Pampered Clients: Great Customer Service via Technology

My friend and I meet every few months to catch up, have lunch, a glass of wine and facials.  It’s a nice relaxing afternoon.  Every time we go to the spa, however, we become slightly irked – not the spa experience you would expect.  It has nothing to do with the facials.  The facials are great.  It has to do with fact the company tracks and remembers our phone numbers so they can remind us of our appointments, e-mail addresses so they can continue to market to us, and credit card information so they may charge us even in the event we forget about our appointment (we never have forgotten the appointment; believe me, this is a priority appointment!). 

Every time we are there however, they will invariably ask us if we’ve ever been there before (YES!) and they’ll ask our slipper size (which has not changed in the past 20 years).  I suppose these bits of information aren’t important to them, so they don’t feel compelled to track it.  However, it does take away from the overall experience.  In the twenty years that I have frequented this establishment four to six times per year, I feel as if they know more about my credit card than me. 

What information do you track on your clients?  Does the information only benefit you or do you also track information that will make your clients feel valued?  If you can’t honestly say that you are tracking information that will help you develop a personal relationship with your clients, your technology isn’t helping you maximize your clients’ experience and your clients are probably walking away – even from a good experience – feeling slightly irked.  And when this happens, you are vulnerable to competition.  The last time my friend and I went for our facials we visited a different spa.  After 20 years, we went somewhere else!  And, we had an amazing experience.  I’m sure if we had felt more important, we wouldn’t have even considered it.