I am in the middle of a very heated, painful debate with HSBC at the moment, so writing something positive about them is very difficult for me right now. Deep breath. Here goes.

During the volcano, HSBC refunded me all the fees from my international transfers. It was a very pleasant surprise. And pleasant surprises from banks are few and very far between. They didn’t think it was fair to keep charging people international ATM fees who may have been volcano stranded and therefore paid all of us volcano victims back. Very nice. Thank you. Touches like this do make a difference. They help to humanise the faceless and help build loyalty and relationships. BUT, you must get the basics right, every time. All the nice touches and frills in the world mean nothing if the basic product or service are not in place.

So, when we’re thinking of adding nice touches and gestures of generosity to our brand, let’s make sure it’s not at the expense of getting what we’re meant to do done…brilliantly.