Cleanliness can elevate a good business.
If you think a clean convenience store and sparkling restrooms are options, think again. A recent study by P&G Professional shows a clean store can mean the difference between a quality experience and a negative one.
It doesn’t matter how good the service is or how wonderful the employees are, it’s how clean and fresh a hotel, restaurant, salon or office is that matters most for 92% of consumers when deciding if they will become a repeat customer.
In fact, 9 in 10 (91%) agree that they are more likely to have an overall negative opinion of an independent business if the public spaces, such as restrooms are not clean.
These are just some of the results from the 2017 Consumer Cleaning Insights Survey, released today by P&G Professional, the away-from-home division of Procter & Gamble (P&G).
There are many things customers notice immediately when entering a business, and they aren’t all good. Nearly all respondents (96%) agree they would ask to be moved to a new hotel room if the bedding was not clean. If a restaurant’s restrooms are not clean, 88% of customers wonder about the safety of the food being served.
But it’s not all bad news. Ninety-five percent of consumers agree that cleanliness can elevate a good business into a great business, and 92% agree that if a restaurant is clean they are more likely to recommend it to friends. In addition, nearly three-quarters (74%) say they are more willing to overlook slow service if the business is noticeably clean.
“This survey shows the importance customers place on cleanliness often has a much greater impact than business owners may believe. Cleanliness can actually be a source of revenue through repeat business. It’s easy to feel like cleaning is just a necessary cost of doing business, but it actually can be a money maker,” said Paul Edmondson, commercial director, North America, P&G Professional. “No matter how big or small the business, every experience a customer has at a hotel, restaurant, day care facility or office affects their perception and inclination to come back.”
The Experience of Dining Out
Consumers have high standards for cleanliness in restaurants.
A majority (51%) agree that if the restaurant is really clean, they are more likely to overlook poor service.
More than half (57%) say that a clean table that is not sticky or does not have evidence of the last guest is more important than the quality of the food.
Seventy-three percent report that a smelly restroom is worse than receiving the wrong food order.