, managing director of Global Loyalty at Accenture Interactive what she believes the future of loyalty looks like: "It is likely customers are going to have more control over how they define loyalty, more so than the brands they interact with. We may eventually reach a point where consumers say they don't want to be tied to only one brand; they want to have an ecosystem of interaction".

I personally believe the anticipated desire for differentiation will help keep the industry current, always providing the latest experiences in the most interesting spaces. Then again this only adds pressure on venues to keep up to date with these trends and adapt into more imaginative and flexible spaces. As a potential future meeting planner I can see the desire to switch up your venue choices for different events. Especially when the choice of venue can reflect on and impact the overall theme of your event. However when something has previously worked so well and you have a strong working relationship with contacts at an event space, it leads you to question why you would want to mix things up?