We’ve all done it. Life is
hectic and sooner or later we’ve forgotten someone’s birthday. It’s a terrible
feeling because we know it makes that person feel unimportant. If it’s a
coworker, you can usually repair the damage with a free lunch. If it’s a
spouse, it may be a much more expensive proposition. But in either case, we act
quickly to emphasize how much we really care.
Now consider this: according
to a recent survey
from retailer research agency Conlumino, a whopping 52 percent of Millennials believe
brands should remember their
birthdays. It’s a surprising data point from research on more than 3,000 adult
online shoppers in the US and UK.
We talk a lot in this space
about the importance of personalization, but birthdays? Really?
Really.
Here’s why I love this stat: we
spend a lot of time thinking about how much information a consumer might be
willing to share and how we can leverage that data to better position our
products and services. But we don’t think nearly enough about social and
emotional impact of our work and how it plays into loyalty and engagement.
The simple truth is that
Millennials expect companies to wish them a happy birthday. They’ve shared that
information, along with their likes and dislikes, wish lists, dream vacations
and more. And if the point of customer engagement is to form a sort of
friendship, shouldn’t we remember their birthdays along with purchase history
and billing information? It only seems fair.
Have you forgotten your
customer’s birthdays? If so, what do you plan to do about it?