Why we are rethinking our greatest marketing idea

By Jon Cherry

Over the years, Yuppiechef has become synonymous with handwritten cards.

Way back in the beginning, after a worryingly long wait for our very first order — that we didn’t recognise as one from a family member or a close friend — we were so excited and grateful upon receiving that order, that we immediately penned that customer a handwritten note of sincere thanks.

It was a spontaneous gesture, a heartfelt expression that was in no way part of some elaborate promotional strategy.

It was the way we did things then and how we have done things ever since; honest, truthful and appreciative to our core.

Back then we had no real way of knowing that our simple act of writing a note of thanks to each person who subsequently ordered something from Yuppiechef would come to define our brand as much as it has. In the last eight years we estimate that collectively we’ve penned nearly half a million hand written notes.

Not even Shakespeare wrote that many lines of copy.

You would think that this seemingly inexpensive stroke of marketing genius would be something we smugly high-five each other about everyday, but in fact, the opposite over time has become true.

It started getting a bit weird for us when we began hiring dedicated staff whose sole job it was to write cards — but lately… it’s gotten worse.

Maybe it’s a sign of the times that the rest of the world has cottoned onto the idea that showing that you care through a handwritten note is an effective disruption strategy, but we’ve become increasingly concerned about our own card writing activities.

Intention

Originally, the intention behind the first card was simply to say thank you.

Thank you for trusting us enough to actually ship you something rather than disappearing with the money. Thank you for deciding to do business with one of the few online retailers that existed in South Africa at the time.

Don’t get us wrong, we are still hugely grateful to all of our customers for their support, but over time we have expressed that gratitude in progressively more effective ways; by putting effort into our systems, hiring the best team that we can afford, fine tuning our shipping process so that it is one of the most efficient and accurate in the world.

Back then all we could do was to write a card, today we can make your whole experience with us memorable.

Sincerity

Yuppiechef has grown into a business with over 9000 different products on our shelves and hundreds of thousands of individual customers. Some of our customers shop regularly with us and often order regular, everyday items that they know will be delivered to their door, free of charge.

The challenge that we have been facing is — does the purchasing of regular household items once a week from us really require as much of a sincere note of thanks as that very first order that we sent a card with?

Have our own cards just become a marketing gimmick?

The feeling that we get when we ask ourselves these questions leaves us with an overwhelming sense of unease.

Authenticity

Over the years we’ve often been wrong about things. We’ve tried things that didn’t work and have made many decisions that didn’t pan out as we would have liked. But the one thing that has never been in doubt is the authenticity and integrity with which we do things.

What you see is what you get. What we say is what we do.

So when writing a card that we know is a symbol of sincerity doesn’t feel that way to us anymore — then we have a problem.

And part of who we are is to never do something just for the sake of past success, or even just going through the motions because we know it’s a good direct marketing idea.

If it doesn’t feel like it is done with the intention that it is seeming to project, we’re lying to ourselves and ultimately, to our very own customers.

So in summary, we have been including beautiful, handwritten cards with every purchase from Yuppiechef for the last 8 years.

After much debate and careful consideration we will be scaling back on the number of cards we write, but will still keep the act alive for instances where it is appropriate and where we are inspired.

The tradition started as a sincere expression of personal gratitude that we still feel today, however, we’ve come to a point now where we feel that we can offer even more value to our customers in other ways that will make their experience with us even better.

Ultimately the love will be shown with our actions, not just our words in a card.