Tale of Two Customer Experiences
As a product marketer—and as a consumer—I know the importance of a good customer experience.
Consumers (That’s you and me!) buy for the experience, not the product.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday I encountered two different customer service experiences illustrating this point.
Experience #1:
I placed an order with Whole Foods/Amazon delivery. I requested a delivery between 9p.m. - 11p.m.
(Note: Yes, that is late for me. In fact, in was quite humorous looking back trying to stay awake for a food delivery!)
I never received a notification that “my shopper has started my order.” I began to get worried. When I hadn’t received my order by 10:45p.m., I called customer service. Around this same time, I received a text “Your order has been canceled.” That’s it. No explanation. Nothing. This is wrong on so many levels.
I explained this to the customer service rep who did apologize.
However, I had to ask for compensation for this “no excuse” cancelation and inconvenience on my schedule..
Let’s review this experience:
Impersonal notification
No explanation of cancelation
No compensation (until asked)
How did I feel? Completely frustrated. Annoyed. Not valued.
Experience #2:
After Thanksgiving I had a ton of leftovers. I used every single set of storage containers had (and I have a good collection!). Knowing that I’d be making soup, I needed more food containers.
I placed an order through Bed, Bath & Beyond and requested same-day delivery.
First, I received an email notifying me that same-day delivery would not be possible due to demand. No problem for me. The day of delivery, I received a personal call from the person delivering the product.
She informed me that she could not in good conscious deliver my product because the box was beaten up, “like someone punched it.” I had two thoughts in my head: One, who makes such a personal call? And two, I really need my storage containers!
I thanked her for her personal call and mentioned I never had someone care so much about my delivery. I later learned that she had called the store asking for another package, but apparently it was the last one.
She even arranged a time to meet me so that I could inspect the contents of the package.
When was the last time you had this type of service and attention to detail. All for a $30 food storage container set!
What went right?
Advance notice of delivery change—with a reason
Personal (unexpected) call about the package
Personalize service—going over and beyond to meet with me at a specified time so that I could inspect the product.
How did I feel? Valued! I couldn’t stop talking about this experience!
The holidays have been a great time to see the strength and weaknesses of product and brand experiences.
P.S. Oh, and the the storage containers inside the damaged box were intact. The turkey soup had a place to call home.