Why my takeaway calls me Tom.
The last time I went to my local Indian restaurant, the waiter greeted me like an old friend. “Hi Tom, we haven’t seen you for a while…”. Now, obviously, the restaurant employs a decent CRM system which meant that the waiter could see all my details on the screen in front of him – including the date of my last order. But using my name made a difference to me. I felt appreciated. I felt a greater sense of connection than if I had simply been directed to a table with a quick smile.
To a lesser degree, a similar thing happens in Starbucks. If you’ve ever ordered a drink in Starbucks, you’ll know that the barista usually writes the customer’s name on their cup. This has practical benefits, meaning that the drink is matched to the correct customer. But, the use of someone’s name also makes a difference to perception. Lim et al (2024) showed that customers feel less objectified when a brand uses their name rather than an order number. Of course, the whole effect would disappear if a customer used a comedy names to amuse themselves – which no one ever does (ahem…)!
The effect of using someone’s name is not limited to physical interactions though. Even use of a name in an email makes a difference. Sahni, Wheeler and Chintagunta (2018) found that customers are more likely to open email when their name is used in the subject line – which eventually also leads to an increase in sales. The balance is to personalise the experience sufficiently, without reminding the customer quite how much data you actually hold on them. Personalisation is pleasant, but invading someone’s privacy is not!
Incidentally, I bumped into the same waiter in my supermarket last week and again he greeted me warmly. His ability to remember faces is impressive. He didn’t mention my name though – he didn’t have the computer screen in front of him as a reminder!
Lim, S., van Osselaer, S. M., Goodman, J. K., Fuchs, C., & Schreier, M. (2024). The Starbucks effect: When name-based order identification increases customers’ store preference and service satisfaction. Journal of Retailing, 100(2), 316-329.
Sahni, N. S., Wheeler, S. C., & Chintagunta, P. (2018). Personalization in email marketing: The role of noninformative advertising content. Marketing Science, 37(2), 236-258.
Photo by Kadarius Seegars on Unsplash
