Letter to a Sarcastic Blogger from a Cookie Company
(note: I was going to post this on Thursday, when my “letters to” should appear, but I wanted to be fair and give the subject a chance to review the letter first)
Remember that letter I wrote last week to the unnamed cookie company who sent me the “free” sample? Well, even though I never named the company in question, I got a response in the mail today… in the form of a box full of cookies and a letter. If only all my letters were that effective! (I’m talking to you Sony – where is my PlayStation 3?)
Rather than type the letter out, I scanned it and you can click on the image below to read it. My response follows.
letter
Click this image to read
My response
Dear Laura,
Thank you for the box of cookies. It is most appreciated. I also appreciate your letter informing me of the thought that goes into your business and the importance of customer feedback. Your letter made lots of good points up until the last paragraph.
The line, “it would have been nice of you to come to me directly, instead of posting your unhappiness to the world.” Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with this blog, but that is kind of what I do around here, I sometimes post my unhappiness to the world. It’s cathartic and people relate.
Typically, when I have an issue with a company, I don’t complain. There was a time that I did, but usually complaints rarely seem to matter. Most people who are unsatisfied with a company don’t complain to the company directly, they simply tell their friends. It’s that whole word-of-mouth thing which you mentioned. I forget the statistic, but I used to hear it all the time at company meetings, but basically, most people who are happy with a business might tell two other people. Those who are unsatisfied will tell something in the neighborhood of 12 million people. (Okay, so maybe I wasn’t paying attention to the meetings, but you get the point.)
In most businesses, you get one shot at impressing a customer. If you fail to do so, most customers move on. They don’t take the time to track you down and tell you how you can do your business better. There is a school of thought in business which says to always over deliver on expectations and you will have a long term relationship with most customers. Sending one cookie, in my opinion anyway, leaves a bad taste in a customer’s mouth. It would be one thing if I sampled the cookie at a shop. However, this was something which I paid for, even if I only paid for shipping. There is a presumed value in my purchase which makes me feel I ought to get my money’s worth.
For $2.50, that had better be one GIANT cookie.
Most of your costs for the sample seem to be in the shipping and packaging of the cookies. I don’t know what the cookies cost to make but I would guess there can’t be too much of a difference between one and say, three cookies. I could be completely wrong on this and feel free to correct me if so. However, even if it is at a small loss, I think sending three cookies would send a better message and would be a true free sample. And it would likely whet the appetite for even more cookies.
Spreading my unhappiness one blog post at a time
Back to your closing paragraph. While I do enjoy taking shots at big, faceless corporations who can’t seem to ever have more than two lanes in a store open at a time(!), I do not single out individual people and small businesses that fail to live up to my expectations, which is why I didn’t mention your company by name.
While your company, the Vermont Chocolate Chip Cookie Company may use the term “World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie” in its copy, it doesn’t show up in the first several pages of any of the Google searches I did for the term, so I figured the odds of readers putting a name to the company were pretty close to nil.
The post was merely feedback for not just yours, but any business who might have a similar situation. It has good advice for those who care to listen to the message. I say that we can sometimes learn more from those who are disappointed with our product than those who are satisfied.
I applaud you for taking the time to address my issues. It is a rare thing in today’s world for a company or individuals, for that matter, to do.
You mentioned a note in samples you sent out asking for feedback. I had no such note in my sample. And believe me, I looked, because I was sure there had to be something more in the first envelope you sent! But since you are looking for feedback, here is my feedback.
and now the part we’ve been waiting for… a review of the cookie.
- Packaging: I like the bubble envelope and the rubber band and ribbon and plastic wrap. I have no complaints. I’m not sure what a better alternative would be for making sure the cookies don’t crumble outside of a box or a tube of some sort. The presentation was good and the card attached to the package was of premium quality.
- Size: The three inch diameter seemed small when I was getting just one cookie. When I have several, the size is less of an issue.
- Taste: The first thing I tasted was the semi-sweet chocolate which was warm and melted in my mouth (perhaps because they’d been in my warm mailbox – but a GOOD melt in your mouth experience nonetheless). Next, I tasted a slight hint of butter, which I like in a cookie. I thought there was a bit of alcohol in the cookie. For a brief moment, I worried that I’d been sent a laced cookie because of my snarky letter. However, my wife corrected me and told me it was the taste of vanilla. Either way, very good. A bit on the sweet side, though most people prefer cookies like that. I tend to prefer slightly less sweet and less chocolaty, which I am sure is in direct opposition to many of my female readers who LOVE chocolate so much the only way you could make it better would be to cover the chocolate in yet another layer of chocolate. Chocolate covered chocolate. Somewhere, Tara Cain’s ears are twitching.
