Retail Strategy: Boosting Customer Loyalty with Borates

As pool and spa retailers look for new strategies to improve sales and boost customer loyalty, borates offer a simple and unique opportunity. 

Because of the exponential growth of salt chlorine generators on swimming pools and spas this past decade, there is a substantial need to provide pool and spa owners with a solution to simplify long-term water care using borates. By offering customized salt pool maintenance plans and clearly communicating the benefits of borates, retailers are differentiating themselves from big-box competitors, strengthening customer relationships and driving new revenue.

Selling ‘Salt’ Support Programs 

Retailers have a unique opportunity to sell ‘salt support’ chemical and maintenance programs to keep that pool and spa water in balance. Borates are key to creating a simple yet specialized ‘salt support program’ that should be a part of any retail selling strategy. Not only will it help retailers continue to increase their profits, but it will also help them stand out from competitors, and most importantly, build customer loyalty by providing a simple solution for pool and spa water maintenance.

Figuring out how to sell a ‘salt support’ program is different for each retailer. But everyone agrees that ‘salt pool’ or ‘salt spa’ customers need to be handled differently than ‘non-salt’ water customers. “Once our staff was on board about the way we explained the salt-chlorine generator, we then had to have a very specific, ‘salt’ maintenance program for our customers,” explains Dan Cosby, store manager of Dartmouth Pools in New Bedford, Mass. Dartmouth Pools uses a borate-based salt support line of products as a part of their retail sales strategy.

Simple Retail Strategies 

Here are several proven strategies that many retailers are now using to successfully sell borate- based salt-support water maintenance programs: 

1 | Create a ‘salt support’ chemical section: Keep thinking about your potential customer — they walk into the store and you don’t want them to be over-whelmed. Therefore, create a special ‘salt support’ section of the store, just for them. Grocery stores all have an ‘organic’ section — follow this example and guide salt-pool and spa owners to the ‘salt support’ section of the store so that those that have a salt chlorine generator immediately go to that section of the store to get their products. You don’t want a consumer with a salt chlorine generator to head into the general chemical section and be overwhelmed — especially in the heat of the season when the store is busy and you might not have staff available to help a client immediately. Get the client to the right section of the store and provide signage and videos that make it easy for the consumer to pick up what they need until someone can attend to them. 

“We have a specific section of our store that is dedicated solely to Salt Support maintenance products,” says Cosby. Having everything in one place, makes it easier to point out what the customer needs and products are displayed in such a way that it’s simple to understand and purchase. “We even find that customers sell to one another — when one salt pool customer sees another salt-pool customer walking out the door with a Salt Support product, they look over and ask the customer why they are purchasing that product,” says Cosby.  

2 | Add Borates to water testing software: Adding the products that are specific to salt pools and spas into your water testing software is extremely helpful to busy retailers in the heat of the season. “As we all know, we are extremely busy during our very short season here in the northeast, so the best move we made was to incorporate the Salt Support line of products into our water testing software,” says Cosby. “There was something about the customer seeing the printout with the Salt Support products listed and checked in black and white that helped us sell and discuss the products and the unique ‘salt pool’ maintenance with our customers. Once we did this, we immediately watched our sales of Salt Support products increase dramatically.”   

Jonathan Schulhoff, retail manager of Arthur Edwards Pool and Spa Centre in Millers Place, N.Y., agrees: “What has really helped us sell this product is to test for borates in our water testing lab. We use the LaMotte Spin test and have included borates as one of the items to test on every water sample. We use a borate-based salt-support product line for our customers with salt pools.” Schulhoff explains that customers will ask about borates when they look at their water test results show that their borate level is low. Sometimes Schulhoff’s team doesn’t have time to explain how borates work, but he finds curious customers just Google borates and discover why borates are extremely helpful to maintaining their salt pool water chemistry balance. “If we didn’t include borates as part of our test, our customers might think we were trying to sell them snake oil, so testing for borates has been a big win for us,” says Schulhoff. 

3 | Provide prescriptions: It’s important to have a ‘go to’ salt-support program which includes a ‘start up’ product that might, for example, include a borate product designed to balance out the pH which tends to rise in pool water that is being sanitized with a salt chlorine generator. Adding this just once a year, at the beginning of the season is the first step in a simple program. In addition, the program should probably include a product to ensure the salt cell doesn’t build up scale and a ‘boost’ product for use in the heat of the summer when bather loads are high. Be sure that the salt support program you provide to your customer includes a chlorine-free shock, a scale preventer without phosphates and an algaecide that won’t be broken down by the salt of the generator. 

Remember to keep the program simple. Color-coding is an excellent way to keep it simple. Much like the water testing print out/shopping list, create a customized maintenance placard that the customer can take home and post in the pump room or on the refrigerator. Take the time to personalize it — for example, label it "The Smith “Salt Pool” Maintenance Program."

Preparing for Next Season 

Whether it’s the soft feeling water, avoiding the offensive odor, or the danger of a chlorine spill, many people prefer the safety and convenience of a salt-chlorine generator and are willing to pay for that ease of use and convenience. To capitalize on this segment of the market, consumers need to be educated on how salt chlorine generators work and need to be provided with a simple, borate-based ‘salt-system’ maintenance program. Not only will a well-organized plan ensure customer satisfaction but will also create customer loyalty and a long-term stream of profits for retail stores. Salt-support products are terrific tool for specialty retailers to utilize for creating closer relationships with their customers, stand out from big-box retailers and avoid competing on price. If you haven’t already done so, set up a borate-based “salt-support” retail program for the 2026 season to boost revenue and customer loyalty.