How to Build Personal Relationships with Every Customer, at Scale
The answer to the question in the headline is sequential, not aspirational: unify the customer record first, then layer clienteling, loyalty, messaging, and AI on top of it, in that order. Skip the first step and everything built on top of it, every "personal" touch, every AI recommendation, is really just a guess dressed up as intimacy. Here's what that sequence looks like in practice.
Clienteling in Practice: A Luxury Retail Example
Like pretty much every woman I know, there's one bag that's been on my wishlist forever: the iconic Chanel 2.55 flap bag. I made myself a deal: hit goal X, and I'd buy myself that bag. The first time I saw it in person, fully intending to buy, was ten years ago in the Dubai Mall. You walk in and get a warm welcome, a glass of Roederer champagne, and they bring out bag after bag for you to try. I loved the experience, but it was still a splurge, so I didn't buy it that day. It didn't come off the wishlist, though.
A few years later, I was shopping in Amsterdam and stopped by Chanel. It was crowded, so I signed up on an iPad at the entrance and they texted me when it was my turn. I was already in their CRM at that point, though I didn't think about it that way then. A lovely woman greeted me, offered the same glass of champagne, and we sat down. She asked about what I was looking for, and I'm pretty sure she clocked the dupe Chanel shoes I had on. She came back with the bags I wanted to try, patiently helped me through all of them, and even brought out the real shoes for me to try alongside the bag.
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