{"id":18348,"date":"2013-06-18T10:48:27","date_gmt":"2013-06-18T15:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crowdspring.wpengine.com\/?p=18348"},"modified":"2022-05-06T19:00:24","modified_gmt":"2022-05-07T00:00:24","slug":"small-business-marketing-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-marketing-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprise Is One Of The Most Powerful Small Business Marketing Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-marketing-surprise\/crackerjacksurprise\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-18356\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-18356\" src=\"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/27132430\/crackerjacksurprise.jpg\" alt=\"crackerjacksurprise\" width=\"550\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It has always been difficult to stand-out in a crowded market. When the products you sell are also available from thousands of other vendors at the same or lower prices, how do you differentiate your business and convince customers to buy from you?<\/p>\n<p>Smart companies surprise their customers when customers least expect surprises. When you deliver what people expect, but add a surprise, you can create something unusual. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ccnl.emory.edu\/Publicity\/MSNBC.HTM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">People love surprises<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>People remember unusual. People talk about unusual. And most importantly, being unique sets you apart from your competitors.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Why should you consider adding surprise as a marketing tool in your business?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Surprise can create delight and great word-of-mouth<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zappos.com\/shipping-and-returns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zappos<\/a> (one of the most popular online stores for shoes) tells customers to expect an order within 4-5 business days. However, Zappos often surprises customers by shipping items to be delivered the next day. Zappos doesn&#8217;t charge extra for this service and doesn&#8217;t tell customers in advance that it will upgrade their shipping. But customers are delighted when they get their shoes the day after they placed their order. Customers not only talk about their delight on social networks, but also love the experience so much that when they next purchase shoes, they will again buy from Zappos.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"subscription-hero-snippet image-on-left\" style=\"background: #161C4A\"><div class=\"title centered\">Want a free brand review?<\/div><div class=\"main-content\"><div class=\"image-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/09131004\/brand-identity-grader-blog-cta-hero.png\" alt=\"brand identity grader hero\"\/><\/div><div class=\"form-wrapper\"><div class=\"subtitle\">Answer 5 short questions and we will send a custom report with actionable insights and specific actions you can take to build a stronger brand.<\/div><div>\n<script>\nfunction submitForm_drip_form(oFormElement) {\n  var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();\n  xhr.onload = function() { \n    if (xhr.status == 200 || xhr.status == 202) {\n      var formEl = document.getElementById(\"drip_form\");\n      var doneEl = document.getElementById(\"done_drip_form\");\n      formEl.style = \"display: none\";\n      doneEl.style = \"display: block\";\n    } else {\n      alert(xhr.responseText);\n    }\n  }\n  var formData = new FormData(oFormElement);\n  grecaptcha.execute(\"6LcyQTUpAAAAAC5ZPtCYQzRWKR732_LmqInv9YSK\", { action: \"external_bumblebee_lead\" }).then((token) => {\n    formData.set(\"recaptcha_token\", token);\n    xhr.open(oFormElement.method, oFormElement.action, true);\n    xhr.setRequestHeader(\"x-frontendurl\", window.location.href);\n    xhr.send(formData);\n  });\n\n  return false;\n  }\n<\/script>\n<div id=\"done_drip_form\" class=\"done\">\n      <div class=\"success-title\">\n        <i class=\"fa fa-check-circle\"><\/i><br\/> We just emailed the info to you.\n      <\/div><\/div><form id=\"drip_form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/api\/v1\/bb\/external_leads\/\" method=\"post\" onsubmit=\"return submitForm_drip_form(this);\">\n      <div class=\"form-group\">\n        <input type=\"email\" name=\"email\" class=\"form-control\" id=\"mce-EMAIL\" required=\"true\"\/>\n        <label html_for=\"mce-EMAIL\" class=\"form-label\">Email Address<\/label>\n      <\/div> \n      <div style=\"position: absolute; left: -5000px\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t<input type=\"text\" value=\"brand-identity-grader-landing-page\" tabindex=\"-1\" name=\"tags\" readonly=\"true\"\/>\n        <input type=\"text\" value=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" name=\"add_country_tier_suffix\" readonly=\"true\"\/>\n      <\/div><input type=\"submit\" value=\"I want a stronger brand!\" class=\"btn btn-primary\" \/><p class=\"notice\"> <\/form><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Surprise can be small and inexpensive<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>You don&#8217;t need to spend a lot of money or time to create an elaborate surprise for your customers. It&#8217;s enough to use your imagination to design a creative and unique surprise. In fact, customers are often surprised by some of the <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.hbr.org\/cs\/2013\/05\/surprise_is_still_the_most_powerful.