Have you sent a thank you note lately?
photo by dryicons.comWhen was the last time you sent a physical thank you note? And how about the last time you received one of these notes? Taking the time to write a note by hand is really worth it, even…
Customer Feedback is Gold
The most humbling way to know whether you’re building a great product is to get direct feedback. Try whatever you’re doing from the customer’s point of view. Now, observe the customer doing it with your mouth closed and your ears…
If you love customers, set them free
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David vs. Goliath: How can you beat a giant who owns the market?
Be more like Amazon Fresh, and Less Like The Phone Company Becoming a verb for consumers is a sign that your company has made it. Google it. Just Uber It. When your company’s name becomes the shorthand for a great…
Do some customers deserve better service?
Which customer would you rather deal with: the one who tells you what’s wrong or the one who buys faithfully and then leaves without prior warning? While you might not see the warning signs of the customer who’s unhappy immediately,…
Why “How You Sound” Matters to the Customer
How do you sound to the customer? Customers are engaging your brand in more than one channel and especially on their phones. That means that the same customer might be talking to you on email, on Twitter, via phone, or…
How to Scale Customer Service to Reach the Mass Market
When you serve your first customer, you get to spend as much time as possible to make that relationship right. When that first customer becomes one of many, you need a way to take that same energy and focus that…
Go ahead, build a Thingamajig.
When the folks at LittleBits asked me to test their latest kit of snap-together DIY electronics, I was really excited. As a gadget-loving person, I love the idea of creating a Rube Goldbergian perpetual motion machine. I even the idea of…
The Feedback Machine: How do you discover what people really want?
This essay is written as part of the Startup Edition project – check out the other essays here. How do you discover what people really want? People are not effective at self-reporting, or letting you know what they will…
