The Customer Retention Strategies Your Cinema Needs
Building a loyal customer base is crucial for any business’s long-term success. Repeat customers are likely to spend money more frequently than new customers, which increases revenue and profitability over time. Businesses can gain a better ROI by focusing on customer retention strategies rather than attracting new customers. In fact, some report spending five to 25 times more acquiring new customers than retaining existing ones.
Customer retention is vital for cinemas, as they face unique challenges in the highly competitive entertainment industry. In an age when streaming services have become commonplace for watching movies, businesses must work hard to create memorable and enjoyable cinema customer experiences. By retaining a loyal audience base, movie theatres and cinemas can increase revenue and sustain their businesses for years. Continue reading to discover the customer retention strategies your cinema needs to build a base of loyal customers, ensuring your cinema stays profitable.
1. Personalized Customer Experiences
Consumer expectations have changed in the last five years, and now it is more important than ever to make your theatre-goers’ experience as personalized as possible. By making customers feel like your theatre is their go-to spot, you will keep them returning repeatedly.
How can you add personalization to your cinema customer retention strategies? Creating appealing loyalty programs is a great way to keep customers coming back time and time again. For example, promotions could include a free movie ticket, concession, bar, or cafe item. Creating a personalized offer, such as a free movie ticket on a customer’s birthday, is a great way to give your audience a personal, memorable experience at your theatre.
With a cinema point of sale (POS) system that provides reporting analytics with customer insights, you can easily segment your customers. Segmenting from most and least active, or to those with a birthday coming up, preferred genres, and more, can help deliver personalized messages and promotions.
Another way to enhance customer experience is to offer gift cards. Offering gift cards improves cash flow, as revenue is collected before a movie ticket or other item is sold, and encourages customers to return with a friend. In addition, loyal, satisfied customers will purchase gift cards for their loved ones, turning them into brand ambassadors for your cinema, sharing their positive experiences with others, and driving word-of-mouth marketing.
2. Have a System to Collect Customer Feedback
To maintain a strong relationship with your current customers, they need to feel heard. By implementing a system to collect feedback, you’ll create a sense of trust among your audience base and gather valuable information about which areas of your business you need to improve. This will help you make better decisions about what to invest in to increase the longevity of your cinema. For example, if your customers tell you that the seats are uncomfortable or the concession lines are too long, those are the areas you need to invest in.
Looking for methods to collect feedback? Sending out customer surveys via email, social media, or at the kiosk are all viable options. Additionally, theatres could place QR codes in high-traffic areas or on the movie screen before the show. Then, customers simply scan the QR code with their mobile device, which leads them to a survey link.
Overall, it cannot be understated how important it is for your cinema to collect customer feedback. Implementing customer feedback into your customer retention strategies goes a long way in helping you make informed decisions, identifying improvement areas, and enhancing customer satisfaction. By closely monitoring customer preferences and needs, cinemas can quickly adapt to changing market conditions and stay relevant in the competitive entertainment environment.
3. Make Your Theatre Stand Out From the Rest With the Latest Technology
Along with creating a personalized experience and making your customers feel heard, your theatre also needs to offer a seamless experience to your theatre-goers. With robust theatre management software, you can utilize technology to enhance your customer experience.
Staying up-to-date with the latest technology can help your cinema improve efficiency and streamline processes for collecting customer feedback, making it easier to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty continually. It can also give you more accurate and comprehensive data on customer behavior and preferences, helping you better tailor products and services to meet your customers’ needs.
Kiosks are one technology that more and more theatres are utilizing and finding success with. Kiosks have been found to effectively reduce wait times, free up staff to focus on other job functions and increase revenue with upselling and promotions. In fact, a recent survey found that kiosks can increase average order size by 15% to 30%.
Additionally, online movie ticket software is another technology that lets customers purchase tickets online and skip the queue. By offering the latest cinema technology solutions, such as online concession ordering, mobile-friendly movie ticket software, omnichannel payment processing, and kiosks, your cinema can boost its customer retention strategies.
Benefits of Utilizing Cinema Customer Retention Strategies
Effective customer retention strategies are essential for your cinema to maintain long-term customer relationships. Since retaining current customers is much more cost-effective than acquiring new ones, focusing on customer retention will increase foot traffic and sales via recurring revenue and offering promotions. Additionally, implementing the latest technology will provide a seamless customer experience at your theatre, benefiting staff and management by making their jobs easier.
Another benefit you’ll find is a reduction in marketing costs overall, as your cinema will not need to spend as much money trying to attract new customers. Instead, satisfied customers will provide positive reviews and referrals, effectively marketing your business for you by word of mouth. By implementing the latest technology, such as creating a mobile-friendly webstore, you’ll also see the benefit of enhancing your cinema’s online presence. These customer retention strategies will keep your cinema future-proof and develop a devoted audience base for your business.
Learn how our software can future-proof your theatre and boost customer retention for years to come.
How Omniterm Can Help You Boost Customer Retention
With Omniterm, you can keep customers coming back to your cinema repeatedly. Our robust software offers online ticket purchasing, irresistible loyalty programs, and centralized management, empowering your cinema with the latest technology to meet customer expectations and create a seamless experience. With features such as manage my booking, movie-goers can easily swap their ticket for a showing on a different day, giving them more flexibility. Additionally, Omniterm makes customer transactions a breeze and limits wait times with omnichannel payments, kiosks, and a multi-mode point of sale.
Ready to implement cinema customer retention strategies and create raving fans? Request a demo today!
