1stInFlowers, last in clue: more ways to destroy good marketing with poor customer service.
The following is an actual email exchange that began when I visited 1stInFlowers.com, to send a friend flowers to commemorate her birthday.
On the online order form, I entered my friend’s first and last name, company name (ABC Press, a publishing house), business address and phone number.
The thread begins (Day1):
Thanks for your order. The delivering florist has asked us to get a little more information on the recipient. They would like to know the recipients first and last name. Also where exactly is the arrangement going? They also wanted to know is the recipient an employee or patient?
I am confused. Not only did the order form contain all the requested information, but “Press” usually implies publishing house. Hmm. Maybe they thought “Pres.”, and a hospital? No, not at that address under that business name. Also, isn’t this type of checking what Google is for? Or the helpful reps at 1stInFlowers? But I answered their questions. And got the following (Day2).
We have spoken with our delivering member further and they have requested two additional pieces of information. They are asking if the given name is the recipient's full name, and they are requesting a direct phone to the recipient at the business.
We are truly sorry, we just relay to you what the local florist relays to us.
Needless to say, at this point I canceled the order and went with another (more costly, less frustrating) online florist. (Perhaps someone should remind the helpful people at 1stInFlowers that their job is service, not being a relay system. Computers do that relay thing cheaper and faster…)
Now, why can’t I resist using this example? Because today, word of mouth is the single most powerful, leveraged, cost-efficient form of marketing – and great or poor customer service stories become legend faster than any “official” marketing put out by the marketing department.
Consider counter-examples – like the story of people returning snow tires to Nordstrom. Great customer service will spread your marketing. Bad customer service will also spread your marketing… but with a very different (negative) message.
Worse, I’d actually gone to 1stInFlowers because of their excellent “formal” marketing. I liked their email, I liked their website, I saw them on Google, it was all good.
So not only did my experience result in ongoing negative marketing – it actively destroyed accrued value.
What’s the moral of the story? As a marketer, pause. Think about customer service. If you’re satisfied that they support your marketing, great, carry on. But if not – consider re-allocating your spend…before the roses you’ve grown get converted back to fertilizer by an Ass (I mean donkey, people) in customer service
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[ps: Please buy my book. http://buynow.stupidmarketing.com -- and tell your friends!]
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Kevin,
You make a great point on word-of-mouth and your 1stInFlowers example reminds me of a recent experience I had with an online vendor that is not even worth mentioning here. In today's fast-moving, high-tech world of communications it never fails to amaze me when I come across a company that appears not to care enough about their customers. I'm the webmaster of an industrial supply auction site and if we treated our customers like the way you Kevin, and I were treated by these vendors I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
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