One Great Customer Experience
By Debbie Hauss, Editor-in-Chief

I couldn’t resist sharing a recent great customer experience. This was a very personal purchase and if anything had gone wrong, it could have turned quickly into one of my worst customer experiences.

I recently contracted Keepsake Theme Quilts to produce a quilt featuring t-shirts representing 30 of the races I’ve run over that past 13 years. This first meant parting with the shirts (I don’t think I’ve thrown away one race t-shirt since 2000), then shipping them to Columbus, Ohio, where professional quilters would cut and sew them into a permanent memory.

The company first introduced itself to me at a running expo, prior to the Philadelphia Marathon last year. The workers at this company are primarily deaf — the business is an initiative to help deaf people find productive and rewarding employment. I was very impressed with the company representatives I met at the show, but wasn’t sure I wanted to make that kind of investment (in time, money and t-shirt treasures).

Nevertheless, I provided my contact information and promptly received an application, along with samples of materials used to produce Keepsake quilts…another impressive move on the company’s part. At that point I did some online research into another company that offers a similar service. I decided that, although the price might be a bit higher with Keepsake, it was all-inclusive and I believed I would receive better, more attentive service with them.  (The other company, by the way, advertises in the running magazine I read, but I was never motivated to get in touch with them.)

During the process of the creation of my quilt (a full 2 months), I received regular email updates from Keepsake, including a photo of the layout of the final product, prior to final quilting. They were extremely responsive and helpful, and I felt that my 13 years of memories were in good hands.

Just this week I received the quilt – in a white box tied with blue ribbon! I was so thrilled that I actually took a photo and posted it to Facebook, a rare activity for me. I also sent the photo of me and my quilt back to Keepsake, with a thank-you note.

As I said at the beginning of this story, if anything had gone wrong during this process I would have been heartbroken. However, this retailer truly fulfilled its promises to me, to the points that I was compelled to share my joy via email and through social media. I recommend the company and will consider future purchases.

In a retail nutshell, Keepsake Theme Quilts did everything correctly:

• In-person marketing;
• Immediate follow-up;
• Easy ordering and payment;
• Prompt and attentive customer service, including ongoing communication; and
• Successful delivery of a quality product.

Other companies, large and small, can learn from the steps Keepsake Theme Quilts took to deliver one great customer experience.

Follow Debbie on Twitter: @DHauss