Winning The Word of Mouth War

We work at Camp so we wear many hats.  Doing everything is part of our job and for many a prized part of our Camp staff identity. 

Yet we think less about the myriad of hats we wear outside of work, but the diversity of these hats is also astonishing.

It’s depressing to think about but the most common hat we wear is probably customer, consumer or even as a product.  Whether your buying supplies for Camp, out shopping for food, taking a pet to the vet, scrolling through social media (Remember if your app is free, you are the product for sale) watching YouTube for innovative ideas, buying gas, getting coffee, planning the vacation you’re going to feel guilty about taking you are doing so as a consumer.

Let’s take a moment to think about your experience as a consumer and the hundreds of product decisions you make every day, often without thinking about it. Think about how you left the gas stations after buying gas, having driven past many other gas stations because you consider this one marginally more convenient, or sells slightly better coffee, or makes you feel a little less like you might be murdered there. Think about the extra distance you drive to pick someting up because it’s near your favorite coffee place.  Each one of them was a conscious or subconscious judgement about a product, and its value to you.  Think of the places you go to eat, either eating in or take out.  Now answer these quick questions.

Which places do you recommend to friends?

Which places do you refuse to go to?

Which places do you actively discourage others from going to?

I asked myself these same questions while reading the book Effortless Experience and I was shocked.

The first question was hard.  There are so many variables because there are so many options.  This would require a discussion of likes and dislikes as food is so personal.  Question two was a little easier to answer.  Questions 3 was surprisingly easy and my passion for discouraging others was intense.

When I answered the first question it was about a small family own store that sold amazing sandwiches, and a second place that evolved a long drive but was worth it, as the food was incredible. The second category was places that had long waits for that was at best OK.  In the third category were two places that have rude staff that give crap service in a place that isn’t that clean.  I can’t speak of either without sounding like a crazy person.  My experience was based on single visits, but I will never go back and if you are in the area I will not let you go there either. (I have since moved away and still mention them to people visiting the area to not eat there.)

The trend here is that there are two places with an amazing product, food that I love, but I am reluctant to recommend in case it’s not their thing.  But there are a handful of places that have a poor service experience, and I won’t return to ever, AND I will go out of my way to discourage you from visiting even if your not hungry and only might be close to.  Bad experience beats amazing product in the word of mouth competition.  EVER TIME.

What does this mean for Camps?

In simple terms it means that we could have the very best camp, one that kids love, and if we don’t have our service game (Parent experience) squared away people might not return.  Or worse actively discourage others from attending.

Conventional customer service wisdom says that to counter the repercussions of any possible negative experience we must aim to delight our families with small acts that go above and beyond expectations.  The same wisdom says this approach has a duel benefit - it will both increase loyalty and attract new business.  But this approach, though popular in the fortune 500 orbit, may not be as successful as people think and it’s expensive.  In reality once a basic level of service is met loyalty doesn’t seem to increase that much, and then had increasingly diminished returns.

I have two personal examples that suggest this is true.  On a Disney cruise (a leader in service that delights) my daughter lost her prized Mickey Mouse toy.  She was devastated.  We went to see if it had been handed in.  More as an attempt to appease my daughter than to find it.  We had no success.  As we were walking away the customer service rep came running up to us and gave my daughter a giant plush talking Nimo fish.  She was delighted, as was I, and I tell people about it. ALL.THE.TIME.  But only when they say they are going on a Disney Cruise.

Years ago, when driving cross country I stayed at a Motel 6.  In the short walk from my car to the reception area I was soaked to the skin by rain.  I started the check in process and as soon as I gave them my driver’s license to copy they gave me a room key and told me they would finish the process was I was dry.  I have never been so grateful to anyone.  Because of this small act of kindness, I recommend Motel 6 to all my staff traveling cross country after camp.  They are safe, normally clean and in this case understanding.  The Value of the Fish turned out to be $50. The cost of the hotel room had I left without completing my side of the check in would have been 39 plus taxes, but really cost them nothing. Both were great service.  What’s more I do tell people that I didn’t even take the Motel 6 person up on the offer, I completed the transaction quickly.  I wanted to go to my room and sleep, I didn’t want to have come back to check in.

