At Starr Tours, we are lucky to have a large mailing list (both snail mail and email) of people who have traveled on our bus tours. As you can imagine, every Tour and Travel company needs new customers to replace those who can’t or don’t want to travel anymore AND to be able to grow their business so they can offer great trips at a fair value.
So, how does Starr grow our market of customers?
#1 – Our Refer-A-Friend Program:
Our #1 way to add customers to our database is from our Refer-A-Friend program.
Here’s how it works:
- You refer friends on our website. Or, by mailing us a postcard (see image to right)
- Once we receive your referral, we will send your friend a new customer savings certificate worth up to $25! Lucky them!
- Then, we enter you into our $250 monthly Refer-A-Friend Sweepstakes.
- And when your friend travels with Starr for the first time, Starr will send you a $25 Starr Gift Certificate!
It’s that easy!
Thanks to the success of this program, we add thousands of new customers to our database every year – and we have given away thousands of dollars in gift cards! History has shown that once people receive our catalogs, they will find a trip that suits their interests and then they will become a Starr traveler!
#2 – ‘New Customer’ Coupons
Our #2 way to add customers to our database and our trips is through offering Coupons to New Customers.
Like many businesses, Starr publishes coupons to attract new customers. We place these coupons in the newspaper as well as mail them to people whom you have referred or who have found us on their own.
Coupons are a proven method for enticing new customers toward a business. We offer first time Starr travelers a discount: $10 for a day trip or $25 for a multi-day trip. We hope this coupon program encourages people to try one of our bus trips. Then, after receiving a discount and also discovering first-hand how great our bus trips are, we hope those customers who have tried us for the first time will become a regular part of the Starr family of travelers.
The truth is that coupons create a win-win situation for both companies and consumers.
Businesses benefit from coupons through increased customers. Research has correlated coupons directly with brain chemistry that is linked to happiness. Consumers who receive $10 coupons have 38 percent higher Oxytocin levels, 32 percent calmer breathing rates, 5 percent slower heart rates, and 20x less sweaty palms. Isn’t that great news?!
And certainly customer satisfaction matters. Happy customers rate companies better on review sites like Yelp, Facebook and Google and they are more likely to come back as well as tell a friend. They are more likely to sign up for a company’s email list or “like” its Facebook page. And, did you know that 60 percent of people are willing to post about a product or service if you offer them a discount?
These are all positive outcomes for a business – and Starr especially.
Some may ask: “Why don’t we allow our current/past customers to use our ‘New Customer’ coupons?”
That’s a great question! Starr vacations are value-priced. This means we don’t put a high markup on them therefore we don’t discount them. No senior discounts. No frequent customer discounts. No discounts. Period. We want to give all customers the same, fair price so when they purchase their trip and get on the bus, they know that they paid the same price as the person sitting across the aisle from them. Of course, this is not the same way that airlines or hotels price. How did you feel the last time you sat next to someone on a plane or heard someone check into a hotel and they were paying a lower rate? I thought so!
So, if you like our trips, please encourage your neighbors, friends and family to travel with Starr. This way we can be around for another 70 years!
It’s about time someone wrote about this.