12/16/2015 How Chick-fil-A Creates a Memorable Customer Experience

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How Chick-Fil-A CreatesA Memorable Experience(And Grows Revenue By13% Annually)

- .

Customer Experience November 19, 2014 ByRoss Beard

97 2

For the last 10 years, Chick-fil-A hasbeen

, meaning the business isessentially doubling in size every five to

growing at roughly 13%annually

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essentially doubling in size every five toseven years. Steve Robinson, Chick-fil-A’s senior vice president and chiefmarketing officer, attributes

to building a “raving fan”base full of Chick-fil-A ambassadors.

part oftheir success

But how does Chick-fil-A create theseambassadors that help to drive this incrediblegrowth?

They take customer experience very seriously., marketing consultant with Chick-

fil-A, says the chain’s distinctive “second mileservice” is what drives its customer experience.“The first mile is the foundation—good customerservice, hot food hot, cold food cold. The secondmile is what we do that’s remarkable, like carryingpeople’s trays to their tables.”

Kristin Hunter

I love this take on customer service and I want tolet you in on a little secret. The Client Heartbeatteam loves Chick-fil-A. First, it was just about thefood, but now – after a couple of visits – weappreciate the second mile service Kristinmentioned.

It’s the little things that Chick-fil-A does really wellthat create a memorable experience. These littlethings exceed expectations and create repeatcustomers who turn into ambassadors. In fact,

are “ravingfans.” These are the people who do over-the-top10-15% of Chick-fil-A’s customers

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things to show their love for the brand like dressup as cows on “Cow Appreciation Day” to win afree sandwich.

It comes as no surprise that Chick-fil-A has takenthe top spot in the

for the fast food category for the thirdyear in a row.

Temkin customer experienceratings

Let’s take a look at seven of these little things thatChick-fil-A does that puts it in the top spot for anoutstanding customer experience.

1. “My pleasure” instead of“you’re welcome”

Chick-fil-A employees don’t say “you’rewelcome,” they say “my pleasure.” This subtlechange in vocabulary sends an entirely differentmessage to their customers, adding an elementof class to their service. It almost feels like you’reordering food from a Ritz-Carlton hotel.

In fact, Dan Cathy, president and chief operatingofficer at Chick-fil-A and son of Chick-fil-A

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founder, Samuel Cathy, says from Ritz-Carlton and wanted to offer the

sort of service that you might expect at a fancierand more expensive establishment.

his father got theidea

2. Greet customers with anumbrella when it’s raining

Did you know that a Chick-fil-A employee willwalk you in and out of the restaurant with anumbrella when it’s raining? Are we at The Ritzagain?

This is another little thing that exceeds customerexpectations. I can guarantee that anyone whoreceives this type of service would say somethingto their friends.

Are you starting to see how these experiencescreate so many raving fans?

3. Fresh flowers

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Every day, Chick-fil-A has fresh flowers set out oneach table inside every restaurant.

Why? This customer, Ms. Irschel, expressing what the flowers meant

to her by saying, “I have been in countless highend expensive restaurants that did not haveflowers on the table. It was such a nice touch andto be honest made me feel wanted andappreciated. It is such a simple thing but I feel avery important one that sets you apart from thecompetition.”

wrote a letterto Chick-fil-A

Just another way Chick-fil-A is exceedingexpectations by doing the little things really well.

4. ‘Table touches’ to check inmid-meal

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Everyone expects a waiter to touch base withthem mid-meal to make sure the food is goodand they have everything they need. But youwouldn’t see that at a fast food restaurant, wouldyou?

Generally, no, but at Chick-fil-A, yes!

These are commonly called table touches (correctme if I’m wrong) and the purpose of these is tomake sure the guests are happy with their mealand have all the condiments, drink refills andnapkins they need. In a recent visit, I was

by a lovely lady who told me that they dothis to “make sure you don’t need to get up fromyour seat.” So if you forgot your ketchup or youneed a drink refill, they want to be able to do thisfor you.

table-touched

There’s a lesson here for all businesses. Thinkabout some things your customers have to do ona regular basis when dealing with your companythat you could possibly be doing for them at noadditional cost.

