Feb 10
27
True story… I was in a specialty retail store today making a purchase. While checking out, the sales rep asked if I had shopped there before. I said yes and gave him my name. He typed it in the computer then showed me the screen to verify that he had pulled up the right account.
Voila- there I was! I told him the account was correct but that my address wasn’t. His response dumbfounded me, “It’s okay, I just wanted to confirm we had the right account. The address doesn’t matter.”
Doesn’t matter? Are you kidding me? In my humble Samaritan way I offered up professional yet basic marketing advice and suggested they should keep their customer information up to date.
“We don’t spam or send junk mail to our customers,” was his response.
Intrigued, I asked, “What marketing do you do?”
“We don’t really market. When our customers are looking for what we sell, we figure they’ll eventually find us.” Again, I was flabbergasted.
I couldn’t believe my ears! Especially since (I should add), at the beginning of our conversation he pointed out that a competing store was opening a location just 1 mile away. No longer would they have “the corner” on the market.
In case, by chance, I haven’t made my point of view explicitly clear on this issue, let me do so now. Three rules…
- Always capture your customer data
- Keep that information up to date
- Use your database in your marketing
My friend at the cash register took care of Rule #1, but as far as monetizing my information, his company did nothing. They wanted to avoid spam and junk mail, remember?
Instead of being shy and scared to offend, this retail store could have done the following with my contact information, any of which I would have appreciated as their customer.
- Show gratitude for my purchase with either a thank-you card or simple email
- Wish me a happy birthday or maybe even the 1 year anniversary of my purchase
- Notify me of updates to the item I purchased
- Let me know about popular accessories or add-ons to the item that might be useful
- Tips and suggestions on how to get the most out of my purchase
- Offer a bonus or discount if I referred a new customer
- Inform me of sales or clearance items
If the company moved, how would they notify me? Or maybe they updated their website to include online ordering. The “excuses” to contact me could go on and on. Again, all of these items are marketing strategies AND appreciated by customers.
And just because you market, doesn’t mean your spamming or sending junk mail. The purpose of marketing is to generate more revenue, right? And if you’re making more sales because of that marketing, this means your customers are not being offended by it, but appreciative of it instead.
~Brodie