Boost Juice Turns Sour With The Wrong Email Message.
Posted on January 16th, 2008 by Simon Chen
Sometimes, the best intent doesn’t always work.
Take this email I received today from Boost Juice. While I applaud the founder - Janine Allis’ openness and willingness to accept feedback, this is clearly ONE email that should not have been sent.
It goes like this.
Boost have a loyalty card - called VIBE.
The crux of the email is that the 10% discount that VIBE cardholders received on juices and smoothies was going to be abolished due to the drought, the new Labour government, the recent hot weather, the outrageous rise in private school fees, the price of milk, blah blah blah. Whatever.
Here’s the message (unedited).
Dear Very Important Boost Enthusiasts,
Over the last few years we have been fortunate enough to give our VIBE club members a 10% discount on our range of juices and smoothies.
Unfortunately due to the drought in Australia, the cost of making you the freshest juices and smoothies has gone up substantially, especially in the last 12 months; so much so that we have had to make a tough decision… either put our prices up, or keep them at the existing price and remove the 10% discount for VIBE members. We have chosen to remove the 10% VIBE discount, effective 1st February 2008. You can, however, still enjoy the benefits of the Boost loyalty stamp card (buy 10 and get the 11th free)
Our VIBE club remains with great monthly specials and exclusive offers to members, such as the VIBE Challenge and your free Birthday Boost. Should the drought break and the cost of our ingredients come back down, we will review the 10% discount again.
Thanks again for your loyalty to Boost, and for any feedback you would like to make regarding this please feel free to email me at janine@boostjuicebars.com
Janine Allis
Founder
Now, here’s why it was the wrong thing to do.
First there are some things you don’t communicate via email. Removing a discount is one of them. And if you do feel the need, tell the story properly.
Customers, in this case, don’t give a rats toss about Boosts costs, the drought, or any other personal issues you might be facing. We only care about us.
These issues are always better handled by conducting an online poll which engages your customer base. Tell me the problem. If you really feel compelled to do so, tell us from the side of the franchisee. Tell me just how much the drought has caused your wholesale product to rise. And tell me face to face in store, let me read while I’m waiting, let me hear it from a team member.
I’m going to be far more compassionate when I’m there in person. Getting this sort of email from Boost (in this case Janine Allis) is sort of like being dumped by a lover via SMS. A bit impersonal really.
As a side note, I always knew when, on the lucky occasion I did manage to convince a girl to go out with me, that they no longer wanted to continue the romance when most of my personal belongings would end up on the front lawn of my parents house. It wasn’t subtle. But at least I knew where I stood.
Anyway.
Boost could have handled this better. Firstly, the email should have been personalised. Both in the subject line and in the opening. And there should have been a soft approach to this. Poll the customer base first. Then make a decision based on the feedback. The Socratic method has worked for years.
Whatever credibility Boost had with me - has now all but disappeared with the single opening of an email.
And it has nothing to do with the actual dollar amount or physical increase to me (ie from $4.50 to $5 or whatever).
The problem when email is poorly executed is that it can be passed along. It’s the downside when viral marketing works against you. My take is that this will cause more of a headache to Janine and her team than the actual profit margin they were thinking they would be clawing back.
What do you think?
(Image courtesy Wilmslow Express, London)
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January 17th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
While I’m not a VIBE club member, another issue I can see with the above is it reduces the benefit for someone remaining in the program, while Boost retain all of the value of having their contact details. As someone wholly aware of the value of a database, is there really an argument to be made that a customer’s contact details aren’t worth 10% off the price of a juice?
Will be interesting to see what fallout there is.
January 20th, 2008 at 9:33 am
I don’t get it.
They have decided to penalize their loyal customers/members but the blow ins off the street don’t get the price rise. What the?
I would be really peeved if I was a member!
I thought this woman, if you believe the media beat up was meant to be a marketing genius.
Why wouldn’t you just knock up the prices slightly across the board and it would probably go un-noticed?
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Agree wholeheartedly.
Do you think you can win back members loyalty after you’ve peeved them? and if so, what would be a good way to attempt to do it? (this scenario as example)
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:33 pm
[...] SIMON Says: [...]
