I like shopping at my local grocery store. The employees recognize me and we shoot the breeze while they ring up my purchases. It makes for a pleasant experience, one of the reasons I keep coming back. But while it’s close to the bygone days of the general store, it still falls a bit short.
Back then, personal relationships were the heart of the business. Shopkeepers enjoyed what we now call a high offer-to-response ratio: they used personal knowledge to offer something you were likely to buy—at the right price at the right time.
While such a personal experience is unfeasible in our era of mega-stores and online outlets, customers still want to feel recognized and appreciated, whatever channels they use to browse or buy. They want relevant offers that show you understand their needs and that match their shopping and communication preferences.
So, how do you act like the corner store when marketing spans multiple contact channels and the customer is a...
