I have an American Eagle All-Access Pass, so their new underwear & lounge wear company, “Aerie” sent me a post card for a free pair of panties. If you are not familiar with Aerie they are a company for ladies, kind of like an American Eagle style Victoria Secret for 14-30 year olds (I may be off on my demographics) minus the lingerie.

Since I do not wear panties I let my wife redeem the card for the free pair. Something like an early birthday or anniversary gift, you know just in case I fortget when those special events come around! We walked into the new store at our local Mall, I loved the outside, it was cladded in brick, just like it was located at an outdoor Promenade. When you walk into the store everything is laid out nicely, the store was lit up brightly, and everything looked fresh. My wife browsed through the tables of the underwear that they were giving away as a part of their grand opening special. I was surprised that they had about 4 tables of free underwear, usually a store gives you one small section of free stuff and it usually looks like the items come from the lower quality products that they sell. Aeries was giving away their everyday $7.50 or 5 for $25 pair of underwear for their promotion.

We took my wife’s selection up to the table, and the store representative hit my wife with the BIG question, “Are you a member of the A-List?” – The store rep did not care if my wife said no, as she did, because as soon as my wife said no, the representative said, “If you would like to sign up for the A-List tonight, you will get another free pair of panties now and every Thursday you will be eligible to receive a free in store gift, just bring this card in and they will give you your free gift and punch your card.” “If you want to go pick out another pair of underwear, I will get you a registration form ready.” My wife’s response, “Ok!”

My wife brings her selection back to the counter and as the representative is ringing them up, my wife fills out the simple form to be an “A-Lister,” and waits for the representative to finish her technical stuff at the register for the free underwear and to wrap up the free gifts. The next question from the rep was, “What color ribbon woul you like?” My wife quickly responded, “Pink is fine!” – The store representative wraps both items in a nice box and tops it off with a ribbon. Here’s a few things I noticed while all of this is taking place:

1. Aerie got my wife into the store with an offer for a free product, something she would like but also with something she has to have.
2. Aerie will retain customers with the quality of their product and by gaining the trust of their customers, even if the customer is in the store for a free product. The customer leaves realizing the company is not trying to scam them with a less superior product than what they typically sell, they want you to walk away owning something you can buy everyday.
3. With a lot of people coming in Aerie for a free product, they are going to sell them more than what they came in for, because the group of people they are attracting will see something they like and want to buy it, and most will if they have the money (we are just too poor for anything other than the free stuff!)
4. By earning the trust of customers like my wife, when they offer them a customer email program like the “A-List” they are going to have a great rate of participants because they trust that the other free gifts (every Thursday) are going to be at the same high level of quality. – By the way, my wife went into the store for a free pair of underwear, so they know they are attracting people who will come in for something free.
5. It was easy to get someone like my wife to sign up for the “A-List” because she was already in there for something free and they were offering her another free product on-site.
6. Finally, this is what I see as genius! This may not have been their intention, but I thought about it as I was standing there observing it all…what would have been a 3-5 minute visit to this new store turned into about a 10 minute visit. They kept us in the store longer, which forced us to look and observe what they had to offer during that extra time. I don’t think it is a mistake that all around the sides behind their cash register was full of product on their walls. As we were standing at the counter filling the card out and waiting for the lady to finish all that she was doing, it provided an opportunity to see more of their products. – As we completed our transaction which cost us $0.00, the store representative walked around the counter and placed the gift box in our hands and told us to have a great evening. We were never pressured to buy anything, it was a great experience. In my mind, it was great marketing of a new company and great customer service. I am sure my wife will return…and if I am with her, so will I!

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