[Welcome back to our Word of Mouth Marketing Lessons newsletter. This is text from the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using this handy form.]
You give them to your customers every day with each transaction. It may not seem like a big deal, but your receipt is one of the most consistently shared (and underestimated) word of mouth tools you have.
Here’s how some companies are making the most of them:
1. Make an act of kindness visible
2. Make it more useful
3. Make people laugh
1. Make an act of kindness visible
Doing nice stuff for their customers is just a part of the company culture at Red Robin — so when one manager gave a mom-to-be and her family a discount on their meal, it was just another day at work. What made it remarkable for the family, though, was the note typed on the receipt next to the discount: “MOM 2 BEE GOOD LUC.” It was that note that they showed their friends and family and even shared with Consumerist. The discount was generous. Writing a fun note on the receipt was word of mouth marketing.
2. Make it more useful
Hellmann’s wanted the world to know their mayonnaise was more than just something you spread on a sandwich. They placed software in hundreds of grocery store cash registers that would create a Hellmann’s recipe based on other stuff the customer bought and printed it directly on the receipt. It’d be great to have the budget for this, but you don’t need it. Write helpful advice on bills or add fun facts to invoices. The more interesting the info you include, the more likely your customers will share it with somebody else.
3. Make people laugh
At Twisted Root Burger in Dallas, don’t be surprised if your receipt comes with a couple of superlatives. Best Smile, Funniest Person, and Best Butt are just some of the awards they give tiny discounts for. They might also list your name as Wyatt Earp, Brittney Spears, or some other celebrity. It’s just a couple of the ways they show their “twisted” personality — and a great way to get people to talk about them.