Who Gives a Crap: What Toilet Paper Can Teach Us About Customer Experience

This article answers the question: What can a toilet paper company teach businesses about customer experience?

Answer: Who Gives a Crap shows businesses how to create a better customer experience, even with an ordinary product like toilet paper, by focusing on convenience, social responsibility, and a memorable brand personality.

I may have caught your attention with the title, but this isn’t a statement about not caring – in fact, Who Gives a Crap is the name of a company founded in Australia that’s been around since 2012 and sells toilet paper (along with tissues, paper towels, and other household goods). To fund the company, its founder, Simon Griffiths, sat on a toilet for 50 hours. He livestreamed the “experience” to crowdfund the $50,000 he needed to start the company.  

3 Customer Experience Lessons from Who Gives a Crap

As much fun as it is to use the company’s name as the title of this article, the real story here is about the lessons we can learn from a company that sells products that, according to its website, “clean rears, tears and kitchen smears.” There are at least three major takeaways any company can consider in their customer experience strategy: 

1. Convenience: 

Is there anything easier than having what you need appear on your doorstep? Today, almost anything, not just newspapers and magazines, can be turned into a subscription. Netflix did it with movies and TV shows. Chewy.com did it with pet food. Dollar Shave Club did it with razor blades. And in this case, Who Gives a Crap offers its customers a subscription for toilet paper and other kitchen and household cleaning items. Depending on how many people live at home, a case of toilet paper can be delivered every couple of months, or subscriptions are adjusted as needed.  

2. Social Responsibility: 

Who Gives a Crap is big on “giving back,” donating a whopping 50% of its profits to organizations like WaterAid and WaterSHED, providing funding for clean water and sanitation projects worldwide. The goal is to help everyone have access to clean water and a toilet, and so far, the company has donated more than $14 million! In addition, its products are made out of 100% bamboo or recycled paper. My annual CX research proves that customers like doing business with companies that give back. We found that 62% of U.S. customers prefer to do business with a brand that supports a local cause, and 50% say a company’s involvement in a social cause increases their loyalty.  

3. Make the Ordinary Extraordinary: 

When I talk about turning the ordinary into extraordinary, I am usually talking about turning an average customer experience into something special. In this case, I’m talking about taking one of the most commoditized and unexciting products imaginable, toilet paper, and creating an experience and personality around it. The company name is memorable. The advertising and promotional copy is funny. Even the packaging is fun. The lesson is simple: You don’t have to sell an exciting product to create an exciting experience. 

Who Gives a Crap? It might be a funny name, and right on its website, it states: Funny Name. Serious Business. Convenience gets customers to buy. Its purpose gets customers to feel good about who they are buying from. And the overall experience gives customers something to talk about. It’s obvious that Who Gives a Crap is a company that really does give a crap about its customers and the planet.