Getting to know you…

Getting to know your customers is a good thing; we all understand this. But if you get to know your customers by gathering data about them, a funny things happen: your customers expect you to know about them. And to behave accordingly. 

I have a a Canon printer. (It’s a PIXMA MX700. I like it a lot. I would recommend it.) When I got it, I completed the online registration; I told Canon who I was and I gave them the serial number of the printer. 

The other day Canon sent me an email about firmware upgrades. This is a benefit of registering; you find out about these things. In this case it was an upgrade to correct a potential error. 

Here’s the problem. The email told me that my printer might need a firmware upgrade. Actually, it told me that the printer might need one of three upgrades. Or maybe it doesn’t need one at all. How to tell? Check the serial number. 

When I read the message, I thought, “I don’t know my serial number.” And of course the serial number is nowhere in view on the printer sitting nicely here in my office. There seems to be some rule of product design that requires serial numbers to be placed in highly inaccessible locations, and to be rendered in tiny type in a color almost identical to the background color of the surface where they appear, so that they are really, really hard to read. Neat!

I don’t have my serial number handy… but Canon does. I gave it to them the day I was unpacking the printer and plugging in cables, when it was easy. So why are they sending me a message to tell me that I may or may not need to take one of three actions based on a piece of information that’s in their profile of me? Why didn’t the email just tell me what I needed to do? 

If you’re going to bother to ask for information, you need to act on it. Don’t tell customers in Texas about your new store in London unless they’ve said they want to know. Don’t send an offer for people who spend more than $300 a month to people who spend $30. 

And don’t ask people to dig out a serial number that you’ve got in a database. 

More posts about knowing your customers:

• Who are those customers?
• Direct marketing: start with what you know
• If you ask, you must listen

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