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Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

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161–170 of 208 posts

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#161

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 be…

Strong agree.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 cou…

>I don't have much evidence to support this claim

No, but you're going to make the claim anyways, aren't you?

>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.

Ah, yep. I can tell you've had some bad experiences with Raising Cane's.

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

Both of them make me sick! I can't digest either.

>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.

I think I have to ask you the same question! Do you eat a lot of low quality fast food? That could be one reason your gut bacteria are craving food from a fast food joint instead of something that isn't deep fried and covered in Polynesian sauce.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#163
I had an original piece of art framed by a local art gallery a few years ago.

This year, they sent me a $50 off coupon in the mail, along with a card and a hand-written and personalized note referencing the specific piece of art I had had them frame.

Instant customer for life.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#164
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is because you are upper middle class. Among the working class and teenage population, it is a status symbol. We have our own in the upper middle class and we are similarly exploited. Luxury cars + a honorable cause is one that comes to mind. Marketing can target insecurities but it doesn't need to be insecurity based. I just find that most egregious. Advertising "new, better, faster,tech" seems like the opposit…

I'm in upper middle class and switched away from an iPhone to an Android last year and felt like I dropped classes based on verbal reactions from my peers. I thought it was much more prominent as a status symbol in lower classes, but many of my peers also indirectly conveyed that my status had dropped. Some outright said it. I find it pretty bizarre and unfortunate, but now I'm back to getting the new iPhone because…

I find it bizarre that people talked to you about their perceived change in your status to you directly, much less simply due to a phone.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#166

There was a brilliant Twitter thread last year showing a project to "hand write" with cnc robots thousands of personalised letters for a mailout. They initially started off with off the shelf hand writing robots, but ended up building their own massive ones to increase speed and efficiency. https://mobile.twitter.com/aarondfrancis/status/143888821947...

As an AxiDraw pen plotter experimenter, I think business notes is the wrong market for this.

I’ve always thought wedding invitations would be better. Rather than faking handwriting the pen is used much in the way an emboss or deboss is - to raise the quality and prestige of the document. Fountain pens allow for intricate ink sheen and color combinations. Customers are also not price sensitive.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“How do we scale that feeling that someone got a personal handwritten note” is really dystopian.

Alternatively, "a scalable way to bring a little bit of joy to many people" is actually nice & good.

Until everyone finds out what is happening and another last source of human connection becomes ruined. Writing a post about it is a surefire way to get there, but having te idea in the first place is how you start.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#168
Recently bought a espresso machine, the company that sold it included a hand written thank you and a few candies in the packaging. I found it really interesting, and felt good about it and so I found myself using them to buy a few other items for brewing coffee.

Then they signed me up for a newsletter, blocked their domain and stopped using them ever-since.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#169

There was a brilliant Twitter thread last year showing a project to "hand write" with cnc robots thousands of personalised letters for a mailout. They initially started off with off the shelf hand writing robots, but ended up building their own massive ones to increase speed and efficiency. https://mobile.twitter.com/aarondfrancis/status/143888821947...

“How do we scale that feeling that someone got a personal handwritten note” is really dystopian.

Not at all new by the way. First parent is 220 years old.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopen

Faked signature by machine had been popular for 80 years.

Re: Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 cou…

>I don't have much evidence to support this claim No, but you're going to make the claim anyways, aren't you? >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. Ah, ye…

Why so hostile? We're just talking about fast food man, lol.

> Do you eat a lot of low quality fast food? That could be one reason your gut bacteria are craving food from a fast food joint instead of something that isn't deep fried and covered in Polynesian sauce.

No, I don't, which is why I don't crave fast food. I get Chick-fil-a once or twice a month for fun.

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