This just ain't good enough

Dear Mr Amex,

A while ago I took out travel insurance with you. I think to both our satisfaction: you get money and a traveler who has last claimed something on travel insurance at least 15 years ago, and I get peace of mind and what at the time was a good deal with a well-respected brand so I can sleep at night when I'm off jet-setting through Europe. So far, so good.

Today I came home to find you've sent me a renewal letter. Thanks for that. I kinda like the automatic renewal thing, saves me hassle. But here's something I don't understand (and I'm quoting from your letter):

"We have recently launched a new range of travel products and introduced a change to our pricing structure, based on age and geographical area. Additional options and discounts are now available too, which might make one of these new products more suitable for you. To find out more, please call 0800 XXXXX, otherwise we will renew your existing policy."

Oh. Old skool marketing. You are teasing me with (potential) discounts, won't tell me what they are or provide a way to figuring out more information about them (would it kill you to put in a website address?), but have me call you instead (at which point you will no doubt try and cross-sell me something) which means effort on my side to get something which I feel you are teasing me with but am unclear about what it is exactly. I know I'm not in your books as a top 1,000 customer. Or even a top 10,000. But I am a customer. And I love feeling special. Doesn't everyone? And to be really frank, I find this a little bit weird. And old skool. And a tad cold. It makes me feel like a bit of an idiot. And I don't like that feeling. It makes me want to write angry blogposts.

See, you could've done it differently. You could've said: 'thank you for being a valued customer, we trust you had a good year of travel and are looking forward to you staying with us for another year. In fact, we've been doing some tweaking of our policies and prices, and based on your personal data, we think you might be eligible for a discount. I have included a page which compares the policies side by side (you can also find all the information about the prices here on the internet: {include http address} and in the leaflets included in this envelope. We would love to discuss these options with you at your earliest convenience and are happy to change the policy accordingly if you decide that is to your best interest. If you would like to speak to one of our reps, please call at 0800 XXXX or email XXX quoting reference YYYY. If we don't hear from you, we assume that you are happy to renew your current policy as is, which we'd be more than happy to do.'

Lessons: think about me (i.e. the customer) first. Then you. Think how you can make my life easier, not just yours and it will come back to you in spades. It breeds loyalty. Open a conversation, don't just talk at me. Don't speak in riddles or overly formal language. Although the whole 2.0 thing is so 2005, I think this is a case where the term Marketing 2.0 comes in, and it's here to stay.

And yes, I know about how hard it is to change complicated IT systems and management structures that send out these letters, that you have thousands of clients and you can't treat all of them well (in fact, some of them you probably want to be a little bit rude too, because they don't make you any money and you'd rather they'd wander off to another company), that it will cost a lot of money to send out a more personal letter and you've probably paid a copy-writer a lot of money to write this letter, then had it copy-tested and everything. That ain't no excuse. You can do better than this. If you don't, someone else will. Even for something as commodity-like as travel insurance. I want to like you. I like your advertising. I like the American Express brand. But you have to work harder.    

Yours,
Natasja

[full disclosure: so yes, I do have Amex insurance. I even have a credit card with them. And yes, I did once interview (back in the phase of my life where I felt that if I didn't do at least one milkround interview my bschool experience would be a waste) and I didn't get the offer. Which was probably just as well, for both of us :-) , no hard feelings about that at all. ]

Comments

[Alissa]

That would be too easy ... the underwriters would want to see all variations of the compared policies. They would never allow that!

Such a shame that underwriters and lawyers run the game in Travel Insurance (no on really makes much money on that one but is a great introducer product)

[Julie, writer Surefirewealth.com]

Customers really do want to be taken care of. Under no circumstances do they want to feel that they're being taken for a ride or that they're money bags. Your suggestion of thanking the client for being a valued customer is great because it reinforces the idea. And customers usually welcome such a positive reinforcement.