Stop marketing to strangers
Every local business owner we talk to wants new customers. Almost none can tell us when they last messaged an old one. That's backwards, and the numbers say so.
The numbers
- In restaurants, a small share of guests, well under ten percent, drives up to half of all orders. The large majority of first-time guests who found the place through search never return.
- In salons, most existing clients stay, but most first-visit clients never come back. The difference is almost entirely whether anyone followed up.
- In home services, the owners who've shifted their focus from acquisition to retention now outnumber the ones who haven't. Maintenance agreements are where the steady money is.
- In gyms, a member who checks in three times a week almost never cancels. One who checks in once a week is a coin flip. The signal is visible weeks before the cancellation.
Acquiring a stranger costs ad money or lead-marketplace fees. Reaching a past customer costs a text message and the discipline to send it.
The three messages
The due message. "It's been about a year since your water heater went in. Want a quick flush before winter?" Based on a real date, sent to one person, easy to say yes to.
The quiet message. "Haven't seen you in a while. Tuesdays are slow and we'd love to have you back." Not a coupon blast. A note to someone whose gap is long for your kind of business.
The unfinished message. "You asked about the brake pads last month. Still at the price we quoted, whenever you're ready." Declined work, unanswered quotes, the "maybe later" that everyone forgets.
The catch
You need three things to send these: the customer's contact and consent, their history, and the time to remember. Most owners have the first two buried in a booking tool or a shoebox, and none of the third. That's the whole reason Rooster exists. But even with a spreadsheet and ten minutes a day, the due message alone will outperform anything you buy.