Happy to be helped!

I am sure all my fellow hindwaasis don't need more clues to guess which brand I am referring to here. Yes, I am a customer of Vodafone and while I have not been over the moon with their service, a call from them a few days back was like the first shower in the Delhi heat.

I received a general service (read as selling) call from them a few days back telling about the various plans for Internet usage specific to BlackBerry handset.Without much interest, I started listening to the service executive as he took we through the plans (this being a first incident of its kind as I do not entertain their calls on most days). But then he went to explain that because I wasn't using any plan currently, I was paying more than what I should be and using much less!!!

Now I have done some work for telecom companies and I know that for some of them, a customer like me (who without being on a plan is ending up paying much more than what he can if he takes a plan) is like a golden customer. And many companies with all the hue and cry of customer centricity would choose to let the status-quo. And hence I was pleasantly surprised by this call. But this is not all. When I asked the executive for details of a non-blackberry Internet plan, that was more suitable (read economical) for me, he happily provided the details to me. And when I asked him if he can activate the plan on my number the same day, he advised me to do it after a day. The reason you may ask? My billing cycle was to  get completed in 2 days. If I would have activated the plan the same day, I would have to pay the full amount for that billing cycle without actually hardly using Internet.

I must say that I am completely blown away and this does make up for the much grief that I have gone through receiving their calls. But guess what? Now when my phone rings and I know that it is one of those calls, I have started answering them. Happy to be helped Vodafone!

Don't suffocate your new customers with e-mail marketing!

Ok so in this age of email and SMS marketing, one is constantly bombarded with practically millions of messages - direct or indirect everyday. And what one certainly does not need is another company sending you an email religiously at the turn of the day with no relevance and no information of your needs!

I am talking about this e-commerce website which has been SPAMMING my inbox ever since I registered. And I am certain there is a marketing manager sitting in their office, feeling pretty happy reaching out to all the prospective customers on a daily basis. So much for direct mailing marketing being one-to-one and customised. The funniest part of the story is that I have not browsed for any particular product on their website let alone buy one! And giving their constant and irksome mails, I am unlikely to buy any.

Now you will ask, what could they have done better? Well, for starters, get to know me better. A welcome e-mailer would have been nice along with a request for filling up some details like:

1. Name
2. Address
3. Hobbies
4.  Marital Status
5. What am I most likely to buy online? (To get an idea of the kind of products that I am comfortable buying online)
6.  What is the one item that I cannot resist buying?
7.  Favourites

 I know that the company might argue that most customers will probably not fill these details but with their constant annoying emails, customers are going to get over-exposed leading to annoyance and disillusion with the brand.

Another alternative is to to gather all this information in increments through emails like 'Help us get to know you better' or  'We want to know you better!'. Besides getting to know your customer, imagine the volumes of data that one can generate and the kind of segments that a company can arrive at  by capturing this information.