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My local bakery tried to hide a price hike with a 'loyalty program' and it blew up
They had a choice: be upfront about raising croissant prices by 50 cents or launch a confusing points system that hid the cost. They picked the points system. Last Tuesday, their social media was flooded with angry comments from regulars who felt tricked. Their apology email just made it worse by calling it a 'value upgrade'. Has anyone seen a small business recover from something like this without just rolling back the change?
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jamesfox7mo ago
Man, why do places always try to get cute with this stuff? The real question is, can they actually fix it without just putting the old price back? They have to ditch the points thing completely and send a real, simple apology that says "we messed up, the price is now X." Then, for like a month, throw in a free coffee with every few croissants for the regulars. It's a straight up goodwill tax they need to pay to win back trust.
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morgan.logan7mo ago
Yeah, but @jamesfox, what does "win back trust" even look like here? They already showed they'll change the deal to make more money. Even a free coffee feels like a cheap trick after that. I'd need to see them lock the lower price for a long time, no points, no tricks. A one-month band-aid doesn't fix the feeling they'll just try it again later.
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