We have all been there: Walking away from an encounter that was far from a “wow” experience. Unfortunately, less-than-wow experiences seem to be the norm these days. To illustrate, try to think about your routine over just this past week. Perhaps you visited a store or two; possibly a restaurant. Maybe you had someone over to work on something in your home. Did anything in those routine events really stand out and make you think “Wow, what a great customer experience!” If you are like me, in your daily routine and the hectic schedule of life, you just come to expect the normal. But, when something exceptional takes place, you really notice it.
Knowing that I was preparing for this blog, I was scratching my head about how companies create wow experiences. I read through several different examples of wow marketing. Then, in my LinkedIn feed, I ran across an article written by an old colleague of mine. He manages to boil wow experiences down to two very simple wow ingredients:
- Use my name
- Surprise me
These little things make a big impact.
For example, we were just in Palm Springs and stayed at a little hotel that had just been updated by new ownership. It was a blend of modern with old Palm Springs charm. However, immediately when we walked in, the couple who owned the hotel met and greeted us by name as if we were old friends. But, it was not only the owners who knew us, it was the entire staff including the people who ran the front desk and more. They all went out of their way to use our name when greeting us in the morning or when we returned from an outing. Plus, knowing that we were away from kids for a nice little getaway, and that we shared a love of wine, one evening waiting for us in our room was a bottle of Champagne in an ice bucket. That was a fantastic little surprise!
I was talking to my brother-in-law a few weeks ago. He works at one of the restaurants at the Disney resort in Anaheim. He told me they go out of their way to learn what guests have been up to when they make reservations and what they might be celebrating. For example, if someone is coming in for dinner to celebrate running the half-marathon, they insert a personalized note into their menu congratulating them on their run.
Surprise can come from all sorts of other places as well. A friend of mine was telling me about an experience she had during the final walk through of a car she bought. During the walk through, they encouraged her to check the trunk. At first she was a little hesitant, after all, a trunk is a trunk. But, when she opened it, inside was a dozen roses with a thank you note signed by the automotive staff. Needless to say, that surprise left a huge impression on her about the Lexus brand and the dealership. Because of that one surprise, she insists that she will only buy another car from them.
How You Can Create Wow Marketing Experiences
At Webolutions’ next Denver Social Marketing Event on Friday, June 19, we will continue this discussion about how you can create a wow experience for your customers. We encourage you to register for the event to learn from our panel of experts about how best-in-class organizations drive word-of-mouth marketing by creating customer experiences that are worth talking about.
How to Use This Information
When it comes to experiential marketing and creating wow moments, sometimes it can be as simple as learning and using peoples’ names and then finding ways to give them little surprise moments. To do that is adopting a culture that really wants to go out of their way to create a unique experience for customers. For help creating such wow experiences, call Webolutions at 303-300-2640.
What are some great wow experiences you have encountered?
