How Small Things Shape the Customer Experience in Your Laundromat

SERIES: Laundromat Spin

Creating a great customer experience doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, effort, and a plan. But while you’re building the big stuff—like loyalty programs or better equipment—there are small things you can fix right now that can instantly elevate the experience you deliver in your operation. And it starts by asking yourself one simple question: What impressions are we sending to our customers? Are they positive or negative? Because when it comes to the customer experience, everything speaks. If you understand this, this month’s focus should be on auditing those impressions and eliminating the negative ones. (As soon as possible).

Negative Impression

Anything that leaves a bad taste or feeling with a customer, even if you didn’t mean to, is a negative impression. And they happen all the time. Most of the time, we don’t even notice them.

Here’s what it might look like in a laundromat:

• A hand-written “Out of Order” sign taped crookedly on a machine
• A team member who never looks up or smiles
• Rules on the wall in ALL CAPS that feel more like yelling than helping
• A musty smell that makes the place feel unclean, even if it’s spotless

These things might seem small. But they leave a mark. It is the little things that we may take for granted that put customers off.

Where to Look

Opportunities to find and eliminate negative impressions can hide in plain sight. Start by checking:

• Your signs (Are they friendly or firm?)
• How do staff greet customers? (Do they say hello or nothing?)
• Notes taped to machines
• The smell, sound, and feel of your space
• Your website or social media (Are your words welcoming?)

If a customer can see, hear, or feel it, it leaves an impression.

Everything speaks.

Every detail in your laundromat sends a message—your machines, your signs, your team. You don’t need to be perfect, but you do need to be aware—aware of all the possible areas where these negative impressions are coming from and could be hiding. Walk through your space like a first-time customer. What do you notice? What feels warm and welcoming? What feels cold or forgotten? Fixing just one or two things today could make someone feel more welcome tomorrow, returning and referring others to your business.

You don’t need a big budget to make people feel good, but you must be intentional and attentive, looking for the little things that say, “We care.” Because in your laundromat, everything speaks, and customers always remember how you made them feel.