Lately, I’ve found myself saying, “they should be doing this if they want me to come back,” a lot when it comes to buying products or services. For many reasons, my wife and I are the new consumer, Digital Natives. I don’t think I’m being narcissistic: rather, the new world requires different thinking.
I’ve had a curious mind my whole life, occasionally it gets me in trouble, but sometimes it works out. I decided to put some thought and keystrokes behind what I’ve been saying, and here it is:
Most of the time, I converse with my friends/coworkers more via text, IM, Twitter and Facebook as I do talking on the telephone. I can navigate my way around a website, and I’d rather find the answer on my own than talk to a robotic customer service rep that can’t actually help.
Lesson: Give me options to contact your business that aren’t just email or telephone. Let me contact you via Twitter, SMS, or live chat. Have a well thought and living/breathing FAQ on your website. I’m probably not the only person with this problem. Respond quickly, if needed. Act like you want me back (see: Zappos).
We’d prefer to spend more money on fewer, higher quality items. I want real food, with ingredients I can pronounce.
Lesson: Don’t try to always be a cheapskate. Make food that you’d want to eat. Try to source your items locally. Try to get foods or products with a backstory. People will remember, and even tell their friends if you give them something to remember. If you don’t even try to give your product a story, then why will anybody talk about it?
If you have some neat environmental programs, tell me about them, but it better be legit. We’re smart enough to know when you’re just greenwashing. (special note to the oil companies: I appreciate the effort, but really?)
Lesson: The internet lets us get lots of information, very quickly. Somebody will catch you if your efforts aren’t what you say they are.
Talk to me like a person.
Lesson: Ignore your PR department, they’re probably doing more harm that good. Especially if these words aren’t available to you, “we messed up, it happens. we’ll try harder next time. sorry.”
It all comes down to three main points, in order:
- give me something of value
- don’t be a dick
- be authentic
That’s all we’re asking for. Thanks for listening.
Pretty cool post. I just came across your site and wanted to say
that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
I think i’ve seen this somewhere before…but it’s not bad at all