Service Innovation

I have received a lot of mails recently about the Touch-point cards (link to a review) that we have produced in the AT-ONE project (we don’t have any left, but will put them online). One of the cards, and one common service touch-point is the letter.  A few days ago I received two letters that really show how companies miss the opportunity to make contact, inform and start a dialogue through the letter.

The first letter is a standard letter from the municipal transport authority regarding renewal of my season ticket. I think it is a legal requirement over here in Norway, that they send me a letter to inform me that they will be debiting my account (which kind of defeats the point of automatic renewals and self service I guess).

Anyway, the letter is totally devoid of any personality or any relevance to me. Come on, its date is just before Christmas, its for January, the new year. It could inform me about any number of things and even wish me the seasons greetings.

The second letter is from my bank. It informs me that I now have a different contact person in the bank.

Its a shame that it is in Norwegian, but basically it just informs me that I have a new advisor and it gives his contact info. I thought this anonymous kind of autocratic letter  was history, but obviously it lives on. Now I guess that DnB, which is one of Norways largest banks, has invested a huge amount of money somewhere on CRM, and that they know a lot about me and my economy. Why can’t they show that they know a bit about me, and that they are there for me? Even a picture and short profile of the new guy would give me some kind of emotional response, rather than a purely dead piece of information. As I understand the letter, they are trying to say that they value personal contact between the bank and me, that they would like to increase this contact and would like to create some form of loyalty from me due to this. But the content, and tone of voice just say that we don’t really care about you. The letter is one of the biggest turn-offs I could receive, and I am already looking for a new bank as a replacement (not just because of the letter).

I am not suggesting that every touch-point should be used as a means of ramming a message down my throat, but rather arguing that the letter is an important touch-point, and one which offers huge potential. Firstly, I don’t receive that many letters these days, so letters get more attention than they used to. It gives the opportunity to gain my undivided attention for a number of seconds (where else does that occur?). Secondly, the letter communicates the personality of the company and its DNA  through both content and tone of voice. It is an important ambassador, particularly for a bank, since direct contact with a bank is a rare thing these days. Thirdly, the cost of printing and sending a letter is high for any organisation. The extra cost of thinking about wording and even personalisation, is small in comparison.

So, please consider the letters you mass produce and send out. Consider them from the customers point of view and use them to create some positive emotional response.

I blogged a long time ago (link) about the CD Baby cover letter that immediately creates an emotional response and encourages dialogue and loyalty. Its not something a bank could use, but it has the perfect personality for the alternative music scene. How could your company innovate itself through letters?

Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow. A team of 50 employees inspected your CDs and polished them to make sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved ‘Bon Voyage!’ to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Sunday, November 18th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.

Your picture is on our wall as ‘Customer of the Year.’ We’re all exhausted but can’t wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sigh…