Do you know your customers? Why you should.

Hi. We haven’t met yet, but we should. I’ve certainly met enough of your emails, tweets, and       sales pitches. I’m your consumer – that warm body with the purchasing power to buy the stuff you sell. You probably know me as customer #12345, according to your Customer Management System (CMS). But with so many customers, how can you know ME. You don’t have the time. But you certainly have the time to process my credit card or cash my check.

Long story short – doing business today requires treating your customers as more than customer #12345.

You see – with the integration of social media, smart phones, etc – I, the consumer, who was once thought of as a distant number (your marketing has to be dumbed down!) is actually pretty smart. I, armed with my iPhone, am now accessible anywhere anytime anyplace. (Assuming my battery isn’t dead!)

My iPhone has changed the way I expect to do business. With Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc – I can post my opinion about my experiences, I can check out my friends experiences and your other customers’ experiences, I can read reviews…heck, I can even scan a bar code and the app will tell me all locations within a radius of my location that have the same product (or better) and even tell me what is costs. Cool, huh?

So I don’t need you to send me the same information all about you, with no connection of how you think it relates to me and benefits me.

Stop sending me emails that address me as ‘Dear Customer’ or babble on all about you. I don’t care; really… I want to know that you at least know enough about me and my buying habits to know how what you sell interests and benefits me.

Stop posting on Twitter and Facebook about how many people you have working for your company. Or what successes you have had. Again, don’t care. Show me you understand me and tell me – what’s in it for me (WIIFM)?

I can communicate, read blogs, check apps, read reviews, read my emails you send me if they connect with me and hold my interest – and if not and they lose my interest, I can hit that lovely little key called ‘delete’ and I am off to the next thing.

So, update your website – give me a reason to want to come back. Show me you understand how your products and services can benefit me. Stop making all of your content boring, drab, and stale…I have hundreds of thousands of websites, apps, etc. that I can check for what I want and need. If there is nothing new, I am done with your emails, your status updates, and your website, and I’m off to search for new relevant information.

So moral of the story – treat me like you know me. Ask me questions. Ask me how I enjoyed the stuff you sell. Engage me on your website, engage me in your emails that you send me, show me I matter. Because if you don’t, and your competitor does, guess who I am going to look for the next time I need the stuff you sell?

Sincerely,

Your consumer.