I made a lot of online purchases this Christmas season — getting things gift wrapped and shipped directly to the recipient instead of having to stand in line at the post office was a powerful motivator. And most of my online shopping experiences went without a hitch — some better than others, I suppose.
Yesterday, though, I got a pleasant surprise in the mail: a hand-written note from the folks at “Wild About Music” saying thanks for your order (also with a copy of my credit card receipt — apparently they’re still processing orders offline). And that’s just it: it’s not about the snazziness of their online shopping cart, which was not the nicest I saw. It’s that there’s a live body on the other end of the transaction who took the time to hand write a few words.
Well done, folks!
Now, they might be a small vendor who processes few online orders, and I don’t really expect a handwritten note every time I place an order online from anybody, large or small. But isn’t that the goal of customer service — exceeding the customer’s expectations?
I’ll definitely order from Wild About Music again, and you should, too. And if you’re a small online vendor, what are you doing to surprise people?
