The Emotional Impact Case Study: "Akara n More" & The Customer Journey Leak

October 12th started like any other Saturday in Ibadan. But one bite changed everything.

I wasn't prepared for what happened when I tasted the akara at Akara n More. Beef. Shrimps. Prawns. All nestled inside perfectly fried bean cakes with that ideal contrast; crunchy exterior giving way to impossibly fluffy insides.

I had what I can only describe as a foodgasm in the middle of the afternoon.

The last time food moved me like this was at Black Ox Bistro on Awolowo Road in Old Bodija. That same transcendent experience where you close your eyes and think, "This is what food should taste like." The kind of meal that makes you want to call your friends immediately and tell them to drop everything and get there.

Akara n More truly lived up to their name. This wasn't just akara. This was akara reimagined, elevated, transformed into something I didn't know was possible.

I did what any satisfied customer would do: I sent my compliments to the chef and the owner. They'd earned it. They'd created something special, and I wanted them to know.

I left that restaurant as a brand evangelist. I was ready to tell everyone I knew about this hidden gem. I was the customer every business dreams of; delighted, vocal, and eager to return.

But then something happened that turned my delight into a marketing lesson.

The Unexpected Addition

The next day, I was at the Tech Expo Event in Ibadan, surrounded by brilliant minds sharing insights that could reshape businesses. Sola Adesakin from MINA was particularly impressive. She'd spent over three years developing a curriculum to solve employability challenges at a global scale. The kind of speaker who makes you lean forward and take notes.

Then my phone buzzed.

"You have been added to 'Akara n More Community'"

I stared at my screen, confused. I hadn't signed up for anything. I hadn't given permission. I just... appeared in a WhatsApp group with dozens of other people, all apparently as bewildered as I was.

My first thought: "Why did you add me to this group?"

And I wasn't alone. Messages started flooding in from others who'd been randomly added. Some people were annoyed. Others simply left. The confusion was palpable.

This was my first signal that something was wrong.

The Journey Leak: When Delight Turns to Doubt

Here's what Akara n More didn't understand: they had me. I was won over. I was their biggest fan. But in trying to build community, they started to lose me.

The First Problem: No Context, No Clarity

When I opened the WhatsApp group, there was no description. No welcome message. No explanation of why I was there or what value I'd receive. Just silence and a growing list of confused members. In marketing, we call this a "journey leak"—the moment a customer falls through the cracks because the experience doesn't make sense. You've guided them beautifully to one point, then suddenly abandoned them in unfamiliar territory with no map.

I went from feeling special as a customer to feeling like a number on a spreadsheet. Like they'd harvested my contact information and added me to a group without consideration for my experience or consent.

The Second Problem: The Communication Breakdown

My colleague, Mrs. Mercy Layemo, is the kind of person who investigates when something feels off. She did what any curious potential customer would do: she checked their Instagram page.

That's where we found it.

A post from weeks earlier announcing that Akara n More would be closed until November 2nd. Yet here we were, in mid-October, being added to WhatsApp groups. They were clearly open and operating.

Mercy's immediate reaction: "They should have pulled that post down when they came back earlier than expected."

But it was still up. Public. Contradicting their current operations.

This revealed something critical: there was a disconnect between their social media management and their operational reality. The left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing.

The Third Problem: Breaking the Most Important Rule

We weren't opted in. We had no choice in this customer journey.

This might seem like a small thing, but it's everything. Modern marketing is built on permission. On trust. On respecting that customers are humans with agency, not prospects to be corralled without consent.

By adding us to a group without asking, Akara n More violated the implicit contract between brand and customer. They took something; my attention, my WhatsApp space, my sense of control, without offering me the choice to give it.

I came to them willingly as a delighted customer. They should have invited me willingly into their community. Instead, they conscripted me.

The emotional shift was immediate. My goodwill began to erode.

What This Reveals About Customer Journeys

Here's what most businesses don't understand: the customer journey isn't just about acquisition and conversion. It's about every single touchpoint that follows.

Akara n More did the hard part brilliantly. They created an exceptional product that generated organic word-of-mouth. They turned a casual visitor into a raving fan in one meal. That's the dream.

But then they fumbled the retention phase with three critical mistakes:

1. Structural Breakdown

When your social media still says you're closed but your operations team is adding people to WhatsApp groups, you have a structural problem. There's no central nervous system connecting your different functions.

This suggests:

• No standard operating procedures

• No cross-functional communication

• No one person ensuring brand consistency across channels

In a business of any size, someone needs to be the connective tissue. Someone needs to ask, "Is our Instagram updated? Does our community manager know we reopened early? Are we all telling the same story?"

2. Communication Chaos

The dissonance between what their Instagram said and what was actually happening signaled internal chaos. And customers can smell chaos from a mile away.

It erodes confidence. If they can't keep their social media updated, what else are they missing? If they don't communicate well internally, how can I trust the quality will be consistent?

These questions might be unconscious, but they're deadly. Trust is built in drops and lost in buckets.

3. The Domino Effect

One oversight; an outdated Instagram post, an opt-in-less WhatsApp group, seems small in isolation. But customer perception doesn't work in isolation.

Each misalignment compounds. Each confusion adds up. And suddenly, a delighted customer is reconsidering whether they'll return or recommend you to friends.

I went from wanting to tell everyone about Akara n More to having a story about their customer journey failure. That's the wrong kind of word-of-mouth.

The Path They Should Have Taken

Imagine if this had gone differently.