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:08 pm
I would just like to say that I believe that sending out that email to all of us VIBE members was good because it lets us know in advance. Every Boost store that I have been to recently has had signs up explaining exactly what was in the email, and team members have also advised me when I flash my card that the 10% discount will be discontinued as of the 1st of February. Also, there were customer polls conducted by the head office as my local Boosties told me the other day when I questioned the removal of the discount however it would almost be impossible to poll every single VIBE member in Australia don’t you think?
If you actually look at it, using the loyalty stamp cards entitles you to a free drink after you’ve bought 10. This is exactly the same as getting a 10% discount every time you buy a drink because 10 drinks with 10% discount accumulates to one free drink, hence VIBE members are still getting their discount, just in an accumulative discount rather than an ongoing one. Think about it before you judge too quickly.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:48 am
Maddy, your point of view is valid. And I agree that it would be just too tough to poll each and every Vibe member. But I stand by what I said. This message should not have been sent via email. Unfortunately, as a customer - we are judging each and every time we interract with a business.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Fair enough Simon, but in todays day and age the majority of communication is now done via email or internet. Boost is covering both angles by sending out the email and verbally advising customers, meaning that those people who are unable to be told in person won’t turn up at Boost some time in May and be unaware of the changes made.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
In terms of sales, there are only three performance metrix that mean anything:
1. Number of purchases
2. Frequency of repeat purchases
3. Average sale price per purchase.
You would certainly have to hope that they have run the numbers.
As for whether it was the best way to break the newsyou’d think if they were going to break the news in an email, they would conduct their survey prior to the announcement using an email as well. If they were going to break the news in-store, then hold the survey in-store. Otherwise people are left feeling out of the loop and unappreciated. Considering VIBE’rs made the effort to connect with Boost, the least they should have done is made the effort to connect with them.
As Alex Mandossian shared with us at the X10 seminar, “serve sirloin steaks to your family and chuck steaks to your guests”. In most cases the costs associated with selling to those who already know like and trust you are far less than selling than selling to people who don’t so treat those people well.
There probably were better ways of dealing with the issue, I hope for their sake they ran the numbers first.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Isn’t this just one more example of business not giving a toss about their long term, loyal and regular customers and only caring about profits?
What’s better, a happy customer who makes a regular purchase or a casual one who only makes an infrequent purchase.
I think Boost Juice have made a major marketing error here, and when you consider that there are other juice type bars with not only equal but better quality products and service I wouldn’t be surprised if the drop in sales to ex-loyal customers will be followed by the inevitable price rise which will occur in the not too distant future.
June 22nd, 2008 at 6:27 pm
the problem is, quite simply, boost does not supply what it claims
August 20th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I agree. I was a vibe club member, got my ‘vip’ status cut… i didn’t really care that much at the time…but if anyone has noticed- the prices have gone up by a dollar anyway. I haven’t bought a boost since the vibe got cut. I’m pretty sure they would have lost money with the scheme.
September 8th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Oh really - I think you all overestimate the attachment people have to brands, and underestimate the youth audience. The email was fine, and not personalising it was a good idea as you dont want your customers to feel the change is personal, and also think that people dont drink boost because of vibe - they drink it because it is accessable, good and healthy.
As for online polls - no-one needs a poll to tell you that the customers dont want a price rise -however that doesn´t balance the books at the end of the day. I think most peole who are realists will appreciate being told the reasons and get over it.
November 5th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I have worked for Boost Juice as a head office consultant to franchisees. Boost is one of the smartest and biggest brands in the country with huge brand awareness similar to big players such as McDonalds and Coca Cola. This email was not only appropriate it was also very smart. Boost are confident in their own decisions, and the positive comp in sales since the removal of the discount shows evidence that nobody has been phased by the removal of the discount, simply accepted it and moved on. By not needing to do a poll Boost have showed confidence and proved the power of their brand. The email was a perfect way to get the message accross quickly, with little confusion in store so the organisation could continue to serve a great healthy product, with speed and great customer service which is what has made them such a successful business, and their founder Janine Alliss one of the richest women in the country.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
i read this and was outraged. i bought 10 boosts got the 11th free but did not get a vibe card! cheap poo heads