you do? A woman at work heard through word of mouth that I make cakes and asked me to make a 40th birthday cake for her b/c she was having a 70's theme party. I don't know her well but she was a tad obsessive about the details, several confirmations etc. I dropped off the groovy cake (in my gallery) on friday evening. Her husband was home to receive the cake and he said "oh, great cake" or something along those lines. I don't know if the bithday girl liked it though. The party was Saturday, now it's Tuesday am. She ordered chocolate with strawberry filling (not sure about that combo myself, but what she wanted). Anyway, I would love to know how it went. Would you call or email? Would it be rude on my part? Or would it be rude not to ask how it went? I don't know, maybe her silence means she didn't like it Anyone else not satisfied until you know your customer was happy?

I don't think it would hurt to call or e-mail the customer and ask, I am obsessive over this too and want to make sure my customers are happy- maybe just phrase it that way?
Good luck!!

i had a lady tell me a cake was the most beautiful cake she ever saw-but i never heard if it tasted good!!! it'd driving me nuts-then i ger paranoid and am afraid to ask!!!


i know this doesn't answer your question - bvut i am in the same boat too

This is sticky. Most of my orders are filled for co-workers and most of them give me feedback without any prompting from me. I did a cake back in October (ghosts in graveyard in my gallery) for a non-coworker customer, and he was a tad bit difficult, and then received the cake with an "attitude" and I never heard anything else. So, like you, I worried over the issue and asked for advice on here. I was given responses that ranged from compassionate and caring to ones that weren't so "sweet." At any rate, though, the bottom line is that if you don't hear from a customer, that is probably good -- no news is good news and all that.

But, what I do sometimes is send out an email after an event to the tune of: "Thank you for your recent order. I hope your event went well. I appreciate that you thought of me when planning for your special occasion and I hope that my cake/cookies/etc. met your expectations."

I usually get an email back to that -- it's non-threatening, not pushy, and if they've got something to say, they'll say it. Don't worry...I'm sure it was fine!

the way I look at it is "no news is good news" so many times I ask a client... please let me know how it went with the cake, and they say sure I'll call but never hear from them till they want another cake and they always say "it was great, I just didn't get a chance to call" so now I don't even think about it. But I don't think it would be rude if you give her a call to check if she was satisfied. and remember when people are not happy with the cake, they would call to complain, thank God it never happened to me..
sorry about the letter

It depends--usually a new customer I will e-mail or call to ask if everything was ok and no one has been offended yet. A rule to follow is knowing that out of every 10 satisfied customers only 1 will actually say they are happy with their order the other 9 never say a word. 9 out of 10 dissatisfied customers will tell others--including you that they were not happy. No news is good news!

Personally, I figure "no news is good news."

I've found over the years that people will not hesitate to complain if they have a problem with something, but if it's all wonderful and all is well, they don't necessarily say anything.

I absolutely LOVE it when I get positive feedback, but I realize that some people just don't give it, no matter how wonderful the cake is.

I do many cakes a year....90% of my regular customers never call or email etc..to say how the cake was but I KNOW it was great...When they call to order another one you know they liked it...The point I am trying to make is people are very busy today and many don't take time out to call and say the cake was great,they just assume you know but you can bet if it wasn't ..they would have called.Don't fret....Your cakes are great and just because you don't get feedback all the time doesn't mean your customer don't like it.

Rsaun, I like your email letter. It is very polite and to the point.

Sandy

mysonshines:
Thanks for posting this topic! I did a cake for a new customer a couple of weeks ago (the 3-in-1 cake in my photos) and haven't heard anything. The advice here is good but I'm like you, still would kinda like to know
When the lady picked up the cake, her facial expressions told me she liked it and she gave me more than I had quoted her as far as price.
I kind of think that the comment about people being too busy or wouldn't give feedback is true. But you do wonder I guess if someone is as pleased about your hard work as you were

Okay dokey mysonshines you wrote:

Well I don't know about you, but except for my own husband or son who I have to prompt and a few men that I know who are chefs, getting a comment like that from a man is pretty unheard of in my neck of the woods.

I would run with that as the "official" customer comment!

It absolutely drives me nuts when I don't get feedback. I usually think "no news is BAD news"! It's only considerate for the recipient to get in touch to let you know how every thing turned out. If you hear from someone else and not the person who ordered it's assumed that the cake was just "okay"! IMO!!!! I hate that!

I wouldn't call because that might sound desperate, instead I would email and just mention that you were just making sure that everything went alright and that if they ever have another occasion for a cake or such that you would be very happy to help them make the occasion special!


Amy

Oh, one more thing folks. If this is really important to you then maybe make out a self addressed and stamped comment card they can plop in the mail. You may find some feedback that way also.

