03 Aug Happy Customers Feel Lucky: Learn From the Legacy of Lego
Lego receives in excess of 4 million customer calls per year. Many of those calls are for replacement pieces that customers have lost. Even though these are not the fault of the company, Lego does their best to accommodate and with style. These happy customers feel lucky to have found Lego as a company.
Merriam-Webster dictionary’s first definition of happy is “favored by luck or fortune”. That is a great prompt for how to go about creating happy customers who feel lucky to find your product. Use this story of the world’s most famous plastic brick for inspiration.
For the Love of Lego
A long beloved brand by both adults and children (and not just adults that have children), Lego has been a household staple (and source of foot pain) for decades. The seeds of the company started in 1932 in the magical hands of a creative carpenter (Ole Kirk Kristiansen) whose toys delighted his first customers, his own children.
The name Lego is a blend of two Danish words, ‘leg godt, which means “playing well”. Interestingly, in Latin Lego means “I put together” too, but apparently that part was a happy accident.
Ole focused on both delighting children and creating with quality even in the early years when money was tight. This dedication to quality paid off over time with customer loyalty that has helped expand their product.
Lego doesn’t just have customers, they have collectors and even competitors. They have inspired the world so much that what started as a children’s building toy has evolved into an international adult sporting competition.
That’s some impact.
Embracing Change
Lego’s building sets and famous interlocking bricks came into being as a response to customer needs. Instead of continuing to make toys that were already built they identified the gap in the market for toys that were tools of creation to build with.
The bricks were later redesigned to interlock so that children could move their creations without them falling apart (very helpful for show and tell). Their customers were able to enjoy their creations as sculptures on display or take them apart to make new ones. That flexibility made for happy customers.
The opportunities to delight didn’t stop there. Though known for their physical building toys, Lego has embraced technology to expand their creations to the digital world too (with less foot pain). With video games and apps , licensing with top entertainment franchises and a string of amusement parks, Lego is everywhere.
Freaky Service
A dedicated customer-focused attitude contributes to Lego’s immense success. Lego has a customer service formula that they abbreviate with FRKE (pronounced ‘freaky’, lol). It stands for fun, reliable, knowledgeable and engaging. They understand that there is no fun without follow through.
Instead of hiding their customer service contact info, they have a page dedicated to it. This includes self-help options on instructions and troubleshooting. It also includes separate links for broken bricks, missing bricks, FAQ and multiple ways of contacting their service department.
They also stay true to company values. Lego won’t partner with a brand that could damage their reputation, particularly with parents. For example, though Game of Thrones themed Lego sets would likely sell extremely well, the mature nature of the stories don’t fit with Lego’s dedication to their first customers: children. Their customers are loyal to the brand because the brand is loyal to them.
One of the Best
From August 2020 to August 2021 Comparably surveyed over 200,000 customers to find which brands are considered the best. They ranked the companies on 6 criteria: quality, customer service, ROI, CSAT, loyalty, and willingness to recommend. They created an NPS range of -100 to 100 to gauge where the top 100 companies landed in their final list. Lego was #20 with a score of 59.
Furthermore, Lego has proven to be a solid investment property. A study released in 2022 showed that Lego brings a better return than traditional investments like gold and stocks (wait. what?). An average 11% return makes for some happy customers indeed (save those toys, kids).
Long Term Impact – Investing in Future Customers
Lego continues to invest in the lives of young children. In 2022 they created a 143 million dollar competition called Build A World of Play Challenge. The challenge is to provide innovative answers to the care and education of the world’s youngest members focusing on newborns through children six years of age.
The company confirms its brand voice in every part of its business from products, to choosing collaborators, to community investment to customer service. They have stayed the course through difficult times that include losing their factory to fire (twice) and near bankruptcy. Lego built trust over time and has been rewarded with a vibrant business loved by its customers. Not a bad example to follow.
So What Can You Apply from Lego’s Bag of Bricks?
- Start with the good stuff. Build trust with customers by offering a product with consistent quality.
- Listen to customer needs. Give your customers the opportunity to let you know what they need.
- Learn to adapt. Take that customer feedback data and use it to continue to improve and innovate.
- Build solid customer service. Include self-serve and agent based solutions. Make it easy for customers to reach you and find a solution.
- Be true to your brand. Define who you are and confirm it with every action your company takes.
Even if you’re a new brand, a small company, have an outsourced contact center, have a hybrid service system, or are in the process of scaling your help desk there are seeds you can lay now. If you don’t have the history or resources of Lego you can employ technology to help you manage your business and grow it.
Zendesk is a (CRM) customer relationship management platform. Like Lego, Zendesk was conceived in Denmark and they have been pioneers in their industry too helping over 100,000 brands take their customer service online. Even Lego is on Zendesk with Lego Brawls support. You can employ them to help you grow quality service. Using AI based applications in the Zendesk marketplace that integrate seamlessly, you can scale with the ease of automation.
Start building your Lego-like legacy now.
