A number of businesses, Starbucks, P.F. Changs, Cinnabon, Maggie Moo's, Dairy Queen, Taco Del Mar, Jack in the Box, and McCormick & Schmidt, just to name a few, are offering "freebies" to entice consumers into their stores.  A quick check of a number of these companies websites, and only about half promoted these specials! What will they do when the "tax day freebies" hype goes away?  How will they capture this uptick in customers?  Have they just shot themselves in the proverbial foot? It's one thing to drive in business.  It's a whole other thing to keep 'em coming back for more.  Especially when they have to pay the 2nd time around. When I hear of these types of promotions, I think of Cinco de Mayo - the Mexican Independence Day - crazy that provides a boost to restaurants and bars across the US on May 5th each year.  Hundreds, if not thousands of bars and restaurants would do themselves a favor if they closed up rather than stay open and piss of hundreds of new customers.  They roll out the red carpet, then their service goes out the door with long lines and wait times, and quality suffers with shoddy preparation. In fairness, Starbucks is actually promoting Earth Day, and Jack in the Box is actually giving away fries on Friday, but the idea's the same. The want more people to come into the stores. We talked about this in a recent Customer Loyalty Clinic webinar, the idea of giving things away for free to obtain new business. Be sure to stop by our other web sites for additional information and ideas about building customer loyalty: The Service Quality Department ServiceQuality.US ServiceQuality.CA ServiceQuality.co.UK ServiceQuality.CN High Definition Mystery Shopping