Bill Hanifin
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At Hanifin Loyalty we like to talk about what it takes to build customer loyalty, but we also pride ourselves in being good listeners. We listen to clients and we listen to customers. Like the old saw said “God gave us one mouth and two ears for a reason”. Maybe they should be used in that proportion.
We’ve been listening to Millennials lately and we’ve shared a series of posts from our “Mystery Millennial” giving our followers insight into how Generation Y perceives the marketing efforts of big brands and local merchants.
Today’s story highlights why our Mystery Millennial loves Toys R Us.
Toy shopping with my little toddler is so much fun these days.
She sits in the cart eying the shelves with the kind of awe that such an exciting place inspires in children; innocently free from greed at her age. I love to indulge her wonder, and am amazed at what holds her attention, i.e. the cheapest trinket in the store. Much to my pleasure that’s a purchase that makes us both happy!
On a recent outing to Toys R Us I signed up for their rewards program. I had heard good things about recent updates to the program, and decided it would be beneficial to try and save some money. My experiences at the store surprised me, and the loyalty they established with me was not what I was expecting.
The main reasons I now shop at Toys R Us are less financially based and more thanks to the customer experience in-store. I have been reminded what old fashioned customer service looks like and how that often has far more weight with my purchase decision than just saving a few dollars.
The smiles, help, and conversations I have enjoyed from the employees at Toys R Us (even from the shy tech dude at the game counter) have renewed my love for shopping in-store rather than online. On one visit, I was inconvenienced when a security tag was left on a shirt by accident. It’s embarrassing when the alarms go off as you walk out the door and I appreciated the way store employees handled the situation and truly tried hard to make me a happy customer.
I will continue to shop at Toys R Us and Babies R Us. Maybe it was the money-saving rewards program which brought me into the store to begin with, but my loyalty to this store in particular was won by the sense of welcome and good cheer that I received from the people that work there.
In my opinion, a rewards program gains true loyalty when the fact that you just saved money is over-shadowed by the pleasure it was to shop!
Editor’s Note: There is wisdom to be gained by listening to our youth! Millennial marketers should lend an ear.