This illustrates the trap that camps fall into.  We do one or two big gesture “stunts” a year where we wow people and post it online.  A wedding group that forgot to think about centerpieces, the left behind Nalgene that is taken on a photo tour of camp, the surprise party for a treasured staff or camper, or the groups we accept at the last minute after another venue cancel on them. (All real world things I have seen or been part of).  But beyond an uptick in the number of likes our social media post get are we really seeing any return in loyalty.  These memorable events are fun, but they are time consuming and staff intensive, two things most camps lack.  What ’s more, these events are memorable because they are rare.

What we undervalue is the everyday and boring stuff.  The things we as an industry are poor at doing.  Returning calls promptly, responding quickly to emails during the summer.  Notifying parents of the small stuff that has happened to their child.  Training staff in how to answer the phone, stating “its not an emergency” to parents right away when we are calling about something trivial. Keeping our front office clean, or at least not having it look like a bomb has gone off.  Making sure that the staff that are answering the phone have all the knowledge they need.  Until we do this stuff well, every time, we can do the second tier (still basic stuff).  We need to try and answer questions the first time someone calls so they are not chasing after us.  Making sure our website is easy to use.  Offering to call back when we hear a crying kid in the background, and then doing it.  It’s these small everyday acts that drive loyalty and word of mouth.

The data to support this is overwhelming, but you have to dig a little. 71% of people will talk to friends about a great product, and a lower but significant 65% want to talk to friends about poor service.  What is alarming is when we dig deeper into the data and look at the numbers of people each group speaks with and the intensity (Hard to measure in a meaningful way) with which they communicate their opinion we see an alarming problem for any business.

In any given sample Customers that have a great product experience (Children that loved Camp) 45% of them would tell up to 3 people, with just 23% telling more than 10 people.  The reverse is true for a poor service experience (Camper parents having a poor experience of camp) 19% would tell up to 3 people but nearly 50% would tell more than 10.

If we look at this from a best-case and worst case scenario the numbers start to compound the problem.  For in reality people are 4 times more likely to talk about a negative experience.

What’s more these numbers are outdated.  They were collected before social media algorithms were tweaked to spread rage at a much faster rate than happiness.  Bad news travels 6 times faster and further on social media. (This number is from 2019, I don’t imagine this has gotten better since then)

The good news is that this product/service problem is an easy one to fix.  We can prevent negative word of mouth by simply meeting people’s basic standards of expectation – every time.

The first step is to reduce customer frustration by making answers easy to find and clear to understand.  In 2021 the majority of our parents are both not only computer literate but would prefer non-contact resolutions.  Though it might not feel like it when we are on the phone, most parents have exhausted all other available resources and avenues to get their questions answered before they pick up the phone.  This is why we must invest in easy to use customer facing websites and then we should write down all the questions parents ask us and start to build a FAQ’s section online.

When someone does call, we should strive to answer all their problems on that first call, so that there is no need for a follow up call, and if there is we should schedule a time and then stick to it. 

Give your staff the training to answer all questions, and empower them to fix a problem even if it is not in their wheelhouse.  Do not pass calls onto another person creating a situation where parents have to keep repeating their story.

Remove any internal barriers to solving a problem.  Camps put rules in places that are at best arbitrary, but more often stupid because they cause us problems.  As long as the process remains fair (don’t let one parent reserve a bunk when other have been told no) break the rule.  Let them use 6 credit cards to pay. If the parent asks allow their kid to use (briefly) use their ‘illegal’ cell phone to call home on their birthday. Just monitor it and take it back afterwards.

If it’s cheap just fix it.  I have given all  my staff permission to resolve any issue that costs less than $25, my directors can fix a problem up to $50 dollars, My operations director $250 and let me know after.  Over $50 and under $100, if I am there they should ask, and if I am not a judgement call.  Anything else I need to know. (My Current Camp costs less than $200 per week. When I ran an overnight camp these values were almost tripple.) When we do this people are grateful to have their problem solved quickly, the benefit far out ways the small financial cost. (But you have to trust and empower your staff to make these decisions).  A little trick, have the staff tell the parent that they shouldn’t do it, but they will anyway and the parent is even more grateful.

The key is to make it as effortless as possible for the parent.  Then if you see common problems make a systemic change so you can resolve them for all parents.  Try and create the solution now so you don’t and if you can’t least by next summer.