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Satisfaction: Guarantees and Customer Loyalty
Guarantees and Customer Loyalty |
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Written by Sue Fredericks
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I can’t get no, satisfaction,” lamented Mick Jagger
plaintively in the Rolling Stones’ 1965 hit, Satisfaction. And, really,
isn’t that what we all want as a consumer, satisfaction? In fact we
would like it guaranteed.
Guarantees can be a huge incentive to buy, or they can destroy your customer loyalty. John Stanley, retail trainer, guru and author, views guarantees as part of the marketing budget. It’s a “reassurance strategy” for customers and they should feel confident in contacting you.
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Wholefoods Market Guarantee
“We Satisfy and Delight Our Customers – Our customers are the most important stakeholder in our business. Therefore, we go to extraordinary lengths to satisfy and delight our customers. We want to meet or exceed their expectations on every shopping trip. We know that by doing so we turn customers into advocates for Wholefoods. We guarantee our customers 100 per cent product satisfaction or their money will be refunded.”
The FTD Satisfaction Guarantee
FTD guarantees your satisfaction with every order sent through FTD for delivery in the United States and Canada and on all FTD branded products.
If you are not satisfied with the purchased FTD product, we will send a replacement or refund the full purchase price. All you need to do is notify us within 10 days of receipt of your FTD order. You may call, come in person, or write to us.
The Teleflora Guarantee
At Teleflora we are committed to exceptional service and products. If, for any reason, you are not completely satisfied with your gift or its delivery, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Bloomen Networks Inc. Guarantee
Service Guarantee – We guarantee 100% satisfaction on all floral and gift items. If you are not completely satisfied, please contact our Customer Service Department at (866) 696-6006.
Order Changes, Cancellations and Returns – We will gladly cancel or change orders completed online through BloomenDirect up to one day prior to the scheduled delivery. Consumers must contact BloomenDirect at 1-866-696-6006, (905) 238-8880 or
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Cancellations made up to one day prior to scheduled delivery qualify for FULL REFUND. We are unable to cancel or change orders already delivered or presently en route to delivery.
We are unable to accept returns on perishable gifts. Any quality issues concerning flowers purchased online through BloomenDirect should be addressed to 1-866-696-6006, (905) 238-8880.
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Customer loyalty
Today’s customers have much lower brand loyalty than in the past and feel no guilt about trying new buying experiences, according to a recent issue of Ipsos Ideas, from Ipsos Reid market research. This makes your efforts to build loyalty to your services much more difficult and adds a greater need to manage the customer experience. Timothy Keiningham, author of Loyalty Myths tell us that marketers are just now realizing that efforts to increase customer spending by focusing on the brand are no longer as effective as in the past, and equal efforts must be made to manage the customer experience or satisfaction levels. His research shows that satisfaction with service can alter brand preferences.
The value proposition
With the advent of retailtainment and shopping as an experience comes the value proposition. What perceived value does your customer take away from your shop? Will the bouquet of Parrot tulips deliver the “Martha Stewart” ambience your customer just purchased? Or will the tulips open too quickly and ruin the dinner party from the hostess’ perspetive? As a florist, you need to manage this process by working with the customer to determine her expectations. Once you realize that she isn’t really shopping for flowers, she’s shopping for the perfect dinner party, you can steer her towards a no-fail arrangement that will enhance, rather than threaten, her success. This aspect of a wire service order is critical. Online order gatherers don’t have the opportunity to have this dialogue with the customer and I believe we are starting to see the fallout from this with all the bad press the industry receives at floral holidays. Customers are not getting their perceived value when interaction is removed from the process.
The breaking point and moments of truth
The breaking point arrives when the customer’s expectations are not met and preferences are likely to change due to an experience. This can lead to a shift away from your products and services. Ipsos refers to these breaking points as “key moments of truth.”
Key moments of truth can be very decisive and prone to carry emotional weight. Customers may evaluate the situation in a way that seems irrational and could completely change the relationship. When you stop to consider that for many people the only time they purchase flowers is to honour an emotional time – a wedding, a funeral, convalescence or Valentine’s Day, the odds are much higher you will be dealing with emotional weight.
