Today I went to the dentist. The last time I was there she told me we were going to watch the cavities. I only have one filling and remember how excruciating it was when I got it.
I’ve been anxious about this appointment for a while- about six months. So, when I got there five minutes early, I was looking forward to getting it over with,
Instead, once I got settled in the chair for the cleaning, I was told that the dentist has changed her schedule since I booked the appointment and that she wouldn’t be in this morning and that someone else would see me. WHAT?! After my months of anxiety finally, to arrive at this moment with the full expectation of pain and discomfort, it would be done by someone else? My only consolation was that someone I knew and trusted would be taking care of me. Nope.
The office reached out to me via phone and email to remind me of my appointment. They had two opportunities to tell me that her schedule changed. I walked out of the appointment and rescheduled for a time when she would be there and left feeling like nothing more than a head full of teeth.
Prior to my appointment, I spent the morning reading this white paper by Sharpen Technologies Inc.where they talk about the importance eliminating friction when customers reach out. “Customers… don’t particularly care about how that information is organized or accessed – they simply want to feel know, and valued.” This is how I was feeling as a customer of the dentist office- they have all of my electronic records at their fingertips, they could have seen what my appointment was all about, but they didn’t look which in turn made me feel like nothing but a mouth full of teeth.
What’s the point of capturing the information if it’s not going to be used?
Which comes down to two things in our day to day in Alumni Relations. We have access to a lot of information about our alumni, and they know it, after all, many of them spent four years at our institution, Are we using that information to make them feel unique? And if not, why?
Shapen’s white paper states that ““70% of consumers (and 82% of business buyers) say technology has made it easier than ever to take their business elsewhere.” Yes, an alum isn’t going to get up and change his or her diploma from one from another institution to another (assuming that they don’t hold multiple degrees from different institutions), but they will make a decision when it’s time give of where it will go. Their affinity and likeliness to give will be decided by how much we view them as an individual instead of just another member of the community. If we can find ways to individualize the interaction we have with them, no matter how small (Hi Susan! How’s the weather in St. Louis?) we can continue to drive their engagement in a positive way.
After all, our goal is to ensure that our alumni are having a positive experience when they’re interacting with us, not to make it feel like they’re pulling teeth to get what they need.
