With St. Valentine’s Day around the corner, retailers expect a spike of customer activity and extra pressure on customer service. But the more customer-centric services are, the more they get engaged into people’s relationships throughout the year, not just on February 14th.
We wanted to share a couple of romantic stories involving representatives of SupportYourApp, to demonstrate how a distant business can contribute to something as intimate as human relationships through customer support.
Some stories happened when we were working for the client that provided sightseeing flights in helicopters and hot air balloons.
1. An older gentleman wanted to organize a wedding anniversary surprise and take his wife for a helicopter tour. He reached out to us and asked to arrange a safe flight since his wife had a disability. We had special policies to accommodate people with disabilities and made everything possible to make their dream come true. After proper arrangements were set up, we transferred him directly to the pilot company that executes a tour. As far as we know, the couple had a marvelous time celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary.
2. Another customer wanted to propose to his girlfriend in the helicopter flying over Amsterdam. We were happy to assist him in choosing a tour option but warned that it would be very loud in the helicopter and the proposal may sound awkward. Also, having a romantic setup with champagne and other treats could be problematic due to a lot of shaking and limited space. After moments of hesitation, the customer gave up the idea of a romantic proposal in the helicopter. We’re happy to know that even if we didn’t participate in this particular proposal, we prevented a ruined surprise for the couple.
3. Once a love story happened in a seemingly unexpected industry. We work for a service company that matches international students with top universities in the US. Our representatives work directly with students advising them on the options and helping with the documentation. One of the customers, a Brazilian student, found his future wife at the university the company helped him to get into. His father reached out to the internal team to thank for being a part of his son’s journey. He shared photos of the couple from college and the wedding. It was a truly special moment that reminded us how our work is changing the lives of all the students we are advising, sometimes in the most unexpected, yet beautiful way.
However, the most unusual requests we received while providing concierge services for the client in the financial industry. Most of the concierge requests are pretty typical: booking a table at the restaurant and flower delivery are the most popular ones. And February is one of the busiest months in the year along with December (holidays preparation) and September (back to school errands). In fact, 35% of all flower delivery requests in February happen within on St.Valentine’s Day and two days before it.
Some of the more specific romantic requested were not connected to the V-Day.
4. One of our customers was proposing to his girlfriend. He ordered flowers through our concierge service. Later he asked the representative to participate in organizing the proposal process and was very happy to hear a desired “Yes” from his beloved one. The customer was so grateful for our assistance that he shared a photo from the proposal with us. It was an exciting personal moment that we got to be a part of.
5. Another time we set up a birthday greeting surprise for a girl. Her boyfriend asked for our help in organizing a romantic evening in a movie theater. Just before the movie started, the birthday greeting showed up on a big screen. Afterward, he also asked for our assistance looking for a Catholic Church and a photographer for his wedding ceremony and booking a honeymoon trip. We felt like we truly contributed to this couple’s happiness — it was very rewarding to help the customer in that way.
After ten years in customer support, we’ve set up romantic dates for our customers, helped them express their feelings, our representatives made everything for the customers to fall in love with the company and, sometimes, literally heard love confessions themselves.
It’s incredible how customers trust the company’s service teams with being a part of their personal lives. That’s a chance for customer service to move from being a part of a business offer to a part of a consumer’s life.
With St.Valentine’s Day approaching, it’s a good occasion for the service industry to commit to establishing a rapport with customers and take pride in helping them to celebrate love – on February 14th and all year round.
