7 Awe-Inspiring Surprise & Delights
According to a 2018 Cigna survey, about 50 percent of Americans have “meaningful in-person social interactions.” We, of course, would pair this not-so-surprising statistic with Robert Waldinger’s 75-year-long Harvard study on adult happiness, which reiterated a simple truth that we all know:
“Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.”
Pretty straightforward wisdom, right?
One more finding stood out: One of PwC’s 2019 Global Consumer Insights Survey six imperatives for improving the customer loyalty journey was to find and create “magic moments.”
A few years ago, we shared a post with seven examples of surprise and delight. That post has remained one of our top performers ever since. Realizing the curiosity about successful surprise and delight goes on, our team gathered seven new examples from companies who nailed magical surprise and delight moments, including one of our clients, Hello Bello!
Cultivating a mindful, personalized consumer-brand experience can be the catalyst to a customer evolving into a lifelong, die-hard fan. After you check out these examples, it’s not hard to see why.
Warning: The genuine sentiment behind these connecting moments will induce high levels of heart satisfaction.
1. CASE STUDY: KFC (2017)
Scenario: One of KFC’s biggest fans discovered the secret meaning behind the brand’s “spicy” following. To rightly acknowledge this fan’s efforts, KFC delivered him a (truly spectacular) Rockwell-meets-Bob Ross painting that immortalized their brand-customer connection, along with some gift cards to help goad his country-fried chicken obsession.
Opportunity: Award your savvy hand-raisers generously with “Buckets of Regards.”
2. CASE STUDY: DELTA (2019)
Scenario: Great service is not limited to your plane assignment, especially when you’re boarding one of Delta’s international flights. Delta wants to “reinvent the Main Cabin experience,” so they began offering “premium” dining and service options to their Main Cabin passengers.
Opportunity: Make the ordinary extraordinary. Extra efforts in terms of hospitality and personal touches go ‘round the world.
3. CASE STUDY: HELLO BELLO (2019)
Scenario: With the onset of one of our client launches, one of the things we were most excited for was the opportunity to treat parents who subscribed to the diaper bundle subscription. So for Mother’s Day, Hello Bello sent mommas some delightfully fizzy bath bombs.
Opportunity: Parenting is a tough job, especially when budgets and quality concerns are involved. Let’s help make life a little easier and brighter.
4. CASE STUDY: SOUTHWEST (2018)
Scenario: When a Southwest passenger (and NCAA fan) paid for in-flight WIFI service to no avail, a member of the Southwest Social Care Team stepped in to live tweet the entire game so she wouldn’t miss it.
Opportunity: The best surprises always come in packages — sometimes they arrive in 140 characters or less. A little exemplary effort from one of Consumer Report’s ‘Best Airlines’ of 2018 went a long way.
5. CASE STUDY: CHEWY.COM (2019)
Scenario: When a customer tried to return a bag of auto-shipped, unopened dog food to Chewy.com after his beloved pug died, the brand not only refunded his purchase, they surprised him with a custom painting of a photo they’d found online of his dog, commemorating the life and love between dog and human.
Opportunity: Building relationships with customers extends beyond the point of transaction. Looking for genuine, authentic ways to honor the things that matter most to the people who love your brand never fails. (In fact, the original post has been liked over 263,000 times on Facebook and shared more than 151,000 times.)
6. CASE STUDY: KLEENEX (2013)
Scenario: The tissue brand’s “Feel Good” campaign is a lesson in the power of user-generated content. After scouring Facebook posts from 50 fans who were feeling under the weather, the Kleenex team sent “Get well soon” Kleenex kits, individually prepped for varying levels of sickness.
Opportunity: Gratitude goes a long way. Out of all 50 fans who received the “Feel Good” kit, 100% of them uploaded a thank you post, including a photo of the kit, to their Facebook timelines. The campaign achieved 650,000 impressions and 1,800 interactions.
7. CASE STUDY: MASTERCARD (2014-PRESENT)
Scenario: MasterCard’s #Priceless rewards campaign has been running for a whopping 22 years. From 2014 to present, their campaign has evolved to engage more closely with customers through the company’s “Priceless Surprises.” Chosen completely at random, MasterCard customers have the chance to receive unexpected rewards that range from receiving cupcakes to exclusive celebrity meet-and-greets and concert tickets.
Opportunity: To date, the campaign has “surprised” over 98,000 card holders across 25 countries. To add an extra dose of delightful, the campaign has inspired cardholders to give their own surprises to friends and family, successfully paying the message of giving forward.
