Not long ago, I wrote about a Staples employee whose TikTok content made me stop mid-scroll and reconsider a brand I hadn’t thought about in years.
It worked.
I ordered prints.
The experience online was easy, straightforward, and honestly exactly what you want it to be. Upload, select, pay — done. No friction. No confusion. From a marketing perspective, the job was already done. I had converted.
At that point, Staples didn’t need to sell me anymore. They just needed to deliver.
A good product. A smooth pickup. That’s it.
The prints? They were great.
The rest of the experience felt like walking into a system that hadn’t caught up with the promise that got me there in the first place.
I walked in and was immediately greeted by three employees at once.
“Hi.”
“Hello.”
“Welcome.”
All in near unison.
And then just as quickly, they went back to their conversation. No pause. No engagement. No “what brings you in today?” It was technically a greeting, but it didn’t actually do anything.
I saw a sign hanging from the ceiling that said “ORDER PICK-UP,” which felt clear enough. I had ordered prints. They were ready. This seemed like the logical next step. So I went there.
The counter stretched along the front, connecting into the cashier area. As I approached, the person who had been standing there walked away without acknowledging me. No handoff. No eye contact. Just gone.
So I stood there.
Eventually, the cashier — already helping a line of customers — finished a transaction and turned to me. She asked my name, couldn’t find my order, and then realized I was there for print pickup.
Wrong place.
She pointed to the back of the store.
So now there are two pickup areas.
No one told me that when I walked in. No signage clarified it. The system made sense internally, maybe — but not from the customer’s point of view.
As I walked to the back, I passed a line at the shipping counter and made my way to the print area. There was a large desk, a small “pickup” label low on the counter, and one other customer standing there.
No staff.
We both waited.
I turned back toward the front of the store and saw the same three employees still greeting people as they came in. I mentioned that there was no one at the print desk. He looked at me and said, almost casually:
“They definitely don’t want us to come back here.”
And just like that, the entire system made sense — not from the customer’s perspective, but from the inside. After a few more minutes, two employees came out from another area, mid-conversation, and started helping.
I got my prints. Again — they were great. But the experience stayed with me, and not in the way you want it to.
In marketing, I say this all the time: we can get people to your door. We can build the campaign, create the content, drive the traffic, and even close the sale. But what happens next is what determines whether that effort compounds or disappears.
In this case, Staples did the hard part. They got me back. They reminded me of their value. They delivered a good product. And then they layered in just enough friction, confusion, and disconnect to make me question whether I want to go through that again.
What’s interesting is how quickly that spreads.
I’ve told a lot of people about this experience. Not because I set out to — but because it stood out. Because it didn’t match the expectation that got me there. That’s the part brands underestimate.
One person creates a great piece of content and brings people in.
But the experience inside the business? That’s what people actually talk about.
Will I go back?
Maybe.
I’m a creature of convenience. The software was easy. The product was good. But I’ll go back with hesitation. And that hesitation didn’t come from marketing.
It came from the experience.
And that’s the gap more brands need to pay attention to.
Your marketing team needs to work with your operations team to deliver a consistent experience, to everyone. That’s why at Giant Shoe Creative, we start every ad campaign with a strategy that guides your team’s day-to-day, and informs your in-house marketing team on how to continue the conversation across channels.
Our full-service marketing approach means we keep everything consistent, from messaging to creative to the way your website looks and feels. We know that your target audience already has some ideas about what your business offers. So let’s work together to shape that experience, grow your audience, and make sure people keep coming back for more.
So, whether you’re Staples, a growing businesses, or an established marketing team, reach out to our account managers today and let’s talk about how to have a giant impact on your marketing.
