Web (Footed) Promo AN E-MAIL forwarded by a roving correspondent contains these instructions:
“Call National Discount Brokers at 1-800-888-3999. Listen to the options. By all means, select Option No. 7.”
So what’s Option No. 7? After listing the standard choices the script goes awry. “If you’d like to hear a duck quack, press 7,” says the recorded message.
Callers pressing 7 are indeed treated to a duck quack – two, in fact – before exiting the system. Huh?
The company’s symbol has always been a mallard, says Richard Tauberman, spokesman for National Discount Brokers. When the firm reconfigured its automated menu, it had one space left and thought it’d be fun to have a duck’s voice on it.
In fact, it was NDB’s intent to create a fun way to lead callers out of the system. It made a conscious effort not to attach any marketing message to the sound, says Tauberman. Nor has it actively promoted the feature, preferring to rely on word of mouth.
Tauberman notes that the company receives 5,000 calls a day for customer service questions, and roughly 2 million calls a week for Option No. 7.
NDB estimates the quack’s cost at $8,000 a day. But Tauberman claims the price of the 100 or so TV commercials needed to generate 2 million incoming phone calls would far dwarf that. Since the quack’s inception in late August, new accounts are up 75%.
As our roving correspondent notes, every company should have an Option No. 7.
Network
