The Best Example of Customer Appreciation I've Ever Seen
Yesterday I recieved a mysterious box in the mail from an unknown sender.
It was addressed directly to me. "Have I ordered anything recently?" I wondered to myself.
Nope... (My curiosity increased).
I walked inside and showed the box my business partner.
"What was in this mystery box?" we were not both wondering as I wrestled to open it.
I pulled out two small pieces of cushioning cardboard.
Cookies. Mother-delicious homemade sugar cookies from a company called Mabel (anyone have the link for this company?) and a handwritten thank you note Grasshopper.com's Jonathan Kay, their "Ambassabor of Buzz."
The note said:
"Hey Matt, Just wanted to say thank you for featuring Grasshopper and Chargify in your blog post. It means a lot to us and we really appreciate it! Here is a tasty way for us to say thanks! -Jonathan"
I licked my finger and then smudged a little bit of the ink. Indeed, it was handwritten. Impressive.
My business partner and I shared the cookies, which were absolutely delectable (and even more appreciated since I hadn't eaten much all day).
Then I wondered, how did they know our address?
I realized, we're a customer of Grasshopper.com so it was probably pretty easy to look up in their database.
This act of appreciation is effective for a few reasons:
- I feel appreciated as a customer and a writer who mentioned Grasshopper in a recent article post on 17 examples of great sales funnels
- Based on the principle of give to get, I feel like I want to reciprocate and help Jonathan and Grasshopper in the future, either through recommendation--or even in writing this article! ;)
- This thank you card is going to be posted on my wall and other's who come over to the office will see it from now on and maybe we'll have a conversation about it. It's free advertising for Grasshopper, which I'm glad to give.
- Cookies are awesome, the only thing that was was missing was a glass of milk :)
I've heard of companies like Wufoo doing this in the past, but I never received a thank you note from them. Actually going through the experience of getting one is fantastic and I can understand now why entrepreneurs and marketers recommend this as a tactic.
Most companies don't do this of course because handwritten notes don't scale very well (or so a skeptic might claim), to which I would say, they actually do because other than the cost of a few cookies and little bit of time to write the short note, how much does Grasshopper have to spend on each additional person that read this post?
Nothing, exactly.
What are some other marketing statics similar this? Could Grasshopper have improved in the presentation / delivery of this somehow?
