What does our typical ‘customer’ look like?

We constantly analyse our market, what we do, how we do it, what our guests say, and what we think we can do to improve. The main litmus test for us is the sheer volume of repeat business that we have achieved, consistently above 25%. That’s a lot in our industry!

We thought we’d share some of our findings with you as you may find it interesting. Plus, we are incredibly transparent about how we do what we do. People seem to like that. Shame the country isn’t run that way hey?

What does our typical customer look like?

Most, not all, have a profound love for dogs, and book a holiday that also serves as a rewarding experience for their dog. We are going to work with this as a given in this case, as the majority of our guests are dog owners, and it’s where we’ve built a really strong market, and a name for ourselves. We do also have many regular guest who are not dog owners, which is why we continue to work so hard on our cleaning and maintenance regimes.

However, this analysis is a deep dive into our canine customer base. We’ve looked into the motivations, hesitations, and challenges of a dog-loving holidaymaker when considering booking a holiday that also serves as a delightful experience for their dog.

Main goals of our customer:

• Paws and Relax: A break where both humans and canines can unwind and enjoy, with dog-friendly amenities and things to do.
• Social Tails: An environment where the dogs can interact with other dogs and the humans can chat with other dog owners. It’s what doggy people do. Our fully enclosed 2 acre meadow is pawfect for this.
• Safety first Adventures: Looking for reassurance that the environment is safe and secure for the dog. Our fully enclosed gardens take care of this.
• Pubs ‘n’ Dogs: There’s nothing better than good English pub food in a cosy, dog-friendly environment, and Suffolk has this in spades!
• Scenic Strolling: With wonderful walks, directly front all of our doorsteps, whether it’s a country one at Woodfarm HQ, a stunning river walk from either Barge, or a day out on the beautiful Suffolk coast, our guests love to create memorable experiences with their dogs.

Past challenges with finding the right Dog-friendly holiday:

• Limited Options: One of the most frequent comments in our early days from guests was that dog-friendly options were shabby and scarce. Customer after customer was feeding back delight at finding us.
• Social Disconnect: We all love our privacy, but dog owners also love to mingle and let their furry family make friends. Many of our guests have struggled to find someone like this in the past.
• Safety Concerns: The safety and comfort of your dogs is paramount, and we have heard all sorts of tails, sorry, tales, of woe from past experiences.
• Accessibility Issues: We’ve spent countless hours over the last decade and a half to bring all the very best that dog-friendly Suffolk has to offer, to your attention. We’ve heard a lot of guests say that they have struggled in the past with accessing dog-friendly places, or faced a lot of restrictions.
• Hidden Costs: Self-explanatory really, but you’d be amazed at the amount of feedback we’ve heard about past encounters with unexpected costs or an absence of value for money.

What are they hesitant about?:

• Misleading Marketing: We genuinely see surprise from first time guests, surrounding the authenticity of our dog-friendly credentials, following past experiences of claims made elsewhere.
• Quality Cutbacks: We have always had a policy of not cutting corners when it comes to the quality of our offering. We’ve learned that this isn’t true everywhere.
• Overbooking: I’ve fallen foul of this myself in the past, and I refused to use that organisation ever again. It’s just wrong!
• Hidden Agendas: The hazards of upselling or promoting additional goods or services. We offer a number of extras and we don’t make a penny. We have no interest in making £2 on a box of handmade Suffolk chocolates. We do have an interest in working with local partners though, to bring the very best immersive experience to our guests.
• Inadequate Preparation: Is it really that dog-friendly? Read our thousands of guest reviews on our own site, plus Tripadvisor, Facebook and Google for the answer.
• Unreliable Reviews: My personal philosophy with reviews is that if I’m buying a product with a handful of great reviews, I avoid it. If there are hundreds or thousands of reviews and the consensus is 3 to 4 stars, I avoid it. I want at least hundreds of reviews at 4.5 or above before I buy anything. We’re pretty confident that with the sheer volume of wonderful reviews we’ve had from happy customers, this accurately represents the Woodfarm experience. You can have a look at our REVIEWS PAGE HERE.