What makes a consumer happier than great customer service? Great customer service is memorable. There are so many ways that a company’s employees can bury all the great efforts that have gone into creating a great product or delivering a good service. And these days it seems like bad or oblivious customer service is the norm. So when I experience great customer service, I find its worth sharing. In each story there is a lesson to be learned.

Create an experience…even for the smaller sales.

A couple weekends ago, I was out holiday shopping. I had two missions: one to buy a little office gift with a small price point and the second to buy a little gift for a friend just for the sake of a smile.

At Ted Baker in Covent Garden I found the perfect mug for gift #2. You see my friends are moving to Amsterdam and Angelo is starting a fantastic new job. I found a mug that said, “Ted says don’t get bugged out.” How cute! I went to the register to pay and had to wait a few minutes for a larger more Ted Baker-ish transaction ahead of me. When it was my turn the lady apologized for the wait, asked if my mere simple little purchase was a gift and offered to wrap it up. To me the treatment was just as if I was buying a £300 dress. Fantastic job Ms. Ted Baker service-extraordinaire!

After leaving Ted Baker I headed around the corner to investigate the new Kate Spade store. I love Kate Spade bags: simple with attitude. I went in the store and was greeted with a smile. A few minutes later I was gently asked if I needed help finding anything. I answered no, I was just looking around, but added perhaps I might find a gift for my office gift. The sales lady pointed out a few cute things. I was completely honest that while I was happy to exceed the price limit my office had set (its pretty low) I still couldn’t buy something extraordinary! She smiled and continued to offer suggestions of small yet cute items. I ended up buying a little gift. And you know what? They put it in a gift box, wrapped up with ribbon and asked if I wanted a card to go with it. Rock on Kate Spade!

Later on I purchased a gift for a friend online at http://www.gift-library.com/ It arrive a few days later. I opened the package and thought, “Oh its perfect!” And guess what? It had a defect. I discovered the website via American Express, so I tweeted my disappointment. I immediately emailed the company’s customer service to let them know the problem. Within an hour they emailed me and called me and offered to send a bike courier with a replacement within the next hour. WOW!

And even American Express kept up their side of the great customer service story…