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The Loyal Customer Experiment

   By savingsmania  Nov 19, 2011
6

Everyone has seen money back guarantees on products and perhaps sent them in for a refund. Companies take product complaints very seriously. But I wanted to see, do they really reward nice comments about their products? Sometimes it seems they only notice complaints.

So, I emailed (7) of my favorite products/companies today and let them know how much I loved their products. I also asked them to mail coupons.

Updated: As you can see in italics, the results were hit or miss! I'm kind of disappointed in the companies that didn't even email me back, much less send coupons.

Here they are:

  1. Diet Coke- Never heard from them
  2. Ragu- Their response: We are not distributing any full value coupons for our products.
  3. Stouffer's- Their response: we do not have a mailing program for complimentary coupons or product samples.
  4. Scott toilet paper- Their response: We do not have a program for sending product coupons on request.  However, you may want to watch for coupons or special offers which are advertised in newspapers from time to time.
  5. Kraft Foods- Nabisco, Jello, etc.- Never heard from them
  6. Nestle- Very Best Baking- Sent me coupons
  7. Chick Fil A- Never heard from them

And if you want to do your own experiment, all you have to do is go to your favorite company/product web site and let them know you like their products.

I am going to try this experiment with a few more companies and let you know what happens. But I was overall surprised that the results were hit or miss. I thought companies would work harder to retain loyal customers. They seem to be more focused on compensating upset customers.


For great deals, freebies and more, check out Savingsmania.com. As one of the original money-saving blogs, Savingsmania.com by Diane Schmidt has been blogging and saving you money since 2003- http://www.savingsmania.com/
 

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jemappel by jemappel | Rye Brook, NY
Nov 29, 2011

Interesting...I tried something similar once. I found the best response was when I had a question about a product, i.e., where to find it. Maybe it was just random, but I agree that compliments and complaints didn't get much response, but asking the company questions did.

iamalighthouse by iamalighthouse | WDM, IA
Nov 29, 2011

That is surprising! And too bad that they don't reward loyal customers. I've tried this several times and gotten good results!

rcbrad by rcbrad | E FALLOWFIELD, PA
Nov 21, 2011

If you let companies know that you love their products they do not feel the need to provide a coupon as an incentive for you to purchase the product since you are already a fan. It seems that many companies distribute coupons based on their own plans and schedule and I find that they rarely send any out by special request.

mykidzrock by mykidzrock | Omaha, NE
Nov 19, 2011

Doesn't surprise me....companies are about keeping the negative comments quiet....but they don't realize that by not rewarding the positive comments they are creating negative ones....all about the bottom line...they know if you like their product your going to purchase again....don't need to worry about it.

MissELF by MissELF | CONNERSVILLE, IN
Nov 19, 2011

I have tried doing this as well because I do follow coupon bloggers and this was a tip a lot of them gave. so I tried and pretty much failed at all attempts. Yeah, I thought if i am taking my time to write them and praise them they would send something. Especially if it meant that I would keep buying/buy more of the product/service. Guess not.

cocoabella by cocoabella | EL PASO, TX
Nov 19, 2011

I write companies all the time with either compliments or complaints if I have a disappointing product. I have been doing this for many years. I usually get replies more for complaints. Weird. You would think that companies would reward loyal customers who took the time to write them. Perhaps they have cut back on doing so since this has become a common way for people to score free stuff. One company that I really like is Farmland. I eat their bacon and pork products and I wrote them a genuine letter of compliment, they sent me a whole stack of coupons. I was really surprised. Kerasal ( foot product) not only sent me coupons, but product samples and a pair of their socks with their brand name printed on them. So there are some companines out there who still value our business.

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