Little things go a long way. I challenge you to your customers mid-engagement or

mid-transaction.table touch

5. Carrying customer’s trays totheir table

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This may go unnoticed to the average Joe, butwhen it happens, you will certainly be impressed.The Chick-fil-A team is great at remembering yourorder and if you sit down at a table while you’rewaiting, they won’t just call your name when yourorder is ready. Instead, they will proactively bringyour meal to you at your table.

When this first happened to me, I was genuinelywowed. I had ordered a lunch menu item duringbreakfast, so there was a slight delay. But I washappily reading the paper at a table and before Iknew it, my order was being couriered outstraight to me. There were no calls for “who hadthe chicken sandwich,” there were no guessing-games or confusion – the lady walked straightover to me and gave me my food.

It wasn’t until this happened again that I realized itwasn’t a singularly great experience; this issomething that is engrained into employees andanother little thing that creates a great customerexperience at Chick-fil-A.

6. Calling customers by first

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6. Calling customers by firstname, not by number

McDonald’s uses numbers to handle orders.Chick-fil-A uses names. Although, with my Aussieaccent, my name is sometimes mistaken as Russ,I am far happier responding to that than to arandomly generated number like 348.

Personalization is always thrown around when wetalk about

. Chick-fil-A shows us all exactly howpersonalization can really create a betterexperience and build a point of difference. Whenyou are treated like a person, you remember it.You feel special and valued – just like Irschel didwith the fresh flowers.

how to improve the customerexperience

What little things can you do to addpersonalization to your customer experience? Itmight be as simple as using caller ID to addressinbound calls by first name or it might be morecomplicated like personalizing offers based offbrowsing and shopping habits.

The point here is that the minute you stop treating

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The point here is that the minute you stop treatingcustomers like an order number, you’ll start

that will increaseloyalty and advocacy.building better relationships

7. Genuine empathy whenexpectations are not met

The fast food business is a tough game; you aregoing to miss delivery goals from time to time. Chick-fil-A employees within 90 seconds in the drive-through windowand 60 seconds at the counter. But there willalways be unforeseen circumstances that canmake these goals simply not possible.

strive to complete orders

For example, when you’re ordering a burger at10am, like I mentioned I had done previously, theyare still serving breakfast and might not have thelunch menu items ready yet. Instead ofcompletely denying or neglecting the order orblaming the customer, Chick-fil-A employeesexplain the reason for the delay and show a senseof empathy while apologizing for the delay.

The lesson here is that when you do fail to meetexpectations, show some empathy and genuinely

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expectations, show some empathy and genuinelydo the best you can in the situation.

Create a great customerexperience by doing lots oflittle things really wellTake a page out of the Chick-fil-A handbook andstart improving the experience for your customersone little thing at a time. There’s no secret toChick-fil-A’s phenomenal growth inside an

. Thirteen percent year-on-year growth is nothing to sneeze at. Chick-fil-A’s chief marketing officer

to their ability to create .

industry that’s in decline

attributes part of theirsuccess customeradvocates

The way Chick-fil-A creates these raving fans isnot through delivering just good food. It’s throughdelivering a good experience. They do a lot oflittle things that continue to exceed expectationsand are talked about between friends and sharedon social media, helping to drive revenue.

What little things can you implement inside yourbusiness that can exceed expectations andcreate memorable experiences – and profitablebalance sheets?

 to help you share it.

Did you like this post? Here’s a ready-to-goTweet

Interested to learn more about the Chick-fil-Aexperience? Read these articles:

12/16/2015 How Chick-fil-A Creates a Memorable Customer Experience

http://blog.clientheartbeat.com/chick-fil-a-customer-experience/ 11/13

Chick-fil-A’s Raving Fans’ GrowthStrategy

The Details Matter: Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A’s recipe for customer service

Chick-fil-A tops customer experiencerankings, says survey

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About Ross Beard

12/16/2015 How Chick-fil-A Creates a Memorable Customer Experience

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About Ross Beard

is on the marketing team at, the simple customer

feedback tool. Learn how Client Heartbeatmakes .

Ross BeardClient Heartbeat

improving customer satisfaction easy

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