Putting the 'Person' Back Into 'Personalization'
Remember, there is nothing more personal than the connection two people have when talking, sharing ideas, and helping each other.
Customer loyalty and retention is the well-worn goal of those working in our industry. But sending a weekly email with specials is not enough. One of my favorite stores reached out to me this week and again inspired a case study of how to do customer loyalty and retention the right way.
In this day and age of digital marketing done by computers, sometimes getting a phone call is actually more meaningful. Sweetwater Sound left me a voice message the other day.
Hi Jack, this is Brad at Sweetwater Sound calling. It’s been a while since we’ve spoken, and I hope everything is going well. I hope you are still making music and using the equipment you bought from us. If there’s anything that I can be doing to assist you, don’t hesitate to get in touch…
It has been a while since I bought anything from Sweetwater. About four years ago I musically directed a small independent film musical. I orchestrated the score and wrote some of the songs. I bought a lot of equipment to make the project sound amazing, but since then I’ve not done much musically, except for playing piano in piano bars at night. Music is a passion of mine, and while I haven’t kept up on new tech that has come out in the music world lately, it’s always somewhere in the back of my mind. And that phone call from Brad, whom I have worked with as a consumer for years now (along with some of his colleagues at Sweetwater), reminded me that I keep putting my hobbies on the backburner and I should spend more time pursuing my other hobbies and interests. And of course, I went to Sweetwater’s website to check out what new gear it had in stock.
Sometimes hearing someone’s voice reminds you that there is humanity in the corporate world, and everything isn’t just run by computers. The best thing about this call is that while of course they want to make more sales from me, the message was conversational in tone. It wasn’t from a “stick to it or you’re fired” script (cue the next telemarketing call from India), and the message he left didn’t say things like “We have great deals for you, but only if you act today.” The point of the message was simply to say, “We remember you, we like helping you, and we want you to come to us for all your musical needs.”
While everyone is looking to automate their entire business, and marketers are looking for the next great technology to personalize emails, remember that the word “personalization” comes from the word “person,” and there is nothing more personal than the connection two people have when talking, sharing ideas, and helping each other.
Until next time…
Jack
Personalization image on home page via Shutterstock.
