My Review of Castelli 2010/11 Narcisista Cycling Leg Warmer - O9531

Originally submitted at BikeSomeWhere.com

Sometimes it’s not enough that your warmers keep you warm. Sometimes looking pro counts too. Narcisista warmers are aesthetically over-the-top cool while combining flat-lock stitching and anatomical cut to give you a warmer befitting of the name. Reflective ankle zippers increase visibility on the ...

Castelli 2010/11 Narcisista Cycling Leg Warmer - O9531

Castelli - always terrific

By Au bon Vin from Salt Lake City, UT on 5/7/2011

 

5out of 5

Sizing: Feels true to size

Pros: Look great, Comfortable, Stay put when riding

Best Uses: Road Cycling, Flying down canyons

Describe Yourself: Avid Cyclist

Was this a gift?: No

Big canyon climbs where there's a significant temperature change.

(legalese)

Customer Loyalty Update - Loft

Just days after I posted regarding the unusual "weight loss" marketing opportunity Ann Taylor would have if they mined their purchase history over a long period of time, it was, indeed, time for this loyal shopper to order a new pair of jeans. When the jeans arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find a note card in the box, acknowledging my loyalty.
While I couldn't tell from the note card whether they knew I was truly a loyal customer, or whether it was a nice gesture, I was glad to receive it. The first time such a note had appeared in many years of shopping with them. Since the note invited feedback, I sent an email and said it was great to get the note, then pointed them to the blog post about mining customer data for a "wow, you've made a big change in your life" communication.
Great timing.

Email Follow-Up Perfect for the Target Customer

I’m a competitive cyclist. Sometimes the competition is a formal race. More often it’s a challenge a friend has thrown out to me which simply requires me to “finish.” Since I ride over 300 days a year, I have become an aficionado of all things cycling, including online stores.

I’ve had positive shopping experiences on numerous gear sites. The one I wanted to talk about here relates to great marketing in email communication, specifically the Real Cyclist site. The emails were clearly designed to tap into the spirit of the passionate roadie.

When I made my second purchase, the email identified me as a return shopper: “Now that you’re a member of the family, your order will be bumped to the top of the queue.” Nice service, I thought. About two hours later, I received shipping confirmation. “Hey, they weren’t kidding about bumping my order to the top of the queue.” Even better, the confirmation let me know that since this very hot gear was on its way, “I was now free to stalk the postman.” Email communications customized for the target customer – for all of my online shopping, this is the best example of messaging to a distinct customer segment I’ve ever received as a shopper.

This site also does a great job of fostering customer interaction through a real-time “peloton” program which assigns points for helpful reviews, pictures, questions and answers etc. Those reviewers with the most points have the highest rankings. Rankings change daily. Again, a creative approach to encourage product reviews that makes sense for this set of target customers.

Disclosure: I am a “Top 500 Gear Guru” on this site and rank even higher when compared to others who have rated women’s gear.

Open Communication Between Customer Service and Website Operations

While I have several brands of workout clothes, I really like Danskin for working out – yoga pants and tops for jogging and spinning. They’re stylish, comfortable, wick/perform well . What more could a girl ask for? How about a great online shopping experience?

Things have improved dramatically, but several years ago, I shopped on the old site. There were always challenges, things like trying to buy the same items in multiple colors, for example. This would never work. Any time I added a second color of the same item, it would cancel the original color choice. I liked the clothes so much that I’d place an order online, then immediately call customer service to adjust it to what I wanted.

Whenever I called, I’d get the order adjusted, then I’d tell the customer service rep that the site just didn’t allow ordering properly. I’d ask the rep to share my feedback, so the site would be improved, and invariably, the response would be that she didn’t know how or to whom the feedback should be submitted. Since these ordering problems happened every time that I shopped, I’d observe that they must be getting lots of calls from frustrated customers, which was likely pretty burdensome on the call center. Why wasn’t there some internal feedback channel from service to site operations?

Eventually, I took the next step, researched the corporate feedback email address and shot off some feedback directly. I never did hear back or receive an acknowledgement. The site was significantly improved though, so the company was certainly addressing challenges proactively based on feedback from somewhere. A complete redesign of look and functionality is a big undertaking, so it’s great the investment occurred.

