Church of the Customer Blog
« J. Crew makes it personal again | Main | links for 2006-08-31 »
August 30, 2006
J. Crew makes it personal again
You might remember when I wrote last year about a clerk from J. Crew. Her name is Natalie, and she'd sent a handwritten note and a gift card following one of my store visits. It amazed me that someone from an $800 million company would take the time to send a personal note to a customer.
She sent another note last week. She remembered that I am a big fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers and wrote that I was probably excited about the approaching NFL season (I am!). She included a $10 gift card.
With turnover at retail stores hovering around 100%, the fact that Natalie still works at J. Crew nearly a year later says a lot. So does her follow-up note.
Other blogs that reference J. Crew makes it personal again:
» Engaging Your Customers Results in Great Word of Mouth Marketing from Search Marketing Gurus | Search Marketing Tips, Advice, Strategies
I came across a great example of Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing yesterday, one that made me pause and think about how internet retailers could replicate the same type of great customer relations with their customers and even visitors to their sites. Jac... [Read More]
» Two Ideas To Build Customer Loyalty from Customer Service Experience
What do you and your employees do during off peak times during the day? Do you visit with each other? Surf the net? Read my blog?... [Read More]
» Getting Personal from *Star In The Margin
Need some fodder for your next staff meeting? How about this great example of how to make a guest feel special? ...from Church of The Customer. [Read More]
I'm curious, do you reach out to her boss/manager and let them know that Natalie is responsible for you as a repeat customer?
Is that her personal ## on there? I'd recommend blacking it out :P
Jackie does she know you are a blogger? And I agree, the Steelers do rule ;)
Ross, I have not reached out to her manager. But you are right, I should.
Josh, the number on the card is the store's main number.
Mack, I don't think she knows I am a blogger. I never mentioned what I did for a living. But I guess it's posible that she did Google me.
Jackie does your wife know about this lol?
Too funny - my wife applied to the local J Crew for a p/t position and met the store mgr through a mutual friend. The store mgr assured my wife that they'd bring her in to interview etc. Never happened - never phoned, never wrote, never emailed, never anything.
It's one thing to be great, it's another to be consistently great. I'd argue J Crew failed the latter test.
Ross: I'm pretty sure the manager knows. At a place I used to work at, the mangager would make us keep a list of people to occasionally write "personal" letters to. Most of the time we didn't write them ourselves and were told to just copy from this big book of letters.
Also, the male employees were told to write to female customers, while the female empolyees wrote to men. All of this was done in a flirty tone to attract repeats.
i found your article really interesting, thank you very much for your suggestions!
