Welcome to Fall?

Brace yourselves.  In the following 600 words or so, I’m going to toss ideas, notions, and perhaps even a frustration or two at your wall.  Maybe something will stick?

• I get the free version of Grammarly.  As you know, it generates a weekly “Writing Update” ranking users in terms of Productivity, Accuracy, Vocabulary, and other factors.  As of this writing, Grammarly has “analyzed” 2,966,060 of my words!

I’m not sure exactly what to do with this knowledge, but I find it interesting, and almost always glance at it.  Why?  Because it is about ME.

• My Uber score is 4.92.   Again, what to do with this information?  Drivers will use this and I’m sure it figures in my algorithmic ride connection, but “so what?”

These examples cause me to wonder; shouldn’t more businesses capture (AND ACT UPON) similar metrics?  Consider>

• Maybe reporters (and editors?) should thank readers for clicking on their article more than any other in the last month?  Week?  Over time?  We certainly know, right?
• How cool would it be for a publication to acknowledge (Thank!) a reader for 10 or 30 or however many years of subscribing?  How many editions they’ve logged into?  Number of days, stories, words actually read?  Frequency of engagement?  Customer referrals?
• Is there a way for AP and other syndicated content providers to localize their content?  Every study (I mean EVERY) suggests more local is what readers want, so providing a local “angle” is worth doing.  By AI?
• No doubt this is happening, but publications should systematically request feedback from new readers.  Contact a new subscriber after month one for reactions and suggestions?  This could be automated, right?  Offer some sort of incentive for their time and insights?  Maybe invite them a “member only” event?
• I can see this happening in a restaurant, too!  Would it be creepy or cool if your server asked, “…thanks for trying our beef tender for the first time, tell us what you think?”
• Or (chuckling here) your haberdasher notes your waist size is down two inches and gives you a fist bump.  (And, suggests altering the four other pairs of pants you bought from him!)
• First-time visitors of ANY organization should be thanked for visiting and asked how they came to visit?  Maybe go crazy and apply a discount, expressing your appreciation.
• I’m surprised there aren’t more meaningful loyalty programs for consumer-facing businesses.

We have two grocery stores in my little hometown – a big, national store (guessing ~ 75,000 SKU’s) and a smaller, locally owned, more locally sourced operation (~35,000 SKU’s).  Very cleverly, both decided to dramatically rearrange their inventory over the last six months.

                                                                        IT

WAS

                                                       CHAOS!

• There has to be an app or AI “something” that could tell me the peanut butter is now on aisle 16 so I don’t have to ask Customer Service or find an associate (yeah, right?!) for guidance.
• Better still, by tracking my phone’s IP address and history, shouldn’t I be offered deals and recommendations based upon my geolocation within the store?  That’d be pretty slick!

Here’s a headscratcher ~ I’ve booked millions of miles and probably 1,000 flights on American Airlines.  Just before a recent trip, I got an email to “prepare for my upcoming travels”.  It suggested hotels, rental cars, and other services I might need - Perfectly understandable and appropriate.  However, it also encouraged me to download their app for use and communications during the trip??  How can they not know?  It’s gotta be easy enough to figure that out!  Sheesh.

May you enjoy a last gasp of Summer.  Thanks for reading!