Case Study
Return on Investment ... and then some
Missouri retool shows the value of intuitive touchscreen.
Nick Luzecky is a technology guy. But in order for him to truly embrace it and help his laundromat owner and new investor clients leverage it, he needs to know its value… it must deliver. Having the newest thing doesn’t matter much in this world if it doesn’t deliver results.
That’s why he did an early upgrade of his own laundromat from four-year-old Speed Queen Quantum Gold machines with a third-party payment system to models equipped with Speed Queen’s cutting-edge Quantum Touch control and Speed Queen Insights with mobile payment.
Real Results
This Quantum-Gold-to-Quantum-Touch switch offered a true apples-to-apples comparison. We all think an upgrade brings in more revenue, but this was perhaps the most direct comparison… would the new touchscreen control really moved the needle in revenue? It only took a few weeks for the Speed Queen Insights data to give Nick his answer.
In just three weeks, he saw cycle modifier selection jump two percent as a percentage of total revenue. It moved from 8 percent with Quantum Gold to 10 percent with Quantum Touch. That includes the anti wrinkle extend tumble modifier – Quantum Touch is the first control to offer a modifier on the dry side.
“I like to show investors exactly what they’re getting for the extra money,” Nick says, adding that getting a real-world snapshot of how the technology performs helps him better sell it.
Nick believes the control’s intuitive, step-by-step instructions and cycle descriptions are what have driven the increase in modifier selection “People know what they’re paying for and they’re selecting those extra options,” he says, adding that prewash and extended wash time are popular in his store. In addition, he was surprised at just how often the anti-wrinkle add-on is getting chosen, for the extra 25 cents.
He believes it has helped overall revenue to set the default on the wash side to a lower vend rate and let his customers add the options they want in an a la carte manner, something, again, he says the cycle descriptions help with. On the payment side, customers quickly embraced the benefits of the system and loyalty points/rewards that come with it. More than 59 percent of customers were leveraging the mobile app.
People know what they’re paying for and they’re selecting those extra options.
A Competitive Advantage
The laundry business is evolving, and customers increasingly expect an elevated experience… Nick’s numbers show they are willing to pay more on each visit for it. He also believes technology is more than just a way to set your store apart from the competition, the value also comes in:
- Being able set special pricing
- Programming to maximize customer spend
- More competitive pricing (many stores are single price and can’t tweak by small increments)
- Scalable – many investors he works with are planning for multiple stores. Speed Queen Insights makes managing multiple stores from afar possible
He also has placed a premium on the advantage of time. He cites the example of a customer reaching out with an equipment issue. In less than a minute, he can either start the machine or issue a refund remotely. With the previous third-party payment setup, he would need to toggle between two systems, and it would take between three to five minutes. Being able to manage through such issues in a third of the time is a huge bonus, whether you have one or several stores.
Jumpstarting Staff
One surprising byproduct of the new touchscreen control machines was how staff of the laundry received them. “Staff was really rejuvenated by selling the advantages of the Speed Queen Customer App and the new equipment,’ Nick says. “Employees were excited by the changes…that surprised me.”
He recommends training staff a week or two out from opening. Because the Quantum Touch control is ultra-intuitive, there isn’t much training necessary. Staff immediately saw the customer benefit of text alerts on cycles nearing completion and used it to encourage app adoption.
Bottom Line
Not all equipment upgrades are created equal. Sure, there’s an expected revenue boost that new, more efficient washer-extractors and tumble dryers offer. However, progressive store owners, like Nick, are opting for greater technology and the higher-level customer experience that comes with it.
Nick believes the Quantum Touch control and the spike in cycle modifier revenue not only was worth the cost, but gives him a sizable advantage over other stores that don’t have the range of profit producing options. Owners must put an emphasis on selecting technology that delivers in greater revenue, profit and ease of management; a good retool is simply not good enough when customers expect more flexibility and to be rewarded for their loyalty.