When It Comes to Your Brand, Every Customer Counts

Over the holiday break, my wife and I had two memorable experiences when we went to Morton’s and the Olive Garden for dinner. These chain restaurants sit at different ends of the market, and we had very different experiences — but not in the way you might expect.

I am not talking about the food; I am talking about how the marketing staffs at both chains responded to me as a customer after I left the premises.

We had a bad experience at Morton’s, a top-end steakhouse, and a great experience at the Olive Garden. As an experiment, I posted comments on both chains’ website feedback forms, and I posted two tweets on my Twitter account. This is when things got interesting.

With one restaurant, I got an immediate email auto-response that said it would take up to a week for someone to get back to me. This is a good idea: set expectations and let people know that their comment didn’t fall into a black hole. Indeed, a few days later I did get a very nice personal email that showed me that the person had taken time to research the situation and contact the employees involved at the restaurant and send along my comments. I felt appreciated for my business, and that my time spent in filling out their form was worthwhile since they were acting on it quickly. With the other restaurant, there was no response to the web comment form. Where did the comment go? I have no idea.

Both chains had almost immediate Twitter feedback. Given that both chains’ Twitter accounts were fairly active and engaged with followers, that is to be expected.

So which chain did what? Olive Garden was the pro-active one, perhaps because I was praising them. But it was clear to me that they had the right corporate culture and they took their feedback seriously. Morton’s was the laggard.

Eventually, a district manager from Morton’s called me (from my Twitter interaction) and offered me a gift certificate to return to them and try them out again, and probably I will, just because the temptation for free food is great. But since posting this column on my blog, I heard from other dissatisfied Morton’s customers, many of whom didn’t take the time to email or Tweet about their experiences.

What made the difference? Olive Garden was proactive in communicating with us, both at the restaurant and afterwards. Morton’s took their time and was unhelpful until our meal became public.

It shows you how any brand is built on a single experience. Would I go back to Olive Garden? Definitely yes. How about Morton’s? Unlikely if it is my money.

So what is the lesson to be learned from this experiment? Take your customers seriously, or they won’t be your customers for long. Every interaction is a test to see if everyone in the customer-facing arena can deliver on the best possible experience. And while my meal at Olive Garden wasn’t as fancy, the level of service was far beyond what Morton’s offered. Ultimately, that is what matters. And if you aren’t yet using any social media monitoring tools, there are numerous inexpensive ones including Gremln.com, Viralheat.com, and Ubervu.com.

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