Confirmation: It Takes A Small Effort, But I'm coming back Options

[Ruud]

Goofy? Yes -- but this shipping confirmation message sure caught my attention... and I will be back

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Thursday, November 9th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.

Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'. We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

[JohnMu]

That IS nice. I like the personal touch, it might not look that professional and it might hide the relevant information a bit, but as you said - it keeps you coming back, you remember the brand. Job done.

John

[A.N.Onym]

Good job, certainly.

I remember you (or was it Garrick?) have referenced another 'thank you' or 'shipment on the way' message way back earlier, which was written in a similar manner. Was nice one, too.

No wonder such messages carry our attention, as there's so little attention paid to them.

I bet you have shown the message to all your family and friends, too

[cre8pc]

Reminds of the time I order something made by a woman who does the work at her kitchen table. When I opened the box, a handwritten thank you note on artistically created stationary that she made was there, plus a bunch of colorful sparkles and tiny hearts, that spilled out all over the place in a cheerful "SURPRISE!" way.

I raved about her everywhere I went and sent her as much business as I could. Great product, and she made me feel special.

[rmccarley]

Reminds me of this site. I'm always pointing people (and links) here because the members are unique, insightful and generous.

[sonjay]

That makes me want to rush right over to cdbaby.com and order a CD, just so I can receive an e-mail like that of my very own!

What warm fuzzies that confirmation e-mail generates! What a feeling of special-ness as a customer.

Goofy? Yep. Perhaps not quite "professional"? Sure. But priceless.

[Ruud]

Thinking about it... I'm actually curious to see what they send next time. To "pull this off" you need it to change with some regularity.

Hm... if we ever become interested in generating human jobs, composing unique, individual "thank you" messages might be a new-fangled function

[A.N.Onym]

I believe there's a huge market for composing email autoresponder messages at the moment, Ruud

The trick is to sell the service to the companies, of course

[dragonusthei]

Im not sure about that myself lol

[Respree]

I think its the little things, like this, that make a big difference when it comes to online (and offline, for that matter) shopping. Why do you return to the same store over and over again, when there are so many other choices you could make? I think its about good service, good products, good value and the 'little' things merchants are willing to do that the other guys are not. In short, repeat business, I think, boils down to "giving the customer a good feeling about my last (or past) purchase(s)."

USP is about going 'beyond' the call of duty and doing the things you don't have to do - it's what sets a site apart from the rest of the pack, in a very competitive playing field.

This post has been edited by Respree: Nov 27 2006, 09:18 AM

[manager]

Greetings,

Whilst no one could deny the good communications is an essential element of any successful e commerce venture – I find the example posted by Ruud a little patronising, to the point were; if I got up on the wrong side of the bed I might even find it insults my limited intelligence.

TreV

[Respree]

I think it's all in good fun, TreV. I'll stop short of the saying, "...you can please some of the people some of the time..."

In the grand scheme of things, I'd say if it does more help than harm, that puts one ahead of the game.

[manager]

Hi Garrick,
I hear what you’re saying, I just have a preference for professional and factual confirmations. That said; I like it when merchants make an effort personalise their communications enough to make me feel that I am not just another “order number”.

It’s just that example. It “crosses the line” with me and makes me cringe. Kinda like listening to fast food workers who are forced to say "have a nice day", it cuts no ice with me or anyone I know.

Should I receive this kind of confirmation and the goods turn up in time and are as described then that’s OK. This company is gonna look pretty stooopid if something goes wrong


TreV

This post has been edited by manager: Nov 27 2006, 12:42 PM