- Texture: Texture in a cookie is very subjective. I love crunchy cookies whereas my wife likes cookies that are so soft they practically drip off the plate. These cookies were soft with just the right amount of crunch, somehow satisfying both my wife and my own preferences.
- Overall: Is it truly The World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie? Well, I don’t know if I can say that because my wife makes perhaps the best ones I’ve tasted, which are super crunchy (which she makes just for me). However, they ARE great cookies and I would recommend them to anyone who wants to find out for themselves if this is truly the World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie.
Thank you for the explanation and the cookies,
Blogger Dad
Wow, that was more than 1,200 words. I apologize for those who could care less about cookies or my grumbling. To those that do care, feel free to comment below or order some of the World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies for yourself and see what all the fuss has been about.
As always, thank you for reading,
David
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22 Responses to “Letter to a Sarcastic Blogger from a Cookie Company”
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And just to explain on what ‘Viral’ means to a small entrepreneur… This cookie story is now being read all over the world, passed from computer to computer.
From a business point of view, Laura’s letter could possibly have been a bit less snarky. She’s talking to a guy who has shown that he has no qualms about publisising his opinion. I think (in my totally unsolicited opinion) that a better approach would have been the letter less the recriminations. “Sorry you were disappointed, thanks for the feedback, here’s a whole packet for you”.
While I totally understand where she’s coming from and how she feels, she’s dealing with a customer and in this electronic day and age, very little is actually private. Never make the customer out to be wrong. I’m not saying let customers walk all over you, however I am saying always be nice to them.
You didn’t name the company, however now you have. And given a favourable review. Laura’s going to get some good publicity out of this, and hopefully a lot of your readers will take away the lessons in it.
Laura, if you read this, while I don’t think you got your response totally right, I really applaud you for taking the time to reply and to send more cookies. So many big or small corporations wouldn’t do that at all. Good on you and best of luck with your cookies!
Melinda | WAHM Biz Builder´s last blog ..The Basics of a Good Blogsite – Part One
Dave, you were more than fair on both ends of this issue.
Business always has startup costs. It is always better to over deliver. Since this post is a lot about what Laura is offering – one never gets big, by thinking small.You are trying to watch your costs, but your potential customers dont really care about that. Best of luck in your venture.
Laura – You go girl! I’m glad to see you were brave enough to defend your position and where you were coming from. I think in the defense of Blogger Dad, if you had posted a little more information about you and how you started and what you do on your homepage, he might not have been quite as snarky. Oh, who am I kidding – this is Blogger Dad. He’s always snarky
Dave – I’m sure the viralness of your letter and her response will be pervasive throughout the ‘net. I think your honest (and snarky) reviews were, well, honest and people can and will appreciate that. As Melinda said before me, I’m sure she’ll get some good business out of this.
Kool Aid´s last blog ..duct tape and velcro
Wow, I love this entire little Adventure in Customer Service!
I ran a specialty food-related business for ten years, the last five of which have been spent within a franchising concept, mentoring new business owners in the organization throughout North America and the Middle East. I’ve found that the lack of simple conflict resolution skills would cause an unsatisfactory experience to escalate. Even seasoned business owners have no clue how to skillfully guide a disappointing encounter into a conversion scenario. Perhaps this is indicative of our societies as a whole.
From a vendor standpoint some people just won’t be pleased. Only when you’ve exhausted all your resolution strategies do you attempt to terminate the relationship with grace. Laura’s instincts were close here, but she blended two steps of the process. She’s attempting to be nice by sending the box of cookies, but the take-away effect is she really doesn’t want to have anything further to do with someone who has legitimate criticisms. Net effect: an empty gesture.
All this is fine if you want to have the kind of business that has a minimal number of encounters with the same customer. I call this model “blow and go.” Many businesses thrive in this fashion, especially those who cultivate an internet presence – there appear to be an infinite number of prospects out there on the Internets! New businesses in particular get excited about that, but fail to realize the small world characteristics social media bring as a dimensional overlay.
I believe there is a higher demand for continued relationships between customers and vendors. Ultimately, it is more satisfying to both parties for a variety of reasons – trust and familiarity work both ways and result in more sales. Delivering a mediocre experience will catch up with you, either via a steadily dwindling customer base, or from general internal dissatisfaction. Not too many people get passionate about mediocrity on either side of a transaction.
Laura has the passion about her product every start-up should have. However, her inner entrepreneur couldn’t let go of what she perceived as an attack on her baby. This drove her too far down a verbal road, serving no ultimate purpose other than allowing her to vent. Suggesting that Dave achieve resolution before publicizing his experience is “old school,” given the rise of social media. It’s sort of like downing a shot at the bar and suggesting the grievance be taken outside.
