Welcome to our 10th Brand Prix, where instead of only investigating the companies’ CRM, we check out the customer experience in a more wholesome way – as we compare two tasty meal kit brands.
You can check out past editions to get into the groove: Adidas vs. Nike, Target vs. Walmart, Banana Republic vs. J.Crew, Gap vs. Zara, Groupon vs. Living Social, Kiehl’s vs. Liz Earle, Sunglass Hut vs. Warby Parker, and Brooklinen vs. Parachute.
Introduction
In this series, PostFunnel follows two competing brands to assess their customer marketing execution. For each case study, we enact a customer journey with the respective brands, documenting every user interaction that was sent to our testers. Then we give professional inputs and insights from our experience with the brands for you.
And score them, because NUMBERS!
The Companies
This time around, we compared two well-known American meal kit companies: Blue Apron and Sun Basket.
Blue Apron is an American ingredient-and-recipe meal kit service founded in 2012 in New York. A brand that started out from a commercial kitchen in Long Island City that’s currently operating all across the US, with over 2,000 employees.
On the Westside, we have Sun Basket, a San Francisco-based subscription meal delivery service. The company was founded in 2014 and currently operates with over 400 employees.
Both companies are leaders in the industry across all US states. They both follow a subscription model where the customers pick and choose certain recipes to create a personalized delivery in order to prepare fresh home meals with the required ingredients.
Methodology
We split the analysis into 6 pillars: personalization, promotions and offers, along with four user experience categories: create an account, delivery, canceling a subscription, and a general/COVID-19 related analysis as this experiment took place during the first wave when the country was locked down under quarantine.
Personalization
Blue Apron
We certainly appreciated how Blue Apron kept asking us what foods we can eat, allergy, and other dietary requiermtns. This was supposed to save us some time on searching for menus without beef or pork (as we weren’t feeling it that day). The biggest fail with this brand however happened when we edited our first delivery – there were beef options in the menus as we scrolled down. A big no-no in our books and not the best first impression.
Later in the week, after we created our account, we received three emails in one afternoon. A bit batch and blastish in our opinion. The first one’s subject line was “$60 off, with your name on it” the second email’s subject line read, “Dinner, but better.” With a shrimp taco image that looked delicious – which left us a bit confused as to whether they were referring to the shrimp taco recipe, or not.
Either way, we soon enough got the third email with the subject line, “Our mistake! Here’s the $60 off you want.” And the mistake? Their CTA in the original $60 was invalid. Oops… Blue Apron clearly does batch and blast repetitive content, which in the long run can hurt customer communications. Just in our first week, we were already getting tired of receiving their emails. Score – 3/10
Sun Basket
As soon as we entered the Sun Basket website, we were prompted with a popup that asked how many people would be eating, and if there are any specific diets we follow. We filled it out right away to get the personalization feel of it all. Besides the basics of beef or pork, we could choose countless options for tailored dietary restrictions.
We were able to set the communication preferences, and in no time received a text message. We love this multi-channel communication and extra touchpoints with this brand right from the start. We were a bit disappointed that we didn’t receive an immediate welcome email from the brand or an abandoned-cart email. It took over an hour for the first welcome email to kick in, and then we were blown with another two that same day and four more emails within three days. Not the best email flow but at least no mistakes were made. Score – 6/10
Promotions and Offers
Blue Apron
Blue Apron’s starting price is $7.49 per serving. We were a bit baffled about the 49 cents, but sure, we went with it. Their meals are segmented by weeks, meaning each week has a different set of meals. Although this may seem innovative, it made us less interested. What if we loved the meal from two weeks ago? It would suck if we couldn’t get that same delicious meal again when we want it. Nevertheless, all the information we could possibly ask for was right there. With images, ingredients, and instructions.
When signing up, we noticed that if you choose 2 recipes a week, there’s no free shipping, but if you do 3 per week, shipping is free. The shipping costs is almost the same price as a meal, which is definitely a “Nay”.
Either way, shipping was quick, and once we created our account, we received an email with the subject, “You’ve earned 1 free box to give away”. This promo is great for marketing – allowing us to get a free meal while exposing our friend to all of Blue Apron’s goodies – definitely a “Yay!”
Eventually, our hearts were conquered , here and this happened when it came to “Blue Apron’s Wine Pairing” option. Because who doesn’t love a nice glass of wine to complete a tasty meal? Serious extra points on this one. Going into their wine section, Blue Apron makes sure to illustrate that by cutting out the middleman, you’ll still get fine wine but at a lower price. Cheers, BA! Score – 8/10
Sun Basket
Sun Basket’s starting price is at $10.99 per serving. It certainly makes you question how much food you are about to get? As a price-first kind of shopper, it would probably help to have a discount for the first meal. But this has to be put aside once the shopper realizes that they base their food on an organic and eco-conscientious basis that targets and attracts a specific type of young food cautious persona and niche group.
