Hey, Honey Bunch!
Last week I spoke at two separate events that revolved around the use of technology and tools to create better customer experiences.
But it turns out that tools and technology can take you only so far. Today's issue is about what you need before you can make any technology matter at all.
* * *
Last Monday I rented an Elizabethan gown from a shop on the sketchy side of Las Vegas.
That sentence is a lot to take in, isn't it?
Let's start with last part—because you could argue that much of Las Vegas is sketchy. So where exactly is this "sketchy side"?
It's out by the airport. And it felt so sketchy that the Uber driver—a grandpa type named Robert—wanted to walk me to the front door of the shop (which was kept locked, by the way). I refused, because it's broad daylight and that's completely unnecessary, Robert.
But still he idled in the parking lot until I'd been buzzed inside—like I was a kindergartner being let off a school bus and he was the bus driver waiting for a parent to open the door.
I can't say I minded. Sure, it was a beautiful sunny day in the Vegas desert, clear and cool. But also weirdly quiet: Walking from Robert's car to the locked shop door, you'd hear none of the usual ambient outdoor noises—no people around, no birds overhead.
Are even the birds freaked out by this neighborhood?
Anyway, 5 minutes later I found myself zipped inside an Elizabethan-style gown. Between the velvet, and the layers of petticoat, and the gold braid trim, collar, and jewels... it felt like it weighed 1,000 pounds.
It was ree-dick-u-lous.
It was perfect.
Two days later I would be sweating inside it, trying my best to mom-dance with a hip-hop troupe in front of 4,000 people gathered inside a massive Las Vegas ballroom to kick off the second day of Oracle's Modern Customer Experience show.
I'd rented the gown to layer a little fun on the morning, and to promote Oracle's awards show that night—the Markies—a black-tie-optional event. The dress was a setup for a joke: "I might've misinterpreted what Oracle meant by 'dress up.'"
Photo: Business on the top, party on the bottom. Via Oracle.
So what does all this have to do with you?
Because we talk a lot about creating "experiences" in marketing. It's old news that consumers are in control, brands need to keep up, and we need to catch and optimize those micro-moments that occur every day between would-be customers and us. Engage. Interact. Entice.
This was a major theme at Oracle's event. And it was later that week, too, at Social Media Marketing World in San Diego, where I spoke about the humble email newsletter. (No Elizabethan frock this time, alas.) 😉
Each event, in its own way, underscored the idea of what Oracle calls an "Experience Economy"—meaning: a customer's experience with a brand is inseparable from what the brand sells. So we need to up our game at every moment a customer interacts with us.
For Oracle, the path is through data science, connected intelligence, real-time personalization. (Oracle rolled out a number of updates to its Oracle Marketing Cloud platform and gorgeous new updates to its Oracle Sales Cloud platform.)
For the social media marketers in San Diego, the path is through a smarter use of social tools and platforms for business and conversion. Lots of talk about live video, Instagram, social selling.
That Crazy Dress
Which leads me back to that crazy Elizabethan dress. And more importantly, to the shop owner, Gillian.
Inside that locked door was a kind of wonderland. It was like being inside a snow globe—if the snow were showgirl feathers floating around beaded bikinis, sequined suits, ruffled gowns, chaps, hats, and headpieces.
Whatever you dream up... Gillian's got it stuffed in a corner somewhere.
Gillian is the sole proprietor. She's been in business 30 years.
Gillian has a website, but she doesn't really know how to navigate it: When my assistant Jess asked her to send us some gown options in advance, she pointed her phone at her computer screen to take photo of her own website... then texted that.
She's barely on social media.
She doesn't have an email list or a CRM.
Her receipts are printed with comic sans font.
You get the idea.
She knows she should be doing all that social media and email stuff, by the way. But she's both overwhelmed by it—and not all that interested, either.
But here's the thing about Gillian: She is killing it with Experience.
How so...? In this cramped shop on the sketchy side of Vegas?
The shop where, by the way, there are no birds overhead because the airport is too close. And as we stood talking inside her shop, a roar filled the sky and the feather boas swayed slightly in the reverb.
"Whoa that's loud," I said. "What is...?" she responded. After 30 years by the airport, she didn't hear the planes anymore.
So how, exactly, is that killing it... based on the lessons from this past week?
1."Time is the currency of the Experience Economy." —Oracle's Rob Tarkoff (Modern CX)
Before I arrived, Gillian had spent time on the phone with Jess to understand exactly what I needed—the only shop owner Jess called who cared enough to do that.
So when I'd been buzzed through her door, Gillian had 3 gowns already lined up and waiting in the dressing room. I was in and out of her shop in 20 minutes, and that included time waiting for the Uber back to the Strip.
