Imagine sitting captive on a plane for 5 hours knowing your cell phone battery is low. That means you will need to recharge as soon as you arrive. But you can’t spend the time to sit in the airport waiting for it to charge (once you finally find a power outlet). What can you do? Fly Virgin America; they have power outlets at every seat!
This story about someone with a low cellphone battery? That was me last week. I’m so glad I flew with Virgin America. In fact I fell back in love with them. It had been a while since I had flown with them even though I have always liked them. FYI, the airlines I like to fly are: JetBlue, Southwest and Virgin. I’m an advocate for these companies. They each have small features that make them different and offer me a great experience as a customer.
- This may sound odd, but I love the Virgin America safety information video – it’s a quirky cartoon that makes me smile.
- The outlets at the airplane seats were a pure delight.
- All these airlines’ employees act a bit silly at times (especially during their announcements) – that makes me smile.
- The fact is my favorite airlines don’t call the controls above your seat “the passenger service unit” makes me happy. That term is too clinical for me. When other airlines use that wording, it makes me feel as if they don’t know I’m human.
What are the little things you do to delight your customers? It can be something small. Here’s another example, Zappos puts balloons into some boxes so that customers get a surprise when they open their box. But you don’t need balloons to delight customers. Customers have good experiences when you include nice (human sounding) messages in materials you already send out.
Look at touchpoints you already have with customers and how you could make their experience even sweeter.
