The Baer Facts Issue 82: Is email your best foot forward, or are you stubbing your toe?
Is Email Your Best Foot Forward, or Are You Stubbing Your Toe?
Sure, there are a lot of ways to contact a business: phone, chat, text, social media.?
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But for many interactions, email remains the core point of connection between customer and company.?
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Thus, it's an ongoing mystery to me that so many businesses remain shabby at email operations.
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Ruth's Chris Steak House
I ate at Ruth's Chris a couple months ago, and because I booked the reservation with Open Table, found myself on the Ruth's Chris email list.?
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I got 14 emails from them in 63 days. That's a lot of "we have steaks" content. Too much, in fact.
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I hit that magic "unsubscribe" link and was informed that it would take TEN BUSINESS DAYS to remove me from the list.?
?Email unsubscribe is an automated process. Of this, I am certain. But, they delay it so they can send me two more emails (and they did), despite me saying "no más".?
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This is unnecessary, and annoying. If I didn't enjoy the first 14 missives, the 2 "bonus" sends aren't going to do the trick.?
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I give the Ruth's Chris email program one steak:
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领英推荐
Wine Spies
I'm a big fan of Wine Spies, the e-commerce discount vino retailer. Great deals. (in fact, use this link and you can save $20 - and I'll save $20 too)
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On a recent order, I indicated I did want ice packs with my shipment to keep wine cool during summer transport. They didn't notice that I'd made that request. And so my wine never shipped.?
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Curious and wineless, I emailed customer support to ask why the wine hadn't left the warehouse.
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Within an HOUR, they responded, added the ice packs for free (saving me $10) and shipped the order.
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This is how you do it.?
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Quick. Clear. Kind. (as I talk about in my keynote presentation: The 3 Unbreakable Rules of Customer Loyalty)
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I give the Wine Spies email program five wines:
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This stuff isn't hard, Baer Facts fans.?
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It's so easy to delight customers with email (and also so easy to frustrate them).
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Which are you doing?
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When is the last time you truly evaluated the what/where/when/why/how of your email operations?
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Maybe now, before the big Q4 rush, would be a wise time to look under your email hood and see if you're leaking some oil?
Keynote Speaker | The Service Culture Guide
1 个月Great stuff, Jay! My research on consumer expectations reveals that businesses should respond to customer emails within one hour. Many fall short. Emails get deprioritized. There aren't good systems in place to capture and respond to messages. Some leaders are stuck in the dial-up era when it was okay to take 24 hours to respond to email.
Marketing Management Student at BCIT | Aspiring Brand Strategist passionate about Design and Communications
2 个月Great breakdown of the do's and don'ts of email customer experience. The contrast between Ruth's Chris and Wine Spies really shows how crucial quick and thoughtful email responses are. Thanks for sharing these insights, Jay!
Account Manager, Pittsburgh/Cleveland
2 个月Always right on point Jay!
Owner, Altima Millwork, Altima Homes and Altima Kitchens And Closets | Transforming Spaces with Precision and Style | Elevating experiences with Commercial Millwork
2 个月Great insights as always, Jay! Email remains such a vital connection point, and it's surprising how many businesses miss the mark. Thanks for shedding light on this—looking forward to the next issue...
But what about those sizzlin' crab cakes!!