Laura indicates that she is a brand new artisan company, using the “free” sample to test cost effective shipping methods. Should Dave not have followed up with a pretty generous review, she’d have no further information about her product and services. Since that is what she ostensibly started out to get in the first place, her letter could have self-sabotaged without his gracious reaction.
Perhaps a better way to implement the testing procedure might be to be more transparent about that to begin with. Another way might be to order competitor’s cookies and study their packaging methods and results, then just copy them. Implying that your status as a work-from-home start-up should somehow give you more of a methodology pass promotes the impression that you won’t do simple homework.
If your initial outreach promotes your awesome product, the customer will rightly infer all kinds of awesome is to be expected from the entire experience with you. Even though this resolution gesture fell somewhat short, Dave might still be willing to continue the relationship as a customer or an adviser of some sort. Further good is possible, but it’s up to Laura now.
Betsy Wuebker´s last blog ..CONSIDERING A STAYCATION WITH HOTEL MINNEAPOLIS AND RESTAURANT MAX
Glad that there was a nice exchange between you and WBC. I don’t think either of you were snarky. I think Laura needed to explain her position and BloggerDad explained his very well. No sides to be taken here.
Personally, if a company does something wrong or something I do not like I usually A) complain to friends first and maybe B) write to the company if whatever the company did or failed to do is bothersome. Usually companies are willing to listen and look into my claims. Most of the time they offer freebies even when I did not ask for one.
I like that Laura from WBC sent you more cookies so that BD could taste them better. I think she should think about sending a few small cookies in her “free” packages. I wouldn’t spend a few bucks to try them because I could get a pack of cookies or premade dough from the store. But I am also not a cookie monster like BD.
Anyway, that’s my two cents.
Good Luck World’s Best Cookie — hope your business does well.
Aww, dang…now I want cookies…
Guess I’ll be baking this afternoon – while I would love to help support a small business AND my need to be lazy…sigh…I just don’t have the expendable income (but I DO have cookie ingredients in the cupboard, standard stock around here). Stupid tanking economy.
Dave, sugar, you’re a good man…but don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.
Mizz Laura, I wish you luck, darlin’…hopefully, you’ll get some goof traffic from this.
Shade and Sweetwater,
K
Kyddryn´s last blog ..What the Hell is That??
Dear Laura,
Pay Betsy a consulting fee and tip Blogger Dad for the lesson learned.
Lori Hoeck´s last blog ..Self defense against a front hair grab
Wow, check out the long thorough comments on this one Dave! I agree with Melinda – she had every right to defend her position, but didn’t need to employ the recriminations. A little snarky sure, but I still think you came off as a gentleman both times. The first for not naming the company and the second for writing a favorable review.
Writer Dad´s last blog ..Pixar – Short and Sweet
WOW! As the now infamous “Laura”, I really do appreciate everyone’s comments – both positive and negative, as I have but one goal – to give you the best chocolate chip cookies. Since I am new at this type of business venture (although I have run successful home based businesses for 10+ years – never in the food category with a product that I personally made), I am learning as I go.
Just for the record, I have studied other cookie companies, especially those that do mail order cookies, to look at their packaging and shipping methods, to be able to provide a quality fresh product, and still minimize the shipping cost to the consumer.
I wholeheartedly agree with David on the size of the sample. Really sending “free” samples was just an experiment, on whether people would be interested enough to order free samples. Once I found out that they were interested, then I had to figure out the best way to package and mail. Thanks to David’s comments I will be increasing the size of the samples in the future.
I am, however, thrilled that David DID like the cookies, and that is my main goal – to provide a good, quality cookie, at a reasonable price. And, actually in my research with other cookie companies, many were charging upwards of $14.95 for a dozen cookies, plus shipping, and I was excited to be able to offer $9.95 for a dozen cookies plus shipping.
And, with the original sample there should have been an insert asking for feedback from the sample, however, it apparently was left out. So, I am glad that I was just randomly searching and found the original post, because I really DO want feedback – both positive and negative – because without that, you can’t change to improve what you are doing. And about Google – working on my rankings there next! (I am sure this blog will outrank me again, however!)
So, keep the comments coming, as I am listening, and striving for improvement.
Sincerely,
Laura Aridgides
Vermont Chocolate Chip Cookie Company
http://www.VermontChocolateChipCookies.com
info@VermontChocolateChipCookies.com
Wow, homemade cookies from someone who used to run a laboratory and can write well!? I think I’ll buy cookies from her just on that basis alone, even if I shouldn’t eat them.
