#608 and #609 in the Purple Goldfish Project is taken from a blogpost by Drew McLellan over at ‘Drew’s Marketing Minute’.
In Drew’s words:
In our ongoing pursuit of creating love affairs with your customers, I wanted to share a recent experience.
If you’re a regular reader, you know that I am:
A frequent traveler
A wee bit impatient
All about efficiencySo it shouldn’t surprise you that I have my travel routine down to a science. I can pack for any trip in less than 10 minutes.
I own a TSA approved messenger bag so I don’t have to take my laptop out when I got through security. I always wear slip on shoes.
And I just ordered TSA approved belts so I can scoot through the scanner without having to de and re-belt. (or accidentally dropping trou.)
When the belts from BeepFreeProducts arrived, I was pretty pumped to open the package. This was the final tweak to my travel ensemble. (I know… I can’t help it. Don’t judge me!) But when I dug past the packaging, I found more than the belts.
There was also a handwritten post it note thanking me for my order and saying that they’d included a couple extra belt buckles so I’d have some variety to choose from.
On a simple post it note. Nothing pre-printed, nothing fancy. Just a note from Jim.
It probably cost him 2 minutes to jot the note. But I felt the love. Why?
It was unexpected: This was my first order from the company so I had no real expectations. I hadn’t spent a huge amount of money and they don’t have a super sexy website, product etc. So I wasn’t expecting the creativity and the personal touch.
It was personal: If it had been a pre-printed card, it probably wouldn’t have been as memorable or noteworthy. He addressed the note to me, not “dear customer or sir.” Whether it’s true or not, I felt like Jim really did want me to have those extra buckles. He really cared that I could mix and match my buckles.
Another example of this is TheMemStore. They sell memory chips.
Tough to imagine anything that is more of a commodity than that. But, with every order, they include a couple suckers. Yes, lollipops. Think it is silly? Google AND lollipops and see all the mentions and links. Do you really think people would be writing about the company they buy memory chips from, if it weren’t for the suckers?
Many people believe that creating a lasting love affair with your customers is going to be incredibly expensive. It doesn’t have to be. In fact, you can’t buy their love.
If you try too hard or it feels like you are throwing money at it, rather than throwing your heart into it, it will backfire.
Instead of them feeling your love, they’ll feel a little cheap, Ike you think they can be bought. But let Jim’s post it note remind us all that it’s the heart that counts, not the cost.
Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra) – Poking fun at the TSA courtesy of SNL:
Lagniappe defined: A marketing lagniappe, i.e. purple goldfish, is any time a business goes above and beyond to provide a ‘little something extra’. It’s that unexpected surprise that’s thrown in for good measure.
How do you stand out in the sea of sameness? How do you win repeat customers and influence word of mouth? What’s Your Purple Goldfish?
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