So… I’ve been thinking more and more about how you can “make love to your customers.”
I was really blown away during my last trip to San Francisco. I was staying at the Hotel Palomar, which is part of the Kimpton Hotel chain. It’s on 4th and Market.
After a day of running around, I came back to the personalized note that is pictured above. It was the maid assigned to my room telling me thank you for staying and asking if there is anyway that she can help. I was incredibly impressed.
There was nothing more that my maid or the hotel could do to make me feel more comfortable but I was just blown away by someone taking the time to write me the note. If anything, it endeared me even more to hotel chain and will guarentee that I stay at a Kimpton Hotel during my next trip.
This jived with some practices I do with my community. When a user signs up for an account at Clearspring, I’ll send them a note and say thank you. Yes, it’s the same note but if I know the person who’s on the list I’ll personalize it. Regardless, people love it when I take the time to say thank you for creating an account. The e-mail isn’t automatically generated. It’s me sitting down and sending them out because I really am thankful.
Just as there are a lot of hotels in San Francisco, there are even more things for people to occupy their time online. So when someone takes the time to spend time on your Web site or application, say thank you.
Saying thank you and letting people you know you appreciate them will just endear them more to what you’re trying to do.
So… have you had a cool experience where someone has written you a thank you note and really just knocked your socks off?
Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp's blog 
Yesterday I received a hand-written note from Ryan at Wufoo. Essentially, the note thanked me and my organization for the length of time our account has been open with them and for enabling them to see their dreams as a company come true.
I was most impressed that they still value the relationship even though it would be very easy to let an account like this get forgotten over the years.
I had a similar experience but it didn’t turn out to be as endearing…a little more annoying. Krista worked on Sunday, so randomly chose a church to go to. When I got there, i could tell they were not used to having visitors because the vultures started circling me!
When i arrived, a little short lady gave me a card and told me to fill it out and put it in the offering plate. I obliged and went in to the sanctuary to find a seat. I was greeted time after time, which was cool to see people so willingly to introduce themselves to me.
I filled out the card and as the plate went around, the usher skipped right past me. No worries, they didn’t want to offend the visitor. So they continued the service and it was a good 10 minutes before i could leave. Again, everyone just saying hello and thanks. It was good, but i was ready to go. As I was leaving, the little short lady, who had clearly sifted through the plate for my visitor card, stopped me and asked me why i didn’t place it in the plate. I told her about the usher and handed her the card.
After a few more meet and greets, I headed for my car. A quick trip to the house to change clothes and then to the hospital to have lunch with Krista. As I am changing, at most 30 minutes after service ended, I get a call from one of the ladies that i met at the church. She just wanted to see if I had a good experience and “to get to know me a bit.” Again, it was really nice that they cared to call and what not, but it was a little excessive to call so quickly after service. I think you are supposed to wait a couple of days after the date, uh i mean service, before you call again…