5 Questions Retailers Must Tackle to Attract and Retain Customers

In some cases when the issue is big enough, Southwest sends out something its calls "Luv Bucks," which customers can use towards purchasing another flight. In what I call an "everyday" company, you have a financial person who is looking at the cost of those Luv Bucks and saying, "Why would we do that?" This is too expensive. But for Southwest Airlines, those Luv Bucks actually pay off and grow its business. Being proactive in reaching out to customers first has resulted in 70 percent of Southwest's customers bringing other people with them in repeat flights. The net positive revenue increase of its Luv Bucks program exceeded $1.7 million in 2011.