Church of the Customer Blog
« J. Crew's personal touch | Main | Microsoft's new masochism initiative »
October 21, 2005
J. Crew's personal touch
How does a $800 million company connect personally with customers?
Handwritten notes is a nice start.
Natalie at my local J. Crew store sent me a note the other week. I was on my way to watch my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers at Joe's Bar and stopped first to return some things at J. Crew.
Natalie helped me and we chatted about the Steelers; her roommate is from Pittsburgh. Perhaps my Terrible Towel gave me away.
A few weeks later, I received Natalie's note and a $10 gift card. Nice! If Natalie was a stock, I'd invest in her.
I've spent thousands at the Gap and Banana Republic but never received a note like this. I couldn't name a single employee at those two stores.
But I'll remember Natalie.
Under relatively new CEO Mickey Drexler, J. Crew is on a roll. By the way, the cashmere wrap sweater and Italian suede flats are to die for.
Other blogs that reference J. Crew's personal touch:
» Old-School Marketing Technology from Compass Blog
I ran acorss a couple of great posts today about the power of hand-written notes:
Jackie Huba, at Church of the Customer, went to J. Crew, returned a couple of items, got money back and a hand written note. Remarkable, for sure. (Heres the w... [Read More]
» More on Handwritten Notes from Legal Marketing Blog
Having opined on the value of sending handwritten notes vs. other forms of communication in the past, I found two posts today, as I was trying to get my own post in before Hurricane Wilma hits us tonight, commenting on... [Read More]
» More on Handwritten Notes from Legal Marketing Blog
Having opined on the value of sending handwritten notes vs. other forms of communication in the past, I found two posts today, as I was trying to get my own post in before Hurricane Wilma hits us tonight, commenting on... [Read More]
» J.Crew - More Thoughts on China Video from Business Ethics & Social Enterprise
I rarely see anything about J.Crew in the news, or during my daily life. I dont get their catalog, nor do I shop in their stores (not as a matter of protest, I just dont). Yet, for some reason, today Ive been seemingly inundated w... [Read More]
» Cultivating raving fans--a referrals lesson from J. Crew from Automatic Referrals
Jackie Huba at the Church of the Customer has a great lesson in client service from, of all places, clothing retailer J. Crew. Seems Jackie stopped into her local J. Crew store to return some items on her way to [Read More]
» Cultivating raving fans--a referrals lesson from J. Crew from Automatic Referrals
Jackie Huba at the Church of the Customer has a great lesson in client service from, of all places, clothing retailer J. Crew. Seems Jackie stopped into her local J. Crew store to return some items on her way to [Read More]
Here's hoping Mickey has learned his lesson and doesn't bleed J. Crew with TV advertising expenditures like he did at the Gap.
Now we know what ypu want for the upcoming holidays.. ;)
That's a good start, yes. :)
I am pleased to see this type of effective follow up and customer relations still exists. It would be nice if more companies took the time to truly evaluate hiring employees who have a sincere interest in pleasing customers and working with a sunny disposition rather than just looking to make a buck. The hand written note is never out of style and is now seen as even more genuine as it is more time intensive to find the time to write one, let alone remember enough specific information about an individual to show you are being sincere and not just out to make a sale. Kudos to this J. Crew employee for being two-steps ahead of the game.
It's unfortunate that J.Crew's customer service is excellent only when they know it will encourage you to buy more of their clothing. However when it comes to an issue that doesn't help pad their wallets, such as cruelty to animals, their customer service is almost non-existent. If you write to contactus@jcrew.com to express your disgust that J.Crew has recently started selling fur, you'll get no response. Not even one of those BS uniform responses that most companies will at least send to everyone who complains about a social issue. And if you try actually speaking to someone working in a store, they'll just tell you something along the lines of, "I can't comment on that". It doesn't matter if you've been a loyal shopper for years and have spent thousands of dollars with them, you'll still get the brush off when expressing moral beliefs about the use of fur and how inherintly cruel it is. Check out www.jcruel.com to learn more.
Today more than ever the sincere personal touch stands out. The more impersonal and insulated the world gets - the more someone who reaches out will stand out.
I use handwritten picture postcards as my signature touch. It sets an impression early in the relationship and makes me stand out. They are easy to use, the postage is less, and at a subconscious level make us feel the way we do when a friend remembers us on their vacation.
This is a refreshing piece of news. As a consultant this is a practice that I have always encouraged with my clients. With the advent of CRM and other technology helps we have learned to become dependent on the automation of processes. The focus moved away from personal to mass management and the use of the little personal responses disappeared.
This has brought us farther away from ur client instead of closer and customer service has taken it in the backside with a size 22 shoe. It is nice to see a large company take hold of the personal touch. Smaller companies and small business should take note of this.
By the way, you did a nice job on your bit of customer evangelism.
http://customerdevelopmentcenter.com
I have to say, I too have spent a good deal of $$$ at Banana Republic and their customer service is terrible. I cannot understand why something so simple as follow up can baffle those at Banana Republic. Amazing.
I'm all about J.Crew. They selected my song Perfect Place to Be to advertise their summer collection. For me you can't get more personal than that! Check out the song at http://www.jcrew.com (make sure to have the sound on). I have other tunes posted on my MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/danielpalmer. Go Crew!