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">smallest<\/a> things that you do better or different from others. As reported in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.neurosciencemarketing.com\/blog\/articles\/small-surprises.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Neurosciencemarketing<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>What does it take to make you happy? Not much. A classic study by psychologist Norbert Schwarz found that\u00a0<strong>ten cents<\/strong>\u00a0would do the trick. He and his cohorts repeatedly placed a dime near a copy machine where they knew it would be found. When the subjects who found the dime were surveyed shortly after their discovery, their overall satisfaction with life was substantially higher than other subjects who did not find a coin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You have a similar opportunity to create a positive emotion and associate that emotion with your brand.<\/p>\n<p>For example, when a buyer posts a project on <a title=\"world's number one marketplace for logo design, graphic design and naming\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">crowdSPRING<\/a>, I email them, thanking them for their business. The email also offers a few tips on how they can get the most out of their project. The email is automated, but I include my email address and direct phone number.<\/p>\n<p>Most customers are surprised to hear from a founder, and even more surprised when the founder encourages them to send an email or pick-up the phone and talk to the founder directly. Some customers respond with a thank-you note or a question. Others call. An email from a founder is a small way that crowdSPRING personalizes our conversations with customers, and we&#8217;ve been thrilled with the many conversations the email has facilitated.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Surprise is more effective than other forms of retention-based marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Surprise is a more effective marketing tool than nearly all forms of retention-based marketing. In a <a href=\"http:\/\/anzmac.org\/conference\/2001\/anzmac\/AUTHORS\/pdfs\/Vanhamme.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2001 paper <\/a>assessing\u00a0 customer satisfaction studies, Adam Lindgreen, as assistant professor of Marketing at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, and \u00a0Jo\u00eblle Vanhamme, an assistant professor of consumer behavior and marketing communication at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, argued that such most retention-based tactics often don&#8217;t work as intended. On the other hand, Lindgreen and Vanhamme found that customer satisfaction was higher when customers were surprised, and the more surprised customers were, the more satisfied they were with the product or service. Lindgreen and Vanhamme conclude:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Companies need to invest time in understanding their customers and in creating surprising aspects in &#8211; or around &#8211; the product\/service delivered. But it does not need to be huge and expensive in order to be surprising. Adopting a \u2018surprise\u2019 strategy thus requires a careful analysis of the costs and benefits (e.g., in terms of increased sales, increased profit margin through customer retention, and reduced advertising costs) of such a strategy. It should also be kept in mind that the same \u2018trick\u2019 will not surprise forever because the schema a consumer holds is likely to be updated. However, little variation can keep the suspense (Pine and Gilmore 1999) and continue to surprise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2><strong>A few words of caution<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Surprise marketing can backfire. Lindgreen and Vanhamme found this could happen when \u201cthe illustrations and\/or descriptions [of the benefits] lead customers to build a schema divergent from reality\u201d, such as when a &#8220;valuable free gift&#8221; turns out to be a fifty cent item. A different problem can develop when the surprise works too well: customers come to expect the surprise every time. For example, customers might come to expect free overnight shipping every time when a company surprises them with overnight shipping for their first few orders.<\/p>\n<p>What creative surprises have you seen from companies? Do you agree that small surprises can have big results?<\/p>\n<p><em>image: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/wtlphotos\/898282907\/in\/photolist-2nnWdk-2Qvf2o-3a5SY5-3b4CeN-3bhYSv-3ggHd9-3iKw4E-3mdAR2-3KqNhT-3SiXza-3Soam3-47JfRj-4ciSnv-4duijw-4dDypG-4hkvVU-4mm2X2-4pD8ex-51rnf2-54fNxT-597BRm-5dtacB-5ekPx9-5oo8PZ-5xUwXT-5xUx8g-5B9MFP-5Cm4Sd-5DK1wY-5DK1Fy-5DK1NG-5DK1Yw-5NRmBE-5SRfNL-5YTHnM-63qgXZ-6542qJ-67gWRX-6cUyzk-6skLnC-6uTj7V-6uWaoM-6BKbvy-6MpFXs-6MA3nk-6Tn8ov-6UZfaK-6VKYYm-6WLsuW-6XQHcQ-72pZ52\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wtiphotos<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/how-it-works\/?utm_source=csblog&utm_medium=marketing&utm_campaign=cta\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-35262\" src=\"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/06164945\/small-business-blog-master-cta.