May I have your name please?

If you have ever ordered a special coffee drink at your local Starbucks, you will surely be greeted with the question, “May I have your name?”  In that moment, you have shared your identity and one of the hallmarks of the Starbucks experiences has been initiated and reinforced.  You are no longer anonymous to the barista and everyone in the store will hear your name called and attached to that $4.00 cup of coffee. 

The implications for you, the brand and the environment are profound, considerable and longer lasting than the caffeine rush from that coffee. A personalized customer experience will strengthen the brand relationship, increase sales and promote recycling.   Not too shabby.

One of the most analyzed concepts in today’s retail lexicon is the “customer experience”.  Often, however, this concept is misconstrued as the physical or tactile impressions on the customer, whether in store or on line.  Instead, a truly meaningful customer experience concerns the intangibles. In short, this means the interaction of the brand, represented by its associates or its processes, on the customer journey from the first moment through the entire retail process. Creating a set of impressions or interactions with brand story, process and product is the core of a distinctive customer experience.  It leaves the customer with a palpable sense of purpose, delight and meaning, different from the competition.  It is memorable, desirable and sought after.

Among the most important components of a successful customer experience involves “personalization”.  This involves an effort to make the customer feel special, that the experience was designed just for them. As consumers, we seek recognition and personal identification of our needs, as we regard them as unique, special and peculiar. The effort to distinguish and engage customers at this level is powerful and enduring.   A recent article in Forbes features research that a personalized customer experience increases revenue and brand loyalty.    According to a survey conducted by Segment, a consumer data company, personalization resulted in the following:

·     40% of US consumers  say they have purchased something more expensive than they planned to because of personalized service.

·     44% of the consumers said that personalized services resulted in repeat purchases.

As though the impact of personalization in consumption and brand experience were not enough, personalization also positively impacts on recycling.  Last year, two researchers followed a very similar Starbucks coffee cup. Addressing the consumer behavioral impacts to recycling, Remi Trudel explained that he and his colleague revealed that consumers are more likely to recycle items linked to their identity, such as a Starbucks cup with our name on it.  "We consistently found that people are more likely to recycle than discard identity-linked products — and that trashing these products can lower self-esteem," Trudel writes in the Harvard Business Review. " As might be expected, it feels bad to throw a piece of yourself in the trash, so people avoid it."

As you think about your next interaction with a product or brand, consider your treatment and experience. It is you that matters and makes a difference.