Surprise, Surprise
Friday night is “pizza night” at our house. It’s also my night off cooking, so in goes the order to the local Franca Manca, and out goes me in the car to collect them. Over the months I’ve become on first-name terms with staff there: while paying and collecting, we always exchange a few words about how our weeks have gone. Although I always appreciated this friendliness, I was bowled over last Friday when I popped in for my “usual” of three margheritas (my family are creatures of habit) and the manager handed them over with the broadest of smiles, a cheery thanks for the regular custom, and an insistence that this week’s pizzas were on the house. This came as such a shock - first time such a thing has happened in the 20+ years of living in London - that I nearly refused to accept the freebie. You’ll be relieved to hear that I did manage to pull myself together just in time, and returned to the car with three warm boxes matching the warmth of the feeling inside.
It's funny how certain themes recur, because earlier in the week I had also heard about the dog food subscription business, Butternut Box, which sends a bouquet of flowers to owners when their dogs die. In the short-term, there is literally nothing in it for them, since they’ve just lost some customers. However, it’s an act that shows they care. But it’s probably good for business in the longer-term: if a new dog is acquired, they can be pretty sure the owner will be back, and in the meantime there is probably some word-of-mouth resonance.
Both of these examples got me reflecting on the power of “surprise and delight” offerings from brands. Why do they work so well?
As the name suggests, they come out of the blue for the customer and aren’t connected to any existing loyalty scheme. The free pizza would have had much less impact on me if it had been part of a “Buy 10, get 1 free” programme. Nor would giving me a generic tee-shirt or mug have had much effect. Franco Manca may not be the most expensive pizzas in town, but over the months the costs add up, so this had some real value for me - unlike a generic tee-shirt or mug.
They are authentic – they feel special and unusual. Butternut Box isn’t sending flowers to all their best customers - only to those who they know are going through a hard time.
They are simple.
And of course they are personal. They make you appreciate not just the product, but the people who had that thought. I clearly won’t be swapping Franco Manca for one of their competitors any time soon.
So if you haven’t thought about it before and you know something your customers would really appreciate, perhaps you should think of developing a surprise and delight campaign yourself? If you do, keep it simple, make sure it means something to the customer and, as ever, let us know how you get on.
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Love this post.