We bought burgers at Costco but couldn’t find French fries. We asked but an employee explained the store didn’t sell that side dish. We didn’t think much more about our plates of lonely burgers until exiting and seeing people hover around a tall, red customer comment box.
A business placing out customer comment boxes is not unusual. But Costco’s is different. The box is not off to the side or tucked away in the corner. The box is not smaller than a breadbox. The comment box is big and bold and nearly impossible to miss at the very time you’re rolling your oversized cart out and wishing the store sold something it doesn’t.
And people appear to buy into Costco’s big red comment box. From what we witness, people don’t ignore it or assume it’s window dressing recommended by a marketing guru trying to score points at a corporate conference table. A nice older woman filled out her card while we filled out ours.
I began to wonder if the big red box fit into a bigger puzzle when I stopped by Costco’s gas station. I thought I was the only obsessive driver who felt he desperately needed a hand wipe or bucket of soap and water after filling up. After all, if you forgot to pack the sanitizer, your gas station hands then touch the steering wheel, radio and seats, meaning the whole car is … well, that’s a blog for Psychology Today.
Much like a kid ripping open the wrapping paper covering the latest, greatest new gadget, I was overwhelmed with appreciation when noticing for the first time that Costco placed near the gas tanks the largest hand sanitizer jugs I’ve seen. Somebody’s listening! Or somebody read my mind! Or Americans are simply obsessed with germs.
When speaking about responding to customers in real time, social media is often considered the Holy Grail. But Facebook and Twitter are new tools, not necessarily replacements. Perhaps the response time isn’t as rapid, but businesses can still use good ‘ole fashion techniques to prove they’re listening. Just be genuine. Make the comment box big, red and conveniently located. And respond. Stock those shelves with French fries or explain why you can’t. I’ll take a huge bottle of hand sanitizer any day. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to wipe my keyboard clean.
