Once again, the nuances of customer service were completely missed by a store that was trying to offer something nice to their customers, but missed the mark due to a tiny detail that would have made a huge difference and created a WOW.
As I was checking out of a store yesterday, after I’d paid for my items, the clerk stapled a coupon to my receipt. The coupon said, “Get two free greeting cards TODAY with any purchase!” But I had just completed my purchase and was ready to leave. I had no time (or inclination) to go back at that point and pick out two cards, then come back and stand in line again in order to get them free. While the coupon is good until the end of the month, which is only about a week away at this point, that means I have to go back in the next week – and buy something else – in order to get my two free cards.
Granted, it’s nice that they offer the coupon at all, but here’s where the experience could have been more meaningful – and in fact, could have been a WOW!
The clerk could have told me about the coupon before ringing up my purchase, to allow me to use the coupons on that trip – before checking out. Better yet, the store could have put a rack at the front entrance with a big sign announcing that customers could get two free cards with their purchase today, allowing them to get the cards while they were shopping and do it all in one sweep of the store.
Doing it this way would have created a feeling that the store really wanted customers to get two free cards as a gift for shopping there. Doing it the way they did created a feeling that the store didn’t really want to give customers two free cards, but someone told them they had to give out the coupons, so they did – but they were going to make customers work harder to cash them in. I’m sure that probably wasn’t the message the store wanted to give, but it points up the difference between enthusiastically offering what could be WOWs and offering them in very UN-WOW ways.
Are you looking at the nuances of your customer service to see where you may be making WOW opportunities available to customers but not capitalizing on them? Take a look at details that seem insignificant on the surface and you’ll find ways to go from creating “Nice, but ho-hum” opportunities for customers… to creating “WOW” experiences for them.
