Recently my roommate and I went to a local Hardee’s for lunch, intending to splurge on the unhealthiest meal possible. This was only my second time visiting this particular Hardee’s and third time visiting Hardee’s period, so I had only begun to form an opinion about this restaurant. To that point I had been impressed with the quality of the food as well as the friendly service, but I was not ready to name it one of my favorite fast food restaurants. For fast food restaurants in particular, I believe it is critical to be in the consumers’ evoked set and more importantly one of the top three options that come to mind. I believe for this to occur the restaurant must provide a consistent experience each time one visits any of its locations. The food and service is never going to blow you away but it is critical that neither of these alienates you from returning to the restaurant.
On this occasion my friend and I ordered our food, got our drinks and went to the table so they could bring our food when it was ready. A couple minutes passed and they brought my friends order out, promising me that my food would be out shortly. As the minutes grew I waited and waited yet nobody came over with food. Being a relatively new customer to Hardee’s, I grew increasingly disappointed and frustrated and soon was ready to give up on the fast food chain entirely. However, before I was able to ask for my money back and storm out in dramatic fashion, the cashier saved the day by not only bringing my order, but also bringing out three free chicken tenders. He apologized saying he thought someone had already been brought out. I figured this was a lie and he just forgot, but either way I was satisfied with the free food. While I was still annoyed at the delayed service I was pleased that they valued me enough as a customer to make the effort to make up for their error.
As pleased as I was that they put forth this effort, I did not realize until later exactly what a smart move this was from a marketing and customer service standpoint. Obviously bringing me the free food adequately made up for having to wait so long in the first place, easing my irritation with the restaurant and fast food chain. I did not realize until later that these were the “new hand-breaded chicken fingers” that I had seen advertised so heavily recently. They took an opportunity to calm an irritated customer and market a new product. I enjoyed the fingers and feel confident I will order them in the future. Opportunities like this one should be capitalized more often by companies. Receiving something for free, no matter how small, can often make a poor experience a positive one and if you have a chance to market a small or underselling product/service you can more than make up for the cost giving away the free product/service. Not only did I leave that day satisfied, I tried and enjoyed their latest product and will likely order it in the future. More companies should follow Hardee’s example and capitalize on such a strong marketing opportunity.
The blog “Free Chicken Fingers” offers some glimpses at the consumer behavior theory of approach/avoidance conflict. What this theory demonstrates is the decisions consumers must make at the point of purchase and how there is often a dilemma in their mind between wanting a product, but at the same time understanding that the negatives associated with the purchase of the product and wanting to avoid them. This phenomenon is seen in this blog as the buyer obviously desires some Hardee’s fast food, yet at the same time wants to avoid it due to the unhealthiness of the meal. This conflict is witnessed here however on this occasion the purchaser decided to go with the approach side of the conflict as opposed to refusing and avoiding the option, and honestly I would have done the same thing here!
ReplyDeleteIn a way, you could also argue that Hardees was starting the consumer off with a schedule of reinforcement based on receiving free items. Not only does the customer get to experience the new product of the chicken tenders, but they also associate Hardee’s with receiving free items. Like the author said, they had been to Hardees three times, and only gotten free chicken one time, but that the sort of variable ratio reinforcement that keeps someone coming back to Hardees on the rare chance that, once again, they’ll eat more than they paid for. So here’s to hoping Hardees ruins my next order!
ReplyDelete-Will McQuain