Never underestimate
the power of a good “Ahh”
Perhaps you noticed. Nowadays, people buy stuff online.
The moment your package arrives represents the first time that your customer and product meet face-to-face. Until then, your product was only an image on a monitor. This is your chance to make a great first impression. To make your customer think, “I purchased wisely and well.”
Or not.
I’ll get to the “or not” part. First let’s look at an example of how to get it right.
The folks at Levenger are great at presentation. I recently ordered one of their leather padfolios made for an iPad. On the right is a photo of the “Ahh”-inspiring sight that greeted me inside the corrugated shipping box. I had expected peanuts or bubble wrap with the padfolio buried inside. Instead, I found this attractive box. (I kept it. Too nice to chuck.) It made me think that the product inside must really be something. Good thing. The padfolio wasn’t cheap, and I’d begun to wonder if I’d been frivolous and should return it. |
Inside the attractive box, another “ahh” awaited me. When I removed the elastic and the lid, I was greeted not by my padfolio, but by what it was wrapped in: a Levenger branded lens cloth measuring a generous 12 by 24 inches. Their website hadn’t told me I’d be getting that. In the industry, we call including such extras a “surprise and delight” strategy. It cost Levenger next to nothing. I mean, come on, it’s two square feet of cloth. But it made a big impression nonetheless. Surprised and delighted I was. |
At last I found my way to the padfolio nestled inside the cloth. The smell of leather wafted out. That’s it at bottom right. By this time, my thoughts of returning the product had vanished. Levenger had wrapped and presented it like it was a work of art. No way was I going to part with it. Now, for the promised example of how not to get it right. |
Never underestimate the power of a good “ahh.”
—Steve Cuno