It’s Not (Just) About The Cookie
By Alicia French
Who doesn’t love spring? Warmer weather, spring flowers, sunny skies, Girl Scout Cookies… After all, isn’t a box of Thin Mints and a package of Samoas what you dreamed about all winter long? Don’t you pull over the moment you catch sight of a gaggle of 12 year old girls in green selling Girl Scout Cookies at their Cookie Booth? And don’t you thank your lucky stars that you can buy Cookies with a credit card? Because you have to stock up! Girl Scout Cookies are only sold for a few weeks of the year and you need those cookies to last you for a few months at least (although, let’s be honest, we know they won’t last, we just like to tell ourselves that they’ll be around that long). So we join the millions of other loyal Cookie-lovers buying Girl Scout Cookies, ignoring the fact that a box of Thin Mints is $10 and you could buy a box of Grasshopper Mint Cookies year round for $3 at any grocery store.
Why? Why do we do that? Why are we so loyal to these Cookies that we set price aside, discard logic, and buy oodles of Cookies from teenage girls at the booth outside of the post office, or the grocery store, or both?
I work in tech as a Product Manager in Software Development and I spend my days discovering, designing, building, releasing, iterating, modifying, researching. My team and I go back to the drawing table again and again trying to understand what the Girl Scouts already understand — that it’s not (just) about the Cookie. I’m not saying that the Cookie doesn’t matter, that the taste and texture and presentation are irrelevant. But there is so much more to a Girl Scout Cookie than that. Have you ever eaten a Thin Mint and compared it to a Grasshopper cookie? Or a Samoa and a Coconut Dream cookie? They are very similar. I, personally, don’t think that the taste and texture nuances are worth the $7 price difference between the two cookie packages. I do, however, believe that the experience, culture, and cause behind the brand is worth more than the $7 price difference. I believe, as well, that as consumers, we are willing to overlook price in favor of experience and connection in other goods and services.
Humans crave connection. We love buying Girl Scout Cookies from Girl Scouts. These kids are excited — they’ve planned all year for this moment, and they’ve got plans for the rest of the year. When we buy a box of Girl Scout Cookies, we know where our money is going, and we know who it is going to. The Girl Scout website states, “There’s more to Girl Scout Cookies than what’s in the box. When a Girl Scout sells you cookies, she’s building a lifetime of skills and confidence. She learns goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics — skills essential to leadership, success, and life.” We want to be a part of that! We want (with as little disruption to our daily life as possible) to feel like we were a part of something bigger than ourselves. So we join the season blitz and urgently buy the $10 box of Samoas from the 12 year old Girl Scout over the $3 box of “Coconut Dreams” from the corporate brand at the grocery store. And we feel good about it!
What, though, is $7 in the grand scheme of things? Does the phenomenon of setting price aside in favor of a positive experience still occur when there is more at stake? It has for me.
Buying a car this past year, for example, had considerably more than $7 on the line. It was June of 2021 and I was ready for a new car. I’m not a car person, I had very little idea what kind of car I wanted — I knew mostly that I didn’t want what I had anymore (a 2012 Chevy Malibu that grumbled at me and made other uncomfortable impending-breakdown car noises). What I did know was that I wanted heated seats, less than 15,000 miles, and a glossy red paint job. It turns out that’s a very broad search…I tried to google my desired features, but I was overwhelmed immediately by the bombardment of unhelpful ads. I tried using the filters for cars on a local classifieds app, but I couldn’t figure out how to use my desired features to find my ideal car. I mentioned my struggle to a friend and she told me to try Carvana’s website. “Even if you don’t buy your car there, their filters are amazing and you can probably find what you are looking for”. And thus, my Carvana Journey began.
I downloaded the app, intending to use the filters to find the car I was looking for and then, once I knew the make and model, I could buy the car somewhere else. The app’s display was clean and the prompts easy to follow. The filters were a dream. I input my preferences easily, hit apply, and promptly fell in love with the first car on the list, a shiny, red Hyundai Elantra, 2020, with less than 5,000 miles. I wanted that car. So, (after making sure I wasn’t making a really foolish decision and doing some research on Hyundais and checking with car experts in my sphere), I clicked “Get Started” and then followed the prompts. I answered the questions, input the information, and within 30 minutes, I had purchased a car and scheduled to have it delivered on the earliest day possible, which turned out to be about two weeks out.
The day the car arrived, I received text notifications telling me the ETA and progress, and then the car was delivered and dropped off right at my house. The team of drivers was so excited for me as they gave me the keys and introduced me to my new car. And, when I finally settled into the car, there was a gift bag full of new-car goodies in the passenger seat. Over the next few days, I received multiple text check-ins from Carvana, asking me how I liked my car and if everything was to be expected. It was AWESOME! Did I mind that I had to wait two weeks for my car? No. Did I mind paying the delivery fee? No. Did I sign up for the GAP Insurance because it was such a seamless part of the experience? Yes. Would I do it all over again? Absolutely!
It isn’t (just) about the car. And again, don’t get me wrong here. I love my new car! It isn’t about the car because Carvana provided me with an outstanding experience. While perhaps lacking the human connection and worthy cause of the Girl Scouts, Carvana gave me an experience that was tailored to me. They made car shopping about me. It was so easy to find a car tailored to my specifications and my price range and it was so easy to go through the steps of actually purchasing a car. And when the car was delivered — Oh My Gosh, I felt so special! There was something magical about the Carvana trailer pulling up my street and unloading my shiny red Elantra onto my driveway with my neighbors and my friends enjoying the moment with me. The team that dropped it off were so amicable, so friendly, and so… giddy — I felt like they were just as excited about my new car as I was. It was an incredibly personal experience and I completely surprised myself by enjoying the process of buying a car that I didn’t mind paying extra for the journey.
It isn’t (just) about the car and it isn’t (just) about the Cookie. What does buying a Girl Scout Cookie from a Girl Scout with big plans for the funds raised have in common with the experience of buying a car with Carvana and having it delivered to my house? They were both very personal experiences. Both feel personal, both make the consumer feel connected to the business and the teams that are supporting their product. The Cookie and the Car come after the purchase and the purchase made the product worth every penny. It is about an experience. It is about connection. We need to give value and we need to feel valued, and the businesses providing goods and services that can accomplish that are worth paying for. So as I work with my own team, as we continue to design, build, iterate, modify, create, and contribute, we’ll be looking for a way to make the journey just as or more delightful than the Cookie itself.