Recent advances in neuropsychology provide a better understanding of how emotions affect decision-making and recall:
• They increase our attention levels.
• They point to choices and preferences.
• They improve memory and increase the chances of encoding a fact for later recall.
As they succinctly point out at Ipsos, emotions are a “distorting prism” through which the customer experience is viewed. An event will be perceived and recalled according to the emotional weight the customer attaches to it and we need to take this into consideration as a factor that impacts satisfaction levels.
Ipsos conducted a study, which showed that customers whose complaints were handled in a fast and satisfactory manner were three times as pleased as those who felt their complaint was mishandled. As a key moment of truth, the complaint has a lasting effect on the customer’s relationship with your brand (store) regardless of future service levels. In other words, it’s hard to undo that poor experience.
Meaningful guarantees
Your guarantee should be meaningful and add value to the experience of doing business in your shop. It should be highly visible in your business and not just posted at the cash counter. It should be a source of pride that you guarantee the customer experience. A solid guarantee can be used to differentiate your services from those of your competition.
Your guarantee also needs some flexibility to suit different applications. In some cases that may mean forgoing a time limit for the product. If you guarantee the vase life of your roses as seven to 10 days, are you really going to turn away the customer who returns on the 11th day? Each situation needs to be handled individually.
Empowered teams
A guarantee will only be as good as the person who honours it. It’s important to work with your staff and make sure they understand the value of the guarantee and how it is to be used to turn a potentially poor customer experience into a positive one. Having poor results with a purchase is stressful enough without having to deal with a little attitude when you ask to have a guarantee honoured.
Train your staff to show empathy and understanding of the customer’s disappointment and empower them to make it right. Nothing is more disheartening than to be recited store policy by someone who has to find the manager to make good on a guarantee. Let’s face it, as the manager in a small store, you can’t always be there when the customers are. Having to get the manager for every little complaint undermines the credibility of your staff, and trains the customer to insist on dealing with the boss.
If you are finding that you are getting a lot of complaints, it may be time to examine the sales process, not the guarantee. Are staff taking the time to explain proper care and handling for the product in the home? Is floral food being included with each purchase? The more educated your customer is the better their experience will be.
Who guarantees what
Cristina King, floral specialist and buyer for Wholefoods Market in West Vancouver, B.C., is adamant that the customer must be 100 per cent satisfied or they receive a new bouquet or a full refund. I posed the question as “Does Wholefoods have a vase life guarantee?” and she referred me to the company satisfaction policy that is prominently displayed in the floral department. (See sidebar).
When pressed on how long this guarantee was good for in terms of vase life, her response was: indefinitely. Yes, I could bring back my two-week-old roses and complain they hadn’t performed well and the guarantee would be honoured. After a problem-solving discussion that might touch on the use of metal containers and floral food, I would receive a new bouquet and some tips on at-home care. King’s perspective is that, if staff take the time to talk to the customer about at-home care, the customer will be well informed and more likely to have a positive floral experience.
Catharine Burke, store manager at The Flower Place in Barrie, Ont., also guarantees 100 per cent customer satisfaction. She says that most often when there is a problem it’s because the customer has not understood the care and handling information included with each order. They simply replace the goods and review the procedures that are included with each enclosure card they send. The guarantee is also printed on this three-part card generated through Visual Ticket, so the customer always feels assured.
Burke often finds customers are surprised to find they offer this level of guarantee. She speculates that perhaps they have had a poor experience elsewhere. She’s philosophical about returns, recognizing that as much as they try to cover all bases in delivering an order, there’s always room for something to go awry and their guarantee allows them to make it right.
These open and flexible practices will allow both Cristina and Catharine the opportunity to enjoy long and productive relationships with their customers. Of course, that’s provided they keep up with market demands and stay one step ahead of what the customers wants, but that’s a different kind of satisfaction.
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