How to get Hygge into Digital Marketing

So what’s the take-away idea? When interacting with your customers think comfort.  List 10 ways you can make customers feel that you really are embracing their needs and implement the best and most cost-effective ideas.

On a recent trip to Copenhagen, Denmark, I experienced first hand the concept of Hygge.  Hygge literally means cosiness and is pronounced ‘hue-guh’.  Visit Denmark, the official tourist board for Denmark, describes hygge as ‘creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people.’

Imagine sitting by a warm fire, drinking hot chocolate, wearing your oldest, cosiest sweater,and enjoying a fun chat with family and friends. It’s about making the most of eight month  long Winter that Danes typically endure and creating the most comfortable, sociable and enjoyable experience, despite the damp, drab, cold outside.

Following a decades old love for all things Danish – furniture, design and interiors.  The world has fallen in love with Hygge. Hygge has become a worldwide phenomenon as people try to capture the essence of Hygge for their homes, their lives and their mood.  Hygge was a finalist in the Oxford Dictionary word of the year in 2016.  The winner was ‘post-truth’.

How do you bring Hygge into your online business?  Hygge is all about making consumers feel cosy, content, comfortable, pampered, and delighted.  Hygge is also about people – the personal touch, familiarity, trust, loyalty – the elements that define great relationships.

There are many ways that you can bring Hygge into digital marketing – all you need is a flare for relationship development and a desire to make customers really happy.

Some of these include: touching customer service, a nice surprise, freebies, warm messages, cosy packaging, and easy returns.

Touching customer service.  It is estimated that 90% of potential business is lost, if a company doesn’t respond to their enquiry within one hour.  Customer service is therefore critical to attracting and retaining customers.  If, from the outset, you can be responsive to customers and their requirements, then they will get the Hygge feeling from you and are more likely to buy from you.

It’s only by listening to the customer that you get the opportunity to provide the kind of customer service that touches the customer and makes them feel really looked after.  So, if you are there from the start, listening, responding, supporting and enticing – then your relationship is off to a great start.

A nice surprise.  Zappos.com is a company whose mantra is to ‘deliver happiness in a box’.  They often upgrade shipping, so that customers get their shoes delivered a couple of days earlier than expected.  Sometimes they put a handwritten note into the box, thanking the customer for their order.

Freebies.  Some businesses like to include money off next purchase vouchers, introductory offers for friends and family or free samples.   Some professional services firms provide free webinars, blogs, invitations to conferences, educational material, white papers, or business insights to share knowledge and build client relationships.   All designed to delight and invite the customer to do more business.

Warm messages.  A handwritten card saying, ‘hope you enjoy this.’  A confirmation email that says ‘thank you’ for the order like this note, from Johnny Boden:

Thanks for placing an order with us. You’ve made us happier than all our favourite things: tea, dogs, crumpets and bank holidays.

We’ll aim to deliver your goodies soon, but in the meantime here’s your order info…. 

A tracking code for delivery of your package like this one from Dunnes Stores:

Your order is on its way – click here to track your parcel, but please note that the delivery company may take a short while to update this information.

A ‘sorry’ note saying ‘Sorry this item didn’t suit you like this one from MandM Direct:

Sorry!

Dear …

Sorry you weren’t happy with your recent purchase from MandM Direct.  We’ve received your parcel and you’ve been refunded, this will should in your account in 3-5 days.

All of these warm messages give the customer a sense of Hygge.  They are in good hands.  They are being cared for.  Their needs are being met by good people.

Easy returns.  Returns cost money – for both customers and for businesses.  So they are not the best aspect of online sales.  However, if you establish a clear and simple procedure, then the customer is more likely to do business with you in the future.

Globally, there is a trend towards providing consumers with products and services that are Hygge.  There were 9 different books on Hygge published over the last couple of years.  Tesco, for example, now offers a range of hygge comfort food.  There are all kinds of stores opening up under the Hygge name – bakeries, wallpaper suppliers and many others.  Hygge is the new black.