Don't go out of your way to annoy a Customer.

The sticker that won't come off - bad brand experience.

Great, we’ve bought your product but now that we’ve got it home ..

I actually go out of my way to buy Mead Five Star notebooks.  I like the size, the hard plastic cover and the casing covering the wire binding (preventing it getting snagged on other stuff in my backpack).

But time and time again I run into the issue of the sticker label never peeling off properly.  It’s too sticky, so the you can’t pull it off in one go as one uniform piece.   Instead your left with sticker residue, which you need to scrape away with your finger nails.  Not something I imagine most people liking to do.

My theory is that when the books are freshly manufactured there’s no issue – the labels come off easily, before the glue sets, so to those at head office are oblivious to what is happening when the products have been on the shelf for weeks (alternatively they are aware of the issue and choose to do nothing).   A major reason why companies even the makers of paper products need to go out in the field and experience their own products as their customers do.  So what is Mead to do?  Simply look at reformulating the glue or alternative methods of adhesion that don’t result in  a label doesn’t peel in one go.

Is this a major issue?  Yes, if you’re a company that wants to create a better brand experience.  There’s no reason for a customer to be fussing with a label – yet they are.   Why annoy the customer?

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