Handwritten thank you notes increase sales • Hacker News Board

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#141

Post by banannaise » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:41 PM UTC

sweetheart wrote: post #10

Being kind is fine and all, but my one gripe with it is that it doesn’t make me any money. Glad to see the dark days of being nice without any ROI are ending.

One of the endlessly frustrating things about modern capitalism is knowing that if I don't monetize my kindness, there are usually two people profiting: one who monetizes my kindness instead, and one who learns to simulate it.

Both of those people are almost certainly assholes.

It's not psychologically healthy to change my behavior as a result, or to dwell on the above, but the fact that my psychologically healthy behaviors are trivially exploited for someone else's monetary gain seems like a major flaw in the system.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#142

Post by donatzsky » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:45 PM UTC

ignaloidas wrote: post #128

lotsofpulp wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sending out a “hand” written thank you letter long after a transaction is completed and real time customer service at the time of transaction are not comparable actions of customer service.

My dad has been ordering green tea from a particular seller for maybe 10 years now, in part because they include a lovely little handwritten note for each order. It is absolutely comparable.

Sounds like What-Cha. Can absolutely recommend him.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#143

Post by AlwaysRock » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:48 PM UTC

Reminds me of the start of Her where Joaquin Phoenix writes love letters for couples in the near future world of the movie.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#144

Post by chowells » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:50 PM UTC

Silverback_VII wrote: post #126

bheadmaster wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In every human interaction you can perceive the battle over power, social status and personal interests. I agree with this in general - but some interactions really are more about mutual feeling-good, than about power struggles. Of course, those interactions are necessarily with people who are close to us. I think the better way to put this would be: In every interaction *with strangers* you can perceive the battle…

Not sure if your statement is true even if I can see some relationships to be mutually beneficial. However, the term frenenemy exists for a reason. I think some part of oneself is always calculating one's own value and power in relation to others. Some of these mechanics only become apparent if there is a big change in a relationship like one of your friend or family member becoming very successful for example.

I don't understand. Every one of my friends is an awesome person who deserves health, happiness, and security. If they find those things, I'm happy for them. What kind of person do you mislabel "friend" if you get upset that their life is becoming better?

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#145

Post by aaaaaaaa27567 » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:51 PM UTC

deltarholamda wrote: post #70

waselighis wrote: post #34

Fucking marketers just want to destroy all sincerity in the world.

Well, yes, but... take away from this something less grim. It's something a friend who was in marketing used to say to me all of the time: "good customer service is the best marketing, and it's often very nearly free." Chick-fil-a figured this out years ago. Their employees are required to be nice and kind, and they can get fired for having a crappy attitude. This sounds awful, Stepford-wifeish, but in reality it imp…

> Chick-fil-a figured this out years ago.

They have fairly good customer service, not sure if it's better then McDonald though... but their food though, it isn't good.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#146

Post by layer8 » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:52 PM UTC

> Give customers a high-quality copy of a handwritten note

So, not actually handwritten. Even it were actually handwritten, as a customer I’d still assume it to be a mass copy.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#147

Post by notshift » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:53 PM UTC

deltarholamda wrote: post #70

waselighis wrote: post #34

Fucking marketers just want to destroy all sincerity in the world.

Well, yes, but... take away from this something less grim. It's something a friend who was in marketing used to say to me all of the time: "good customer service is the best marketing, and it's often very nearly free." Chick-fil-a figured this out years ago. Their employees are required to be nice and kind, and they can get fired for having a crappy attitude. This sounds awful, Stepford-wifeish, but in reality it imp…

I don't have much evidence to support this claim, but as best I can tell Chick-fil-a has far superior food quality than Raising Cane's. Chick-fil-a holds their ingredients & preparation to the same high standard as they do their customer service, whereas Raising Cane's is much more hit-or-miss, a lot more like the McDonalds or Burger Kings out there.

One thing you can look at is the nutrition label. Total calorie counts aren't so useful IMO, but Raising Cane's reports that their foods have unhealthy trans fats, while Chick-fil-a reports 0 trans fats.

Raising Cane's makes me sick whenever I get it, whereas Chick-fil-a is extremely well digested for me.

Do you eat a lot of junk food generally in your diet? That could be one reason why maybe your gut bacteria are craving the worse quality food & causing you to not enjoy CFA as much.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#148

Post by mikkergp » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:54 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #138

maest wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other way I think about Veblen goods is that when you're purchasing an e.g. Balenciaga shirt, you're paying for 2 things: 1. the shirt 2. you're giving money to Balenciaga to go out there and tell people how great owners of Balenciaga shirts are. You're paying them to do some marketing on your behalf, in a way.

A logo’d shirt is a poor example of a Veblen good. Per wiki >A Veblen good would be something where the demand increases as the price increases. Shirts with logos are actually priced lower than shirts with logos. They might signal that someone can ship at an outlet mall rather than Walmart, but not much more. All the high end clothing will not have conspicuous logos.

I think it heavily depends on the logo. Lots of luxury brands are very conspicuous with their logos. Louis Vuitton comes to mind but specifically with shirts:

https://www.saksfifthavenue.com/product/balenciaga-large-fit...

I wonder if there’s a dip with mid/high end products, but the “very high end” “designer” brands are very logo centric.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#149

Post by bheadmaster » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:55 PM UTC

chowells wrote: post #144

Silverback_VII wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if your statement is true even if I can see some relationships to be mutually beneficial. However, the term frenenemy exists for a reason. I think some part of oneself is always calculating one's own value and power in relation to others. Some of these mechanics only become apparent if there is a big change in a relationship like one of your friend or family member becoming very successful for example.

I don't understand. Every one of my friends is an awesome person who deserves health, happiness, and security. If they find those things, I'm happy for them. What kind of person do you mislabel "friend" if you get upset that their life is becoming better?

Ressentiment is a real friendship killer.

It's one thing to be happy for your friend's success, it's another thing to watch your friend have all the things that you want in life but can't get, on a regular basis.

Of course, one could ask whether or not that friend has the responsibility to share his success with you, or whether or not it is right to feel that they do. Those are tricky questions, and asking them still doesn't stop ugly emotions from appearing. And since friendships are mostly based on good emotions, bad emotions cause issues.

Human interactions are simple in theory, but very complex in practice.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#150

Post by gchamonlive » Wed, Sep 07, 2022, 2:58 PM UTC

banannaise wrote: post #139

gchamonlive wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a matter of semiotics. At one point you need to scale, and you realise you can just manipulate symbols easier. They might at one point have come from sincerity, but industrial scale trumples all.

And thus the simulation of sincerity leads us even deeper into the simulation. Baudrillard strikes again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation

And ultimately into Marcuse, with the Great Refusal.