Day 4: An Open Letter, From Those You Would Woo

Consumers today are a savvy lot.

We no longer believe in the “limited, exclusive, one-time only offers” you make, and we know that we’re not really your “preferred customers” no matter what your flyers say.  We’ve grown weary of paying for the privilege of wearing your advertising logos, and we’re tired of having to sign up for your sales pitches before we can see a sample of your work.

And that thing you do with the auto-responder? The one that adds our first name onto your spam, so that we’ll believe it’s really a hand delivered box of chocolates? Yeah. We see through that, too.

We know the difference between love and manipulation, and we’re so over these one-sided, go-nowhere relationships with marketers.

So if you want to woo us with this customer love thing of yours?

You’re going to have to do something really extraordinary: you’re going to have to mean it.

You’re going to have to really love us.

And lemme tell ya’…  Loving us?

It ain’t always easy, baby!

I mean, we’ve got baggage, you know?

Some of us have trust issues; we’ve been burnt by too many ill-intentioned marketers who only wanted to get into our wallets. Then there’s our fear of commitment, that thing that makes us back out of your shopping cart at the last-minute.

And let’s not EVEN talk about our habitual buyer’s remorse, poor follow through, lack of brand loyalty, or how we don’t really know what we want, much less need.  Also not worth mentioning? Those among us who graze on free samples like we’re at a buffet table, because we simply don’t know any better.  (Yes, some of us WERE raised in barns.)

So wooing us?  It’s damn scary.  It means taking risks and making investments, with no guarantee of a return.

It means listening.

It means caring.

It means listening some more.

It means not jumping to conclusions, not assuming you have all the answers. It means getting to know us on a deep and personal level, maybe deeper than you’ll be comfortable with, at first.  Sometimes, loving us means teaching us manners, retraining us how to be good consumers. Remember, we’ve been taught to behave poorly by Madison Avenue’s spoon feeding, and we’ll need time to adjust our expectations, just like you do.

You’ll probably make mistakes along the way. You’ll drive a few of us off with your bumbling attempts at love-making.  You’ll woo the wrong person, and we’ll both end up dissatisfied. And at some point, you’ll treat one us to a fancy dinner, and then we’ll run off with the busboy before you’ve even paid the check.

Yep, courting us is risky business. It means butterflies in the stomach, sweaty palms, and revisiting all of those teenage moments of hell when you were afraid NO ONE would ask you to the prom, much less commit to an actual relationship.

But if it works?

If we come to believe you’re really interested in us, in our wants, needs, our happiness and success? If we think you’re actually listening to our problems, and sincerely trying to solve them, and not just showing off for the next consumer in line?

If we believe that you actually LOVE us?

Then we’re yours, baby.

We’ll fall for you so hard the earth will shake.

Not only will we buy your stuff, we’ll make sure everyone knows that YOU and you alone are responsible for the sparkle in our eye, the spring in our step, and the glow of our skin. We’ll sing your praises to the world, credit you for our success, explain away your flaws as bonus features.

We’ll buy your products and give them away, just so others can have a little taste of our happiness. We’ll support your causes, buy you cups of coffee, squeal if we spot you somewhere unexpected, and rush to check out any casual product recommendations you make.

Just like Oprah. Well, you’ll probably not be as rich as Oprah.  But we will love you that much.

And isn’t that kind of love a lot more valuable than an email address that’s likely to go bad next month, or a single tweet of “Check out www.openyourwallet.com for a free chance at an iPad”?

So please.

Dare to stop treating us as a variable in your success formula.

Take a risk.  Love us.  Care about us.  Believe in us.  Make it real.

We’ll notice, and we’ll learn to love and believe in you, too.

Because consumers today?

Yeah.

We’re a pretty savvy lot.

Your task today: Find a way to listen to your customers – take a survey, read your comments, offer free coaching – and pay attention to their problems. Think about how you can solve them. Then tell us in the comments below what you found out.