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You’re Awesomer: Leaving Customers with an Awesome Feeling

Diamond Chair painting & thank you by Shelly BowenSo I’m spending some time with my invoicing system — not my most favorite thing to do, though I do appreciate the simplicity of FreshBooks — and I get stuck. I’m not sure if it’s a user experience problem or a me problem.

I contact customer service via an online form. The next day, I get an email from Grace, explaining that what I wanted to do wasn’t a core function, but there was an easy work-around. The email came from an “info@” address, and though I was sure it would go into a folder somewhere on some server, I replied, “Thanks, Grace. You’re awesome.”

Shockingly, I got a quick reply. “You’re awesomer. If that’s a word.”

That made me smile. And gave me more confidence all my future questions would be answered. And got me thinking …

How Can Businesses Leave Customers With an Awesomer Feeling?

I carefully consider user experience when crafting a digital content strategy — the meet and greet, the clear comprehension, the overall feeling of the brand and story, the different ways to get someone to stick around and play. But I haven’t spent enough time with a customer’s moment of leaving.

Then at a USD presentation the other day, speaker Gary Adamson told the story of the Steinway sales experience: After every piano is sold, Steinway throws a party at the buyer’s house, complete with appetizers and an incredible pianist. Of course, they sell more pianos. But they also leave their customers feeling awesome about their purchase.

How can we do this too? Let’s see …

  • Send a thank you note. Include a sentence about why you appreciate their business.
  • Feature a customer of the month.
  • Thank a customer in a blog for something learned. Link to them.
  • Call and ask for feedback about their experience.
  • Follow up a month after the purchase and ask how it’s going.
  • Follow your clients on Twitter and retweet them.
  • Tell them they’re awesome.

That’s a short list. Has a company treated your exit exceptionally? Or does your company do something fabulous? I want to hear about it. Because you are awesome. Thanks for visiting, and happy, happy new year.

Posted by Shelly Bowen on Dec 22, 2009. Filed under Online Customer Experience / Research, Web Content Strategy

 

3 Comments | RSS feed for comments on this post

  • Great list. The unifying factor there is surprise. Service that’s above-and-beyond necessitates some sort of eye opener; the above-and-beyond is referencing whatever is expected.

    I’ve been thinking a lot about this too. Me? I’m starting by helping a client w a presentation she’s doing. It’s not in the scope of work, but I’m trying to be awesomer.

    p.s. Speaking of awesomer, I recently spoke at my son’s 1st grade class about writing and gave them the PYBOP mantra. Once they were ready to write, they all sat at their desks, reached up to their heads, pretended to -CLICK- open their skulls, and put their brains right out on the paper.

    If we need a definition for awesomer, I think seeing a whole class do that was it. Thanks for the blog- I just found it recently. Great reading here.

    Comment by bencurnett on Dec 28, 2009

  • That *is* an awesome story. Thanks for sharing!

    I also agree about the surprise; that’s a great way to explain what’s happening when someone experiences “awesome.”

    Comment by Shelly Bowen on Dec 28, 2009

  • I love it. The simple things are what work

    Comment by Jimmy Hendricks on Feb 25, 2010

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