Would Your Customers Buy You A Goodbye Card?

You’re reading CX Stories, a newsletter about customer experience innovation. If you want to join the 6000+ lovely people who receive it every month, just click the button below.

This wasn’t the post I was planning to write this week. But on Friday, something happened that knocked me sideways.

A couple of years ago, I wrote an article about how much I loved the Honest Burgers that’s opposite our office. A few weeks later, me and the team went in for a Friday lunch, and the manager came over to tell us she was leaving. I was devastated.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article about how much I loved the little Café that’s next to our office. On Friday, I went in to get lunch. The manager came over to tell me he was leaving. That they were all leaving. That day.

I was devastated.

(By the way, I’m not saying we’re all living in my simulation, but it does feel both odd and oddly coincidental that twice I’ve written about places I love and twice they’ve almost immediately changed hands. So if there’s a place you really hate, let me know and I’ll write about it and get it gone. The pen is mightier than the sword and all that.)

When the manager told me, I was genuinely choked up. He grabbed my hand, told me he was retiring, that the team were leaving with him. He gave me a hug, said thank you for being a regular customer, and that he hoped to see me around some time.

I went back into the office to break the news to the team. We were all in a bit of disbelief, and decided we wanted to do something to say thank you. We ran over the road to buy a goodbye card, signed it from everyone at The Foundation, and filled the envelope with Malteser Teasers (got to be on brand).

Half an hour later we went back in, gave him the card, shook hands, hugged, and said a proper goodbye to them all.

(It’s worth pausing here to say we did also recognise that this was a sandwich shop closing, and not something more major…)

Over the weekend, I was reflecting on the experience, on how I felt, on how many other companies I’d rush out to buy a ‘goodbye’ card for if they disappeared. And it made me think about three things that are worth considering for every company, no matter the size.

1. Firstly, it was a joy to be their customer. It was a moment we looked forward to in the day, going to buy lunch, see the team, have a nice chat. You always left with a bigger smile than when you went it (and not just because you were a step closer to eating). No part of it was hard, difficult, or a hassle. It was fun to go, to interact, to be there.
2. Secondly, it’s another reminder that where customer loyalty exists (and as most of you know, I don’t really think it does), it’s far more to the people than to the brand. When I go to work this week, the café may still be there, it might even be called the same name. But I’ll be starting over again, building new relationships, seeing whether the new owners match up to the other lunch options in the area. It was the atmosphere the team created that made the relationship, not the name above the door.
3. And thirdly, the question of whether this kind of experience and relationship is ever possible with an organisation of significant size and scale. This is probably the question that I get asked more than ever – can you really create a truly human experience across hundreds of outlets, thousands of employees, millions of customers?

My answer is always the same: that surely, we should have the ambition to try. Even if it’s not possible to create quite as deep a connection, having that as the aim rather than accepting mediocrity will undoubtedly lead to better experiences for customers overall.

It’s why I’ve never really liked talking about ‘customer satisfaction’. Who wants a ‘satisfied’ customer? Surely better to have one that loves you, that finds you a joy to be a customer of. Metro Bank were onto something when they talked about having ‘fans’.

So, the real question is, would your customers buy you a leaving card if you closed? If you can answer yes, then you’re doing something right. And if no, then it’s worth exploring what would it take.

Thanks for reading this article, I really hope you enjoyed it. You can subscribe to my monthly newsletter below, find me in picture form on Instagram @johnjsills, or in work mode at The Foundation and LinkedIn.