Customer Eject Buttons
Every Crisis Is a (Cross Sell) Opportunity
While doing some moving with my roommate, I was looking around, generally spacing out - we were on our way to a self storage facility in a rented U Haul.
I was messing with the radio when I noticed this sticker:
It really got me thinking: I have moved around a whole bunch in my life - about 19 times in the last count. Overseas, between coasts and states, for a long time, for a short time. I traveled a bunch and boxing up my crap and hauling it somewhere is something I am more familiar with than most.
Which is to say I have a ton of customer sympathy - I lived that customer journey many times myself and given thought to all the ways it can be improved. For a bit I considered starting my own moving company - still have ideas around software services for them - anyway…
One of the many struggles of moving is loading and unloading the boxes from whatever van/truck/cart you put them on. It is heavy, I am not in amazing shape, and I can’t lug 60 pound boxes around like I used to when I exercised.
If you’re moving yourself (it’s a U Haul, U are LOL) - then that is a lot of work. It is hard, it is frustrating, you can get hurt, you bump walls and get irritated. It really separates those who are strong and or logistically talented from the rest of us.
It is a process that can and does bring people to tears, even if they have experience and a plan. And that is the beauty of this sticker.
You see it when you are about to lug a bunch of stuff out of your apartment (scary), or when you are about to haul it all into the new place (tired, overwhelmed, hurt).
I bet the conversions on this are insane when someone calls the number - I am thinking 20% cross sell at least. But there is some secret sauce to distill here too:
U Haul could answer:
When is the tension/pain/frustration consistent and acute in your customer journey?
Is there a way you can productize/partner/educate so that the issue is resolved?
Is there a direct and convenient way for you to communicate with your customer when they begin searching for a solution like your offering?
Let’s break it down:
My pain and frustration were most acute when I loaded my van, but I pulled a muscle and it took longer than I expected. I began to run late and was worried storage would close.
U Haul Partners with local movers to coordinate moving services.
I noticed a sticker on the dashboard advertising some muscle to help with the move - same day so I didn’t need to have thought ahead. It was more of a luxury to prevent greater injury.
I call this, the customer eject button → Where customers who have ‘had enough’ can phone it in to have the rest handled on their behalf. I vaguely remember Ikea partnering with Task Rabbit - an unskilled labor on demand app a while back, to provide customers an eject button when their marriage was strained by construction.
It is a good way to make more money and provide a higher standard of service to your customers if you get it right. Heck - it may even help you identify a new category you can operate in.
Fantastic article, as always. I’ve also often wondered about the design and wording of those adverts. It’s a lot harder than one can imagine, for me anyway. What fonts, sizes, colors, what to highlight - the possibilities are endless. Many these days take the easy way out with a QR code that takes you to a website. But I think there is a delicate balance between two things - making the offer so attractive and unreal that you know there’s a catch, and when you take the leap to find out more, the size of the actual catch is smaller than the expected one. Or maybe the actual terms are not as rosy as the advert (just as you suspected) but you find out that there are other perks that weren’t mentioned on the advert. Whoever thought making poster adverts was easy!