How to Touch a Customer s Life


How to Touch a Customer’s Life

How do you touch a customer’s life using a database? There are many ways, some of them so simple that we overlook them. When I fly into San Francisco, check into a Hyatt hotel, and push the button for room service, the response is, “Yes, Mr. Hughes. What can I get you to eat?” I have been in this hotel for less than 20 minutes, yet down in the kitchen they already know and use my name! This is possible because Hyatt, like most other hotels today, has Caller ID on its internal hotel telephone system. When you push that button in your room, the Caller ID goes to the database that Hyatt created when you checked in and pulls up the information, “Arthur Hughes, Room 1202” on the screen so that room service can call you by name. This is database marketing. It is what the old corner grocers used to do, and it is now made possible by modern technology used in a creative way. You are 2000 miles from home, yet people know you and recognize you. It makes you feel great!

Caller ID, of course, is not just for hotels. Customer service departments throughout America are using it to recognize customers when they make repeat calls. With this technique, before a call is answered, the database showing the customer’s complete purchase history, demographics, and preferences is brought up on the customer service rep’s screen, so that he can respond, “Mrs. Webster. So nice to hear from you again. How did your granddaughter like that sweater you gave her last October?” This is the kind of thing the old corner grocer used to say, and we can say it today. But there is a new twist: Using cookies, we are able to personalize our Web sites so that customers get the same type of personal greeting when they return to Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Staples, Office Depot, and hundreds of other Web sites. Database marketing today has techniques that make its promise come alive.




The Customer Loyalty Solution. What Works (and What Doesn't in Customer Loyalty Programs)
The Customer Loyalty Solution : What Works (and What Doesnt) in Customer Loyalty Programs
ISBN: 0071363661
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 226

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