See Andy's other stuff:

Contact Me >>

Newsletter #1045: The “Human to Human” Issue

[Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I’d Thought of That! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]

Let’s take a break from automated responses, digital customer service, and self-checkouts for a second. Let’s focus on some of the biggest differentiators you have within your customer’s experience: humans.

Here’s how three companies stood out by bringing back human-to-human connections through:

1. Pizza orders
2. Tourism videos
3. Dinner in the dark
4. Check it out: 2 Kinds of People

1. Pizza orders

One of the best ways to learn a language is to have conversations with someone who speaks it all the time. So to help Brazilians practice learning English in the real world, CNA Language Schools let them take pizza orders for Bella Vista Pizzeria in California. Customers who called in with an order were given the option to get a discount on their pizza if they connected with a student to take their order. The longer the conversation, the bigger discount they got.

The lesson: That connection gives both customers of the pizza shop and CNA Language School a pretty cool story to tell. The pizzeria’s customers feel good for helping someone out, and the Brazilian students get a unique experience while learning a language.

Learn more: Adweek

2. Tourism videos

Iceland’s tourism agency, Promote Iceland, recruited real Icelanders to serve as a human search engine for people with questions about visiting the country. If you ask a question on Facebook or Twitter with #AskGudmundur, you’ll get back a personalized video from someone in the region you asked about. For example, when someone asked about beaches in Iceland, an expert from the South region showed them her favorite black sand beach to visit.

The lesson: Even if you do a lot of research online, it’s hard to get a feel for what a travel destination will be like, and that makes a lot of people hesitant. Promote Iceland broke down some of those barriers by giving potential visitors a connection to a real-life person.

Learn more: PSFK

3. Dinner in the dark

Dinner in the Dark is a restaurant franchise that allows blind waiters to guide and serve guests in a pitch black setting. People are led in a conga line to their table and served meals in complete darkness. It’s supposed to help guests “re-evaluate their sense of taste and smell,” but it’s also a chance to get a small experience of what it’s like to be blind for a few hours.

The lesson: This is not just an interesting night out, it’s an opportunity to make in-person connections and real-life experiences with what it’s like to be blind. That’s a great conversation starter for the restaurant as well as the cause.

Learn more: NPR

4. Check it out: 2 Kinds of People

Check out these minimalist graphics that represent “two kinds of people in the world.”

Check it out: 2 Kinds of People

[contact-form-7 id="27185" title="contact-form 3 TellAFriend-Post"]