Overall, Blue Apron and Sun Basket have similar pricing, in the way that both also break it down by how many recipes and how many servings you receive per week. However, Blue Apron has the solely vegetarian meals, whereas Sun Basket asks about your diet restrictions from the very first interaction, allowing further personalization via detailed diet options. Score – 6/10
User Experience – Create an Account
Blue Apron
When we were in the process of creating an account, we realized that we couldn’t choose any recipes unless our account details were all filled and completed with a credit card number. Though it’s a pretty smart tactic, as a customer, we would have preferred to choose the recipe before handing over the money. Score – 6/10
Sun Basket
When creating an account, Sun Basket made it clear with messages of no commitment – meaning we could skip or cancel subscription anytime. Of course, we all like to have these options available, no strings attached right? We also appreciated that they are fully aware of the fact that everyone out there is trying to find the best deals. Further demonstrating that it’s alright if we don’t end up liking their recipes and food curation. Score – 9/10
User Experience – Delivery
Blue Apron
After ordering, we received an email telling us that the box had been shipped over to us. In this email, they provided us with a tracking link of the order and a preview of the two recipes that were chosen. Sun Basket did not do this, which is disappointing. We must say, though, we really liked the packaging of the product and “unboxing” the meals. Score 7/10
Sun Basket
Sun Basket was more engaging than Blue Apron in terms of their marcoms: sending text messages, emails, and retargeting us on social media. But they lacked the simple things, such as, clarifying which recipes were chosen (the real reason we are here) and the date of shipment.
They did send us an email on the day the food was actually getting shipped, which made us realize it’s locally made. Yummy! But, a little heads up would have been nice.
Once the delivery arrived it came with a small booklet indicating the company’s values and everything else you need to know, from where they source the food to clear instructions on how to dispose of everything. Score 6/10
User Experience –Cancelling Subscription
Blue Apron
When entering the site, there didn’t seem to be a live chat button to talk to a rep about canceling our subscription, so we just followed into the help center. All we had to do was type “cancel” and immediately a “how to cancel subscription” pop up appeared. To proceed we needed to email their support team rather than making the process a quick and easy click of a button.
It didn’t take long until we received an email from their cancelation department detailing the steps needed to be taken in order to end our subscription. Seemed as though they took it to heart as we got the option to state any feedback and even a specific phone number and email to do so. We like that they care but they should have a review section on their site for cancelation reasons in order to collect this data automatically.
After filling all the necessary items for canceling and leaving our review and reasoning, we immediately got a confirmation email for ending our subscription. The nice touch here was that we still have access to free recipes. It left us with a sweet memory of the brand.
Where’d they go wrong in our recipe book? After canceling we received a reminder email that we still have a $60 gift card to give to a friend. Since we just canceled the subscription, they should assume our view of them isn’t too positive – so why ask us to refer a friend? Score – 5/10
Sun Basket
When looking for how to cancel, we noticed the chatbot options. It was very informative and didn’t try to push back our decision to end the subscription.
As we followed the links to canceling the plan, we were able to dictate our reasoning simply by clicking on one of the given options: “I was trying it out” and that “I would have subscribed if the service met my expectations.” When choosing the second option, they asked if we would like to connect with one of their Memberships Ambassadors to further discuss. At this point in time, we continued with the cancelation for our testing purposes, but we definitely noticed the proposition to be connected to an actual person. What a treat!
We immediately received a confirmation email for the cancellation. No images, just words, asking if we would like to leave any feedback and simply reply to this message, if so. Also, it was mentioned that if we ever want to reactivate, follow the link provided. This is concise, positive, and simple for the user. Score – 7/10
User Experience – COVID-19
As mentioned, this experiment was taken during May 2020 – during the first wave of coronavirus while we (the testers) were quarantined in New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic at the time.
Blue Apron
Almost every company had (and still has) some sort of response to COVID-19. Blue Apron simply had a clickable link indicating “Our response to COVID-19, FAQ here,” which was great but not enough. What’s the point in just reading about it? Where is the impact? How’s BA helping or giving back to society?
In addition, after signing up we automatically received a promotion of a free meal to a friend. With COVID in mind, we wish they offered the option to give a free meal to a friend OR a front-line medical worker, instead. This would have been a prime opportunity in our opinion.
To sum it up, Blue Apron also made it difficult to cancel our subscription or skip a week, which is certainly something to consider during a world pandemic. Score – 2/10
Sun Basket
On the homepage, Sun Basket displayed banners asking us to donate a meal to “front-line heroes.” We give them extra stars for acknowledging and responding to the pandemic in the best way that they can. Before even making the order, the homepage had a clear COVID-19 message saying how deliveries may be delayed and options may be limited. They apologized for any inconvenience and we fully understood and appreciated the brand’s transparency. Score – 8/10
User Experience – General (no score here)
Blue Apron
Navigating across the homepage was straight and to the point. They have a video that shows customers how to prepare meals, exactly what comes in each box, as well as step by step instructions.
Sun Basket
Overall, Sun Basket piqued our interest more because they seem to have more personalization options and we love those here at PF. They also get some points for their incredible values, which include a 46-second video of an over-enthusiastic narrator who explains their brand on the homepage – all while rhyming. The over-enthusiastic narration made it feel wholesome and enticed us even more into trying them out!
Important note: next to the video appeared the quote, “We believe food should taste good first and do good always” which we believe is a great spearheaded quote to summarize their values.
The Final Verdict
If there was a combination of Blue Apron (BA) and Sun Basket (SB)= (BABS) where we get SB’s messaging of healthy and BA’s practical food portions/price – we would, hands down, be a customer of BABS!
But, until then – we thought SB’s overall offering, marketing, and communications made for a better deal.
Think we got it right? Or should we have picked another winner? Leave your comments below and tell us what you think, or join the discussion on Twitter and Facebook by using the #BrandPrix hashtag.
Contributor: Tommie Korman