When your business revolves around dealing with the public, complaints come with the territory. That’s especially true in the retail sector. No matter how diligent you are in managing your operations, complaints will come up. How you deal with them can make all the difference in the world. One surefire way to build customer loyalty is by taking ownership of the problem and offering up a reasonable solution that will appease all involved.
As Inc. shares, that’s what the CEO of the Gap did when he received a thoughtful complaint letter from a shopper – and there’s a pretty good chance the company now has a customer for life.
Five-year-old Alice Jacob is a pretty big fan of shopping at the Gap, but she was becoming increasingly unhappy with the product selection. That prompted Alice to put pen to paper and share her thoughts with the company.
“All your girl shirts are pink and princesses and stuff like that. The boys’ shirts are really cool. They have Superman, Batman, rock-and-roll and sports. What about girls who like those things like me, and my friend Olivia? Can you make some cool girls’ shirts, please? Or, can you make a ‘no boys or girls’ section – only a kids’ section?” her adorable letter read in part.
As you can imagine, a company the size of the Gap receives an inordinate amount of communications on a daily basis. However, this one struck a chord and didn’t get lost in the shuffle. Gap Brand President & CEO Jeff Kirwan decided to respond to her directly.
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“But, you are right, I think we can do a better job offering, even more, choices that appeal to everyone. I’ve talked with our designers, and we’re going to work on even more fun stuff that I think you’ll like. In the meantime, I’m going to send you a few of my favorite tees from our latest collection. Please check them out and let us know what you think,” his excellent reply read in part. |
Kirwan nailed it. While CEO’s simply don’t have the time to respond to every single customer inquiry, he jumped on this one and created some fantastic public relations for his company in the process. Besides the p.r., there’s a great lesson tucked inside of here for other retailers of all shapes and sizes: listen to your customer’s feedback. Unsolicited commentary from shoppers amounts to free market research. Absorb it, learn from it and implement changes as needed.