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"466\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has always been difficult to stand-out in a crowded market. When the products you sell are also available from thousands of other vendors at the same or lower prices, how do you differentiate your business and convince customers to buy from you? Smart companies surprise their customers when customers least expect surprises. When you deliver what people expect, but add a surprise, you can create something unusual. People love surprises. People remember unusual. People talk about unusual. And most importantly, being unique sets you apart from your competitors. Why should you consider adding surprise as a marketing tool in your business? Surprise can create delight and great word-of-mouth Zappos (one of the most popular online stores for shoes) tells customers to expect an order within 4-5 business days. However, Zappos often surprises customers by shipping items to be delivered the next day. Zappos doesn&#8217;t charge extra for this service and doesn&#8217;t tell customers in advance that it will upgrade their shipping. But customers are delighted when they get their shoes the day after they placed their order. Customers not only talk about their delight on social networks, but also love the experience so much that when they next purchase shoes, they will again buy from Zappos. Want a free brand review?Answer 5 short questions and we will send a custom report with actionable insights and specific actions you can take to build a stronger brand. We just emailed the info to you. Email Address Surprise can be small and inexpensive You don&#8217;t need to spend a lot of money or time to create an elaborate surprise for your customers. It&#8217;s enough to use your imagination to design a creative and unique surprise. In fact, customers are often surprised by some of the smallest things that you do better or different from others. As reported in Neurosciencemarketing: What does it take to make you happy? Not much. A classic study by psychologist Norbert Schwarz found that\u00a0ten cents\u00a0would do the trick. He and his cohorts repeatedly placed a dime near a copy machine where they knew it would be found. When the subjects who found the dime were surveyed shortly after their discovery, their overall satisfaction with life was substantially higher than other subjects who did not find a coin. You have a similar opportunity to create a positive emotion and associate that emotion with your brand. For example, when a buyer posts a project on crowdSPRING, I email them, thanking them for their business. The email also offers a few tips on how they can get the most out of their project. The email is automated, but I include my email address and direct phone number. Most customers are surprised to hear from a founder, and even more surprised when the founder encourages them to send an email or pick-up the phone and talk to the founder directly. Some customers respond with a thank-you note or a question. Others call. An email from a founder is a small way that..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3157],"tags":[2635,1399],"class_list":["post-18348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing","tag-small-business-marketing","tag-startup-marketing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Surprise Is One Of The Most Powerful Small Business Marketing Tools - crowdspring Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Surprise Is One Of The Most Powerful Small Business Marketing Tools - crowdspring Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It has always been difficult to stand-out in a crowded market. When the products you sell are also available from thousands of other vendors at the same or lower prices, how do you differentiate your business and convince customers to buy from you? Smart companies surprise their customers when customers least expect surprises. When you deliver what people expect, but add a surprise, you can create something unusual. People love surprises. People remember unusual. People talk about unusual. And most importantly, being unique sets you apart from your competitors. Why should you consider adding surprise as a marketing tool in your business? Surprise can create delight and great word-of-mouth Zappos (one of the most popular online stores for shoes) tells customers to expect an order within 4-5 business days. However, Zappos often surprises customers by shipping items to be delivered the next day. Zappos doesn&#8217;t charge extra for this service and doesn&#8217;t tell customers in advance that it will upgrade their shipping. But customers are delighted when they get their shoes the day after they placed their order. Customers not only talk about their delight on social networks, but also love the experience so much that when they next purchase shoes, they will again buy from Zappos. Want a free brand review?Answer 5 short questions and we will send a custom report with actionable insights and specific actions you can take to build a stronger brand. We just emailed the info to you. Email Address Surprise can be small and inexpensive You don&#8217;t need to spend a lot of money or time to create an elaborate surprise for your customers. It&#8217;s enough to use your imagination to design a creative and unique surprise. In fact, customers are often surprised by some of the smallest things that you do better or different from others. As reported in