What if, three days after my visit, I'd received a personalized WhatsApp message:

"Hi! We're so glad you enjoyed your experience at Akara n More. We're building a community of food lovers who want early access to new menu items, exclusive offers, and behind-the-scenes content. Would you like to join our VIP WhatsApp community? Reply YES to be added."

Consent. Clear value proposition. Personalized timing.

What if their Instagram had been updated immediately when they reopened, with a post celebrating their return?

Consistency. Accurate information. Aligned messaging.

What if the WhatsApp group I'd opted into had a welcome message that said:

"Welcome to Akara n More VIP Community! 🎉 Here you'll get first dibs on new menu items, exclusive discounts, and insider access to our chef's creations. We respect your time and will only message when we have something valuable to share. Glad to have you here!"

Context. Respect. Value clarity.

That journey keeps the delight alive. That journey turns customers into evangelists. That journey builds a community, not just a contact list.

The Lessons Every Business Must Learn

The Akara n More experience taught me three lessons that every business; from restaurants to tech startups, needs to internalize:

Lesson 1: Structure Isn't Optional, It's Survival

You can have the best product in the world, but if your internal operations are disconnected, you'll bleed customers through avoidable mistakes.

Structure means:

• Clear ownership of each customer touchpoint

• Standard operating procedures for communications

• Regular audits to ensure consistency across all channels

• Accountability when things fall through the cracks

Without structure, you're running on luck. And luck runs out.

Lesson 2: Communication Is Your Invisible Product

Customers don't just buy your food, your service, or your product. They buy the entire experience, including how you communicate with them.

Every message, every post, every group invitation is part of your brand promise. When your communications contradict each other, you're not just making a mistake, you're actively eroding trust.

Streamlined communication means:

• Regular sync meetings between all customer-facing teams

• A single source of truth for brand messaging and updates

• Empowering team members to flag inconsistencies immediately

• Making "Does this align with everything else we're saying?" a reflex question

Lesson 3: One Leak Can Sink the Ship

The customer journey is only as strong as its weakest link. You can nail acquisition, delight in delivery, and still lose everything with a poor retention touchpoint.

One out-of-date Instagram post. One unsolicited group addition. One confusing moment where the customer thinks, "Wait, what?"

That's all it takes to redirect a loyal customer toward your competitor or, worse, turn them into someone who shares a cautionary tale about your brand instead of a recommendation.

Every touchpoint matters because every touchpoint shapes perception.

The Opportunity Cost of Poor Processes

Here's what haunts me about the Akara n More situation: they created something truly special. That akara was exceptional. The experience was memorable. They had earned my loyalty.

But because of process breakdowns—fixable, preventable process breakdowns—they risked losing it.

How many other customers had the same experience I did? How many left that WhatsApp group and decided not to return? How many checked the Instagram, saw the outdated post, and questioned whether the business was reliable?

Each lost customer isn't just one transaction. It's:

• Lifetime value (the money they would have spent over years)

• Referral value (the friends they would have brought)

• Social proof (the positive reviews they would have left)

• Brand equity (the goodwill they would have generated)

Poor processes don't just cost you customers. They cost you the exponential growth that comes from delighted customers becoming ambassadors.

What This Means for Your Business

If you're reading this and thinking, "We would never make those mistakes," I challenge you to audit your customer journey right now.

Ask yourself:

• Are all your channels telling the same story?

• Do your teams communicate regularly about customer touchpoints?

• Are you adding customers to communities with their explicit permission?

• Is there one person responsible for ensuring brand consistency?

• When was the last time you mystery-shopped your own customer experience?

Most businesses have leaks they don't know about. Small fissures that steadily drain customer goodwill until one day you wonder why retention is down or referrals have dried up.

The Solution: Seamless Processes, Powerful Perception

This is where agencies like Criateur come in.

We exist because we've seen too many businesses like Akara n More—exceptional at their core competency, but bleeding customers through process failures they don't even see.

Our job is to:

• Audit your entire customer journey for leaks, contradictions, and friction points

• Streamline internal communications so every team is aligned and informed

• Build structural safeguards that prevent outdated content, inconsistent messaging, and broken touchpoints

• Ensure your brand is perceived exactly as you intend by your target market

Because here's the truth: your customers don't separate your product from your processes. To them, it's all one experience. One brand. One decision about whether to return or not.

Great product + poor processes = missed potential. Great product + seamless processes = exponential growth.

The Ending Akara n More Deserved

I want Akara n More to succeed. Genuinely. Because anyone who can make akara that good deserves to build an empire around it.

But success isn't just about the quality of what you make. It's about the quality of how you operate. How you communicate. How you respect your customers' journey from discovery to advocacy.

The product got me in the door. The process will determine if I stay.

Right now, I'm still on the fence. The akara is unforgettable. But the “experience after” left me questioning. And in a competitive market where customers have infinite options, questioning is the first step toward leaving.

I hope they read this. I hope they fix these leaks. I hope the next time I visit, the entire experience, from first bite to community invitation to social media presence, is as seamless as that akara was delicious.

Because when you get both right, you don't just build a business. You build a movement.

Your Customer Journey: Watertight or Leaking?

Every business has process gaps. The question is whether you'll discover them through lost customers or through intentional audits and fixes.

At Criateur, we help brands like yours eliminate journey leaks before they cost you growth. We ensure that every touchpoint reinforces trust, every communication aligns with your brand promise, and every customer moves seamlessly from delight to advocacy.

Because your product deserves a process that matches its excellence.

Ready to audit your customer journey? Let's talk about how to turn your satisfied customers into lifelong evangelists, the right way.

Have you experienced a customer journey leak as a consumer? Share your story in the comments. Let's learn from each other's experiences.