A couple of months ago, Buffer‘s amazing community manager Nicole Miller posted a blog post about how they send company swag and how much it costs them, which I tweeted.
Having already received their (hand-written) card and stickers, I was already a fan of their swag. Then, my friend Mordecai Holtz tweeted (half-jokingly, I think) that he also got them but would have liked a t-shirt:
Nicole took us both seriously and sent us both a t-shirt in the mail. When mine arrived at my local post office, I was shocked that they asked me to pay a $10 release fee! I protested to them strongly about this fee, telling them it was just a gift of a t-shirt, but to no avail. I was resigned to paying the fee, or letting the shirt go back to Buffer.
I told Nicole what was going on, and she responded in the most amazing way!
She was REALLY trying to make it right. Problem was, as nice and kind as the offers were, they weren’t useful for us. At this point, she could have just said “I’m really sorry we can’t make it work this time.”
But, no. She persevered – and asked me what we would find useful.
So, I told her, and was totally shocked by her response:
Yes, you read that correctly.
They sent me 10 POUNDS – equivalent to about $15! So more than I paid for releasing the t-shirt at the post office!
I was speechless. Nicole’s behaviour is totally in sync with Buffer’s values:
Nicole did what I believe every good community manager should do – ensure those in the community remain happy, and if possible, convert them into fans.
I already loved Buffer – great product, great team, great content, great philosophy.
Now they have a fan for life.
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