Make Your Clients Feel Special: The Small Things Matter

Well, I say ‘the small things, matter’, although what I’m going to tell you about may be physically small, it represents a huge effort on Starbucks part to make their clients feel special.

If you are a fan of Starbucks coffee and their location culture, then you already know that it is worthwhile grabbing a Starbucks card from the till, loading it with cash, registering it, and using it. There are lots of perks that come along with paying for your coffee using a registered card. I love that little ‘thank you’ that I feel when I receive my free steamed soy in my decaf Americano.

Look what I got in the mail this week.

For those in the United States, I think you have had these cards for a while, but here in Canada – NOPE! I have never even seen it. You cannot imagine how special I felt when a shiny, gold card with my name on it arrived in the mail this week. It is very shinny! Somehow this piece of plastic had great value. There is no money loaded on it, but it is preregistered to my existing account, saving me the effort of connecting all my cards.

This is a huge effort Starbucks had to undertake to put all the systems in place to be able to manage this program and give me this one card. They have had to roll it out in stages and I’m sure they tweaked the program as they received feedback on its value.

Here is MY feedback on its value. I felt:

• I am noticed
• I am worth their effort
• I have value to their business
• I am not just a cup of coffee

If you want your clients to continue to buy from you then do something that makes them feel noticed and valued to your business. It doesn’t have to be this big, because the small things do matter. Remember, your customers are not just a transaction; they are why you are still in business.