Customer Crossroads

The future is here: automated agents starting to arrive: MySeatFinder

 

We've been hearing for some time now that "smart agents and bots will negotiate on your behalf". I confess I had some skepticism on how well this would work. Then I happened to see MySeatFinder, which looks like a potentially handy little agent.

The deal here is this: you've booked an air ticket, and have a seat assignment. This service will monitor your seat assignment and change it to a better one for you.

A nice simple model.

I haven't tried it, but the idea makes a lot of sense.

This would be fantastic to have for theatre / concert / sports tickets. It would be great to have this for objects you want to order online that aren't currently available in your size or color. What about monitoring for posted interest rates on mortgages or term deposits?

Has anyone out there used this? Or a service like it? What would you like an agent-bot to monitor on your behalf?

 

Do it yourself advertising: co-creation in business

I was on the Moo.com site to order the tags for my client year end treats.

I send them all some small but clever thing related to creativity, or ideas, or human behavior. Last year it was a balsa wood airplane from Lee Valley they could assemble and sail around the cubicles. [As each year goes by, it gets harder to find just the right goodie. Fortunately, ThinkGeek had just the right item. No, I'm not telling you.]

In any event, I needed some nice little gift tags, and I love the quality and ease of use of Moo, so I went to their site looking for inspiration.

Which is where Clint Davis comes in. He created an amazing self-promotion mailer for his photography business, in part created with Moo cards, and blogged on it. He is now featured on their web site.

His package is so clever, and all of it was created and assembled by him personally.

I certainly would not recommend this approach for a big brand. But I do think it shows again how democratized business tools have become, when you can do-it-yourself with this kind of quality.

If you have a good idea, and are prepared to invest lots of labor and some money, you can do amazing things thanks to new technology.

Be interesting or be gone: reaching people in an age of communication overload

Ever get to the point with your e-mail where you're tempted to just Select All {Ctrl+A} and hit {DEL}?

I did today... but decided instead to spend a few minutes trying to clear things out.

I found a number of good intentions there --  someone I wanted to have coffee with back in 2008, and still haven't booked a meeting. [I'm sure W.S. has scheduling problems of his own to deal with... if he's even at the same company now. I have finally surrendered, and deleted this reminder to self.]

How the disciplined among us conquer e-mail

Then I came across this gem, a newsletter item about conquering e-mail.

The actual item, from Fast Company, dates back several months. I can certainly vouch for the veracity of the research, having currently got some 355 newsletter items in my newsletter folder [deleted at least weekly!]. Yes, I could unsubscribe to the stuff that I no longer want, but who's got the time for that?

There are a number of good tips in the article above... if you are the type who can use a disciplined system.

My purpose here, is not to discuss personal productivity. It is to remind you that your brand, your product, your incredible marketing communication, is in this giant morass.

Did you get my e-mail?

Do you, like me, get sales calls that start with: "did you receive my e-mail?" or even worse, "have you read the presentation I e-mailed you"?

Seriously, this is a ridiculous approach. No one has read your e-mail, okay?

Even the information I requested is quite often in limbo, in another folder marked "Must Read", that currently has 12 items in it. 

I can't get through the memory sticks, CDs and downloads that I brought back from the last few conferences.

So if you sent me a sales deck, and I opened it, I sure hope it had some useful information in it. Like pricing, for example. Like screen shots of your product, for example. If it was just circles and arrows, I can tell you now that we are all sorry we wasted our time.

E-mail is the proverbial tip of the iceberg...

I'm also behind on Facebook. People ask me if I saw their clever status update, or the link they posted to the video. [I only wish I had, it was probably really cool. And more interesting than most of the stuff that landed there.]

One smart fellow of my acquaintance has suggested that I would enjoy his book reviews posted on LinkedIn. I'm sure he's right, but I currently have a dozen interesting books sitting on what passes for a credenza, calling out to me.

Your communications have to totally rock

When I'm testing print communications, I often say something like "imagine you were flipping through this magazine". Because none of us have time to study anything that is not intensely interesting to us.

And we are all, the big and the small among us, subjected to astounding amounts of marketing communications. Political communications. And signs encouraging correct behavior. [Like smoking 25 feet from the door, and be sure to wash your hands properly. Don't stand too close to that door. Keep that bag away from babies...]

We can fast forward through your boring skip-intro. We have learned to blot out your boring banner. We are checking our smart phone while your trailer is playing. Heck, many people are checking their phones in the actual movie! I have recently seen people doing this in live performances -- so even messages we are paying to see are not sacrosanct.

This is your target -- skilled at filtering

This is the market you are trying to reach or trying to serve. Busy. Inundated. Unable to read it all. Wishing you were more succinct. Hoping your knowledge base has a good search tool. Skilled at filtering. And the young are even better than the old at filtering what is of interest and what is not. 

Social media certainly had a novelty factor initially. But it is quickly becoming a necessity, and bringing the same baggage. New channels are not displacing the old, they are adding to the load.

Yup, it's scary out there.

How to amuse children in your store

While in the waiting room at a government office, I noticed this clever initiative by the staff -- a selection of coloring images, all nicely organized. [sorry for the poor focus...]

 

This kind of thing serves multiple purposes:

• avoid fussy young kids in your waiting room that raise the tension for everyone
• help the parent keep their focus on the business at hand, rather than managing a bored child
• show that the organization has a heart

This is not the pinnacle of what is possible, of course! But you don't need to build a ball room (like IKEA) or a play zone (like McDonald's) to do something for the littlest customers. Coloring still works.

Pets are people too: leverage the 'aww, how cute' factor

There's an independent small appliance retailer that does a great job of marketing themselves. They have only one outlet (Caynes), but based on their radio and flyer presence, you'd assume a national chain.

The have this interesting wall of customers' pet pictures. I thought it was a nice way to engage with their shoppers on another level.

Here's how it works -- customers are invited to send in a picture of their pet. The picture is converted to a drawing, and the drawing is used in their regular print advertising -- including the name of the pet and the owner. The customer gets a copy of the drawing, and their pet's image goes on the wall of fame.

 

One thing that is brilliant about this strategy, is the way it advantages a single outlet over a chain, that would have trouble matching this approach. so not only is it an "aww, how cute" moment, it provides a lot of messaging about what kind of company you are dealing with.

Pets are people too: customer experience for pet owners

I saw these stands outside a grocery store located on Vancouver Island. It's a small community, with lots of retired people and also tourists, so there are lots of dogs around.

So here are nice places to leash your pooch while you shop, put at an appropriate height for the dog (tall or short), with an image to match. Nicely done, Thrifty's!