The Importance of...being called the right name!

In my last working place, as a delight factor for our customers, we had a welcome message with their last name appearing on the bedroom TV screen, once they had checked-in:

"Welcome to our hotel Mrs. Powell"

Brilliant idea, what could go wrong?

One day a couple of regular guests (let's address them "Mr. and Mrs. Allen"), called me down at reception right after checking-in quite upset because, for the umpteenth time, their television was showing the wrong name...

At that time I apologised and manually amended the name on their TV from "Clayton" to "Allen", but did not really understand why they were so distressed by something of so little importance (it's just a name on a screen!).

This story came to my mind when, for the umpteenth time, I got the below email from Holland and Barrett:

I have been their customer for years and, even though I have registered an account under my name (Sara), with an email address that has also got my name, they could never get it right!

At last, I understood how Mr. and Mrs. Allen felt that day at the hotel...

Clients have very high expectations in terms of customer service, at least 70% of them look for a personalised experience. The benefit of addressing customers by the right name is creating that tailor-made experience they want.

It's small, but every detail counts.