Contributor Kristin Guthrie is Honeywell Aerospace’s Vice President of Customer Experience. She will be presenting on customer experience culture at the upcoming Call Center Week Online. Register for the complimentary event here. Connect with Kristin on LinkedIn here.
Smiley faces drawn on the dinner bill. Chocolates on your hotel pillow. “Have a nice day” on an invoice.
Compared to the “serious” aspects of daily business, these common gestures can seem silly.
But according to a study conducted by Brigham Young University, these little things account for some big money over time.
What’s a peppermint worth to you?
When a server brings you a check, you will tip the server whatever you feel he or she deserves. But take that same server, restaurant and meal and add a mint to the check tray, and you’re likely to increase the tip by 3 or 4 percent.
For the server, free gets even better. If he or she looks customers in the eyes when delivering the bill and the mint, tips increase substantially. If they bring customers a second piece of candy, they can earn upwards of 20% in additional tips.
“Free” definitely pays!
It’s not just appreciation. It’s reciprocity.
Why are we influenced by these little gestures? It’s the way we’re wired. We expect to pay for a product or service we use – that’s the way life works. But the free mint doesn’t fit with that scenario. And so even though it has been given to us gratis, we feel obligated to recognize the effort.
You’ll find another example of the reciprocity reflex in your mailbox. Those personalized return address stickers you get from a lot of non-profit organizations – they cost pennies to produce. But the automatic response to compensate for the kindness brings in billions for those organizations every year.
Implications for the Airline Industry
Encourage flight crews to write thank you notes on first class napkins and subsequently evaluate in-flight product sales. Was there an impact?
Try putting a bowl full of bright candy at the ticket counter. Add a smiley face, or a “come back and see us again” note on the back of a passengers ticket.
They’re simple, they’re silly, and they represent one of least expensive, yet most effective ways to increase customer loyalty and goodwill.
Honeywell’s Perspective
Often, good business practices come from connecting the straight line dots. The business gives the customer something, and the customer responds with financial or attitudinal compensation.
Based on this research, we’re now looking for simple and delightful detours. We’re looking to encourage customer service employees to create unexpected, feel-good moments:
A hand written note on a contract. The addition of an emoticon to a business email. Or even adding a nice comment on a shipping document before dropping it in the box.