Making something boring memorable
Most orders online follow the same pattern - you order, you get an email to confirm it and then you might get updates on progress as it makes it’s way to your house.
My cousin recently ordered a bed from Sonno Beds. I personally know nothing about the company or their products but the response she got to her order was so memorable that she shared it with others in the family and it prompted me to look at their website (and write this).
This was their response:
Something that could have been really boring was made memorable.
It reminds me of the story Derek Sivers tells of the early days of CD Baby (1998). He wrote a “goofy” email that was sent out for each order; it told a story and made the delivery special:
Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved “Bon Voyage!” to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Friday, June 6th.
I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as “Customer of the Year.” We’re all exhausted but can’t wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!
Making a little bit of effort can make a potentially boring interaction more memorable and even generate more sales. It doesn’t take much to stand out.
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