Why your business needs wow moments

In our recent blog Want to create a frictionless business? we shared with you some of the top insights from Inbound 2018 that we attended in Boston.  

One of the key learnings from the event was that for businesses to flourish and grow, the focus has to be on delighting customers. This will deliver your biggest return on investment and ensuring you incorporate wow moments will be vital for success going forward. 

A wow moment is something that surprises your customers and leaves a lasting impression on them. It can be part of an orchestrated marketing campaign but often and sometimes more impactfully, is a smaller action that occurs when your customer least expects it. Even just a well-timed e-mail, phone call or exclusive piece of content. 

To create the reaction from your customer that you’re after and truly wow them, the action must feel genuine and thoughtful, demonstrating real caring for the individual and showing they are valued. It’s not as simple as giving away a freebie, it has to be special to that person but appear to be spontaneous, not strategic. 

Word of mouth is increasingly becoming the most influential decision driver and your delighted, loyal customers will inevitably share their experience with their peers. They will then be attracted to your business and have you on their radar, so you’re gaining more of your target audience.  

Below we take a look at some great wow moments we’ve experienced in different sectors that should help inspire you to start creating your own: 

Banking… 

Emma told us “I’d visited Barclays for something routine and whilst there chatting with the cashier it came up that I was getting married the following week. The day before the wedding I found a bottle of wine and a congratulatory card on my doorstep wishing me all the best from the local branch! I thought it was a lovely, unexpected thing to do and have always remembered it.” 

Travel… 

Louisa experienced great service when flying home from a holiday with her young family “The check-in lady got my little girl to help stick the luggage sticker on her pushchair, a small thing but she loved it, we were fast tracked through security and through passport control and offered assistance when boarding the aircraft. At every point our young traveller was acknowledged which made a potentially fraught experience an enjoyable one.” 

Nick took his daughter on a highly anticipated trip to Legoland. “Unfortunately, it was snowing on our second day and meant the park wasn’t operating. The concierge at the hotel where we were staying knew that was the reason for our visit and realised how upset our little girl would be so gave her a goodie bag filled with activity books and things to keep her busy. They didn't have to, it was nothing to do with the hotel, but it felt like they wanted to help and obviously had it pre-planned for scenarios like ours.”  

Retail… 

Chloe was impressed with a clothing store “I’d bought a raincoat from this particular shop a couple of years ago and worn it a lot. It wasn’t a design fault as I had admittedly caught and ripped off one of the toggles but I popped into the store just in case they knew where I could find a part that matched and get it repaired. They obviously didn’t have the jacket in stock any longer but took my number and I was surprised a few days later to find out they had spoken to the manufacturer and were getting a couple of the same toggles posted over to me from their factory abroad. They didn’t have to do that, and it means I buy more there now that I may otherwise have done!”. 

Fast food… 

Helen recalls “I took my children to McDonald’s drive-thru for the first time during a Happy Meal promotion for Peter Rabbit as they were obsessed with him. On being handed the boxes it was for something else, not rabbit related cue upset children and fed up mum. They had run out of toys. I didn’t complain but did fill out the survey mentioned on the receipt and was surprised to be contacted by the store manager who offered us all free food and a selection of the original promotional goodies. I was really impressed that such a big brand bothers with every unhappy customer and it got us back there again”. 

Car sales… 

Ali remembers his experience when buying a car with his wife and four children “We were wandering around the cars for sale when a guy asked if he could help.  Rather than ignoring the kids he asked if anyone would like a drink and led them into the reception where he provided drinks, snacks, books and drawing stuff and asked one of the other staff to keep an eye on them. He told them that he was going to look around some boring cars with your parents. When we got back from test driving one he made sure we were happy and then brought the kids back to the car, along with cups of tea for the adults. Once the deal was agreed, he got the kids to stand by the car with a sold sign and got them to make an unveiling video. It wasn't just the buying of the car, it was the communication and making my wife (who hates salesmen) feel at ease. It’ll be my first port of call when I next need a car.” 

B2B… 

Paul said “We had a situation where a client was implementing new technology across several depts in their business. They had chosen the tech, created new workflows and movement of information around the business that would reduce cost and improve efficiency, but the owner was concerned there would be a lack of adoption by his staff. On realising it was a communication and training issue (which wasn’t our remit) we suggested producing a step-by-step flyer that cost very little, was highly visible to the users and solved a problem that could have derailed the entire venture. The happy business owner selected us to handle the whole project as we’d solved something others hadn’t even tried to address.” 

Every business can build their own wow moments. You don’t need to have vast budgets or complicated plans. Just a real customer focus, a thorough understanding of their pain points and the ability to foresee and solve their problems, ideally before they arise. 

Do you have examples of wow moments that you have either experienced as a customer or used to impress your own clients? We’d love to hear about them. 

To find out more about how Secret Source could help you to delight customers and grow your business, contact us by e-mailing enquiries@secretsourcemarketing.com, phone us on 01522 700266 or leave your details below.