2. "The future of marketing is about trust." —Katie Martell (Modern CX)
Gillian personally delivered the dress to my hotel the morning I needed it, freshly fluffed and floofed. She tossed in earrings and a necklace, too, just because she thought it'd look Extra. (She was right.) She texted me that afternoon: "How did it go?! Send me photos!"
Was she my partner in this game? Or was I just a customer? Both.
3. "Service is the new selling." —A guy in the elevator in San Diego. I didn't get his name. (SMMW)
The morning I was to leave Vegas, Gillian offered to come fetch the dress, to save me the trip. And because she was headed back to her shop anyway, she gave me a ride to the airport in her van. It had false eyelashes pasted over the headlights.
This would have been impressive at any hour, but it was 7 AM.
Gillian was Sales, Marketing, Customer Care, Story, Personality, Brand... all rolled into one in a cramped, magical shop by the airport.
My point in telling you all is this: Gillian could definitely be more efficient with technology. She'd make more money and get more awareness if she were on social media, maybe enough to move out of the sketchy side of Vegas.
But the opposite is not true: Gillian wouldn't be nearly as successful if she weren't, first, 100% dedicated to her craft. If she didn't love what she does. If she not only didn't care about the one-to-one human connection... but be obsessed with it.
In other words, without tech—she's less efficient.
But without heart—she's out of business.
So here's the prescription for Experience:
✅ 1. Start with heart.
✅ 2. Add technology. (Not too much.)
✅ 3. Win at life.
Thank you, Gillian!
* * *
Here are 5 things I thought worth sharing this fortnight.
1.
Writing Tip of the Week: Clear Factor ✏️
I'm not a fan of the we-have-shorter-attention-spans-than-a-goldfish mindset. One, it's bananas-insulting to anyone except the fish. And, two, it's just not true.
But I am a fan of clear, concise copywriting:
1. Find the conclusion.
2. Put it first.
Say you want to direct a website visitor to support. Which is better?
- "Choose an appropriate category and sub-category in order to contact a support agent."
- "Contact support by categorizing your issue."
The "conclusion" is to contact support. So the second is better because it puts that idea first.
2.
Moody News
Chris Gillespie signed up for 100 B2B marketing newsletters over 3 months and rated the emails on design, writing, and utility. The results were... sad.
"Most...were more interested in promoting articles and earning blog impressions than in creating an experience worth subscribing to." BUT! "The top 10 percent were completely different."
So what do the top newsletters know that you don't know? Writing in MarketingProfs,
Chris has you covered.
3.
Write or Wrong
In San Diego this week I talked about "How to Create an Email Newsletter That People Clear Their Schedules to Read." An attendee named Derek asked me afterward whether I'd experimented with embedding a podcast in an email. I haven't, but my friends at AWeber have an app that allows you to do precisely that.
👉 👉 👉
Go deeper: Can your email newsletter spark joy? Lee Price explores that idea with Liz, me, and others in
this podcast.
4.
The Search Degree
Search advice is often presented in the form of "long and radically detailed reports," writes Barry Feldman.
If you're not into that (me, neither), Barry pours a shot-glass of 25 important Google Success Factors that'll increase your odds of getting ranked high in Google search. He includes something called "hreflang," which is either a Google thing or something that belongs on a charcuterie board.
5.
Talk to the Grand
I love this story so much: There's the typewriter. The love letters. The pop-up surprise of it. And the reminder that the biggest gift we can give our customers is to slow down an experience in a memorable way...
For three days recently, visitors to the Grand Canyon National Park encountered something unusual after a 6-mile hike down to a scenic overlook: a $5 typewriter from Goodwill. And this note:
Dear Hiker, welcome to Plateau Point. You've hiked a long ways. Please take a seat in the chair and relax. Look around. Take it all in. What does this moment mean to you?
National Park Ranger Elyssa Shalla created the pop-up project. She told NPR:
"We need to provide more opportunities to give people the chance to stop and think and feel at the same time and then give them a platform to share their experiences. That's one of the greatest things we could do in our national parks."
And, of course, everywhere.
JA TOOL
Three useful tools I used this week.
⚙️
This WiFi Map has been a lifesaver, as I've been on the road for a solid week as of today. (I miss my dog Abby A LOT!) It's a WiFi Map that crowdsources WiFi passwords for all kinds of locations all over the world, so you can join networks
without begging the counter staff for passwords.
🔁
This site gives you 15 handy PDF conversion tools for 100% free, and with no email or registration, no ads, no usage limits, no BS. Convert a PDF to a Word doc, or a PDF to a JPG, or what have you.
EasyPDF is one to bookmark.
LOVE LETTERS
