Repeat customers
How restaurant expertise can improve non credit programs
My friends have a favorite restaurant. Sure, we all do, right? But they really have a favorite. Every month they go there for date night. They take friends and family there. They got married there. I meant it, they LOVE this place. They’ve been going for six years, so that’s 72 date nights, a wedding, in laws in town, etc. Let’s say 100 times?
If you didn’t know already, one thing you learned fron The Bear [Season 3 drops this week] is about knowing your customer. Sure, Elevan Madison Park taught us to take it to the extreme with skulking on your social media, but if you’re trying to build community [what is loyaly to a restaurant other than wanting to be part of a community?], you need to know who is in that community, and you need to try to keep them.
Cue Boka, my friends’ favorite place. The beautiful flagship of Chicago’s Boka Restaurant Group is Michelin starred American seasonal restaurant with quirky art, fabulous food and great hospitality. I’ve been there several times - I also officiated that wedding there, it’s really good but I don’t love it in the same way. [major kudos on their smashed cucumber though]. Do we really know what it is that makes anything someone’s favorite. There is always a secret spark, isn’t there? One of my MBA students at UNC produced a photo of himself as a child in a TarHeel jersey - it’s the only place he considered for graduate school. He was raised in Spokane, so it’s not like he grew up on Carolina blue ambulances.
With customers this regular, what do you need to do to keep them? Just good food and good people, right? I suspect there is a reason that Boka is Boka, and I’ve recently learned what that is. They recently went in on date night. The server welcomed them as always, and noted that it’s been 6 years this month since my friend moved here to Chicago and they started date nights. They actually went to Boka straight from the airport - not really how I think about landing at O’Hare. She also dances with a local company. Not only did they keep track of her performances, but someone figured out you apparently do not wish a dancer good luck.
This week Boka went one step further: “Welcome to the club.” What club, one might ask? The club that you didn’t know existed and can’t opt in to join, that is by invitation only. This club comes with a cool black card with a private concierge phone and email - so they can get anything they need at any time. Reservations for Alla Vita or Swift & Sons on a Friday night at 7? You [well, they] got it. I don’t know if meeting star Chef Stephanie Izard is one of the options, but if it is, I’m there to talk Little Goat Diner’s okonomiyaki authenticity. [it’s great, BTW, and I am Japanese food fussy]. Another friend’s husband is Concierge Key level on American Airlines - above the published levels. I don’t even know what he gets but it sounds cool.
Ok, where am I going with this, other than flexing my well-heeled friends with good taste? How does this connect to online higher ed? It’s not like universities can give out meetings with Iron Chefs or free flights. Here’s the secret - it’s not the thing, it’s the acknowledgement. We all want to be seen.
When you’re talking degrees, alumni affairs is usually attached to development - alumni are engaged in interviewing prospects or serving on boards or featured in marketing pieces but always asked for money. If you’re not in a degree, you’re usually not classified as an alum, so where is your community?
It seems that everyone in online education talks about microcredentials and certificates and non credit options. There is often a hope that those students may then become a degree-seeking student. This hope is generally only based on “If the course is good they’ll want more.” With absolutely no data to back this up for me, I suspect this is not the case. It may happen, but it’s certainly not a strategy. Just like with degrees, we are looking for career & community - usually microcredentials and certs focus on the career part - what about the community part?
I’m currently enrolled in a course through Vanderbilt School of Engineering via Coursera. As higher ed and the general public get a little crazy with generative AI I am learning how to create my own AI Assitants. I don’t have any past connection to Vanderbilt, I don’t know anyone there, and I’m not from Nashville. It’s a great course and I’m very impressed. So, let’s imagine what they could do to keep me for a lifetime? And how can they do that without breaking the bank? If I’m only paying Coursera $49 a month for access, I can’t imagine that the school is getting much of that.
The first thing is to harness that power of automation. While most schools use drip emails in marketing and enrollment, somehow those fall off later. Emails that should be automated that make me feel special:
100 days since I started school [apparently elementary school loves this now]
My birthday - have MarComm do a cool digital card each year and automate it to go out on birthdays - absolute no brainer
End of my first term
Attendance at any special event/lecture/whatever
Big news from the university - championships or new buildings or new degrees or really anything you want to share
None of these are hard to do - all of them make me feel like you see me. Everyone should be doing birthdays, in my opinion. You absolutely know birthdays, and if Facebook can remember, so can schools. Let’s call this entry level. If you have a student enrolled in more than one course, into a certificate or micro credential, up the game. Survey the students - see what they are trying to get out of the program, or why this school at this time. Take a little time and incorporate those answers into your next round of messaging.
When possible, go as extra as you can. During one in person event I was in front of 400 of our online students. I love public speaking and love engaging the audience - that particular time I decided to risk the wrath of our Dean and thatACC school. I greeted one of our Birmingham based students finishing the program from the stage - “Hey Lori, Roll Tide.” The joy that she got from me actually seeing her was immeasurable. Alabama native or not, she is a TarHeel for life. It’s no “merde” on a cake plate, but what is?