customer

Technological advances are nothing new. But when applied correctly, new technology can help our businesses run more cheaply and effectively. While RFID technology is nothing new, we are discovering more and more commercial uses for it to improve both efficiency and customer experience.

What is RFID?

RFID or Radio Frequency Identification technology uses electromagnetic fields to identify and track any object or person it is attached to. This means that you can track anything from individual stock items, to your customers as they journey through your store.

Here are 5 surprising uses for RFID technology:

1. Tracking stock

Retailers have started investing millions in the efficiencies RFID technology can buy, particularly in the area of stock management. The technology allows retailers to track their stock through the supply chain from manufacture & store delivery through to storage and purchase.

And while the benefits might sound purely one sided, the technology is also helping to improve customer experience. RFID tags on each item stocked in-store allows faster restocking of shelves and location of specific products – giving the customer access to the product they want, and making it easier for them to purchase.

Check out lifestyle giant Lululemon’s introduction of RFID into their stock process, and how it has not only saved staff time but all improved their instore customer experience.

2. Member access

Gone (should be) the days of the barcoded membership card for your VIP customers and members. RFID cards or wristbands give customers easy access into a members section at your gym, airport lounge or VIP room.

RFID products also allow businesses to store customer information and even track the facilities that members use more frequently, as well as the length of their stay. This can help business to personalise each individual customer experiences and create future experiences.

3. Customer loyalty

In the same way, RFID technology can be used instead of plastic loyalty cards – allowing the customer to swipe each time they purchase. Not only will it store loyalty points, but it can also be used to store information about the customer like their favourite coffee, birthday or the last time they purchased from you. This allows businesses to reward customer individually and tailor the customer experience.

4. Improving the dressing room experience

If you haven’t yet had a smart fitting room experience, you probably will soon. Some bigger retailers are starting to introduce RFID technology in their fitting rooms using product RFID tags together with smart mirrors to help customers find the perfect fit and increase sales.

The fitting room smart mirrors automatically identify RFID tags on individual items of clothing, and allow shoppers a 360 degree view of what they’re trying on. Customers can change the colour or pattern of the fabric to other options in the range and even try on virtual accessories. If they’re still on the fence or would like to see other sizes, smart mirrors allow them to order another size automatically by requesting it with a staff member on the floor – all without leaving the fitting room.

Source: https://www.lsnglobal.com/micro-trends/article/16876/smart-fitting-rooms

5. No swipe ticketing

If you’ve ever been to a busy amusement park, no doubt you would have had the unfortunate experience of lining up for popular rides. RFID technology is now being used to ease line and ticketing issues. A plastic card equipped with RFID tag allows visitors to make their way throughout the park without having to show tickets, reducing wait times and staff levels.

Redegroup can help you with RFID products

Redegroup have a range of flexible RFID products including smartcards and wristband which can be tailored to your business. Our team are ready to help you create your own personalised RFID solution for your business. Find out more about our RFID products here.

More than 40% of companies admit to being more focused on customer acquisition than they are on retention.

And really, to many business owners this makes sense. You should be trying to grow your business…right? Of course, growing your business with new customers through customer acquisition would naturally sit in the top 3 priorities of any business. But those companies whose main goal is to build their business through finding new customers might be missing the profits that can be had from re-engaging existing customers.

How valuable are existing customers?

One of the most astounding stats show that increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by 25% – 85% (Bain & Co ). While that seems incredible, stats also show that re-engaging and retaining past customers is less work and more value than trying to find new ones, who then need to be educated about your products, your brand and your purchasing system. In fact, attracting a new customer costs five times as much as keeping an existing one (Lee Resources 2010). Not only that, the probability of selling to an existing customer is sitting between 60 and 70%, while the probability of selling to a new one is between 5 and 20% (Marketing Metrics).

How can we re-engage our existing customers?

Keeping a customer for life is a huge part of ensuring that business grow and are successful. As we can see from the stats above, acquiring a customer is alot of work and expense, one that you don’t want to have to repeat just to cover the customer who went to a competitor because they don’t feel connected or engaged with your business.

There are some simple ways that you can engage your customers and get them buying from you again:

Post purchase emails: Make the first purchase from your business a special one. If a customer has just made their first purchase, why not welcome them to the club with a welcome email and some suggestions for other products they might like.

Reminder emails: If a customer hasn’t purchased in a while, send them a reminder email about who you are and why you love doing business with them. Send them some suggestions for products for the upcoming holiday season (Christmas present ideas or Valentine’s Day products) to help get them engaged with your business.

Rewards for your most valuable customers: Reward your most valuable customers with an incentive for next time they shop with you, one that is valid only for a small number of your most valued customers. One of the most effective strategies I have seen is sending a customer a gift voucher to spend instore two weeks after a particularly big purchase. It gives them a great surprise, as well as a reason to come back.

Refer a friend rewards: Retaining customers is not just about keeping a valuable customers purchasing from your business. It’s about creating brand advocates. Reward your customers and create a ‘refer a friend’ rewards program. You’ll find people won’t refer people just for the gift, but if they love your business, they will be actively thinking about who they can refer you to.

Event discount emails: Is your 5th business birthday coming up? Send out a small discount to all your customers to celebrate, and thank them for their support. For those customers who haven’t thought about your service / product for a while, it might be just what they need to purchase again.

Regular newsletters: Don’t forget the power of the simple newsletter to stay top of mind with your customers. A valuable news article about changes in the industry, a new product launch or spotlight of your existing products will prompt those customers who require your product to order.

Points or loyalty system: The points system works really well for a lot of businesses and encourage frequent and repeat purchases. Cafes, retailers, beauty therapists and more can use points based systems to keep customers coming back, via key tags or loyalty cards.

VIP events: VIP events can be a great way for people to refer friends to your business. If you’re a bricks and mortar shopfront, have an exclusive shopping event, or a launch of a new product. And for those of you exclusively online – don’t think that events are valid just for retailers with a street presence. Email out an exclusive online discount code to be used at a specific time on your website and treat it like your own online launch party!

Create a customer journey process

One of the best ways to figure out how you want to engage your customers regularly and effectively with your business is to create your ideal Customer Journey Process. Sit down with your team and brainstorm; what’s the perfect journey for a customer to make through your business? How often would they want to hear from you? What are the best times throughout the year to communicate? Write it down, make a plan and revisit often. It should be flexible and fine tuned on feedback from your customers and your team.

Let us help you

Redegroup are experts at creating products to help your customers coming back to your business, and feel like a VIP. Our gift cards help them to share their love for your business with their family and friends. And our loyalty cards are custom branded and can carry a range of different information about your customer, from key tag to wallet cards.

We don’t just print the order and leave you to deal with the coding, we help you choose the right coding to fit with your system. Redegroup even provide a live sample from your order for you to check with your system, to give you peace of mind that it works correctly.

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5 surprising uses for RFID technology