Where is Smart Personalized Marketing?

When I lived in Las Vegas, I received an invitation in the mail for a day trip to San Diego to shop at Nordstrom. The very reasonably-priced package included round trip air fare on Southwest, ground transportation to/from Nordstrom, time to shop, lunch, and shipping of any purchases to my home. I presume that this was generated via some sort of partnership between Southwest, Nordstrom, and (possibly) American Express. They knew that I frequently flew Southwest, shopped at Nordstrom when in a Nordstrom city (which Las Vegas was not at that time), and liberally used my American Express card. I was delighted by this personalized offer – the smartest one-on-one marketing for which I have ever been a target.

Fast forward more than ten years – the era when we worry about how much Google and Facebook know about us and what they might do with that information. Where are my delightful personalized incentives to spend my dollars? I submit that one-on-one marketing is practically non-existent, in spite of the fact that we (willingly or unwittingly) share so darn much information about what we like, where we go, things we eat, who our friends are, and how we spend our time. Why is it that no one seems to know what to do with that information to really gain my loyalty and grab their share of my wallet?

A few choice words to marketers:

Don’t waste your money parroting back advertising for things for which I just shopped on the internet. Yes, I purchased a light fixture from Lamps Plus; but that doesn’t mean that you should then show me a banner for Lamps Plus. Honestly, that just feels a little creepy. What about a banner for Home Depot, Sherwin Williams, or Kohler to help me complete my bathroom remodel? Maybe I need a local electrician to help me install the light fixture. Think like me.

I’m pretty savvy about internet shopping and finding what I need on my own. You, however, can forge partnerships and offer me experiences I wouldn’t think of creating for myself (like the Southwest/Nordstrom package). Not only would I find that incredibly appealing, but I would tell all my friends about it for years and years.

Do a better job of recognizing and reaching out to your good customers. I know you know who we are! Now show us that you appreciate our business. It’s not enough to passively wait for me to Like your Facebook page and then post clever but unmemorable status updates. Be there for us, and really manage the interaction with your self-proclaimed fans.

An Honorable Mention:

Amazon.com’s recommendations and notifications about new books from my favorite authors. Keep enhancing your personalization, and I’ll keep shopping with you!

When Tech Shortfalls Thwart Customer Service

Last week, I took action to redeem some American AAdvantage Miles before they expired. I had enough for a domestic round trip ticket, and my husband had enough for a one-way segment. I logged on to aa.com to make reservations for my reward travel.

It wasn’t too surprising to discover that I could not book our reservations online as part of the same itinerary, because of different AAdvantage accounts and the round trip versus one-way redemptions. STRIKE ONE for American Airlines’ technology. Most of the airline systems (American’s included) are notoriously antiquated behind the scenes, and rigid in their functional capabilities. So I called their 800 number for help, already having checked award flight availability and mapping out an itinerary. I hoped American’s reservation agents might have capabilities unavailable to me on their web site.

Upon reaching an agent and explaining what I was trying to accomplish, I was advised that our reservations could not be booked as part of the same itinerary. OK – I expected that. But then the agent told me that there was only one award flight available for my desired travel date (a flight that did not work for us). I told the agent I had found additional availability online and began to provide the flight numbers, but was abruptly told that she could “see” only the one flight available. American’s reservation system did not show the same availability shown on their web site. STRIKE TWO.

Back to the web site to book our travel online. Here I discovered that Ron’s one-way award had to be booked separately from the one-way return for which we would pay a normal fare. So I made the two reservations and noted the different confirmation numbers. I then made the reservation for my round trip reward ticket.

When double-checking our three confirmed reservations, I discovered that I had made an error. I had booked my husband’s departure and return for the same date. Augh! Operator error. So I retrieved the reservation and submitted a modification for the correct date. The system then advised me that I would be charged $150 for the change. Angry with myself for the mistake, but somewhat resigned to paying the evil airline’s price, I completed the modification and provided a credit card to pay the additional $150.

The more I thought about my experience, the more upset I got. I called American and asked to speak to a supervisor. Much to my surprise, I was told that since I had found my error and made the modification within 24 hours, American would refund my $150.

Hooray, and STRIKE THREE at the same time! If American’s policy was to refund the change penalty, why doesn’t the system support that policy and not impose the fee in the first place? This limitation in their technology conveniently generates revenue from all the people who don’t bother to call and complain.

All’s well that ends well, except that I am reminded of several of the reasons I fly Southwest now instead of American.

The negative impact that ineffective technology can have on customer loyalty should not be overlooked by any business. Keep your technology updated to serve not only your operation, but your customers.

P.S.  I'm not paying for checking any baggage either.  So there.