I recently bought a book online from Assembly New York. I didn’t come into contact with anyone personally through my transaction – it was completely automatic. However when I received my shipment, the first kind of physical contact I had with the company, I found a hand written thank you. It was my receipt – folded into the shape of a shirt and inside a little envelope, looking like a note rather than a billing notice. I don’t know who wrote it, maybe the folded shirt shape represents the unknown person who packaged up my goods, folded the receipt and sent it to me.

What’s interesting is that Assembly New York has found a way to make an impersonal transactions personal, without much more effort than standard procedures call for. The result is that I, the customer, have left the transaction feeling great about my experience.

It’s a great example of a company who has provided positive feedback – adding a reward to the customer’s participation in the transaction. And it’s an exercise any company or institution can do – by reviewing their standard processes, building on resources and procedures which already exist.