Customer Service- A case study
Something happened yesterday, and I have been thinking that it could be a good teachable moment.
I purchased a pie yesterday, from somewhere that came highly recommended. I took it to a friend’s house for dinner, and we all enjoyed a piece. While finishing my last bite, I found a piece of an apple sticker (with my mouth) while eating said pie. I sent a photo of the sticker and the pie box to the company on IG and let them know what had happened. (discretely, as I did not want the friends to know this had happened)
The reply was what I would consider “OK” level customer service. They said they were sorry, thanked me for telling them and said that they would have a talk with the “pie girl” and that it was in fact a sticker from one of their apples (perhaps unnecessary to tell me, unless it was NOT from one of their apples and I was trying to scam them).
In contrast, here is a story about EXCELLENT customer service: BITE Beauty
They have an agave lip mask that I LOVE, and the old packaging was a metal tube, and the sides would crack and leak. One day I sent them a message (again on IG) telling them how much I love their product, but that I thought their packaging could be improved, and switched to the plastic tubes they used for sample sizes, as well as a photo of my leaking lip mask. Their reply was that they would pass the info along to the right department, and could they have my mailing address to send me a replacement. This already had me over the moon, because I expected nothing from them at all. When the parcel arrived, it contained not only multiple replacement masks, but also several other goodies, including a lip scrub and lipstick. (Their products are not cheap) The real kicker? All the new items ALREADY had plastic packaging. They must have already known that this was a defect, and corrected it. Instead of telling me “Ma’am, we switched over our packaging 6 months ago… you must not really be that much of a fan or you would know that”, or even just not replying at all, they took the time to make me feel like my opinion was valid, and gave me free stuff. In that situation, had I not received a response, I would have forgotten about it, and totally moved on. But their response was so amazing, that I told anyone who would listen how great they were, and did a post of all my goodies too. The cost for them of the product sent to me, was for sure made up in future sales from me, and other people I may have told.
I will 100% buy more products from BITE, but I will likely try a different pie joint next time…
The difference between these two replies is something to think about for your own business. Develop a customer service standard, and set of rules about how you will respond to situations fairly and consistently. (And so that all of your employees know how to respond as well.)