Neurosciencemarketing: What does it take to make you happy? Not much. A classic study by psychologist Norbert Schwarz found that\u00a0ten cents\u00a0would do the trick. He and his cohorts repeatedly placed a dime near a copy machine where they knew it would be found. When the subjects who found the dime were surveyed shortly after their discovery, their overall satisfaction with life was substantially higher than other subjects who did not find a coin. You have a similar opportunity to create a positive emotion and associate that emotion with your brand. For example, when a buyer posts a project on crowdSPRING, I email them, thanking them for their business. The email also offers a few tips on how they can get the most out of their project. The email is automated, but I include my email address and direct phone number. Most customers are surprised to hear from a founder, and even more surprised when the founder encourages them to send an email or pick-up the phone and talk to the founder directly. Some customers respond with a thank-you note or a question. Others call. An email from a founder is a small way that..\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-marketing-surprise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"crowdspring Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-18T15:48:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-07T00:00:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/27132430\/crackerjacksurprise.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ross Kimbarovsky\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ross Kimbarovsky\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-marketing-surprise\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-marketing-surprise\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ross Kimbarovsky\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/45a66ce5a05496798744cf14367aa575\"},\"headline\":\"Surprise Is One Of The Most Powerful Small Business Marketing Tools\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-18T15:48:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-07T00:00:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-marketing-surprise\/\"},\"wordCount\":841,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-marketing-surprise\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/27132430\/crackerjacksurprise.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Small Business Marketing\",\"Startup Marketing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Marketing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-marketing-surprise\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-marketing-surprise\/\",\"name\":\"Surprise Is One Of The Most Powerful Small Business Marketing Tools - 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When you deliver what people expect, but add a surprise, you can create something unusual. People love surprises. People remember unusual. People talk about unusual. And most importantly, being unique sets you apart from your competitors. Why should you consider adding surprise as a marketing tool in your business? Surprise can create delight and great word-of-mouth Zappos (one of the most popular online stores for shoes) tells customers to expect an order within 4-5 business days. However, Zappos often surprises customers by shipping items to be delivered the next day. Zappos doesn&#8217;t charge extra for this service and doesn&#8217;t tell customers in advance that it will upgrade their shipping. But customers are delighted when they get their shoes the day after they placed their order. Customers not only talk about their delight on social networks, but also love the experience so much that when they next purchase shoes, they will again buy from Zappos. Want a free brand review?Answer 5 short questions and we will send a custom report with actionable insights and specific actions you can take to build a stronger brand. We just emailed the info to you. Email Address Surprise can be small and inexpensive You don&#8217;t need to spend a lot of money or time to create an elaborate surprise for your customers. It&#8217;s enough to use your imagination to design a creative and unique surprise. In fact, customers are often surprised by some of the smallest things that you do better or different from others. As reported in Neurosciencemarketing: What does it take to make you happy? Not much. A classic study by psychologist Norbert Schwarz found that\u00a0ten cents\u00a0would do the trick. He and his cohorts repeatedly placed a dime near a copy machine where they knew it would be found. When the subjects who found the dime were surveyed shortly after their discovery, their overall satisfaction with life was substantially higher than other subjects who did not find a coin. You have a similar opportunity to create a positive emotion and associate that emotion with your brand. For example, when a buyer posts a project on crowdSPRING, I email them, thanking them for their business. The email also offers a few tips on how they can get the most out of their project. The email is automated, but I include my email address and direct phone number. Most customers are surprised to hear from a founder, and even more surprised when the founder encourages them to send an email or pick-up the phone and talk to the founder directly. Some customers respond with a thank-you note or a question. Others call. 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