Square Peg Guy´s last blog ..Feng Shui Notes MBR
I’ve been thinking of starting a company like this, but my plan is a little different. Since I can’t make cookies, I’ll offer to ship individual store-bought cookies, like Oreos and Fudge Stripes, etc. I plan to make a killing off the shipping cost.
There is no such thing as too chocolately, especially in a chocolate chip cookie.
Dude, you hurt the poor lady’s feelings. But this was a great exchange of letters between you and Miss Vermont. I’m amazed that she managed to find you in the first place, but I’m glad it worked out.
Chris@Maugeritaville´s last blog ..Gene Simmons is Not a Satanist
Thanks for all the great responses. I’ll comment more tonight, when I have some alone time. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their thoughtful responses.
I want cookies for breakfast.
PETE WUEBKER´s last blog ..ADVENTURES IN CUSTOMER SERVICE: COOKIE CRUMBS LEFT ON A SOCIAL MEDIA TRAIL
Psst… Laura… set up an alert on Google for “Vermont Chocolate Chip Cookie Company” (yes, with the quotation marks) and you’ll be sent an email whenever google finds a mention of your company on the net. Feel free to email me through my site if you need a hand to set it up.
Melinda | WAHM Biz Builder´s last blog ..The Basics of a Good Blogsite – Part Two
Lots of lessons to be learned here. There are literally THOUSANDS of dollars worth of “good advice” contained within the comment section alone of this post!!! AMAZING how instructive this whole “social media” experience can be to even the most casual observer!!!
Kathy | Virtual Impax´s last blog ..Customer Service in the Age of Social Media
Special thanks first of all to my wife, who helped me determine the best route to respond and for helping me to see the best way to help improve the situation and to not just write another snarky response.
While I enjoy writing snarky thoughts, particularly about big faceless corporations which seem to have abandoned all common sense in pursuit of profits, I don’t want to pick on individual people who have not wronged me in any way. Just because I am not happy with a product doesn’t make me right and everybody else wrong. These posts are simply my opinions and are done for those who can relate to the experience.
In this post, with Laura’s personal response, I saw an opportunity to build a bridge and offer criticism which I think may actually help her business. Yes, I did think her response was snarky at the end, but so was my first post (though I didn’t name her company by name). However, if I can dish it, I can certainly take it.
It is easy to let things like hurt feelings get out of control. If I were 10 years less wise, I might have written a snarky response in response to her response – simply because I was not mature enough to see an opportunity to grow. As I grow older, I try to bridge the distances between others rather than add to the gulfs.
To make a long story short, I really enjoyed and learned from this experience and hope that Laura’s company grows from it and perhaps gets a few more people who want to try the cookies.
Melinda – Thank you for this well thought out comment.
Trina – Thanks for your comment. I appreciate it.
Kool Aid – Snarky? Me? Never.
Besty – Thank you for your response. And thank you for taking the time to write a post about it on your blog. http://passingthru.com/2009/07/adventures-in-customer-service-cookie-crumbs-left-on-a-social-media-trail/
Lisa – The snarkiness was in my prior post, where I wrote a sarcastic review, though I didn’t name the cookie. I will fully admit to snarkiness in that post. And while you are not a cookie monster, I happen to recall you eating many a brownie treat with me back in the day.
Kyddryn – Thank you. No fair baking cookies unless you have enough to share with everybody.
Lori – LOL. Betsy has some good insight on this issue.
Writer Dad – The comments here have been awesome, especially for a post which I haven’t really promoted on twitter much. Great thoughts all around.
Laura – Thank you for being receptive to the comments. As for Google and SEO, these things take time. I would recommend Sean Platt (Writer Dad) for any SEO questions. He’s great.
Square Peg Guy – Hey, awesome. And yes, the cookies are good. I shouldn’t be eating them, either.
Jeff – LOL. That’s a good idea. Maybe you can sell already licked Oreo’s.
Loran – Heh heh. Most women I know would heartily agree with you. I need my chocolate balanced out, especially with a nice tall glass of cold milk.
Chris – I certainly didn’t mean to hurt any feelings. Glad to see things are worked out now.
Pete – Me too.
Kathy – Yes, there are. Thanks to the awesome comments and posts which have responded to this topic. Thousands you say? Hmmm, packaging it up and selling it as an e-book now.
@BloggerDad — Why did you have to out me like that? SnarkyBlogger Dad.
“Behind every successful man there is a good woman.”
I am happy to report that the free samples are once again available (we stopped for the Chocolate Walk this past weekend), and thanks to Blogger Dad, we now have TWO cookies in each free sample!
http://www.vermontchocolatechipcookies.com/free.html
Thanks Blogger Dad! We are improving!
Laura
Laura Aridgides´s last blog ..Are You Using a Company-Replicated Website?