Thursday, March 17, 2022

Dear [First Name, Fallback='Prudence||John||Future Husband||Rosemary||Avery']

Where everybody knows your name

Do you have anywhere that you can order "the usual," dear reader? At my local cafe my coffee¹ is often ready by the time I reach the front of the line. They know me well and I love it.

I am less excited when the convenience store owner makes a knowing comment about my favourite unhealthy snack choice. I know it, they know it, but I really prefer that we all pretend not to.

Just because you (think you) know something about your customer does not mean you should use that information. Online, data collection and reuse happens at a vastly larger scale. I have personally put some effort into de-personalizing my online inputs but it is a real Hans Brinker situation.

Can personalization be done well online? Certainly, but not without thoughtful effort. Help Scout lets you pull your customer data into the sidebar but it is the role of the customer service agent is to use that information well, to facilitate a more helpful conversation.

What values, boundaries, and examples do your team have to help them make use of contextual customer data? How might things go wrong, and how could it be avoided?

¹ Large flat white, 1 sugar. Yes "real" coffee lovers, I revel in your discomfort with every sweetened milky sip.