The latest news in the world of customer experience and customer loyalty.
Brands Go All Out to Celebrate Royal Wedding
So apparently there’s this little wedding taking place in England in a couple of weeks. Some prince and his bride. Our invitation seems to have gotten lost in the mail, but a number of brands are making it easier for those who can’t make it to the wedding. Eli’s Cheesecake of Chicago, for instance, created a DIY wedding cake kit that includes miniature British flags and lemon-elderflower buttercream frosting—Harry and Meghan’s frosting of choice. The $120 kit serves 40, and if that’s more than you can eat in one setting, viewing parties are taking place all over, including at two premiere British restaurants in New York, Jones Wood Foundry in the Upper East Side, and The Shakespeare in Midtown. If you’re not in New York, luxury cruise line Cunard is having parties on its Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth ships. You’ll need something decidedly British to wear, of course, so Hotter Shoes unveiled a new line of royal wedding footwear. The red heels include a “Markle-sparkle” decorative finish. If you would rather just sit at home and watch the coverage from the comfort of your own couch, tea maker Harney & Sons can add to the atmosphere with its Royal Wedding tea blend that, it says, is “elegant enough to match the occasion.”
When a Customer Experience Attempt Goes Awry
Social media is a powerful tool and a great way for brands to listen to their customers. Their feedback on social streams is usually honest and a great source of unsolicited feedback. How a brand uses that information, though, is another issue. Take, for instance, La Porchetta, a restaurant in Sterling, Va. A customer named Yesha Callahan ordered a burger, fries and zeppoles on a Sunday night from the restaurant via GrubHub and had it delivered to her apartment. The driver asked if she would provide a review on Yelp, and she agreed. Callahan wasn’t all that impressed with her order, so she gave it a three-star (out of five) review and said she might try the pizza next time. Then, according to an article on Mashable, things got weird. The restaurant’s manager showed up at her apartment at 10:00 p.m. and started knocking on her door. He called her phone and said he was outside and wanted to talk to her about her review. As any single Millennial female would do, Callahan locked herself in her bedroom and called the police—and then changed her Yelp review to one star because, well, creepy. The restaurant told Mashable the manager made a bad decision, but was trying to apologize, build clientele and offer a replacement order. Umm, OK. Perhaps next time an email with a coupon might be a better approach.