How to treat your customers, as they deserve it (Part 5)
Why some of the cafes and coffee shops are packed with customers every day of the week? Long queues of people patiently waiting for their cup of coffee, cappuccino or Flat White, while other places just can’t seem to get customers coming in even during busy times of the day…?
You’re aware of these facts, that:
- providing quality with your products,
- consistent branding and messaging,
- putting your name out there and
- promoting your coffee brand and your offer, as well as
- you and your staff doing a great job with serving your customers
are all part of the game of building a successful coffee business.
This article now focuses on customer journey and customer experience. What is meant by that?
The customer journey is everything, every step, that your customer or your potential customer is going through, when connecting with your coffee brand. Starting with hearing or reading about your name until they head to your coffee place and/or buy from you, be it at your cafe or coffee shop your online shop.
How comes the customer experience into play here?
Well, let’s start from the beginning, with your ideal customer.
Your ideal customer
Why’s that and why is him or her so important?
Because you can’t create your offer, promote your shop without knowing who you’re talking to. So, find out as much as possible about your ideal customer BEFORE you start thinking about interior design, writing your menu, even before roasting your first batches of coffee.
- What is he/she like?
- What’s his or her lifestyle and routine?
- When is he/she visiting your shop?
- Maybe even what’s his or her favorite drink?
Customer experience
Have your ideal customer in mind now? Great! Let’s go over to the next step: Putting yourself in the shoes of your customers! That means, think about your own experience when it comes to cafes or coffee shops, when it comes to buy a cup of coffee or purchase a package of coffee in an online shop. It’s not about your coffee business now, but your very own experience with buying coffee or with visiting a coffee shop in general.
What do you like about the experience in the coffee shop next door? What did you dislike about the online purchase of your last coffee package? Think about the customer service, think about the shipping, think about the coffee brewing, etc. What would you do better? What would you add to the customer experience at your own cafe or coffee shop? Think about every little step from getting in touch with the very coffee brand until you hold the coffee beverage or coffee package in your hands.
This little practice gives you a different view and let’s you step outside of being an owner or manager and sets you in the state of being a customer and understanding the needs and wants of them better.
Customer journey
What’s the customer journey now? And how can you use this for attracting customers to your coffee business? Think about your current customers or your ideal customers, when and how do they get in touch with you? Not necessarily time wise, but thinking about their need for purchasing a package of your coffee or visiting your coffee shop to have a cup of coffee.
Let’s do some examples
1. Coffee roaster with an online shop
Let’s assume you’re a coffee roaster that just started selling your freshly roasted coffee in an online shop. You already have customers, even some regulars that know about the great quality of your coffee. For some of them, it is super convenient to purchase the coffee online now, too.
I’m not talking about these customers, they should be easy to keep and sell them your coffee to, because they already are aware of you and might just be reminded to buy some more coffee from you from time to time.
No, I’m talking about those, that don’t know about your online shop and that might have never ever heard about your coffee and your coffee brand.
They’re kinda hard to get, right?
What you can do is, especially, if you’re doing email marketing already, to attract those people to your email list, preferably with a little gift – this can be a brewing guide for your coffees. These people are already interested in buying coffee online, because they might have searched for coffee subscriptions or online shops selling roasted coffee beans.
Your job is to make your website visible for those people. Meaning using the right key words to being found better in their search results. AND, if they’re already on your website, to keep them and have them sign up for your newsletter or directly sending them to your online shop.
Another example
2. Cafe or coffee shop looking for more customers
Let’s say you’re in a neighborhood with many families living there, but also young people, students maybe. As of now, you only manage to get the moms in with their little children, but not the students… How can you get the students now?
Think about their routine and their lifestyle! Where do they go to spend their free time? Where do they go to buy clothes and other items they use or wear? What I’m trying to say is find other businesses in your area that they go to and see, if you can collaborate with these businesses. I’m not saying to print leaflets and ask those businesses to have them laid out. You could do that, too, of course. I’m talking about a collaboration where both businesses benefit from. Be creative here!
Also, when thinking about the customer journey of those students, they might be aware of your coffee shop… But, as of now, their mindset about you is a coffee place for families… That means, you have to grab their attention with something that offers something they might be interested in, like a students special or an event once a month to slowly but surely attract them to your shop.
To go back to the title of this article – treat your customers as they deserve it. I’m sure, you know what I was trying to say here:
Understanding the needs & wants of your customers and your potential customers.
Knowing where and how to grab their attention and how to get in touch with them on their ‘journey’ to their next cup of coffee or a new bag of freshly roasted coffee beans.
And, if you’re doing a good job with treating your customers as they deserve it, they will likely tell others about it!
Simel.Coffee stands for the merging of specialty coffee and Marketing. The person behind Simel.Coffee is Melanie Boehme, Coffee Marketing Consultant and branding expert for specialty coffee shop businesses.
Melanie Boehme supports busy coffee shop owners and managers with her inspiring Marketing strategies (offline & online) on their way to a successful & thriving coffee business that customers just love going to.
