Is Best Buy Following the 7 Commandments of CRM?

Today we’ll put Best Buy to our version of the ultimate CRM test and share the results with you at the end. 

The question: is Best Buy following the 7 best tips for how a brand must “behave” in a post-corona world? 

Let’s find out. 

1. Be Transparent 6/10 

At PostFunnel, we always like to see brands putting things out in the open for customers. Especially during this unprecedented crisis that has caused unimaginable impact worldwide.  And so we were particularly happy to see the top banner of the Best Buy’s homepage reading: 

“See the latest on our stores, services, and safety plans.” 

We’re operating a little differently, but we’re still here to get you what you need.” 

Other than that, however, we didn’t feel that company has expressed as much generosity in offering information and empathy towards the current global pandemic as we would have liked to see. 

2. Give Discounts 9/10 

Here’s the first message we were prompted with when entering their site: 

And the second (also offer discounts): 

And the third. This “deal of the day” promo even has a countdown ticker giving customers a sense of urgency. Oh and if you’re not happy with the Samsung QLED on offer, go ahead and click on the “15 other bonus deals” link for additional discounts you can rightfully claim. 

As you can clearly see, Best Buy is in fact giving out discounts at times of crisis when unemployment rates are at its peak. They even dedicating an entire Top Deals page devoted to this. 

The only thing between them and a perfect score here is that we did not see any special promotions that are relevant to these times, either in the type of discount and/or the bundling of products that make sense these days. 

3. Be Relevant 9/10 

Contactless curbside pickups, fast and free home delivery, limited instore consultations by appointment are all great ways to show how your brand is doing a lot to help costumers fight the effects of coronavirus. 

We all need to practice social distancing and stay home, so a company that offers you the ability to get you what you need while staying at home – is no less than perfect. 

And of course, when we’re stuck or just working from home, we want to feel as cozy and comfy as possible and Best Buy definitely found a nice way to tease us with “essential items”: 

Connecting this section with the discount messages would bump the score from 9 to 10 on both categories. 

4. Be Helpful 10/10 

America is in crisis right now, beyond the pandemic, and US businesses need to take meaningful action against racism. Today, we dedicate this commandment to the quote written by Best Buy’s senior leadership team as one of the first corporate statements acknowledging the death of George Floyd: 

“We write about these events not because most of us know what this fear must be like. We are as a group, by and large, not people of color. We write this not because most of us have known anyone personally in a situation like this. Thankfully, most of us do not. We write this because it could have been any one of our friends or colleagues at Best Buy, or in our personal lives, lying on the ground, struggling to breathe or filming someone as they threatened us.” 

It was important for us to point out that Best Buy is supporting this cause and would like to see more of this kind of messaging in the future. 

5. Personalized Experience 10/10 

The “protection plan” offer and the “people also bought” widget both popped up quickly and were on-point. 

When going back to the homepage to scroll through the site some more, we we’re reminded of the Apple watch sitting in our cart, waiting to be purchased with even MORE recommendations, reading “Have everything you need?” 

6. Master UX 5/10 

Yes, Best Buy definitely knows and understood what we want and they tried leading us there. But are they being too pushy? Ever since we added that one Apple watch to our cart, our entire user experience was centered around this product. 

When navigating back to the homepage from any other tab on their site, we we’re prompted with a wide variety of smartwatches, all very different from one another giving us a wide array of choices to choose from: 

The only downside to offering so many products is that it got us a bit overwhelmed, distracted, and confused as to what we originally came to the site for. The homepage is packed with electronic goods like cordless vacuums, smartphones, wireless controllers, Airpods, video games AND limited-time deals, bestseller lists, most-viewed items, featured offers and so much more. 

This got us a bit confused. Perhaps the brand should “clean” the homepage a bit to get the customer more on point and in focus. The last thing the brand wants is for you to leave as you literally forgot what you came for. 

7. Leverage social media 6/10 

We feel that Best Buy could turn it up a notch on Instagram as their posting frequency doesn’t seem so high. As far as being relevant to coronavirus times, their feed is lacking this kind of content. 

Their Facebook page (which has over 8.6 million likes) is indeed impressive but again as far as frequency goes, we think that a post a day can def keep the “social media doctor” away and the brand isn’t doing this. 

Though there is a variety of content to choose from, everything from tips and tricks for WFH to updates on store re-openings – a brand of this size can simply be doing more. 

A couple of our favorite recent social media posts include: 

This Memorial Day Video 

And this post from Twitter 

Overall, Best Buy is getting a 55/70 here (78%). Here’s our 7 Commandments of CRM ranking so far: 

1.  Uniqlo 86% 
2. Best Buy 78% 
3. Etsy 76% 
4. Tommy Hilfiger 70% 
5. Patagonia 61% 

Watch this space for more brand analyses coming your way. 

Meanwhile, check out Tommy Hilfiger’s communications right now, Patagonia: Paving Their Own Path, How Etsy is Crafting Their CRM Practices, and What We Can Learn From Uniqlo’s Communication Efforts.