I know when you pour your heart into something you want to hear that is was wonderful but if you e-mail her it might show a lack of confidence in your work thats just my opinon if someone bought a cake in a store the store wouldnt call to see if it were good nor would the customer feel compelled to call the store and say everything went well but if you had to know you could email her and say you would like her comments for a piece in your porfolio customer feedback maybe.....

Hey! This is funny because I am the same way-- LOVE feedback although I usually don't get any until the next order...or though the grapevine. I have to remind myself though that before I did cakes, I always ordered from the same girl-- she made AWESOME cakes from her home.

Never once did I think to pick up the phone and tell her how we liked it. It just never crossed my mind that she would be wondering!! Now I know differently!

Thank yall for posting this it has really been helpful to me...i just delivered my very first wedding cake this sunday am...and i have been on pins and needles ever since..the lady who ordered from me is someone that i have never met...she saw an anni cake that i did for some friends of the family and ordered based on seeing that cake...im so nervous and i would love to know what she thought ( she was not there when i delivered it ), but all i have as contact info for her is a phone number...

Wow. Thank you all so much. Excellent advice! And you're so right, it's when they call for another cake that you hear "we loved the last cake so much...." But I want to know now . Your note is pefect Rsaun. I don't want to sound desperate, esp. with a person who may be a tad picky- don't want to encourage whining, either
at the "official" feedback, Tiptop.

I have had that happen too, I did an unusual wedding cake in September and was anxious to know if the bride was happy. I have not heard back from her but you have to let that kind of thing go. If your client wasn't happy with the cake she would have contacted you. If she orders from you again you will have your answer. The thank you note might be a nice gesture, she would be impressed and would probably then refer you to others.

I'm not sure we're all looking for feedback as much as stroking! People don't realize how very much work goes into a cake and they don't give the compliments we'd like to hear.

Most people feel a business transaction is over once they've paid their money and gotten their product. I believe it is the exception to hear back from people and that it shouldn't cause worries.

A professional note might be nice, but learning the "no news is good news" rule will probably help your nerves in the mean-time.

Look we all want everyone to be happy with our cakes. I have never been in contact with someone regards one. Also I have always had feedback A wedding cake I made the woman even brought back belgium handmade chocolates for me ( her honey moon destination)....Usually I am sent a card which I keep along with the photo. But have always had feed back.....I would be worried if I heard nothing but I certainly would not ring or anything else. It is for certain she would have complained if she did not like it. Or never hear from her again...but from word of mouth if it is good you will get more contacts through her. Dont worry!!!!Just sit tight.

Sending an email or any other form of "follow-up" HARDLY shows a lack of confidence. Not everyone who makes cakes that look for feedback runs a business so we don't always have an address with which to send a note. I myself get my cake requests through phone contact and email. Never has my "following up" resulted in the customer thinking I "lack" confidence!!!!! If I lacked confidence I probably wouldn't want the feed back and would just rather not hear anything for fear of a negative review!!!!!! I like to know if I met with the customer's need and if not I can improve upon their concerns. It's not wrong at all to inquire feedback!!! How will we improve on our skills and techniques if we don't follow-up! However feedback is requested, I'm sure it won't intentionally be done to lose business! We're not that dumb to risk our reputation!!!

If we have an address which I would imagine the business owners do, then a short Thank You note in the mail is deemed appropriate! It's all in how you present yourself when inquiring feedback! If you sound desperate then you will come across as such!


Amy

Well, I tailored Rsaun's note to suit me and emailed it off to her. Less than a couple hours later she wrote back starting with "What??? I didn't send you an email?????????????!!!!" for a less-than-effusive person. Anyway, she was very complimentary and pleased with the appearance and taste of the cake. I feel satisfied now to know she was satisfied. For the record, I think most of our wanting "closure" on our creations is for feedback- to know we met the customer's expectations. How do you succeed otherwise? And I admit, I like to see a customer smile when they see their cake. It does make me feel good and it's part of what is in this for me. My "real" p/t job is doing psychiatric assessments in an ER, usually with people who are suicidal, psychotic, depressed or addicts. Not such happy work, really-worthwhile, but not happy, like cakes . And as far as stroking, isn't that why we have the gallery here Thanks again for the great feedback and info.
Deirdre

I am so happy for you! That's so wonderful that the "feedback" was positive! I ditto everything you said btw!!!!!

As far as your real job! WOAH! I bet you see some real characters huh?!



Amy

way to go mysonshines
Any cake decoratoring addicts in your ER work
Glad you got your feedback. I know you smiled when you read the email. I'm gonna work on mine tomorrow now! Thanks!

Oh, I'm so pleased that you heard back. Excellent. It's a tough call, this feedback thing, isn't it?

Maureen