How to Use 'Alchemy' to Delight Customers & Grow Your Business
A Belief in Magic.
Full disclosure. I am a believer in magic, alchemy and glamour.
Personally, I am a self-professed Flow Junky. A lot of my life is spent seeking timeless states of consciousness where my greatest cognitive step changes occur.
In my Human Performance Lab 1:1 coaching work I design 30-day programs intended to "engineer magic" through uncovering new learnings and pockets of energy and motivation that were previously invisible.
And at Hot Sauce, I have recently been inspired by Rory Sutherland who makes the case for Alchemy in the business world in his book that goes by the same name. In it, Rory explains that we have placed too much focus and value in the limiting definition of standard behavioural economics which does not leave room for the moments of magic we can create in our businesses through thinking differently, irrationally even, and running experiments.
On a recent trip down to Santa Cruz I saw an opportunity to consider an Alchemy Experiment through an experience I had at a newly opened Hawaiian restaurant.
Disappointed by Rational Behavioural Economics
I visited the restaurant with my family who were raving about the atmosphere and food. Upon arriving, I was immediately encouraged - the restaurant looked to be modern with a Hawaiian style theme running throughout. I noticed several tables were available but there was a line out the door - good, I thought, it's popular but not so busy that we won't get in.
The set up upon entering was admittedly a bit awkward - a "reception desk" was located 10 feet inside the main door in a small area of the restaurant that preceded the cool Hawaiian style loft restaurant area. This reception area was causing the lineup out the door, which also blocked access to the restrooms - I made an assumption there must be some economically rational efficiency gain that was the cause of this non-conventional entrance.
Once I made it inside I was immediately struck by the two large TV screens placed above the reception desk that were rotating the several dozen beers, ciders, wines and kombucha's they had to offer. I had seen these at other restaurants and breweries that touted their beers on tab. Being someone who enjoys a yummy craft beer with my Hawaiian food, I was immediately excited and impressed with their selection of unique draft.
I had begun forming unconscious conclusions... Your customers do this everyday.
My unconscious conclusion that this must be an establishment that prides themselves in their beverages (due to the investment in the TV displays) was strengthened as I observed the lack of investment in their food menu. In comparison to LCD TV screens with high quality displays, the menu's were displayed on cheap, poorly designed laminated paper. To find these pieces of paper you had to nudge past all of the guests in front of you (trying not to seem like you were budging in front of the line) and grab one from the reception desk.
OK - all good. I'm excited to try some of these beers and enjoy a drink after a morning chalked full of surf and sun. Seeing as how almost all of the beers were from micro-breweries, I made what felt like a safe assumption that I would be able to have a small sample of a few to make my selection.
As we approached the front of the line I was confronted with a very different reality. The woman operating the reception cash register informed me of the following protocol:
- If I wanted a drink, I had to order and pay for it right here, right now.
- They could not serve me any tasters. Period. Tasters were at the bar, and we were at the reception desk.
- I was not allowed to go up to the bar to order drinks - that was reserved only for folks sitting at the bar (roughly 10% of total capacity), and we were sitting 6 feet beyond this designated zone at a "bar table".
- I was informed that if I did order here, I would not be able to enjoy my drink right away but instead have to wait for it to come out with my food.
I was confused and slightly distraught. To add to the negative experience, because this exchange took place at the entrance (versus our table or the bar), I felt the added pressure of having a growing line waiting behind me. After feeling self-conscious and a embarrassed (silly customer, don't you know we can't poor you a taster with the bar being all the way over there...), I declined ordering a drink of any kind, paid for my food and asked for a water cup.
The food was fantastic, the atmosphere was cool and enjoyable, the staff and owner were amazingly friendly - and I will likely never visit the restaurant again.
What would it look like to experiment with Alchemy to fundamentally change my experience?
Forming Hypothetical Alchemy Experiments
Imagine this... (Note: I've kept several more lofty constraints in place to minimize the operational change that would need to occur - eg: keeping the awkward reception line. I haven't considered how various bi-laws and licensing could impact the feasibility of this experiment)
Before I get to the reception line, I see a nice display with a branded, high quality print food menu. Beside it, I see another menu and I read above the display that as part of my experience at this restaurant I can up to 5 beer/cider/kombucha testers before making my drink selection - if I don't like any, no purchase required. I am instructed to take a drink menu, pencil and highlight up to 5 drinks I would like to taste.
By the time I get to the front of the line, I have my food option selected and my drink menu filled out. The woman at the reception greets me, sees I have a drink menu, checks my ID, and informs me that I can leave my card with them and settle up after my meal (in a separate line to expedite the process). She also gives me a numbered sign and lets me know that my drink tasters will be out in a couple of minutes and I can order whatever I like directly from the server.
By the time I get to my seat I can see the server loading up 5 small taster glasses in a beautiful Hawaiian wood tray. She brings over the tray, lets me know which beer is which, and returns a few minutes later to take my selection.
I enjoyed a couple of the tasters so much that over the course of the meal I end up ordering a second beer to enjoy as well.
I leave excited not only return on my own but tell my friends about this cool experience I had and recommend to others they try it both for the amazing food and the craft beer experience.
Finding Opportunities for Alchemy
The example above illustrates where Alchemy diverges from rational behavioural economics. The idea of "giving away" 5 ounces of beer to every paying customer is irrational and economically wasteful.
But here's the challenge - the second I walk into your restaurant you have access to my wallet - your pursuit as a business should be to incentivize me to part with as many of the dollars in my wallet as possible while still remaining satisfied with my experience (Promoter NPS). If you knew that giving away 5 ounces of beer in testers would accomplish both me parting with $15 more dollars AND being exponentially more excited - how could you not afford to find this out?
At the end of the day I have no idea whether this experiment would work or not. And that is largely the point, experiments like this need to space around our boardroom tables to be conceived, hypothesized, and implemented as experiments.
Where to Start? Your Customer.
I am realizing again this is a large part of why we have taken the non-conventional approach at Hot Sauce Growth Marketing to invest heavily in a comprehensive Customer Research and Insights service. Beyond ensuring product-market fit, brand messaging and unique value propositions, we want to understand the amount to which 'Alchemy' is being leveraged in the customer experience. Where it is, we can highlight this explicitly for the client, and where it is not, we are able to recommend, ideated and run experiments to test whether there are value inflection-points to be realized through the creation of Alchemy in the customer journey.
Do you believe in Magic? Have you seen this come to life in a business? I would love to hear your story below or in a message!