A week before my birthday, several of the businesses from which I regularly receive e-mails usually send me a “Happy Birthday” message along with a special offer. Some of these offers I do not use, but one for which I always watch is the free sundae from Culver’s eClub. This year a couple of days after my birthday I realized that I had not heard from Culver’s. Wanting that sundae and curious as to why I did not receive a coupon, I e-mailed the Culver’s eClub. “Why did I not receive my birthday e-mail?” I wrote.
Within twenty-four hours I received a reply from Anna Udelhofen in the Culver‘s Franchising System. “I apologize you did not receive your birthday email. When was your birthday? I ask because we recently underwent a system ‘makeover’ for eClub and the eCoupon function is not back up and running yet. Therefore we are keeping track of any backlogged messages for birthdays that were missed during this period and will send them out to guests shortly. In the meantime, I would be more than happy to mail your coupon if you wouldn't mind providing me with your home address.”
She concluded, “Thank you and I am sorry for the inconvenience.”
I was impressed. She replied promptly, and, more importantly, she did more than apologize. She gave me the reason for the oversight. She told me the truth, which is something many business people shy away from doing. Those who do so fail to realize that customers are human, too. Things go wrong in their lives. They make mistakes. They understand mistakes. Making a mistake with a customer is not the problem. The problem is the way that you handle the mistake after it occurs.
How you communicate with a customer after a mistake is critical to keeping that person as a customer. Six steps are important.
*First is being prompt in your response, at least within twenty-four hours.
*Second is offering a courteous apology.
*Third is telling the truth as to why the mistake happened.
*Fourth is offering to rectify the mistake, at least by giving the customer what
was missed. Going a step further is even better.
*Fifth is getting the offer to the customer.
*Sixth is following up that the customer received the offer and discovering if
the customer is satisfied.
Looking at Anna’s response, so far she had completed four of the six steps. Yesterday in the mail I received a coupon for a free sundae, completing step five. Usually, the birthday eCoupon has an expiration date after two weeks. The coupon that she sent did not have an expiration date. By not applying an end date to the coupon, she took step four even further. Since the next couple weeks look quite busy, I appreciate the extra time to use the coupon. Anna completed the first five steps with flying colors!
Will she solidify me as a customer by following up?
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