Romancing the Customer
Sure, Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but every day is a good day to romance your customer base. Chris Baggott, chief marketing officer of e-mail services provider ExactTarget, detailed five ways to “bring love to your customers”–and of course, encourage them to love you back:
1) Treat them special. Woo buyers as you would a boyfriend or girlfriend. “If this were a potential spouse you would find out everything you could about what they like and don’t like, then you would weave that into your conversations,” Baggott says. For instance, “if he loves football, you would try to learn something about the game.” Likewise, tailor your e-mail messages to customers’ interests and preferences.
2) Be human. “People don’t fall in love with institutions, and they are not inclined to fall in love with a brand,” Baggott says. Personalizing the “from” line of your e-mail messages is one way to show the human face of your company.
3) Don’t smother. Don’t bombard customers with messages. Ideally you should ask them how frequently they’d like to receive e-mail from your company and respond accordingly.
4) Acknowledge when you make a mistake.
5) Know when it’s over.
