Best Cupcakes & Best Practices

You may have heard of Sprinkles Cupcakes; luckily we had the chance to taste them at their Dallas location a couple weeks ago. We were there for a little field research; we needed to send something unique to one of our customers in the gift-basket business. Here’s a little recap of our experience and how it relates to email marketers like you…

The company was started with the vision of helping you re-live the joy of making cupcakes as a kid with your family. Not sure about you… but these taste better than any I’ve ever made.

1) Banana Cupcakes, Monday through Wednesday only: They have a schedule of the different types of cupcakes they bake daily so your favorite is tied to the day of the week… Lemon Coconut is on Tuesday and Friday, Peanut Butter Chocolate on Wednesday and Saturday. The point is that in addition to the regular daily cupcakes, they offer special flavors only on certain days of the week. The lesson for email marketers is to remember to have your regular email schedule and the extra email each week with a surprise/ special offer.

2) Madagascar Bourbon: A key component in the Lemon Coconut with lemon coconut cream cheese frosting; the Carrot Cake Cupcake is a walnut-studded with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Each of the creations is a delicious work of art – so if your favorite isn’t there the descriptions of the others may help you choose an alternate. As eMarketers we should use fantastic descriptions to define our offers; don't make the assumption that people will see or hear what you are trying to say. You can also enhanced descriptions on the landing page (a search plus too.)

3) Superb Service: It’s easy be overwhelmed with all of the pretty options; so the staff walks you through what’s available. EMarketers should apply the same using your call center and branch people – make sure they know about your offers and are able to exude the same excitement that the cupcake people can.

4) Phenomenal Gifts: Their product is fresh, neatly displayed and delivered with care. The recipients of the cupcakes (who as I mentioned are in the gift basket business) liked the packaging and raved about the product. So retail eMarketers, encourage your readers to give your products as gifts it’s an easy way to extend your product line – if you add something special it will really benefit.

5) Follow up: I had a question about the delivery of the cupcakes so I left a message with Sprinkles. The follow up was prompt, cheerful and sincere. This is a challenge, especially in the eWorld, but use the phone instead of email. Take a small segment of users and offer them direct phone access to you, tell them you are personally interested in their feedback – you will be surprised not only in the good feedback but the friends (AKA loyal customers) who will continue to be big fans.

So if you’re in the area, have a sweet-tooth and in need of a pick-me-up stop by – and try their Red Velvet cupcake, you will not be disappointed. You could get the same pick-me-up for your campaigns at our Panel of Peers workshop – maybe someone from Sprinkles will attend our LA session on Tuesday.