Building Stronger Relationships by Delighting Your Customers

Retailers constantly compete to stand out from the crowd. Most of the time consumers see a blur of ads,
commercials and mailers. One of the sure
ways to stand out from the crowd is to delight
your customer. Surprise them! By
reconnecting consumers with the human element in your organization you can do
just that.

The
Connection
Let's look at a recent purchase of mine to illustrate a simple way retailers can make that meaningful connection. Two trips to local store and still no belt for my new suit. I decided to look online and settled on the
belt from The Mission.

When the belt came
in, I was impressed by the quality and delighted by what was inside the package:
a handwritten note, signed by Julie. In that note she thanked me for buying the
belt and asked me if I would follow The Mission on Facebook. When was the last
time you received a handwritten note from a retailer? Probably not recently (if
ever). When was the last time they asked for your email, your address, your phone number or to follow
them on Facebook? All the time.

Why was it smart?

Computers make our lives faster and more efficient. However, we still perceive
handwritten letters as more personal and worthwhile. Knowing that someone physically sat down and
wrote the note, without “spellcheck” or “autocorrect” holds more value and
gives the consumer a story to tell (along with their cool new belt). It builds
a stronger relationship beyond a single sale. The Mission capitalizes on that
feeling by then asking the consumer to follow them on Facebook, where they can continue
to grow the relationship and increase the possibility of a repeat sale. You can
bet, I am their new fan.

Conclusion

The Mission is not the first to use written notes as part of the transaction:
this technique is widely used on Etsy.com, a marketplace for artists.
Frequently after the purchase, an artist will write a handwritten note or add a
sticker free of charge. Some of our furniture retail clients also have the salesperson write a hand written thank you note after the sale.

This technique can also be used on a larger scale, by
segmenting customers based on the size of their order and shopping
preferences. Retailers have different
strategies of how to sell, but let’s not forget that we are selling to people,
and people strive on relationships.

What other ways have you seen retailers surprise and delight their customers?

Dmitri Pivtorak, Belting out praise for my new retail friend.