What's up with Borders?
Jon Strande at the Business Evolutionist has a great post about what's wrong with the big booksellers - Borders, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble - and how they're missing out on a great opportunity to create a community.
Business Evolutionist: Bookstore Relationships
Bookstore Relationships
I wrote a post a few weeks about 'Managing the total customer lifetime'. I posed the question: "Should a customer relationship be defined by transactions?"
Here is a concrete example of what I was talking about.
At the checkout counter of Borders, they ask you two questions:
1.) Did you find everything you were looking for?
2.) Would you like to sign up for our email list?
First, the checkout counter is not the time to ask me if I've found everything I was looking for. It seems like there are always people in line behind me and I'm not going to hold them up so you can look for something for me. Plus, I don't want you to hold me up in line because someone wasn't smart enough to go to that HUGE desk at the center of the store marked Customer Service... or use one of the computers located throughout the store to assist them in finding something.
Second, why should I give you my email address? What's in it for me? Don't ask me that question any more. Instead of asking me for my email address, give me yours... and a reason or two to give you mine. I'd much rather get a small card outlining the benefits of giving you my email before handing my email address over to a stranger... j s t r a n d e @ ... you get the idea.