Free Wash Club

[MrsNewMat]

I have heard a lot about "Subway" type concept; giving away a free load of wash every few loads. For example, every 6th load is free.

For those who have tried the above strategy.....

How did you come to "every Nth" wash free? How did you calculate so it doesn't hurt the bottomline greatly?

What type of cards/punching/signature you used to make it scam proof?

Did you have any trouble customers punching or duplicating your cards?

What type of disclaimers/fine print, if any, did you use?

Any other pitfalls or bad experiences?

What are some positive outcomes you experienced?

Lastly, what did you name the membership card/club?

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gifThanks in advance /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[thelaundrydoctor]

I am also very intrested in any infoemation on this subject: I an in the process of purchising my second laundry, They have a Free Wash club called the "Luckey Load Club"

[millenniumplus]

We have offered to wdf & dry clean customers 100% off every 8th wdf "or" dry clean visits. We
start and end that 11/1 thru 1/31. The requirements are based on their usual drop off patterns.
99% of the time our customers bring within a few pounds the same amount of wdf or the same
clothes to be dry cleaned. Most wdf or dry cleaning customers come weekly or more so they
get 100% off once maybe twice during the special. Everything is computerized. We run our usual
weekly reports and track it so it's very difficult to cheat what is in da computer. Sure we do some
things that hurt our bottom line a little but we chalk it up to doing something (VS nothing) for our
loyal wdf & dry clean customer base. Last year several customers would not accept the freebee
but thanked us for the offer. We advertise this special through our store window and we let the
customers know about the special when they come in to do business. We do offer something
(did this twice) to regular wash/dry customers. We didn't invest into any scam proof systems
that were out there. We went with the employee honor system. Yes, we probably got hustled
but again we chalked it up to customer satisfaction. We used a basic punch ticket with the
employee initials next to each punch. We don't offer that one very often. What we offer
every Thanksgiving and Christmas is to give away two 35 inch TVs each holiday. We
have the card system. The customer, usng their smart card, MUST have the employee
put a $10bill into the cardmate machine and recv one ticket for each $10bill. They fill
out the back of the ticket with name, address and phone number. So we counted the
$10bills inserted into the cardmate machine and verifiied the range of tickets placed into
the "piggy bank" for that day based on the amount of $10bills. It's not a perfect system
but if there are 10 tickets in the piggybank and two $10bills in the cardmate machine we
know we have a problem (that never happened). A few days before each holiday we hold
a drawing and pull the two tickets for each store (customer not required to be there to win).
We post rules and regulations. We have the winning customer sign a disclaimer. We've done
that for the past two years. Our customers love it. We write the TVs off but more important
we feel this helps promote loyality/return customers and new customers by word of mouth.
No bad experiences asyet. maybe would should come up with a kool name. We just post inside
on our "ATTN BOARD" and in our windows "HOLIDAY SPECIALS" , WDF/DRY CLEAN SPECIALS
or "WASH SPECIALS".

[azkid]

Pet Peeve #1: People that post the same question on this board and www.coinwash.com (http://www.coinwash.com)

I know I have no life and need to get other hobbies, but until that time, what do these continual double postings say to anyone that bothers to spend time to respond to these threads? Pick a board and if your question is not addressed to your satisfaction post it on the other one - but do not as a automatic action double post. Gheez.

Free wash cards - no magic to them. I have mine on the back of my business card for the laundry and use a punch system since I'm attended (with a card system you can do it automatically of course). I also used to have one for dry cleaning but am getting away from that. My wash card gives a free wash after 14 washes (why 14? ... well, the previous owners used to do it after 10, but 14 punches was a many as I could get on a business card width). It's fairly popular with my octogenarian customers.

[MrsNewMat]

Thanks a million millenniumplus. Great input.

azkid -- /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gifThere is so much knowledge out there, it doesn't hurt to ask twice. Each board has experts that seem loyal to one or the other board. If I post here, I miss out out on great expertise of Peter_f, Ajay and Kitty. And if I post on coinwash.com, I miss out on Infinite wisdom of millenniumplus and others.

The boards are to learn from each other's experiences and share points of view. If that wasn't the purpose, why would there be two boards and hundreds of books written on same topic? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[azkid]

Trust me - pete, kitty and ajay are on this board. You don't miss out...you just waste space and our time.

[aussie_mick]

Ive had my business cards made up with the "1 in 6 free" offer on the back. Havent been overwhelmed yet but I have quite a few customers enthusiastic about it. I use a stamp and code system to indicate usage.

The 1 in 6 didnt come from anywhere really, most of the coffee and video clubs seem to use that ratio and I figured that my customers would almost expect that. A free wash every couple of months seems ok if i can be guaranteed they wont go elsewhere in the meantime. I also figured that if it was too generous I could always end the scheme.

The only issue Ive struck is the varying loads that customers have. Sometimes they bring in 3-4 washes other times only 1-2. So when they get to the "free" offer and they turn up with 6 washes what do i do? The only time this happened so far the customer insisted they didnt want any more than they usually wash free so there were no dramas.

In retrospect I would have been better offering a single wash free on the sixth visit. Live and learn. On the positive side, Im certain a few of my "card club" customers are more regular than they were previously and having consistent customers is great for business.

cheers

[petefritz]

>>Trust me - pete, kitty and ajay are on this board. <<

Pete does not mess with wash club cards so had no comment here, or on the other board.. I do agree about double posting, it seems not that usefull, but then again, not everyone is on both boards, just those like me who like to talk shop all the time.. so where to post the question first? This is an issue I have no answer for. I have amazed everyone now, right? LOL!