Building and maintaining a strong relationship with customers is the backbone of every restaurant’s financial success.

I’ve written about it before, and I’ll say it again here: Repeat customers are more profitable than new customers. Period. The sheer financial cost of marketing to, and acquiring new customers will always be far more expensive than enticing a current customer to return.

There are a lot of difficult ways to lure people back to your restaurant to eat. A lot of those ways might actually be quite effective! But there’s also just as many very easy things that you can start doing (literally right now) to create loyalty, and get customers coming back again and again.

Let’s take a look at 4 easy ways to create a repeat customer for your restaurant.

The customer is always right

Many seasoned restaurant veterans are aware of this one, but it’s very much worth noting. If a customer has any sort of problem or issue with their meal, the service, and so on, you’re far more likely to create a repeat customer by offering a meal replacement or a discount.

You’ll want to do your best to turn anything negative into a positive overall experience. This is essential when it comes to reviews. You’ll stave off negative reviews, and perhaps even get some good ones in their place.

Build customer relationships

Customer relationships take time, I know. But building them is one of the most worthwhile things both you and all of your employees can do.

This goes deeper than just trying to be courteous, or recognizing a familiar face when they come in. It involves refining the customer experience on every single level possible. From the in-store experience, to social media, to your everyday face-to-face interaction with the customer, these relationships are formed through many combined experiences.

Incentivize another visit

Ever heard of FOMO? It’s an acronym for the “fear of missing out.” Dictionary.com defines it as “a feeling of anxiety or insecurity over the possibility of missing out on something, as an event or an opportunity.” Give your customers FOMO.

Now, I’m not actually saying you should make them feel anxious or insecure. But you’re going to want to make them feel like there’s something special they might miss out on at your restaurant. There’s a lot of ways to go about this.

Have a special event in a few days? Maybe the band is playing, or you’re having a holiday party? Promote it. However you can. If current customers see that something fun is happening, there’s a good chance they might show up.

The FOMO effect is at its best when it comes to deals and discounts. Nobody wants to miss out on a deal, especially if it’s only for a limited time.

Try CoGoBox

With CoGoBox, creating repeat customers isn’t just easy – It’s automatic. That’s right, our state-of-the-art service is actually designed to automatically incentivize customers to keep coming back for more. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

It works through the combined efforts of our WiFi, SMS, and Email solutions – which we affectionately call the Triple Play. Customers login through WiFi with their Facebook profile, Email, or phone number, automatically providing you with a line of communication to them. They’re then taken to a custom landing page designed specifically for your restaurant, where they’re incentivized to Like you on social media in exchange for a deal, or even sign up for your fully digital text-based Loyalty Program.

What have you done to create repeat customers? How’d it go? Sound off in the comments!