Coupons and when they really inspire customers to be marketers

I took my daughter in to get her haircut. And while she was in the process, I setup and appointment for the following weekend. Simple enough right?

Well I arrived the following Saturday at 10:00 AM for my appointment and mysteriously my name was missing. I even called earlier in the week to verify my appointment because I had misplaced the appointment card.

My options were now limited: wait another week for a haircut or come back in an hour to get squeezed in between appointments. I chose the latter and ran some errands.

When I came back for my haircut they continued to apologize and gave me ten dollars off my next haircut. I wasn't very mad to begin with, but this not only helped to smooth things over. The true value is incalculable because it made me a more loyal customer.

Just do the math. Here is the difference in one year of potential loss of a customer.

Unhappy customer leaves and never comes back:
17 haircuts a year (estimated) at around $30 a haircut is = $510.
Then factor in that my daughter goes there as well. So double that amount.

Now think about how much that ten dollars cost them.