At my local UPS store, I’m likely to be greeted by a slightly bored teenager or somewhat distracted staffer who does not make me feel like I am a particularly valued customer. Don’t get me wrong, they are a pleasant enough when I drop off my pre-paid UPS packages and simply hand over a receipt. The experience is not necessarily unpleasant but it is not particularly noteworthy either. They certainly have not taken the opportunity to delight their customer.
Why am I telling you this? Because I did have a pleasant experience at another UPS store today and the difference was enough to be noteworthy by comparison.
I had an appointment in Chapel Hill today, so it was more convenient to stop by the UPS store in Meadowmont. When I walked in the door, I was greeted almost immediately with a smile. “How can I help You?” Oh, I just want to drop off a package. “Great, let me just print you off a receipt that will have your tracking numbers on it.” It was the thing she did next that particularly impressed me.
A big part of my job is to pay attention to user experience and think about how to help companies connect with people who would appreciate their products and services. So here is what she did. At UPS stores, their receipts are printed on the same peel & stick paper as the labels they print for packages. Usually they just hand you the receipt ‘sticker’ with the backing still on it. Not at the Meadowmont store. Instead, they had a flyer printed on harvest gold paper (a subtle nod to October harvest/Halloween season). Their flyer lists store hours, location, services and has several coupons for services like free copies and discounts on mailbox and notary services. The clerk peeled off the backing on the receipt and affixed it to a specially designed empty square on the flyer.
My guess is that it took someone less than an hour to design the flyer. It probably cost them $0.05 to print the flyer. So, for very little overhead, they created a way to hand me not only a receipt, but an advertisement for their services and incentive to come back (via coupons). Because the receipt included a tracking number, there is a high likelihood that I will keep the receipt at least long enough to type in my tracking number at my home computer. I will probably notice the flyer and hopefully respond with a return visit to the store.
It is my strong opinion that your business will benefit tremendously when you seek to delight the customer. At the very least, that means being genuinely nice to them and showing them respect by giving them your attention. As a follow-up to providing a pleasant transaction experience, you can benefit both your customers and your business when you provide them with thoughtful information. In my opinion, the flyer receipt is a great example of a way to promote your business at very low cost and resource overhead while providing your customers with useful and subtle incentive to be repeat customers.
What are some creative ways that YOU can delight your customers and build your brand loyalty?
