There’s nothing more rewarding for tour and activity operators than when a customer returns to them, saying they had such a great time on their last vacation that they booked another tour with them. Customer loyalty is not only a confidence booster — it is also an integral part of your business plan. Acquiring a new customer is 500 percent more expensive than retaining previous customers. Considering the fact that 68 percent of customers leave a particular brand because they feel that the brand does not care, and 39 percent of customers report that they will be loyal if the brand follows up after a negative experience, it’s clear that customer loyalty is an important part of any tour and activity company.Looking to boost customer loyalty at your tour company? Try these scientific ways:Reward customers in exciting and unexpected ways.It’s not just your imagination. Being rewarded truly feels good. When you offer unexpected rewards that excite and energize your customer, they experience a surge of dopamine in their brain. This is the hormone that makes us feel our best, and it also encourages habit forming behavior. Try offering a free local treat in the middle of your tour, and you’ll quickly see your first-time travelers transform into repeat customers.Make sure the experience begins and ends on a positive note.The brain is programmed to focus on the first and last moments of any experience. By starting each tour with a warm and welcoming greeting, and ending it with a unique experience or surprise reward, your customers will only be able to think about the positive experience of their tour or activity.Create an engaging and welcoming social community.Social networking has allowed tour and activity operators to reach out to a diverse audience. Use this to your advantage by creating a social community based on your tours, activities and your destination. According to the social identity theory, people feel most comfortable when they are part of a group and they are naturally driven to stay loyal to that group.Design rewards that are shareable.People are naturally inclined to help others — even if it’s just so others have a positive opinion of them. Create a rewards system for your tour and activity company that allows you to take advantage of cognitive dissonance, which is an individual’s drive to take actions that will help others and allow them to feel good about their own choices. One example could be a dual promo code — one they can use on their own tour, and one they can share with a friend.Keep your tours consistent with your customers values.For example, you should create tours and activities that are eco-friendly, easy on the environment and kind to the natural wildlife around your destination. People may want to see and experience this part of your destination, but many want to verify that they are not harming the local environment by doing so.One of the best ways to improve the customer experience and ultimately boost customer loyalty is to automate the booking process and streamline your administrative operations. Investing in an online booking system that includes a channel manager is a great place to start. Find out more about how Rezdy can help you improve the customer experience by beginning your free demo now.