Lack of a clear feedback channel from customer service to website operations is an issue with every large online retail store I’ve ever shopped. I’ve wondered why there isn’t a direct way to provide input when a live conversation occurs – a suggestion box of sorts. Why not a standard offer of, “would you like to participate in a website improvement survey?” If I’m taking the time to give input, I must care about the business a little more than I do about others.

While the structured “give us feedback” approach isn’t one I’ve encountered with smaller online businesses either, I can say that there have been some truly noteworthy personalized communications I’ve appreciated, like the email exchange with the owner of the Diamond Peak ski shop in Eden, Utah, who offered to tune new skis for me because he couldn’t ship them out the very next day. Thumbs up!

Weight Loss - An Opportunity to "Wow" a Loyal Customer

I am a loyal shopper at the Ann Taylor/Ann Taylor Loft online sites – I even make it to the stores occasionally. The clothes fit my petite and curvy frame, and after years of purchasing from them, I shop confidently online, knowing what I purchase will fit when it arrives.

As a loyal, very long-term shopper, Loft would have the ability to dive into their database of customer information and find some very interesting things about me, if they chose to investigate. Eight years ago, I was purchasing size 16 petite clothes, finding my post-pregnancy body significantly overweight. Over the course of three years, I dropped forty pounds and reached size 8. Another 2 years later, I dropped to size 4, with the occasional jeans purchase of size 2 – an additional 25 pounds lost. As the weight came off, I’d occasionally stop at a store to check which size to purchase. Then, I’d go back to shopping online simply for the convenience of it.

Not sure how they could have approached me to say, “are you making a dramatic, positive  life change?” but this kind of observation would have made my day, just like it did when someone gave that kind of feedback in person. It would be as much of a kick as being asked to show ID in a bar – cause of a mini-celebration and some healthy laughter.

Now, during the process of weight loss, I did find that I got very different reactions from men than from women, so maybe it’s too big a risk for a retailer to go out on this limb. Men invariably were encouraging about the combination of weight loss and consistent visits to the gym were impacting me. Women who knew me consistently asked if I was sick, as if this type of transformation could only be the result of serious illness.

I’d love the opportunity to give feedback to Ann Taylor/Loft about their sites. They ask sometimes, but via a third party survey company and I don’t like to respond through them – the incentives, such as “a chance to win” or “receive up to $ in value” (value which isn’t with the site itself), seem awfully cheesy. They’d hear great things like, “you have tremendous customer service” - such as finding items in distant stores that are no longer available online.

Maybe they’ll ask just a sample of loyal shoppers for specific feedback. Maybe create a unique program for those of us who wear Ann Taylor almost every day.

Online Surveys - Too Many to Count

What’s with all the surveys? It seems like every time I surf the web, I am bombarded with requests to participate in surveys – most of them from companies I have never done any business with. It seems like the goal of these surveys is to simply acquire as many responses as possible, without any regard to who responds.

Sometimes I’m motivated by a great site, great service or great product to take the time to give input and complete a survey – when I do, I invariably find that the surveys are too long, and that the questions don’t give me the opportunity to tell the retailer what’s on my mind. Crafting quality surveys is tough.

Recently, I shopped several times at Harry and David to send Christmas presents. Once, when I went back to check shipment status, a survey request appeared, and I took it. Although it was extremely long and time consuming, I was in a patient mood and thought I’d invest the time. Most interesting to me was the long list of choices the company gave me to answer the question “what brought me to their site?”

Turns out, the questionnaire was missing the reason behind my online shopping – specifically, that I received their catalogue, had searched through it looking for food choices that met the varied dietary needs of the recipients, and then went online to purchase gifts. Note to those responsible for online sales: don’t ignore the other lines of your company’s business or you’ll run the risk of incorrect attribution. I entered this feedback manually in a free-text field, though.

For the length of the survey, a “thanks” follow-up with or without a repeat customer incentive would have been a nice gesture and would have brought me back to shop sooner.

Final note: The gifts were well received. I made choices based on “number of recipients in household receiving the gift,” “avoidance of chocolate due to recipient’s allergy,” and “fruit-only with platter for the serious dieter who didn’t need temptation of sweet treats.” It would be great to have some of these search options integrated on the site.