Reputation and image. Same meaning, though the latter can also refer to visual in a literal sense. Today is about how a quick run on Google can yield the same results I’ll be uploading below and what conclusions are there to be drawn from these service tech companies I’ll be mentioning. Moreover, about first impressions.
Online dry cleaning and laundry service. If you’re living in London like me, maybe you’ve seen their cars around and made you get instantly what they are about. The process is simple:
- give them some info
- prepare your clothes
- select a time-slot for pick-up
- have them picked-up and wait
- get them back cleaned and ironed
Pretty simple to understand in a world where Uber is mainstream. The thing is, there are a few options available. Upon looking at reviews and the way these companies present themselves, it’s pretty evident why one leads when it comes to reputation. Here they are: Laundrapp, Zipjet and Ihateironing.com
As a disclaimer, it is true that this is only but a random sample of reviews based on the most recently left ones. It’s hard to be objective here so if you care about political correctness, go check them yourself as well.
The overall ratings are 3.5, 3.2 and 4.4 stars out of 5 respectively. The common thread between all of the negative ones is that it happened that clothes were damaged, yet the first two companies seem to have cases where belongings are lost.
If by giving benefit of doubt clothing damage can sometimes just happen as the shirt (or whatever item) was simply old — though I’m not saying it can’t happen due to poor service — losing belongings is clearly out of another category.
I believe it’s a capital mistake that will take a few times as much effort to fix. We can use symmetry of logic: would you go to the doctor that misacted?
My point here is not to judge these services but to draw a connection to how they present themselves. Here are their websites:
My conclusion is that there’s no wonder Ihateironing is the one leading by a mile in here. Just by looking at their homepage I can see the difference in quality and a bit more. It’s simply my intuition telling me this but I think you can agree on my thinking: their clientele consists of people who are above middle-class income, prefer paying over spending time and/or due to the quality of their clothes, they prefer using a professional service.
All these add up into one word: premium. Which one of the three looks the most premium, thus connecting to the people who they’re trying to reach?
For instance, one consequence of knowing who you’re talking to in this example, is the use of slick, thin and spaced-out typography. That’s simply one piece of the puzzle out of this experience they’re building.
Thinking and feeling
Speaking of experiences, my favourite topic, which one of them seems like the most hassle-free and easily explained system? This becomes even more important when having in mind that going through this process has to be an experience for the user — might as well make it as simple as possible.
Here’s one extra point I’d like to give ihateironing:
“I hate mondays | Wake up happy with box-fresh, beautifully pressed work shirts and dry cleaning”
or
“I hate waiting | Skip standing in line, let us come to you with our super fast dry cleaning and laundry service”
Those phrases are once more going one step over the others to tell me what do they do for me. It is common practice today to have that on one’s website, yet it’s one step ahead to evoke to feelings or paint the specific picture of success in the reader’s head.
Help me by telling me what your product does for me so I can think less and feel more. More feeling, more engagement.
Even their name — I hate ironing — evokes to a feeling. A negative one, that’s right, just like security companies, yet nonetheless that is simply the path they’ve chosen. Experience? Checked.
Not to praise them too much, I see what they can do better but that’s for another article.
To conclude
I don’t know the reason why these negative experiences happen to the users of these companies and it’s not within what I talk — I do hope they’ll manage to do better. What is within what I talk is the way they present themselves and how user churn is linked to a million of factors, small part of which I’ve analysed today.
Reputation and image can have the same meaning. They can also mean “reviews” and “visual identity”, respectively. In these three cases, the connection was evident between the two — anyone, subconsciously, could have seen it coming.
Nonetheless, if anyone leading any of these firms feel like they could benefit from chagency’s help, my inbox is open to them — I’d be happy to help given that our past work included similar companies.
About Ch Daniel
I run chagency, an experiences design agency that specialises on helping tech CEOs reduce user churn. We believe experiences are not only the reason why users choose not to leave but also what generates word of mouth. We’re building a credo around this belief.
I’ve also created an infinitely-valuable app for sneaker/fashion enthusiasts called Legit Check that impacted hundreds of thousands over millions of times – check it out at chdaniel.com/app
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