Surprise and Delight Marketing is a new term that has taken the world by storm and you might wonder exactly what it is and how you can use it on your website. The most important thing to know is that surprise and delight marketing is about how your customers feel. However, we’re going to take it a step further and tell you how you can use surprise and delight marketing on your website, to help hook in and engage browsers, thus turning them into buyers. From there, it’s up to you to surprise and delight the heck out of them.
Examples of Surprise and Delight Marketing
The first time I heard about surprise and delight marketing, was when I watched this video about how West Jet made a plane full of customers happy in a few very short hours. It had me in tears – tears of surprise and delight!
Since then, many companies have started doing their own brands of surprise and delight marketing. You see, there is no real formula for it, other than finding ways to really show your customers that you care.
Exceptional service is always well received, but if you do it all the time, it becomes the accepted norm – it’s no longer a surprise. However, even in that you can find hero-moments, where you can really go above and beyond. Here are some of the ways in which companies apply surprise and delight marketing:
- Hand-written thank you notes and small gifts to their most valuable customers.
- Personalized birthday cards on clients’ birthdays.
- Unexpected updates, for example, a doggy daycare that sends a letter to tell the owner what Fido has been up to, complete with photos.
- Freebies are always well-received.
The more competitive your industry, the more important it is to go beyond mere quality customer service. Surprise and delight marketing becomes even more important.
Surprise and Delight Your Website Visitors
Your website is an online extension of you. Therefore, it had better be special to reflect exactly who you are and what you stand for and to accurately reflect your unique sales proposition.
With so many websites out there, you would think that it’s hard to be unique, to surprise and delight your visitors, but it’s not.
Here’s how:
1. Be Available
Nobody wants to engage with those sites that hide their contact details or expect you to pay first before you get to talk to them. No!
Stand out from the crowds by being available. Make sure that your contact details are available on every page and when someone contacts you, respond quickly.
2. Be Intuitive
Your website should be intuitive. Most obviously, your site needs to be responsive so that it adjusts to your visitors’ device instantly.
As for content, be sure that your site answers their questions in full. You can have a minimalistic layout and navigation, but be sure that you intuitively link to pages where visitors will find answers.
3. Display Integrity
One of the best ways to be honest on your website, is to include a real picture or two of yourself. A professional shot is good, but it has to be all YOU, with all your imperfections. Tell your readers about you. You are real, you are honest, and integrity is a quality that surprises and delights in business today.
A good, honest, user-friendly site pleases your visitors, and takes hurdles to buying your service or product out of the way. It makes you the person they turn to when they are ready to buy and it makes you stand out from the competition. By providing these aspects that are so different from many sites in your niche, you will surprise and delight your potential customers.