I got a coupon in the mail from Chipotle the other day. At the bottom was this fine print:

Offer valid only at participating locations, which in this case means all locations. Not to be combined with any other offers or somehow cleverly duplicated. Limit one card per visit. Please present this card to the cashier, but don’t be surprised when they keep it. Cash value ¹⁄₁₀₀^th of one cent, which is pretty much nothing. This is the fine print, why are you still reading this? Really, this is getting silly, go eat. © 2012 Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Someone clearly wanted to make sure even this normally dry language was fun and casual, as if a human being were explaining it to me, not a lawyer or a marketer.

In truth, every part of what you send to your customers should be written as if it’s from one human to another. Every detail matters, and it catches your customers’ attention when you break from the routine language. Think about how compelling the Southwest safety announcements are!

Have you seen other examples of companies communicating with their customers in unexpectedly human ways? Tell me in the comments.

Google has released a fascinating new study about how people use their various screens–televisions, phones, tablets, desktops, and so forth–throughout the day.

Ingrid Lunden summarizes the study at TechCrunch:

But, while smartphones may have the shortest sessions be used the least overall, they are the most-used when it comes to on-boarding to a digital experience — or sequential device usage, as Google calls it. The research found that a majority of online tasks get initiated on a smartphone while being continued on another device — perhaps with a larger screen for easier use.

Two key lessons from this:

1. Optimize your content for whichever device your customers might be using.
2. Go multi-channel: your customers see several screens daily. Make sure you’re visible on as many as possible.

(Via The Agitator.)

Tell me in the comments: What else can we draw from the Google report?

Are your e-mail subscribers human beings?

This sounds like a stupid question. But way too many e-mail marketers treat their subscribers as an anonymous mass of people to bombard with “e-mail blasts.”

This unfortunate term in e-mail marketing, “blast,” just refuses to go away. It calls to mind one-size-fits-all messaging, sent without regard for what your subscribers want. It suggests you want to send every subscriber an impersonal message about something that’s important to you, not something important to him. That’s an organization-focused approach to marketing, where the message is about you and not about the recipient.

And ultimately, blasting away will lead your subscribers to tune you out. You’ll just churn and burn through your list.

But there’s a better way. It’s harder and more complicated, but in the end it’s more rewarding.

Put yourself in your subscriber’s shoes. Think about what he wants and what interests him, and attempt to establish a relationship by asking his opinion and sending him relevant, personalized messages. Consider why he subscribed in the first place: because you offer something valuable to him.

So stop talking about sending “blasts.”

What do you think? Is “blast” a harmless shorthand or does it reflect a counterproductive mindset?

Here’s a cool story about how using social media for customer service created a happy customer and generated positive earned media for Samsung Canada. The company treated Shane Bennett as an individual and reaped the rewards. I wouldn’t be surprised if this earned Samsung a customer for life and a lot of public goodwill.

This follows the playbook Dave Kerpen outlines in Likeable Social Media, which argues that this sort of public customer service is exactly how to use social media. Kerpen’s book is a must-read for those looking to take their social media programs to the next level.

Daniel Burstein posts a video from my talk at the 2012 Optimization Summit.

Here’s Burstein’s summary on the Marketing Experiments blog:

• Put yourself in your customer’s shoes
• Try testing unbranded microsites that tap into your customers’ motivations and are focused on engaging your audience before you send them to your conversion goal (Can help with viral marketing)
• Challenge best practices with testing

What best practices do you think need challenging?