MBA Geek

I’ve just come back from my MBA gradutation in Edinburgh and had an excellent experience as a consumer looking for a place to stay. As my parents were joining us for the trip, we decided to get an apartment rather than stay at a hotel as this would give us more flexibility as well as allow opening up other options for us. Camille found a services apartment called Castle Apartment which was just down the road from Edinburgh Castle. The price was slightly out of our budget so I found a cheaper deal down by the Waterfront. Camille was still keen on the original place though, and browsing their website I found that they did a price match against other quotes.

So I gave them a call and they agreed to match the price which I thought was an excellent example of customer service. We got the apartment we wanted at the price we were ready to pay, and as a result EdAparments.com (who specialise exclusively in Edinburgh Apartments) filled a vacancy which may have otherwise stayed empty. They also have a pretty mature offering, both the website and the reminder emails I received contained links to ancillary services that would have interested someone visiting Edinburgh.

I’ll be quite honest, we were blown away by the apartment. It was directly on the Royal Mile, 2 minutes walk away from the castle and packed with all the amenities you could need. There was a large TV with DVD, a fully equipped kitchen and a massive bath in the bathroom. There were even a couple of books to keep you busy in case you have nothing to read. The only downside (in my opinion) was the absence of an Internet connection; but then, I’m perfectly aware that my needs are slightly different to the norm, not many people feel the need to have high speed satellite internet when they’re on holiday.

I’ve bookmarked EdAparments.com for the future. Next time I’m off to Edinburgh (and we’ve already decided we have to visit again); they’re the first company I’ll call on to sort out my accommodation.

Well, a couple of days ago we got back from Malta and found a great big crack in one of our luggages. Ok, it wasn’t a Rimowa, or anything special; but I was quite fond of it and well, it takes a pretty substantial amount of force to break a hard case. Anyway, we filed a PIR and are now waiting for feedback from Flybe. It will be interesting to see how FlyBe progress the case and how it will be resolved. I’ll keep you posted!

Anyone else had their bag damaged while travelling?

Just had a brilliant experience at Boots the other day. The customer in front of me had a big pile of shopping that she popped in front of the cashier. The girl who was serving her took a quick look over the items in front of her and split them into two piles. She explained that if she processed them as 2 transactions, the first transaction would entitle the shopper to a £5 discount coupon which could then be used on the second transaction.

I was pretty impressed by this. The cashier had no incentive to help the customer out, yet her actions made sure that the experience was memorable to the customer, positively reinforcing the shopping experience and ensuring the client returned again. Retailers spend lots of time and effort in trying to entice customers back to their store but a positive experience can outweigh any promotional products or discounts that the shopper may meet. Now if I could find someone who would cut me a deal on some baby furniture, then maybe I can finish off Arthur’s room

I popped out to get my lunch from Subway today and saw an amazing example of an organisation going out of their way to bend to their customer’s whim.

Here’s what happened: The girl in front of me asked for a “Veggie Patty” Sub. The person behind the counter inquired if she was vegetarian and when the girl confirmed she was, he help up his hands and asked her if should would like him to change his gloves. When she said “yes” and he proceeded to throw away the gloves he was wearing and put on a fresh pair. He also made it a point to ensure that anyone else who handled the sandwich did the same.

Now, you might argue that it wouldn’t really make much of a difference whether the same gloves were used or not. After all, it’s not really like a nut allergy, where a slight trace can have huge consequences. However, the policy Subway have implemented is more about ensuring a customer is happy with the way they are treated, than whether there really were any traces of meat on the gloves. It’s all about providing extra intangible value through optimising the customer’s experience.

The sad thing about today’s story: Even though I was impressed, the girl who got the special treatment didn’t even bother to thank the staff for the extra effort. So I thought I’d post about it and publicly thank Subway for caring about their customer. Great work guys!

Great post on Seth Godin’s blog today where he outlines a formula he came up with:

The value of a perk is inversely related to the expectation of that perk.

It makes sense when you think about it. Your relationship with a third party, whether it’s a supplier, customer or partner, is governed by your expectation of the end result. If you expect “more” and get “less”, you’re bound to be disappointed, even if the extra you were expecting isn’t part of your standard relationship. If, on the other hand, you get “more” than you expected, you’re bound to be delighted and this can definetly help make an experience memorable.

We used to use this technique when running The Joke Shop. Every package we sent out was accompanied by a free gift with our compliments. We knew customers weren’t expecting this, and we also knew that this would give rise to goodwill and encourage customers to shop again. Surprising a customer is a massive step in delighting them.

I came across a great post on Andrew Chen’s blog today that lists 25 reasons why customers stop using your product. The list originally came from the gaming community and Andrew has converted it to the online social media markets, but the points he outlines can apply to many other industries. Here are his reasons behing customer churn:

• First experience
  • “I don’t get what this site is about”
  • “This site is not for people like me”
  • “The colors/design/icons look weird”
  • “I already use X for that”
  • “I don’t want to register”
• Soloing and single user value
  • “I don’t have time to get involved in a site like this”
  • “I’m lonely, not enough happens”
  • “I forgot my password”
  • “I don’t know how to talk or meet people”
  • “I’ll just check on this account every couple months in case something happens”
• Encountering some friends(?)
  • “People on this site are mean”
  • “People I don’t know keep messaging me, WTF?”
  • “I want my friends to use this, but none of them are sticking”
  • “I’m getting too much mail from this site”
  • “I only have 3 friends, this site is still boring”
• Hitting critical mass for social
  • “This site takes up too much of my time”
  • “Too many people are friending me that I only sorta know”
  • “People are stalking me based on my pics and events!”
  • “This Top Friends thing causes too much drama”
  • “I’m getting flooded by e-mails for everything that anybody does”
• Becoming a site elder
  • “The guys who run this site aren’t building feature X that we really need!”
  • “The guys who run this site build feature Y that’s going to destroy this site!”
  • “I’m doing a lot of work but I’m not getting anything for it”
  • “I’m bored because there’s nothing left to do”
  • “Newbies are fun to pick on :)” (wait, maybe that’s a benefit!)

Make sure you read the complete post, and the article that inspired it.