Have you ever been unsatisfied with a company’s product or service? Sure, we all have. How about over-the-top wowed by a company’s product or service? I hope you have! Consequently, what do we think about the company in either of those situations?

I like Taco Bell. There, I admitted it. Taco Bell Anonymous. Sometime last year when I visited Taco Bell I ordered my usual Meximelt and ended up being disappointed. Not at the meal, but at the paper wrapping protecting my precious Meximelt. It was tissue-paper thin and before I even got it out of the bag, it was ripping apart and sticking to my food. Yuck! Now, I understand cost-savings, but that was going a bit too far. But did I complain? Did I call their customer service and voice my opinion about their cheap paper wrapping? No, I just didn’t go back.

After a long hiatus, I had the opportunity to eat Taco Bell once again. Yes, I ordered the Meximelt, dreading the mess the paper wrapper was going to cause, but anticipating the good food. However, I was pleasantly surprised that they had upgraded their paper wrapper. Yay! Win for them! On the other hand, every time I picked up my drink cup, the sides caved in. That was an accident waiting to happen, which luckily didn’t.

I started thinking about customer satisfaction. There’s a fine line between saving money and decreasing customer satisfaction. You want your customers wowed and happy they chose to spend their money with you! You certainly don’t want them quietly going away never to return.

Here’s an example of cost savings that didn’t impact customer satisfaction. I recently changed horse feed from a name brand to one I’d never heard of until I saw it advertised on RFD-TV and endorsed by one of the top clinicians. The chain feed store doesn’t carry it, so I checked with the locally-owned feed store. Yes, they had it. So I picked up a couple of bags and what I saw was a surprise. Instead of having 4-color graphics printed all over the bag, there was nothing. The only identifier was the usual tag that had their name, nutritional and ingredient information, and suggested feeding. I’m sure not having all the graphics printed on the bag is saving them some money, and that’s fine. They don’t need to look pretty on the shelf because in the mom and pop feed stores, the feed is stored in a warehouse, you go to the counter and place your order, and they put it in your truck. No window shopping when it comes to buying feeds there.

How did the generic packaging impact my customer satisfaction? Not at all! The bag is a good quality bag, it’s just plain. No biggie. Had they chose to have cost-savings by using an inferior quality bag that tore easily, I would have been disappointed. It’s safe to say I’ve found a new feed!

So I wonder, how do you cut costs in your business without creating a negative customer experience or adding stress to your own well-being? Share with me below.